without "civilized society" would the concept of evil and good exist?
917729
Good and evil are judgements.  People make judgements all the time, whether they live in a "civilized society" or not.  Of course, what makes a society "civilized" is that its morality has evolved over time.  As society progresses, we figure out more things that work and more things that are counterproductive.  Remember, it was only recently that women had the right to vote.
195089
I think good and evil are artificial constructs Man has created. As Emerson said, if you drew a line between good and evil, you would cut across every human heart.
1082699
I believe in God, but DO NOT believe in satan, hell or evil.\n\nThe concepts of good and evil and sin are morality judgments and are purely human constructs designed by early church leaders to control the masses through fear-based lives. \n\nSatan was created by early humanity to explain away such things as famine, disease, death, pestilence and natural disasters until science evolved enough to explain these events.\n\nGod is all-loving and living a life of joy and gratitude, living a love-based life, even (especially?) when horrid things happen, is the best thing you can do to with the life we've been given.
594568
Would seem like it, wouldn't it?  Think without religion people would have to turn to common sense ... :)
511692
There is only GOOD.  All things that appear to be evil are really teaching us something for our personal growth.  Christianity exists to help folks grow.  It helps them see that even though they practice a certain religion, they are no closer to the truth.  If anything, they become disillusioned by all the lies.  But, again, they "grow" through that and eventually come to the "bliss" they forgot.\n\nWe are not human beings having a spiritual experience.  We are Spiritual beings having a human experience.  :)\n\nP.S.  Since we all have the capacity for good and negative choices, we can't really throw stones.  However, most "Christians" I have met, seem to be more hateful and unkind than others.  It shows it takes more than a commonly accepted belief system to make a true difference in our attitudes and actions.  :)
325183
No,exclusion is cruel and possibly barbaric.It wouldn't change how good or bad the world is that much because its wrong and faulty.
671406
People don't need to be scared witless to become decent people. Whether or not this is all there is, people will generally be or try to be decent because life is much more livable and tolerable when we're not all at each other's throats. We don't need God or a soul to understand that. Not being religious does not mean that by definition we're just going to mistreat everyone.
363745
That's how I was raised.  Morality without religion attached to it.  \n\nAnd actually, yeah I do find it fun to be good/nice, as long as I'm not taken advantage of for it.  I don't need a reward to be nice, but I don't want to be punished for it, either.
1034216
Well, it seems that part of the morality of people could be attributed to what is beneficial to the species, what will keep us going.  Kind of  a pack mentality. But what is beneficial for the species isn't always conducive to harmonious sharing of the planet.  That's where what we teach our children comes in, how to live and function as a part of society.  Morals could be seen as the grease that helps us slide through life without any major snags, like prison, being ostracized, or a painful, lonely existence.
262932
I think that all people are good. For some reasons some of them follow the good some others evil or bad. It deppens on their life, religion, mind, education e.t.c Theories of goodness inquire into what sorts of things are good, and what the word "good" really means in the abstract.\nAll religions and most philosophical movements have been concerned with good to some degree. It can define "good" and "bad" for a community or society. It affects everyone's life, and maybe all life on Earth, in the way people organize themselves in societies, and even how they think.\n\nThe duality of 'good versus evil' is expressed, in some form or another, by many cultures. This concept describes a hierarchy of moral standards applied to human behaviour. In more casual  use, the word "evil" can characterize people and behaviours that are hurtful, ruinous, or disastrous. Those who believe in the duality theory of evil believe that evil cannot exist without good, nor good without evil, as they are both objective states and opposite ends of the same scale.\n\nIn modern slang, "bad" has become a synonym for "good", as in "Man, that's a bad piece of music."  The ability to choose between good and evil is also a major theme of the philosophy. \nIn our life we have this abbility and we try to follow the better way. Usually our good is not your good.\nIf you want to learn more see Wikipedia
1070249
