The Nature of Good and Evil.

[frigidmagi]

Many moons ago when the earth was young, between mammoth hunting trips that Josh and I would take up north (because it's fucking hot down in the south) I posted a thread for the discussion of good and evil. It was derailed into an entirely different conversation. Eon's later... I attempt to try again.

For the purpose of discussion, I ask that we all say we believe Good and Evil exist. That we all say that we believe that Good and Evil are Objective, that is what is good and what is evil are such despite the opinion of the viewer. In such case, what is the nature of good and the nature of evil?

To clarify I'm not asking for a laundry list of good deeds or evil practices, but to boil it down to the essentials. What makes something good and what makes something evil?

[Josh]

Pulling the Pleistocene Mountain Oyster gag on your buddy definitely qualifies for dark side, IMO.

Okay, if we're defining good and evil as objectively existing things, are we stripping intent from the equation? Smacking somebody on the back is kind of a berk thing to do, but if you're squashing a Black Widow that's heading for their neck, you're redeemed.

While I'm awaiting clarification on that, I'll toss my vague and barely-formed thoughts into the pool. It's all about how one applies their innate selfishness. Everything we do is rooted in some form of personal payoff, and to me evil starts at some degree when the payoff is at the loss for others.

Of course, there's a million and one circumstantial modifiers to be applied there.