There is no good or bad, only people with different perspectives?

Question

There is no such seperation between bad or good, only what society or religion makes of it. Basically good and bad are definitions that we as humans decide together. In a completely chaotic world, wouldn't the inhabitants feel no remorse or regret for the actions they take, wherein our society might be seen as attrocities? Is that also not the reason why those who are brought up in troubled families find it more difficult to seperate "good" from "bad"? Whats your take?

Edit: In response to the hitler. To the rest of the world, hitler was indeed evil and committed crimes that could not have been imagined. however, those who lived within germany at the time, those who were brought up to believe in hitler's ideals, were their perspectives not different from ours? Their good and bad perspective were just a result of their society being influenced by their leader. We are alike in some ways Our leaders whether it be biblical, celebrities, tv, politicians, i believe play a similar role.

Answer 1

You are on to something, the second part.
The perspectives, that's where we attach meaning.

I think there is good and bad.
Polar opposites.

In order for anything to exist, we have to experience its opposite.

Good=Love
Bad=Hate

This is essentially asking if there is a God, must there not also be a satan?

That's a hard question.
It would appear that the answer is YES.

Things are not always as they appear.

We humans don't have the vocabulary or capability to understand some things.
Too much for words to express.

This is, I think, your struggle, your question.

How can you experience life?
What's your perspective?
Why are you here?

That is just the sorts of questions the mind asks itself, when in search of self.

Self definition.

Perspective.

Basically everything has been defined through our not so perfect words.

Herein lies the problem,
everyone has their own perspective,
brought with them from past experiences and human definitions.

No, there is good and bad.
Yes, there is only perspective.

Answer 2

I suppose there is some truth to fact that people learn what they live. So if you are not taught what is good or bad either by parents or society in general than you would have no remorse or regret. I still however feel that at some point cause and effect would have to come in to play. Not neccesarily as a good/bad thing but more like the hand on the hot burner thing. When I do this unpleasant things happen to me so I better not do that. Don't you think it is odd that with a lot of morality changes over the years it is still looked upon as bad when it starts effecting other people. I don't think that will ever change. I don't think god would ever let it. Yes I am Christian but I tried to be objective in my answer.

Answer 3

So Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Pol Pot weren't evil, just misunderstood?

I don't think so.

===edit===

I believe that there are certain boundaries that we as humans are not allowed to cross. Most people seem to have a conscience irregardless of how they were brought up. Most of us know when we are causing pain to others, and no amount of perspective will change that realization (Although we might be able to suppress our conscience with practice, it seems to be hard wired into our brain).

Within these boundaries, there is obviously some gray areas where goodness or badness depends on ones motives. Obviously, one cannot predict all possible outcomes, nor can one always control how things turn out. But one can control ones motives. Having a different perspective doesn't necessarily change ones motives. Not everything is relative.

Being indifferent to other people's pain, or deliberately inflicting pain on other people for purely selfish reasons, would be universally condemned as evil. The Germans under Hitler probably realized this, but deliberately buried their heads in the sand because the Nazis temporarily gave them something that they desperately wanted (good economy, world power & respect, etc.). They must have known or suspected that the Nazis were evil, but they were willing to suppress their conscience for the prospect of short term gain. I don't think that they simply had a different perspective.

Answer 4

Very thoughtful of you. Some say sin is an act which harms others. There are many degrees of sin. For example stealing harms the person of loss, and the sin may be restored. It may be sinful to slander someone. Words that harm may not be taken back, but forgiveness may make amends. Greater sins like murder may not be undone and are eternal sins.
The point that a sin may not be bad from every perspective is honorable. Islamics celebrated the fall of the two towers and Americans grieved. Although the individual may experience a different level of acceptance for good and bad, society does not. There are many things society can not tolerate. An individual may forget or overlook the consequences of an action, but society does not forget and has a sophisticated process of dealing with sinful deeds.
People who can not sort out good from bad come from all walks of life. A person raised in a challenging environment from an early age makes choices like everyone else. It's like Star Wars and the forces of good and evil. Everyone is tempted by the dark forces. Something in our character steers us in the direction we need. We must lead our lives with the rules of society in mind as our character develops. People make mistakes, and usually pay something for the indiscretions, and they usually learn from mistakes.
There are no shortcuts in life and there is no free lunch. Get caught by society in a sinful deed and punishment follows, either by the law or by revengeful associates.
All groups have rules not just law enforcement. Unions have laws and rules. The mofia has rules. Break their rules and there will be consequences. If the sin itself is not considered a bad thing from an individual point of view, the consequences may be.