"If God is good and all-powerful, why does evil exist in this world?"\n\nTime to bust out the big words:  Theodicy.\n\nTheodicy:  "an explanation for the presence of evil and suffering that is consistent with the nature and character of God."\n\nBoy, I'm not sure where to start.  There's so many points to make and I'm not sure how to organize my thoughts....but here goes nothing.  This is my theodicy:\n---------------------------------------------------------\nFirst, let's start by defining "evil."  Evil is not a force or a created thing, so it would be faulty to use the circular logic that either God created evil (meaning God isn't good) or that God isn't the Creator of everything (since He didn't create evil).\n\nEvil is the absence of good, much like rust on a car.  God, by giving us free will, allowed us to "create" evil by choosing against Him.  For, if God is good, then to choose against Him would by evil and the consequences would be death (since God gives life).  Just as darkness is the absence of light, so evil is the absence of good.\n\nSometimes evil is the perversion of good.  Cancer is a good non-moral example.  It's a harmful mutation of otherwise healthy cells.  Whether evil twists good or flat-out rejects it, the results are the same.\n\nEvil is not God's fault.  He created only good and we distorted it, which is evil.\n\nEnough on this topic.  I'm leaving a few loose ends and there's much more to say on this, but I would be getting off track.\n\nSecond, let's point out a major implication of the question.  Anyone who asks our topic question for today is demonstrating the influence of Christianity on western thinking.  Hindus don't ask this question.  Animists don't grapple with it.  To them, the gods themselves are evil and corrupt and evil is to be an expected, embraced part of this world.  Suck it up and live with it.  It's the ying and the yang.  The Dark Side and the Light Side of the Force.  It's still the same Force.\n\nBut by asking the question, you are saying that there is a definite "evil" in this world that can be defined and identified.  There's something wrong and not right.  There is injustice.  And you presume that whoever this God fellow is, it's supposed to be His job to oppose this stuff and He's doing a lousy job.\n\nThis is a Christian worldview:  that evil is not normal and should be opposed.  The Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc. are Christian influences in our society.  There is something in us as human beings that desires to fight injustice, help the suffering, etc.  This would make sense if we are made in God's image... but I'm getting off track again.  Let's move to the third point.\n\nThe question is usually vague and impersonal.  What I mean is that people who ask this question usually have in mind for God to go over and fix that mess in Iraq, or do something about sweat shops and child labor in China.  Why doesn't He oppose child pornography, or hold to account genocide in Africa?\n\nBut they don't want God to interfere with the sin and evil in their own hearts and lives.\n\nSee, for God to come in judgment, He would have to be fully just and judge all...  and this brings me to my final point.\n\nThe question neglects another key element of God's character.  Yes, He is good.  Yes, He is omnipotent.  But He is also merciful.  This may seem like a contradiction (i.e., why would He then allow suffering?), but let me explain.\n\nGod holds back His judgment with patient love in order to give us time to repent and be set right.  The painful side of this is that we also then have more time choose evil.  But the day will come when He will judge the earth.  The sweat shop owners will be held to account...and so will you and I.  God is good.  He is perfect, holy, and righteous.  He is pure.  He opposes evil.  We all have evil in our lives:  the t
288889
well, you can't really prevent badness forever. If there's goodness, then there's got to be badness, too. They can't be one without the other. Good and evil are like 2 parts of the same thing. \nBadness can be reduced somehow, but this depends on us. People just have to be better and more understanding with each other.
206523
I'd imagine there is.... the universe is way to big to assume that we are the only planet with 'civilized' life on it.\n\n& really... are we THAT civilized???   :P
419670
Absolute goodness is impossible. Its logical corollary is absolute evil, and if absolute evil existed, these two powers would cancel each other out. (Just like the famous example of the irresistible force and the immovable object).\nThe main philosophical problem here is defining exactly what we mean by 'good' and 'bad'. Sunlight is good - very good, or life on our planet would consist of tube worms and anerobic bacteria. However, too much sun is dehydrating and destroys life. So it is clear that sunlight is morally neutral, or if you please, morally mixed. Gravitation likewise - without it we couldn't walk on the surface of our planet, but when you're in a plane that has dead engines, you might wish that gravity didn't exist. Everything in nature is like this.\nOne of the key errors in theology is asserting that God is beyond nature or outside of it. Since by definition God/dess is omnipresent (everywhere at once) and infinite, then it is plain that there can be no place and no thing in which the Divine is not present. This is the 'heresy' of Pantheism, but it can't be refuted with logic.
