Is it "evil" for a crocodile to kill a human child wading in its river?

Question

Is it "evil" for a male lion, having defeated the previous alpha male in combat, to kill all of the previous alpha's remaining cubs in order to have sex with all the lionesses and make his own offspring?




Is it "evil" for me to kill and eat a Jehovah's Witness who comes knocking on my door?

Is it "evil" for me to beat up my neighbour, kill his children and impregnate his wife?


Does anyone answering these questions operate double-standards?

=P

Mmmmm.... blessed meat.....

[ Other animals are just as capable of choosing whether to kill or not as we are... Only humans are demented and stupid enough to ascribe it to the fallacies of "right" and "wrong" rather than realising it is a simple matter of deciding what is in one's best self-interests.
People aren't born with notions of right and wrong, but are taught them as they age. Likewise you can to some extent teach a dog these things, and the same way it won't question them. They are ridiculous oversimplifications though, and the dog won't understand it any more than the average person does. ]

Answer 1

"good" and "evil" are subjective terms that are defined and redefined through each individual philosophy or even each individual's philosophy. There is no such thing as an objectively evil action or thing.

Events, however, can be beneficial and abusive and by weighing the amount of benefit against the amount of abuse an action, inaction or interaction causes we can determine if the event in question is an ethical choice.

Superficial qualities like "good" and "evil" are usually assigned prior to an event happening by politicians and after the event by historians.

Answer 2

Well....... it is not evil for a crocodile to kill a child wadding in water because it is the nature of the crocodile to kill any creature for it's food like even we eat meat ,chickens etc vut we are not considered evil when we do such a thing

Answer 3

I believe that Nature in general is neutral, and animals are a part of Nature.

However, I believe that humans have set ourselves apart from Nature. Evaluating and judging good and evil is a part of that. Humans should know better than to kill and eat people. Humans should know better than to behave violently and barbarically for no apparent reason. But war will always prove that wrong.

Answer 4

*sighs* No and yes. The lion and the crocodile, no. They are animals and don't have the capacity to operate on the same level as humans. They act on instict.

No to your questions on killing the JW and your neighbor! As humans, we have the rational mind to know that this is wrong! We also have laws that state that murder (and cannibalism and rape) is wrong! Only someone without the ability to be human would think that these things are ok. Religion has nothing to do with this question. Human dignity and intelligence is the answer.

Answer 5

It is not evil for animals to do that they are instincts and they don't and can't even think about right or wrong. All they think about is food and a mate. For humans we no whats wrong and whats right whether you believe or not you still have to follow rules. Now if you just wanted to beat up a jehovah's witness for bothering the hell out of you on your personal property i guess you could but don't kill him dude.

Answer 6

It is evil that the parents allowed their child to wade in a river with crocodiles in it.
It is not evil but nature when a lion kills the cubs and previous alpha male in order to produce his own offspring.
It is more than evil but also is very sick for someone to kill a person who comes to his door or kill someones children and impregnate their wife.
Double standards no, just not relegating myself to the level of a beast of nature. Man was made with the knowledge of good and evil and that knowledge in us makes the difference.

Answer 7

In my own opinion

The croc has no idea of what evil is and just wants food, so no thats not evil.

To kill and eat a jehovas witness isnt evil but cannabalism is in the human context so dont ever do this just break his nose.

to beat up your neigbour depends on the reasoning behind it, to kill his children is deffinatly evil and to impregnate his wife leaves the questoin of was she willingly having sex with you.

I hope I just have one set of standards and cause no harm or pain to another. I only break a JW's nose beacause he is causing me pain listening to his rubbish and knocking at my door and disturbing me during dinner or my favourite TV program. As for the neighbour you havent supplied enough information but generally no that would just be wrong,it may not be evil but it is still wrong.

Answer 8

The difference between a human and animals is that the human has an understanding of morality and an ability to communicate with God that the animals lack.

Because of this, the actions of an animal are not judged by the same standards and laws as the actions of a human. Actions that acceptable in animals are not in humans.

So yes, there is a double standard. It is because man has a moral conciousness that is not found in any other creature. It that way, he is "make in the image of God".

Answer 9

The crocodile and lion are doing instinctively what their nature dictates they do. Your nature is not to kill other humans so it is sinful when you do it. We aren't animals, just in case you were confused about that. C'mon, that question was too easy.

Answer 10

No it is not evil for the crocodile or the lion. That is nature and the survival of the fittest. The resources around only allow for one set of offspring to survive so you want it to be your own offspring that survive.

Yes it is evil for you to do so.

That is not a double standard for several reasons.
1) you do not need to kill or be killed. we are not in that situation. If we were, and you were starving to death and had to kill the weakest member in order for the tribe to survive, then that might be different. but you aren't.

2) humans are weak. as far as nature goes, we lose. we aren't fast, we don't climb well, we don't have good teeth or jaw strength to tear meat off the bones. our stomach and internal organs don't process raw meat well. We have incredibly thin skin with a delicate spinal system and have no means of defense. But we are smart. The power to reason is all we have. That allows us to figure out how to capture and kill animals, since we don't have the ability naturally. Our weak structure allows us to use tools. Therefore that is what we have to do in order to survive.

Like all animals though, we have our tribe, herd, flock, society. And like all animals societies, there is rules that must be followed or you are kicked out. Dominant animals have always explained the rules to weaker animals. Being kicked out is the fear b/c kicked out means to perish. That is the reason we can't just beat up neighbors and kill and eat JV. b/c you don't want to be kicked out of society.

Animals don't kill b/c they can, or for enjoyment. They kill so they can survive. They don't kill everything that comes to the door of their cave--just what threatens them. We'd like to pretend we are more evolved than that and that we have a moral code that elevates us above mammals but we don't.