There are two ways of looking at the issue of evil.
One can see evil as the opposite of good, or one can see evil as the perversion of good.
When one holds that evil is the opposite of good, one develops the idea that fighting evil is a matter of fighting those labeled as evil.
When one holds that evil is a perversion of good, one is likely to see introspection as the first step in the battle against evil, for if one becomes evil in the fight for good, then the fight is for naught.
1 comment:
A very interesting post. When we divide ourselves into "opposed" camps, we invariable judge all things of us as good, and all things of them as bad. It is as you say-an internal issue. But when we see it as a clear divide, we begin to cast more and more people into the "evil" category because to accept that we could do the same is terrifying. So we call them all manners of names: inhuman, monster, beast, etc. But this only serves to diminish our ability for introspect-to say, "What IF I am not as good as I think I am? What would I REALLY do in situation X?" That is the key I think, to morality.
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