Thread: Evil.... your opinion of it.

I agree that self defense can be the cause of some harm, but you said, "If a person was liberated of any fear and completely sane, they wouldn't have the urge to do harm. That urge is actually self-defense, even in a deep subconscious level."
This is somekind of washboard statement that assumes that all harm stems from deep rooted pyschlogical "problems." The desire to harm is an extrememely normal trait exhibitied by most mammals and would ahve been an extreme slective advantage, it has nothing to do with psuedo psychology and self defense, it is to do with surivival, territory and controlling the environment.
And no xenophobia is not the "right term", it is a term that aptly describes exactly what I said, you seem to view things as very black and white, there is no right term, language is at your disposal.

Xenopohbia probably stems from the fact that is our early development passionate hatred of neighbouring tribes and "others" in general will have helped to strengthen the community and would have assisted the warriors when they want to war with neighbouring tribes, if you have a great hatred for your enemy you would be more fearless and thus xenophobia is a selective advantage. AS is the idea of the brotherhood of man because it generates an altruistic mentality which has been essential in our colonization of the planet.
Quite simply my problem was with your assertation that evil stems from pyschological self defense and that people wouldn't harm others if they didn't have these issues of fear and lack of knowledge. Pretty much nonsense.

Originally Posted by imran_p

Quite simply my problem was with your assertation that evil stems from pyschological self defense and that people wouldn't harm others if they didn't have these issues of fear and lack of knowledge. Pretty much nonsense.

First of all, I never said 'evil' stems from anywhere; I said 'evil' does not exist.

What if a violent person, just ready to smack a foreigner's head, suddenly (hypothetically speaking) gains huge empathy and releases every possible fear, including one of being rejected by his group if he backs up; would he do it?

In my opinion, all good and bad was adopted as a result of self preservation. From the serious ones like don't murder or maim, it is obvious. But even things like the illegalization of weed was just one mans attempt to save his own ass, mixed with some good mind control.