{"id":3305,"title":"The hard problem of morality.","description":"What does morality mean?","content":"

Redefining Evil in a Godless universe.<\/h2>

\"\"It seems obvious, right? We all know in our collective psyche what Evil means. The 20th century has played host to various wicked regimes that have killed millions of people and left suffering for generations to come. Who is going to argue that Hitler or Stalin or (insert dictator here) isn't Evil incarnate, the very definition of profound wickedness? Surely, whatever Evil is by anyone's definitions, Hitler is it!...... well, if only it were that simple. I mean, did Hitler wake up every morning, grab his coffee, a few cold-cuts and think to himself \"what can I do today that's truly Evil\", or was he in his own incomprehensibly misguided way, trying to make the world a better place to live? Was he not trying to edge us forward to what he believed was right, honest, and Good? Let's go back a few hundred years to another instance of mass genocide, burning witches at the stake.<\/p>

\"\"


<\/p>

From our 21st century perspective, that is an abhorrent practice based on nothing more than superstition and ignorance. Another example of man's proclivity to Evil, right? Well, maybe, but how do we square that with the fact that those people genuinely believed they were doing the work of God. I mean, the big guy says it right here: Exod 22:18, \"Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live\". You as a God-fearing subject of the all-mighty have no choice but to act out His will and eradicate those who align themselves with the Devil. Surely that's the Good thing to do.<\/p>

Ok, so, we have two possible options here. Either, there exists an objective Good and Evil. Something on which we did not decide but rather was foisted upon us by an external force. Witches bad. God good. Or the ideas of Good and Evil are subjective, just a mere invention of Man to stop society devolving into chaos before we\u2019ve even started.<\/p>

Let's start with the first option. God exists<\/strong>. And for the sake of argument we are going to suppose that this God is something akin to the Abrahamic God, or failing that, at least gives a monkey's whether we are Good or Evil. For most believers, it's cut and dry; Good is whatever He says it is, and don't ask questions. Now I am going to attempt to throw a spanner in the celestial works and show how perhaps God isn't all he's cracked up to be. Consider the following posed by H. J. McCloskey.<\/p>

1. God is all-powerful<\/p>

2. God is all-knowing<\/p>

3. God is perfectly Good<\/p>

4. Evil exists<\/p>

On their own, all these points stand true. But they cannot all exist at the same time. Given Evil exists in the world (and you can blame the Devil for that if you're that way inclined) and God does nothing to stop it; he is either not all-powerful, not all-knowing or not all Good. He created the universe from nothing and exists outside of all time and space\u2026. I guess we can assume that He is all-powerful. It makes sense then that He must have created Evil, so why would he not be able to eradicate it? Alternatively, God might not be all-knowing and be blissfully unaware that Evil exists. Still, I doubt that as he is supposed to see literally everything, (anyone getting voyeur vibes?). Therefore, as we have exhausted all other possibilities, we must assume that:<\/p>

1. God knows Evil exists<\/p>

2. He could stop it if He wanted to do but doesn't (answers on a postcard if you can reconcile that one).<\/p>

Conclusion, He isn't all good, and indeed not a source from which we can derive any notion of pure goodness. But hey, he works in mysterious ways.<\/p>

So, now that God is dead, let us get to debunking the idea of Good and Evil in a Godless universe, shall we? In a Godless universe, whose morality are we going to go with when we decide that something is Evil? Ultimately in a Godless universe, we are stuck with David Hume's problem that you \"cannot derive ought from is\". In a nutshell, there is no fact or logical reason you can present to me that can tell me why I shouldn't commit an evil act. So which actions are, for the most part, considered Evil? Let's start with one of the biggies, murder. When you take someone's life, you are committing the most abhorrent of Evils; you are disabling them forever. But where and when exactly has the Evil taken place?<\/p>

\"\"

<\/p>

Imagine that you are trekking through the mountains in North America, and you are unfortunate enough to come across a bear and her cubs. That bear is going to rip you to pieces. But no one would say that bear was Evil. So, it's not only the taking of life that constitutes Evil, but we also need a conscious understanding of the repercussions of our actions. And maybe even more crucially, we need to have the inherent agency to have acted in any other way.<\/p>

Free will has entered the chat.<\/p>

Free will seems evident to most of us, we make decisions, and ultimately, we are responsible for them. So you might be surprised to know that the argument for the existence of free will still rages among Philosophers and Neuroscientists.<\/p>

Here's a disconcerting thought experiment. Take someone truly Evil, and imagine you had their genetics, eyesight, illnesses, likes and dislikes, parents, you grew up in the same country as them, you had the same fears and dreams etc. Would you behave any differently from them? After some uncomfortable moments, most people realise that the answer to that question is\u2026 No. You did not choose to be who you are, all your life you have been shaped by forces beyond your control. This realisation helps most people to understand that the idea of free will is ultimately an illusion. Every decision you think you make is nothing more than a combination of genetics and social conditioning.<\/p>

Think of what the brain is. The brain is just a series of neurons structured in a certain way, determined by your genetics. We did not choose how those neurons are connected and so, can we be blamed for any undesirable behaviour that their structure causes us to manifest? Perhaps you could say that free will arises inside the neurons. Neurons are, at their lowest level, comprised of atoms obeying the laws of physics. Unless you are a proponent of panpsychism (the idea that absolutely everything has consciousness), the idea of electrons having a mind of their own seems... ridiculous. Given we have no choice over how our brain is structured, along with our psychological disposition, can an Evil person be held responsible for their actions? Many Philosophers categorise an Evil person as someone who lacks empathy, in what way did those people choose a brain lacking in empathy? They didn't, it just an unfortunate roll of the cosmic dice. You can read more about Free Will and its lack of existence here: https:\/\/samharris.org\/life-without-free-will\/<\/a><\/p>

Does that mean that no one can be held accountable for their actions?<\/p>

Not at all<\/p>

As Sam Harris discusses in his book: The Moral Landscape<\/p>

\"\"
https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Moral-Landscape-Science-Determine-Values\/dp\/143917122X<\/a><\/p>

At the fundamental level, the only thing that we know 100% exists, is our own well-being. When we manifest behaviours that are in line with any traditional definition of Evil, we reduce the well-being of ourselves and those around us. Unless you're completely lacking in empathy, imagine how murdering someone would affect your well-being. And even if you are a complete psychopath, imagine living in a society in which murder wasn't deemed Evil. How would your well-being be affected?<\/p>

Somewhere in our distant collective past, we realised that some actions are counterproductive to human flourishing, murder, theft, fraud etc. and called those things Evil. We soon learned that fear is a powerful tool in shaping how we behave. So, what did we do? We extrapolated out what we can understand, a life without well-being and gave it a name, hell. Regardless of if you're religious or not, we know when our well-being is negatively affected. If you erode your well-being enough, you start the journey to Hell. And if there's one moral foundation we know we can rely on, it's we need to keep as far away from Hell as possible.<\/p>

Although Good and Evil are not in any scientific sense \"real\", they are real enough that without them, no human society can flourish. Perhaps we need to redefine what we mean when we say someone is \"Evil\" did they have any other choice? And perhaps Good can be defined as actions which bring about the highest state of well-being possible. Regardless of what you believe, the age-old adage still rings true, be excellent to each other.<\/p>

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