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Do You Believe People are Basically Evil?

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Buckeyeskickbuttocks;1108695; said:
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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No. I completely agree with the majority here that many "bad" actions aren't "evil" actions, and think the motivation/intent behind the act itself is fairly important. My point was only that, regardless of intent/motivation, the act itself can still be evil, if the intent behind the act is not.

If someone breaks into my house, thinking I'm gone, to steal food because they are starving and desperate, that is not an evil act, while it is still wrong. In this situation, if I actually was home, and shot and killed said desperate person because I thought I was under attack, it would be a tragedy. Not evil, not even technically a crime, but methinks I would be thought of as "evil" by the family/loved ones of the deceased.

I think I'm getting away from your question, though...in short, no, an act does not have to be evil to be punishable. In fact, I'd opine that most crimes (to which society establishes punishment) are not evil, even subjectively speaking (although that's obviously impossible to prove).
 
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FKAGobucks877;1109354; said:
No. I completely agree with the majority here that many "bad" actions aren't "evil" actions, and think the motivation/intent behind the act itself is fairly important. My point was only that, regardless of intent/motivation, the act itself can still be evil, if the intent behind the act is not.

If someone breaks into my house, thinking I'm gone, to steal food because they are starving and desperate, that is not an evil act, while it is still wrong. In this situation, if I actually was home, and shot and killed said desperate person because I thought I was under attack, it would be a tragedy. Not evil, not even technically a crime, but methinks I would be thought of as "evil" by the family/loved ones of the deceased.

I think I'm getting away from your question, though...in short, no, an act does not have to be evil to be punishable. In fact, I'd opine that most crimes (to which society establishes punishment) are not evil, even subjectively speaking (although that's obviously impossible to prove).
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I agree with all this, more or less. That being so, that an acts good or evil value is not determinative of punishable or not, I hope all my banter isn't understood as "excusing" any particular - or general - crimes. That is, my intent isn't to justify really bad people doing really bad things... nor is it to suggest that really bad people who do really bad things are victims somehow... or that they deserve some kind of break for their actions.

I just brought it up because you were wondering about why we're discussing the "why" of any particular act. In that respect, I think we're pretty much required to talk "why" when discerning if there's actual evil, but any resolutions on that question have no effect on the justifications for our criminal law(s) and whatever we, as a society, decide we want to forbid - acts, good, bad or indifferent.
 
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