The Nature of Evil

Book cover via AmazonWhat is evil? Evil acts have perpetrators and victims. Evil is behavior without a moral code. So does behavior that is self serving for the individual, when devoid of a moral code constitute evil? Doing harm to others is evil.

I believe that the most ghastly acts of evil are never without rationalization and justification within the mind of the individual that perpetrates that evil.
The power to rationalize and justify our behavior is what differentiates human beings from animals. Actions by animals might appear to us to be evil but animals lack self consciousness. Animals just do whereas humans have a choice. We rationalize then act out on that thought.

It seems to me that many evil actions can be justified but remain evil. We could call them "necessary evils". For example the bombing of Nagasaki and Hiroshima can be justified but still remain acts of evil. Carpet bombings of cities during WW11 is another example of "necessary evil". The torture of suspected terrorists which is always discussed in terms of human rights versus national security might eventually end up also becoming a "necessary evil".

Issues of necessary evil might be debated as to their ethical or unethical value but in the end they are perpetrated and justified by rational arguments.


Today, in a world of logical, rational pragmatism, we are capable or justifying evil actions because we lack the focus of the ethical approach.
It seems to me that the Australian Philosopher Peter Singer has been single handedly campaigning for an ethical approach to issues that deserves more attention.

Whilst lawyers and legislators battle with issues that seem to be increasingly dominated by religious lobby groups, we have forgotten that there is another way to find the right path. The way of ethics.

You could read Truman Capote's In Cold Blood to get a chilling insight into the mindless and pointless actions of individuals who commit evil. But that is a view without any psychological insights. Can it be possible that humans commit evil without any internal psychological reasoning to justify their actions?
Do those of us who commit evil do it purely out of instinct? I doubt it. Even the most disturbed mind has its own internal logic.

It seems that evils exists not because we as human beings are inherently evil but because we have the power to rationalize and justify our behavior.