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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 3:25 am
(May 29, 2010 at 12:17 am)tackattack Wrote: Fair enough sae, I like the new word too I'm going to have to use that "intersubjectivity". What philosophical stance would that be that nothing is objectively verifiable? Also I try not to laugh at anyone not telling a joke...
Well, you don't have to laugh. 'Twas but a recommendation 
I don't know that a term is coined for that... amusingly... if you type "nothing is objectively verifiable" without quotations into google: your post comes up as second result 0.o I should safely say it is nihilism... but I do not claim any knowledge of what to call that belief (that nothing is objectively verifiable). :S
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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 5:09 am
ty. yes, nihilism does appear to be that stance.. I'm pretty sure I'm a nihilist in some aspects. That is quirky onthe google response.
"There ought to be a term that would designate those who actually follow the teachings of Jesus, since the word 'Christian' has been largely divorced from those teachings, and so polluted by fundamentalists that it has come to connote their polar opposite: intolerance, vindictive hatred, and bigotry." -- Philip Stater, Huffington Post
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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 5:22 am
Well that's good if it be true (imho, and if you are indeed nihilistic). Depending on how you mean it, you would also be an existentialist 
But I suppose we are rather distracting from the question of 'does evil exist'... and I am wondering if the OP was a "shit and run theist" :S
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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 8:04 am
(This post was last modified: May 29, 2010 at 8:13 am by Purple Rabbit.)
Evil as in "bad things done to scentient beings" exists.
Evil as an independent malevolent agent acting in this world overriding cause and effect and parasiting on humans exists only in the realm of fabulation and as an excuse.
Next question please.
(May 29, 2010 at 3:25 am)Saerules Wrote: I don't know that a term is coined for that... amusingly... if you type "nothing is objectively verifiable" without quotations into google: your post comes up as second result 0.o I should safely say it is nihilism... but I do not claim any knowledge of what to call that belief (that nothing is objectively verifiable). :S Every definition of objectivity is subjective by default, so what the hell are you talking about?
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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 8:45 am
[quote='Purple Rabbit' pid='72535' dateline='1275134676']
Evil as in "bad things done to scentient beings" exists.
Personnally I think wanton detruction of anything can be 'evil'.
Forrest felling can be evil as can vandalism.
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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 8:49 am
(This post was last modified: May 29, 2010 at 8:54 am by Purple Rabbit.)
(May 29, 2010 at 8:45 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: [quote='Purple Rabbit' pid='72535' dateline='1275134676']
Evil as in "bad things done to scentient beings" exists.
Personnally I think wanton detruction of anything can be 'evil'.
Forrest felling can be evil as can vandalism. Destruction as a natural process exists too. So nature is evil in itself?
Forrest felling is an act of man and affects man and animal. The only use of the word "evil" in that context that has any meaning to me concerns man and animal.
Is it evil to eat lettuce too?
"I'm like a rabbit suddenly trapped, in the blinding headlights of vacuous crap" - Tim Minchin in "Storm"
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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 9:19 am
(May 29, 2010 at 8:49 am)Purple Rabbit Wrote: (May 29, 2010 at 8:45 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: [quote='Purple Rabbit' pid='72535' dateline='1275134676']
Evil as in "bad things done to scentient beings" exists.
Personnally I think wanton detruction of anything can be 'evil'.
Forrest felling can be evil as can vandalism. Destruction as a natural process exists too. So nature is evil in itself?
Forrest felling is an act of man and affects man and animal. The only use of the word "evil" in that context that has any meaning to me concerns man and animal.
Is it evil to eat lettuce too?
No. Nature is not evil.
The evil is in the intent.
Evil can only be truly done BY sentient beings, they understand that what they are doing is wrong. Therein lies the evil.
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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 1:58 pm
(This post was last modified: May 29, 2010 at 2:04 pm by Violet.)
Purple Rabbit Wrote:Every definition of objectivity is subjective by default, so what the hell are you talking about? +1 Welcome back 
downbeatplumb Wrote:No. Nature is not evil.
The evil is in the intent.
Evil can only be truly done BY sentient beings, they understand that what they are doing is wrong. Therein lies the evil.
If evil can be only in the intent... then what word have we for equivalent actions by nonthinking beings? 
What do you call those who don't believe the actions wrong? What of the fact that 'wrongness' for one being is different from 'wrongness' to another... so would not 'evil' then be an adjective for one person to define an action of what they believe to be profoundly immoral/malevolent? And in that case... what should it matter wether the being be thinking or not?
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RE: does evil exist?
May 29, 2010 at 7:37 pm
dbp, I've been trying to get that point across since I got to this forum.
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RE: does evil exist?
May 30, 2010 at 3:23 am
(May 29, 2010 at 9:19 am)downbeatplumb Wrote: No. Nature is not evil.
The evil is in the intent.
Evil can only be truly done BY sentient beings, they understand that what they are doing is wrong. Therein lies the evil. The problem with that pov is that we have no direct access to the intent of other sentient individuals beside ourselves (and even the latter is unclear since we cannot trace our own thoughts on a cause and effect basis). IOW, to base the definition of evil on intent does not clarify the word itself but invites one to reverse engineer agency from perceived evil. Isn't that what starts of religion in the first place?
"I'm like a rabbit suddenly trapped, in the blinding headlights of vacuous crap" - Tim Minchin in "Storm"
Christianity is perfect bullshit, christians are not - Purple Rabbit, honouring CS Lewis
Faith is illogical - fr0d0
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