The hidden nature of evil?

Question

I am looking for any articles, books, or essays on the struggle people face with their own inner hidden evil nature and good. All people have evil thoughts and ideas, but seldom express them. I want to find something on the theories people have formed on the nature of evil, especially the evil that everyday, normal people refuse to acknowledge in themselves.

Answer 1

Check out "People of the Lie" by M. Scott Peck, or try "The Problem of Pain" by CS Lewis.

Answer 2

In response to your questio "Are humans evil by nature" where nature is the operative word, I would have to say no. This is because if you were to revert a person to their most primitive level, they wouldn't be overly bad. This primitive human may do the occasional bad thing, but in general they would likely be very innocent and unknowing. To further illustate my point, you might think of an infant. Infants and the very young have little or no knowledge of the world in which they have been born and operate purely on that which is human nature; curiosity, hunger, discomfort, etc. A human can commit acts of complete single-minded selfishness. It is human nature to be selfish, as selfish animals tend to survive better in the wild. But selfish is a far cry from Evil. And not everyone who is selfish is a bad person. And not everyone is entirely selfish. When it comes to Evil, there can be no doubt that the world is full of some pretty sick puppies. I duno if I would say that most people are evil. I would probably place it at about 1-3% are truly Evil people. I could be wrong, or it is possible that you have become jaded over the years and see darkness and sh*t, where there is only clouds and mud. Either way, I doubt the world is as bad as you see it. Some people are good and some a bad, but most, I think tend to be neautral-good. "With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world." (desiderata) People may surprise you if you give them a chance. There will always be people who will hurt you, but there will also be 5 more people waiting to ask you about your day. Cheers.

Answer 3

What you are talking about is psycology and profiling. Talk to your local university the department of psycology. This area is normally not well discussed for the average individual. It is probably somewhat studied by law enforcement though. Remember that people normally do not acknowledge faults. We tend to want to blame someone else for our short comming. This is why you see the blame it on the parrents, thing. Well, maybe the parents had something to do with it but at some point the person who commits the crime must take responsability.

To also give you a different perspective you can also study evil through the eyes of religion. For example there are many who belive that evil and evil thoighs are really the act of the devil or some demon influencing you to do bad things. To me is just another excuse to accept responsability. But, it would be interesting to see what different religion say about evil and compare these results to what psycologist say about evil.


I have seen a couple of shows on the discovery channel that talked about this subject. Mainly about serial killer. I think the show was called the most evil. Pretty much this psycologist have study the habbits of the most evil people in the U.S. and classified them according to his scale which I think runs from 1 to 23 or maybe 25.Inone case he said that some people are more prone to evil because they lack a mechanism for remorse and or fear. These people tend to be despondent to events in their daily life. People who have thisconditions can be usually seen doing crazy stunts. So, adrenalling junkies, cops and others who do not fear risky behavior have this despondent mechanism. This is why they seek trills. The thing is that normally this is an ok thing to have. We need explorers and adventurers and these type of people are the perfect candidates. I mean who in their right mind get on a rocket and travel to the moon? I mean a rocket is just a metal casing with liquid explosive stored in it and fire coming out one end. The thing could blow up at any moment. Plus once you are in space any single thing that went wrong and you are as good as dead. Alright I'm rambling here. The thing is that if the circumstances are right these same people can be very vicious. Not all but if someone was raised in an abusive environment and learns to live a life of crime then this special skill can turn very dangerous fast. By this description that the guy gave on the show then I came up with my own. My definition of evil is a concious disregards of others. For example, if you are greedy then you do a conscious disregard when knownly you tell an employee to work in a risky environment that may get them hurt or killed because you want to make extra profit.

Answer 4

Most people have human thoughts. Whether or not you consider those thoughts evil is a matter of conditioning.

Answer 5

How to Get Ahead in Advertising (1989)

Answer 6

If you want to find evil, you just need to look inside your own heart.

Often, it's the evil in our own hearts that is hell bent on seeking out evil in other people's hearts.

Answer 7

I know what evil I'm capable of - it's not 'hidden' but it is definitely controlled. I had an excellent teacher.

Answer 8

Can't help you there, I like horror books. That satisfies my evil nature.

Answer 9

i think it's just curiosity

and curiosity is human nature

because rather than thinking and doing good all the time people start to wonder wat happens if i push this old lady down the stairs rather than help her? would she break a hip? would it help other people who are in a rush because she's slowing down the line? i wonder wat's for dinner tonight?

just an example...

Answer 10

know what? i also like the book or artices u're searching..it's kinda interesting..