Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

Will Good Eventually Prevail Over Evil?

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
This topic is archived.
Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU
 
Mr. Ected Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:12 PM
Original message
Will Good Eventually Prevail Over Evil?
Or is it mankind's destiny to inexorably succumb to perniciousness?

I don't really care; my 6-year old just asked me.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
trof Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:12 PM
Response to Original message
1. No. It's a draw.
Sorry.
:-(
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
mix Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:13 PM
Response to Original message
2. trench warfare
Edited on Sat Jul-18-09 07:15 PM by mix
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Deja Q Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:14 PM
Response to Original message
3. Nice guys finish last... or have so much anxiety they can't get it off...
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
armyowalgreens Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:15 PM
Response to Original message
4. Good and Evil are transcendent themes. They don't actually exist.
Edited on Sat Jul-18-09 07:15 PM by armyowalgreens
They are terms used to polarize figures.


Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
mix Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:45 PM
Response to Reply #4
14. not in a transcendent sense, of course, but culturally yes good and evil exist
Edited on Sat Jul-18-09 07:45 PM by mix
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
armyowalgreens Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:52 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. What I'm saying is that they don't exist except for in the minds of men.
Without man, there is no such thing as good and evil. Good and Evil were conjured up in order to satisfy a need to organize the world.

People want to believe that there is absolute truth.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Ohio Joe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 01:49 AM
Response to Reply #15
21. Wow... what a load of shit
It might work in an existence where man was the only sentient creature... if only we lived in one. I would also wonder what absolute truth has to do with good and evil... They are not absolutes anywhere... Some of us even relish in our darker sides from time to time.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
armyowalgreens Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 02:31 AM
Response to Reply #21
22. "load of shit"... Well put.
You clearly misunderstood me. And that is evident in your overly aggressive intro. I suggest you calm down before speaking your mind.

I never said that other creatures couldn't conceive the same concepts of good and evil. What I said was that Good and Evil are transcendent themes. They only exist in the mind of the being that conjures them up. The same goes for truth. There is no such thing as absolute truth. At least as far as we are concerned. We are not omniscient beings. So how could we possibly know for certain if what we do is the right thing?

In our individual realities, there is no operating manual. There are no set rules except for the laws of nature. But how do we even know that these laws we discovered are absolutely without a doubt accurate?

The short answer is that we do not know anything. We can only guess with the best of our abilities. So why in the world would I, with all my lack of perspective, be willing to announce that good and evil do exist? What exactly is good and evil?

They are concepts. They exist in our language. An imperfect language by imperfect beings that is open for interpretation. Absolutist terms like good and evil are not open for interpretation.

With that said, I am not a moral relativist. I am an ethical pluralist.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Ohio Joe Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 08:27 AM
Response to Reply #22
24. Bzzzzt, wrong guess, what do we have for him Monty?
I understood you just fine. Profanity does not mean anger or excitement for me, I use it because I enjoy it, it amuses me... it is not a very nice thing to do.

I do not view good and evil as universal laws like those of nature yet... I cannot deny they do exist. I see them more as a force that reacts differently for each individual. Because they cannot be put into a universal box does not mean they do not exist. A desire to stuff them in there is a desire to impose your will on others.

It is true that there is very little that falls into black or white, there is sooooo much that is grey. It is also true that without black and white, grey cannot exist.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Xipe Totec Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 04:36 PM
Response to Reply #4
29. I disagree; good and evil do exist
if you look for them in the right level of abstraction.

Those who deny the existence of good an evil, simply reflect their inability to handle multiple levels of abstraction at the same time.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
JitterbugPerfume Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:20 PM
Response to Original message
5. Good and evil are
in the eye of the beholder . That is what war is all about.

And God.And religion
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
TX Screwball Donating Member (246 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:22 PM
Response to Original message
6. I hope so..
I got $20 on Good.


Tell the kid it will, 6 is too young to be bummed out.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Drunken Irishman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:23 PM
Response to Original message
7. I hope not.
Do we really want to live in a world where everything is good and Flanders-like?

No horror movies, porn or poor direct to video Steven Seagal films.

I don't want to live in a world without those!
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
armyowalgreens Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:32 PM
Response to Reply #7
10. Wait, why is porn evil?
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Xipe Totec Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:25 PM
Response to Original message
8. Random Video Quotes Montage
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
noamnety Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:26 PM
Response to Original message
9. is this another rec/unrec thread? (nt)
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
JVS Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:34 PM
Response to Original message
11. So, Lone Star, now you see that evil will always triumph because good is dumb.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Ikonoklast Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:39 PM
Response to Reply #11
12. "Yogurt? Who hasn't heard of Yogurt!"


"May The Schwartz be with you!"









Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
ghostsofgiants Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 12:22 AM
Response to Reply #11
20. Beat me to it.
:thumbsup:
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
RFKHumphreyObama Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 07:43 PM
Response to Original message
13. See my sig line n/t
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
leeroysphitz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 09:17 PM
Response to Original message
16. Good and Evil does not exist.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 11:20 PM
Response to Original message
17. Good will win out in the end. Because we'll know more about evil in this century of the study of the
brain. We'll know more about people all the way around. We'll be better informed. There will be a good person means test for politicians at the national level. I believe in good things in the future.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
mix Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 11:24 PM
Response to Reply #17
18. Yet we all live in a period--the last century in particular--that might not be evil,
but is certainly not "good." More people have been slaughtered since 1914 than in the entire history of human warfare. I wish I could share your optimism, but these are dark times.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
applegrove Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Jul-18-09 11:46 PM
Response to Reply #18
19. I'm sure the history before 1900 was too pretty in many parts of the world either. Look at slavery
and child labour. But I am very hopeful for this next century.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
vadawg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 02:43 AM
Response to Original message
23. depends on who decides what is good and what is evil
i think every person and every culture has their own definitions, we all look at things differently whether its gay marriage, abortion, war, nuclear power, eating meat or honey badgers..
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
NJmaverick Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 08:43 AM
Response to Original message
25. I personally think they will be in eternal struggle
one side never defeating the other. After all with out both good and evil there would be no free will.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
stray cat Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 08:52 AM
Response to Original message
26. I agree with Obama that sometimes we have to be careful who we label good and evil
some things are clear cut - but sometimes its more ones opinion in which case its dangerous to demonize someone because their view is different than yours.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
Tuesday Afternoon Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 10:55 AM
Response to Original message
27. yes.
Edited on Sun Jul-19-09 10:55 AM by Tuesday Afternoon
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
rrneck Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Jul-19-09 11:13 AM
Response to Original message
28. Good and Evil?
Use all you want. We'll make more.
Printer Friendly | Permalink |  | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Fri May 03rd 2024, 10:36 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » The DU Lounge Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC