Does evil objectively exist or is it (like beauty) simply in the eye of the beholder?

Answer 1

CS Lewis said that evil is simply the absence of good. Is that an objective existence? Perhaps not.

Answer 2

Evil and Beauty, as concepts have a lot in common

Both are not so much 'in the eye of the beholder' but a social conditioning. Look at the paintings and sculptures of the 18th/19thC. What is presented as the beautiful woman or the beautiful scene. Even in the 1950s woman considered beautiful where very different to now.

This is also true of what is considered evil. Greed used to be one of the 7 deadly sins but now it is almost treated as a virtue. At one time homosexuality was almost compulsory. Here I speak of Ancient Greece. It has been an executional offence. It is still such in some countries and there are those who would like it to be so. However in many of the most civilised countries it is now acceptable.

In the past genocide was considered a valid way of subjugating a population now it is almost universally appalled.

Answer 3

It depends entirely on your definition of both "evil" and "good."

What's true about our physical reality is that it is a dichotomy. We have light and dark. Left and right. Male and female. But can you in all honesty attribute either good or bad to one half of this naturally occurring dichotomy?

Ultimately, in my humble opinion, everything comes down to cause and effect. In this respect, there is no sin but rather the result of an action. If the action creates a positive, affirming or expanding result - terrific! If on the other hand, it creates a negative, diminishing result - not so hot! Something to be avoided. Consequently...

If you filter your definition of good & evil through the perspective of either a positive or negative result, then it objectivelfy exists. If on the other hand, you filter it through the persepctive of religious belief, personal bias, or psycholigical pathology, then it is "simply in the eye of the beholder."

Answer 4

In order for society at large to say ANYTHING exists, there must be an agreed upon set of criteria for verification of its existence. In general, society has come to the conclusion that tangible objects exist, in other words, that which may be experienced by the five senses or extensions of them, such as microscopes. Those who deny the existence, say of people, are generally thought to be mad. There are agreed upon criteria which will prove that people exist, though those who deny physical reality will argue with this.

The problem with the existence of evil is that it is a concept, rather than a physical thing, and in the absence of some agreed upon set of criterial, we are left only with the sorts of maudlin arguments posted above. Those who believe only in physical realities and deny anything higher often argue such, though, tellingly, they are willing to admit the existence of other non-physical concepts such as democracy, liberty, socialism, etc.

Were society at large to agree upon a set of standards, such as those spelled out for example in the Bible, then we would have an objective standard by which to measure evil. In the absence of this, there are certain moral imperitaves generally agreed upon worldwide: stealing, murdering, raping etc. The various religions have colored mankind's perception of these things, but for the most part, the individual ultimately will condemn any action against him/herself which might not be condemned when it is committed against others. As an illustration of this, consider how you might react if someone were to say he was a pedophile. Those who absolutely hold to the concept that there are no absolutes have to admit that this is OK in order to remain consistent. If the pedophile were to do the unthinkable with their children they would object, owing that there are certain absolutes, that this is wrong behavior.

This might appear to validate the idea that evil is in the eye of the beholder, however, as I have shown, it is merely that we refuse an external standard, ie the Word of God.

Hope this helps!
Tom

Answer 5

Evil does exist. If evil is in "the eye of the beholder," then society can never hold anyone accountable for anything. Murder, torture, child molestation, you name it. It is the moral relativism of our time that is leading to societal corruption and breakdown. To be viable and continue to function, every society has to have certain basic, agreed upon moral precepts or chaos will consume it. Individuals may have disagreements or differences with some of these precepts, but if individuals want to partake of the benefits of living in a society, then the individual must abide by the agreed upon codes and work to change those with which he/she disagrees.

Answer 6

Absence of good is evil
absence of God is Devil. Notice the missing "O" and added "D"

Absence of light is darkness but only some thing can exist..no thing can exist.

The mirror image has no existence, "No-Thing" ; the thing in front of the mirror has existence, "Some-Thing"

But even "Some-Thing" is in the eye of the beholder as other respondents have noted such as upbringing, religion and cultural morality

Answer 7

of course i mean heck look at the inquisition... Lets go torture these folks cause we gotz nuthin better to do then tell them we are right and kill them if they don't believe it...

With enough logic everything is justifiable.

EX.
There are too many people in the world and that could lead to mass starvation, global warming, and many other criminal acts that follows overcrowding. Therefore i will randomly sterilize without their permission one out of every ten people that walk past my alley way by means of neutering and spading. The goal to achieve less people in the world would work. The means by which it is done could even be made "humane". However, there will always be the opinion that it was bad for me to "save the world" by "cutting off genitalia".

So please note for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. and evil is a view point. Do you think cows believe us to be evil. go by the slaughter house and ask.

Answer 8

While we may agree in general that some actions or thoughts are evil, they are truly subjective. Same goes for good, it is, in fact, in the eye of the beholder. Take homicide, we think of killing someone we don't know and know nothing about as evil, but what if you are actually just trying to reduce the population to save resources for the rest of us? Is killing someone who has or will hurt you or your family evil; most people will say no, but what if you and your family are real sickos and like to molest small children? There is no absolute morality.

Answer 9

Throughout history, mankind has always changed what is good or evil based on their own desires at the time.

What is or is not evil however has been determined by our God and that does not change: therefore for those that believe in him, evil does not change. It's description remains constant.

Answer 10

Complete evil cannot exist because if it did it would not exist because evil would consume itself. Total evil would be incapable of being anything other than evil and when it comes to the execution of the most sinister and evil of devices it is often necessary to placate those who would interfere with such a plan with niceness. Even if this being nice were completely false something purely evil would still be unable to do this.