lead to changing that. Especially early life experiences. I also think that the brain reacts differently to the same life experiences for each person. My brother and I turned out very different for example.
What Does Evil Mean:During the argument with my friend, we couldn't agree on what the word "evil" meant. I defined evil like a behavioral psychologist in a purely observational manner. I based it on the amount of egocentric behavior and selfish acts that one would see in a child. Acts that, if not changed later on, might cause a development into Operational Defiant Disorder and eventually into Anti-social Personality Disorder.
For example, very young Betty is playing with a car and very young Tommy wants that car so he crawls over and takes it from Betty. Betty starts crying, and Tommy just goes on enjoying the new car he has found. Then Tommy's mother comes in and sees what happens and says "No, Tommy, look, you just hurt Betty's feelings." and she teaches Tommy that there are consequences to actions. Tommy's young and plastic brain learns that this selfish behavior is bad and hurtful to others.
However, had Tommy not learned this at all... and continued into adulthood with the "me, me, me" attitude. He would be committing evil actions in adulthood.
I don't think evil actions have to be "you intend to be evil" because most evil people do not THINK what they are doing is wrong or evil. The think they are justified, or are doing what "has to be done", or are doing what "anyone else would do" in that situation, or so on. Everyone justifies their own actions.
My friend argued that in order to be evil you have to have "intent" behind the action. You have to intend to cause harm to someone else as a part of your action. He said that trying to define evil in such observational terms as though writing the abstract of a journal article was disengenuous. He even proposed that we might not be able to define "evil" at all because so many people have so many opinions of what the word means. And he could have a very good point. He has a higher IQ than I do and generally floors me with his intelligent observations to the point of making me jealous.
Still... I really do think that without any laws or consequences, that about half of the world (if not more) would gladly loot, steal, or even murder for their own gain and self satisfaction.
A Man Is Best Judged By What He Does When He Thinks No One Is Watching:There is a saying that declares "A man is best judged by what he does when he thinks no one is watching." I think this is very true. Look at the guy who flipped you off on the highway going to work. He would never do that to your face in the work place because there would be consequences (losing his job), or look at the rude/outrageous messageboard posters you sometimes run across. They'd never say such ugly things in person, but they do it online because there is no consequences. Without consequences, their true natures are able to come out.
The Lord Of The Flies is one of the best books I've ever read. But it is tragic, because I think William Golding got a lot of things correct in his story. It is human nature to disregard others for our own needs. As non-PC as that sounds. I even wrote a song about Golding's philosophies. "William Golding had it right/our insides are as black as night/without the law society is dead."
Good News!:But the good news is that we can also legitimately change ourselves thanks to life experiences. There are people who, even when no one is watching, will donate to charity, comfort a hurt stranger, or hold their breaks to a let a car through on a busy highway. I think a lot of this is determined when we are young, but I don't believe it is an entirely nurture based situation.
Research has shown that even newborn babies present distinct personalities and tendencies.
The Pre-Frontal Cortex Of The Brain:I also think some of this has to do with the specific development of the Pre-Frontal cortex. The Pre-frontal cortex has long been associated with personality, determining right from wrong, and rejecting instate self-gratifications. During our childhood the pre-frontal cortex is still developing up until age 7.
For more information on the development of the pre-frontal cortex check out this awesome article:
http://web.uvic.ca/psyc/mueller/psyc435c/Week%202%20Notes.pdf In Closing:In closing, the greatest thing about the human condition is that, even if we are born evil, we don't have to remain that way forever. Once you really, truly learn empathy, sympathy, compassion, and love... those things are very, very, very hard to unlearn.
-- David