Answer 5

Lets here it for relativism.

There are aspects of human psychology, sometimes refered
to "sociopathy", that are:
1: Completely oblivious on their effects on others
2: Incurable. No drug, no therapy, nothing will make them
safe to be around.

Are they evil? Oh, if something MUST be evil, I guess they
are evil. I am guessing Hitler fell into this category, but I don't
know.

However, the vast vast vast majority of people are not
sociopaths - they have their own points of view. Their point
of view may be colored by a life time of indoctrination in
whatever their culture might be, but they come by it honestly.

Yes, there are some intrinsic aspects of one's physiology
that effect one's personality - memory, analytical abilities,
sociopathy - but they are broad broad categories. The rest
we generally attribute to environment (nature vs. nurture).

There are clearly some points of view that are plain and simple
wrong: That is, the person who has them has a very closed
perspective. The larger the perspective, the more objective
the perspective, the more likely the opinions will be useful
in the long term.

Yeah, I am a relativist. I don't use terms like "evil".
I use terms like "sick" and "misinformed" but I generally
give people the benefit of the doubt, and I hope they
give the benefit of the doubt to me.

Answer 6

Definitely.

I know what you feel and am on the same page as you. I believe the nature of being good/bad comes out of a person depending on the situations, needs and convenience.

and coming to opinion of 'majesticwife', i think there is both good and bad in all the persons, but can you look at the face of a person and tell if he is a rapist, paedophile, murderer, thief etc.?? you can't right? its only when his actual deed is caught that you know his quality and the things you mentioned are called 'Crimes' and yes if the person commits actions that are deemed as crimes, the law is there to put him away. just because you cant stand a person and feel like hurting wont make you bad. you will be bad if you do it. however, philosophy, religion, or whatever doctrine do you believe in says.. having such thoughts is bad... but sometimes, the testing times are needed to bring out the best in us.

Answer 7

OK, I'm not one for religious dogma, but there is a Christian saying that seems to apply here.

"The greatest victory that Satin can achieve is to convince you that he doesn't exist."

While it is true that dogma must be outlined in black and white, we live in a technicolor world. A clever individual will always be able to fabricate a scenario for any given "evil" act under which circumstance that act would ultimately turn out to be "good".

If one looks at the intent of an action or even the ultimate result of an action rather than the act itself, it is hard to deny that some are beneficial and others are destructive. In many cases the concept of beneficial and destructive are constructs of our humanity. On the other hand, at the end of the day we have little other than our humanity against which to define ourselves.

Answer 8

It relies upon if morality is absolute or relative. What the guy above pronounced approximately it being subjective to regardless of if or not some thing is nice won't unavoidably be actual. in certainty, regardless of if morality is relative in that the superb suited factor to do might count on the situations, that's possible that there is a thoroughly superb suited factor to do in each and every particular set of situations. of direction i ought to be completely incorrect approximately that, yet whilst all expertise is subjective additionally then it won't remember very a lot. nonetheless, i've got faith we are able to all discover an identical rational ideals with the aid of good judgment, which with a bit of luck isn't subjective...

Answer 9

Although i agree that we as a society define the notion of what's good and what isn't (together as a group we influence morals ) There's some innate about moral values and standards, that is why we cohesively enforce laws in society and in religion to uphold these morals. That is why we decide them together, these notions exist in more of us, but yes being "good" or "bad" is subjective to the person, and a choice.

Answer 10

Are you serious? There most definitely a difference between good and bad. Have you ever heard of child molesters, murderers and rapists, I wouldn't consider them good, would you?