281827
yes it exists as long as humans exist. If it wasn't there, there wouldn't be wars, murders, robbery, poverty, homeless people, ....\nIn short, we would've been living in "Utopia"!\n\nImagine:\nthe rich give the poor, the poor love the rich and are not poor any more. if the rich and the poor are so good there won't be crimals or muderers or anything... when the rich and the poor are sooo good (= everybody on hearth), they will not think of wars nor damage,....
640938
I would say yes. The problem would be that "truly good and decent" people can be defined in more than one way. They would need laws demonstrating they respect eachother's varying choices, even if those choices all seem inherently good to each individual member.\n\nAn example would be in cooperative relationships and commerce. Likely these people would cooperate and would need laws or agreements to do so. \n\nOne person may believe their society will be communistic and perhaps act in a manner to fulfill this with truly good intentions, and violate another's capitalistic ideas.\nThey will need agreements on property and privacy as there can be varying approaches that are inherently good, yet conflicting.\n\nI think inherently good people could easily construct the laws needed and they would not have to include such petty laws as we have in societies filled with injustice, inequity and even evil.\n\nGreat question.
1175690
Actually, this is of great debate. Some people say that human nature is good, possibly because of our tendency toward community and moral universalism (which is a debate among a few also). However, some people also say it is human nature to be evil and that is exploited in modern society with the loss of God as a societal focal point.  I actually believe that as humans, we are neutral because we have the ability to do great things on both sides of the spectrum.\n\nHowever, I noticed that you're comparing sins, murder and criminality (like stealing and lying) and saying stealing to live is not a sin. I agree with you! But the problem is that we live in a society built on capitalism, which demands that goods are made cheaply and sold for great profit. Workers are exploited, and there's a large mass of poor people to support the system. Capitalism cannot work any other way. It's not necessarily the rich people's fault.\n\nThe real problem is what we are taught growing up.  Everyone is told that if only they work hard enough, they all can earn lots of money and be happy, the American Dream to be middle class and middle management, if not higher. First of all, money doesn't bring happiness. And second of all, capitalism cannot function with a lot of people being more than the "poor" level, so people are forced to live in situations where they don't have enough food or money to pay rent. Surviving is not sinning.\n\nThat was addressing criminality as a sin part. Now you ask why god gave us evil. We, as people, are like the world and are neutral. The world creates many natural disasters which destroy and kill. This is part of its cycle. God is our guiding influence toward good, but since people are capable of evil and have free will, no one can stop someone from choosing destruction if that's their ultimate choice (what they would choose beyond others' talking to them, etc.)  Simply, God did not introduce evil. God introduced free will, which ran the risk of evil even though great things were possible through good. It was a risk factor and we have to learn through society to moderate those that are not choosing the best options, and this society does not best facilitate that.\n\nEDIT: And to respond to those that say evil is from Satan. The Bible stories are just that, stories to explain to ancient people why things are the way they are in the world.\n\nI do not believe in Satan. I believe it is a philosophical argument we examined from Anselm (a Christian philosopher if you must know.)  God is eternal, infinite, incorruptible. The only one.  God is also pure good. Evil is the absence of good, so everything has differing degrees of good and evil in them. Satan represents the entire lack of good, pure evil. But if Satan is pure evil, he is incorruptible (cannot be made more evil), but the only incorruptible thing, is God. So Satan does not exist at all because Satan cannot be the same as God.\n\nSatan does not tempt people to sin, people choose it of their own free will.