Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!seismo!harpo!floyd!vax135!ariel!houti!hogpc!houxm!hocda!spanky!burl!duke!unc!tim From: tim@unc.UUCP Newsgroups: net.philosophy,net.religion Subject: Re: what IS evil Message-ID: <5415@unc.UUCP> Date: Mon, 20-Jun-83 16:22:50 EDT Article-I.D.: unc.5415 Posted: Mon Jun 20 16:22:50 1983 Date-Received: Thu, 23-Jun-83 23:34:24 EDT References: sbcs.390 Lines: 15 As far as I can tell, "evil" is a word we use to describe behaviors we consider undesirable, and nothing more. There is malevolence, but it need not always be undesirable (consider a soldier fighting Nazis), and there is benevolence, but it need not always be desirable (sheltering Hitler). Since abandoning monotheism, I have had no need for the concept that good and evil are things in themselves. Although I use the words at times, they are only shorthand for desirable and undesirable. I prefer to think in terms of what we should or shouldn't do in any particular situation, and I don't see that the ideas of good and evil help. Is this equivalent to your relativistic point of view, Saumya? Tim Maroney