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Do You Believe People are Basically Evil?

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BayBuck;1108571; said:
I'm not psychoanalyzing, just saying I don't buy Adolf's self-justifying argument against the Jews. He was a politician, not a philosopher, and they were a means to an end.
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i would be really surprised if hitler didn't honestly believe the things he was saying. the attempted extermination of the jews is a big part of why germany lost the war. its why the US won the race for the bomb and while one could argue that was unforseeable. more importantly is the stupid amount of money equipment and manpower germany had to dedicate to the effort. that in and of itself had a significant impact on the war. not to mention every male jew between the ages of 15 and 50 was a lost soldier. thats a lot of manpower.

besides politician or no, take a walk through the political forum. we all think we're philosophers. :p
 
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shetuck;1108521; said:
You've probably read his book, but he thought he was making the world a better place and serving the larger good. Anti-Semites, to this day, would defend his actions and argue that we just don't get it and that our denial of the "facts at hand" only further ensures our demise. They would dismiss our cries of "evil in our midst" as the desperate plea of a lower race in the throes of extinction. They would claim that we have tainted blood and degenerative genes - curses resulting from our refusal to stop inbreeding like the bunch of apes that we are.
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Ok, that's a great argument for why he did what he did. But how does that make it any less evil? Again, I'm only trying to show that from a practical standpoint, evil exists, and I think that genocide is evil, no matter how you slice it. So, what you're saying is that Hitler thought he was making the world a better place. That = his motivation. But the act itself, regardless of its motivation, is still evil. Would you argue that? In other words, can anyone look at those six million deaths and say it is not evil? Maybe there weren't actual evil motivations, but the act itself is still evil.
 
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FKAGobucks877;1108644; said:
Ok, that's a great argument for why he did what he did. But how does that make it any less evil? Again, I'm only trying to show that from a practical standpoint, evil exists, and I think that genocide is evil, no matter how you slice it. So, what you're saying is that Hitler thought he was making the world a better place. That = his motivation. But the act itself, regardless of its motivation, is still evil. Would you argue that? In other words, can anyone look at those six million deaths and say it is not evil? Maybe there weren't actual evil motivations, but the act itself is still evil.
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Yes the act itself is/was evil.

But this wasn't about whether I believe what happened to 6 million people is/was evil or not. You'd asked, earlier: "...Can anyone honestly (and from a realistic, practical standpoint) put a spin on how killing 6,000,000 people in an effort to exterminate a race is not evil?" I responded to your question by showing how sympathizers of the extermination have, in the past, and continue to put a positive spin on things using what they believe are honest, realistic, and practical standpoints.
 
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Gotcha. I'd also said in one of my earlier posts that justification for these acts, or explaining why they are/were committed, is different than saying that the act itself is evil, or not evil. Most of the philosophical debate that has been rendered in this thread seems to be explaining away the "why" behind these acts, as opposed to whether the acts themselves are evil.
 
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Crapola

A large percentage of television is mean spirited crapola. In the name of entertainment they are degrading people. What a bunch of hooey.

Moment of Truth is not something I would ever watch although I did take a brief look at it.

Reality TV isnt real.

Good movies, good sports, good game shows, good sitcoms and good news. They key word is the common word at the beginning. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I think this is way too far.



Taosman;1103981; said:
This is kind of a off shoot of "Moment of Truth" tv show that seems to take a cynical view that people have no moral values. That people are crap.
What do you think?
Are people generally "crap"? Without moral values?
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:osu:
 
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FKAGobucks877;1108681; said:
Gotcha. I'd also said in one of my earlier posts that justification for these acts, or explaining why they are/were committed, is different than saying that the act itself is evil, or not evil. Most of the philosophical debate that has been rendered in this thread seems to be explaining away the "why" behind these acts, as opposed to whether the acts themselves are evil.
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That may be because, [cliche] like beauty, evil is also in the eye of the beholder [/cliche]. In other words, the "why" is key because it goes to the underlying intent of the act.

It's a shortcoming of ours that we're not always so good at unilaterally judging our own actions on absolute terms. That's not to stay that we shouldn't hold ourselves to account for our own actions and learn from our mistakes. But that's also why we have laws and judges and the like to help maintain some modicum of order in a society that can influence so many people in so many different (positive and negative) ways.

Does evil exist "out there" like some sort of self-sufficient baceria waiting to pounce on and infect us? No, I don't believe so.

Do we, as individuals have the capacity to undertake (knowingly or unknowingly) actions that produce "evil" results? Yes, I believe that's possible.

Does that make us the embodiment(s) of evil? No because "evil" is not a self-subsisting entity, but rather the outcome of acts undertaken by individuals who are ill-informed about possible negative consequences.
 
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FKAGobucks877;1108681; said:
Gotcha. I'd also said in one of my earlier posts that justification for these acts, or explaining why they are/were committed, is different than saying that the act itself is evil, or not evil. Most of the philosophical debate that has been rendered in this thread seems to be explaining away the "why" behind these acts, as opposed to whether the acts themselves are evil.
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Does an act have to be "evil" to be punishable? For me, no. We, as a society, can choose to punish whatever acts we wish.. and their nature as "evil" or "good" is irrelevant. I'm curious about your thoughts on this.
 
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Apache;1108689; said:
A large percentage of television is mean spirited crapola. In the name of entertainment they are degrading people. What a bunch of hooey.
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Please explain... I've always thought that Dewey was the evil brother... :confused:

Apache;1108689; said:
Moment of Truth is not something I would ever watch although I did take a brief look at it.

Reality TV isnt real.
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Yeah, and professional wrestling isn't real wrestling, but as long as the ad revenues go into a real bank account, that's all that matters... :biggrin:

Apache;1108689; said:
Good movies, good sports, good game shows, good sitcoms and good news. They key word is the common word at the beginning. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but I think this is way too far.
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I thought that the word at the beginning was the "word", no?
 
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