DEATH IS EASY by Russell Madden

FREEDOM,  As If It Mattered by Russell Madden

The Guardian Project by Russell Madden

RaNdoM by Russell Madden

 

The problem of "evil" is as ancient as human thought. For something so fundamental to the human condition, it seems odd that we are still pondering its nature after so many millennia. One would think that after such prodigious periods of time in the fellowship of this persistent companion, we would be all too familiar with its every intimate detail.

Perhaps, though, our wrestling with the essence -- or even the existence -- of "evil" is not so surprising. Many people have a vested interest in promulgating one viewpoint over another. Perhaps they seek to excuse themselves or their groups from any wrongdoing. Maybe they see the championing of a particular understanding of "evil" as a means to avoid the censure of their fellow travelers through life.

In any event, the truth remains that wide and sometimes very strident disagreements remain and flourish whenever the subject of "evil" arises.

On a basic level, there are two camps: one that denies that "evil" exists and one that claims that the existence of "evil" cannot rationally be rejected.

Today, those who hold that "evil" is a false concept usually follow some manner of determinism; "soft" or "hard" determinism hardly matters. The former inevitably devolves into the latter upon closer examination. These folks declare that a variety of causes suffice to explain undesirable behavior. There is no need to rely upon the "crutch" of a "morality" that is nothing more than a "human construct."

We act as we do, they say, from historical necessity or because of genetic programming or the inescapable influences of our environment. Billions have been wasted, er, spent studying and proselytizing one or another of these "causes." Criminals are not evil, merely in the throes of a corrupt culture. Or they are pawns in the grip of a code laid down in the brains of our reptilian ancestors, a code that creates a criminal or a saint with equal ease. Marx opted for history as the great molder of behavior and societies.

After trillions spent on "rehabilitation," endless "wars on poverty," and the myriad of other programs designed to alleviate the strains of an "inherently inequitable" world, we discover that we might as well have burned that money. Problems that are simultaneously "no one's fault" and "everyone's fault" (in the guise of "society") grow worse as long as we cling to such warped views of what constitutes "evil."

(Curiously, many of these same activists absolve criminals and welfare recipients of any evil actions because of environment or genetics while simultaneously castigating anything smacking of business, holding the tobacco or food or liquor or cosmetics industries as purveyors of evil. But don't those corporate owners and managers share those same genes and environment that purifies their "victims"?)

No, those who hold that "evil" in any true moral sense does not exist cannot logically maintain their position. The contradictions are too insurmountable.

As for those who do accept that "evil" is real and among us, here, too, we discover disagreements. Some state explicitly what is merely assumed by the determinists: that groups are evil. Whites today are evil because some of their ancestors held slaves or were racists. ("Slave reparations" or affirmative action, anyone?) Men are evil because some are rapists and some are sexist. Business people are evil because some lie to and cheat their customers. Americans are evil because, well, because we're Americans. (You know; we consume all those resources, we're wealthier than all those other countries, we "pollute"...)

Other believers in "evil" fortunately acknowledge that it is an individual phenomenon. They recognize that any morality rests on the ability of individuals to make choices among alternatives. When a person has no options, he cannot properly be labeled evil or good. Such a situation is, as they say, a "category" error (like complaining that carrots make lousy public speakers; the latter has nothing to do with the former). Unfortunately, many of these people engage in endless wrangling as to whether humans are inherently evil or not.

However, if people are -- by nature -- evil, then we again face the contradiction of determinism and lack of choice. If you are born evil, well, then what precisely does that mean? If you're born with red hair, are you responsible for that characteristic? Hardly. To claim that one comes into existence as an "evil" being is to evade the very substance of morality, i.e., making choices. Not even an acknowledgment of "genetic character predispositions" alters this fact. One person may find it more difficult to avoid evil than another, but each chooses when faced with alternatives for ill or good.

No, people are morally neutral when they come into existence. Evilness or goodness are traits they develop over time.

Evil does exist. It does not, however, merely consist of violating a particular set of rules. One should not avoid evil because "it is wrong to violate rule X" or because "I will be evil if I do (or don't do) Y."

To commit an "evil" act is to engage in behavior that is destructive of human values, even if that destruction involves only yourself. It is only life that makes values possible and only human life that makes moral values possible. Our free will allows us to focus on life and what it requires -- and thus to be good -- or to evade, consciously or unconsciously, what reason reveals are the proper principles for conducting our existences, whether we are alone or working together with those who share our humanity.

Groups cannot be good or evil. Only single people -- individuals -- can be good or evil.

I can do evil. You can do evil. If you or I are destructive enough -- and evil actions (mere thoughts are insufficient to qualify) come in a dizzyingly wide range of shades and degrees -- if you or I are devastating enough in obliterating human values and human lives, then you or I do not only do evil, we are evil.

As I believe the cartoon character Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy, and he is us."

And "us" is all we need by way of an explanation for evil.