(February 17, 2017 at 3:37 am)paulpablo Wrote: I think that perceived knowledge can motivate what you'd call evil. I mean if someone knows that America is evil and they know that killing themselves and taking down the world trade center is the best way to deal with the situation then that knowledge has spurred on that evil act.
But as an atheist who believed in evolution I think all our behaviors have primitive instincts at the root. Followed by more thoughtful planned behavior.
So when you look at a missile strike against civilians from another country, the root of that behavior is the same thing that drives the chimpanzee to throw a stick in the vague direction of whoever it wants to intimidate for reasons of aggression. It does take a lot of effort, forward planning and a fixated motivation towards an ideal to bomb someone which are functions of a more complex mind, but I'd say that under all that is the root cause, and that's the more primitive functions of the mind.
Obviously that doesn't take into account mental illness and there's lots of nuances to the subject of what causes evil or what evil even is or if it exists.
What your sister said about your mother even got me a bit emotional for a moment there.
I totally get what you're saying. I just believe that we think that humans evolved cognitively so much faster than the other sapiens for a reason, because they started working together. Wouldn't you agree that its amazing that some/most (I don't know which one) animals have a warning system in place. Like they're all saying, we don't want to do this if we don't have to. Then there are animals that kill just because it is their need. Even then, it is rare for animals to kill, just simply to kill. There always seems to be an evolutionary justification.
So humans have the cognitive ability to have moral values that are similar to other animals, but are far more advanced. Humans have the ability to not just give inalienable rights to humans, but some even go to great lengths to give those basic rights to other animals.
So while I agree with what you're saying, I just don't think that our wars serve any evolutionary advancement. Not to be confused with them being BASED in an evolutionary advancement
