In what sense is evil "infinite"?
2007-02-15 13:47:47 · 18 answers · asked by sokrates 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
My take on it is that it is like entropy. There are many more disordered states than ordered states, infinitely many more, in fact.
Consider a Ming vase. There is one way for it to be a 'good' vase, and untold trillions of different ways for it to be a 'bad' vase, one that it is not attractive and no longer holds water, or flowers.
Or the human body. There is one way to be healthy, a million different ways to be sick or injured.
Say that a 'good' person is one who obeys the 10 commandments. This is like tossing 10 heads in a row. The other possible combinations, where at least one tail is tossed (or one commandment not followed), represent all of the possibilities for evil. Out of 1024 different combinations, only one is 'good'. That's a lot of evil possibilities.
The potential for evil abounds.
2007-02-15 14:05:05 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Aristotle considered the good to be represented as a specific range. For example say the number of shots a certain basketball player should take is between 10 and 15. Anything outside the range, Aristotle considered to be bad. For example if the ball player took 20 shots, that would be considered evil (too many shots). If the ball player took 5 shots, that also would be considered evil also (too few shots).
While the good is constrained in our example, the evil can be any where from 0 to 9 shots, or between 16 and infinity. It is in this sense that Aristotle says that evil is infinite.
2007-02-15 14:01:00 · answer #2 · answered by ignoramus_the_great 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Aristotle held that good is finite, and based on some effort and action or expression of a virtue. He argued that if good is finite, then everything else in the infinite universe is evil, and therefore evil must be the infinite everything else.
2007-02-15 13:54:48 · answer #3 · answered by FCabanski 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
There will always be evil in this World (very evil people doing very evil things). Infinitely.
2007-02-15 13:52:28 · answer #4 · answered by LN has3 zjc 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
lets see...Infinite means forever...it has no end. I believe Aristotle means that evil never ends. it will always be around.
2007-02-15 14:00:12 · answer #5 · answered by tweetybird37406 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He means evil never ends. From man's viewpoint it seems that way. However we sense that even evil has a reckoning. Our visceral reaction to a heinous crime screams for justice even when our mouths claim there is no right and wrong. We do know.
2007-02-15 13:53:30 · answer #6 · answered by pshdsa 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
He is postulating that as humans go , there always be good people and always bad ones , the bad ones are represented as evil possessed and they will always be there does not mater how much we would want that every body would be good , but that is what make the human fabric , the spectrum from right to left.
2007-02-15 14:00:47 · answer #7 · answered by young old man 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Possibly in the sense that evil, just as good, will exist for all eternity.
2007-02-15 13:53:39 · answer #8 · answered by Blessed 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Man. As long as man exists, and men's thoughts and actions exist...there will be evil.
Also Dr. Evil's fazzya invented the question mark.
2007-02-15 13:51:31 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That evil will last forever. That no matter where we are and how well the world is going there will always be evil. Eternal happines does not exist on earth, even though it is the goal of a human being.
Thats wat i think at least. lol
2007-02-15 13:51:40 · answer #10 · answered by Bridget_09 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