Is 'evil' an existing emotion or a mental construct? - ProProfs Discuss
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Is 'evil' an existing emotion or a mental construct?

Asked by I.Helen, Last updated: Mar 25, 2024

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H. Jones

H. Jones

H. Jones
H. Jones, Web Content Writer, San Antonio,

Answered Nov 04, 2018

Evil is the absence of purity and good and evil exemplifies profound immorality. In certain religious contexts, evil has been associated with demonic activity. Evil is more a mental construct because it is in your mind that you can choose to be evil or good. It may be a demeanor of sinful or wicked, or causing harm without remorse.

It is the deliberate violation of morality, and it may also be destructive. It can be associated with the work of the devil. It may be an act of cruelty. Someone might have a certain way of thinking that causes them to not know right from wrong.

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J.Spencer

J.Spencer

Knowledge Enthusiast, Knows A Lot of Stuff.

J.Spencer
J.Spencer, Knowledge enthusiast, Tokyo

Answered May 03, 2018

Wow! Now, that’s a very interesting question. To answer this, let’s begin with the basics. What is evil? Evil is the absence of “good”. But then, what’s good? The absence of evil? Evil is something that can be defined better as “profound immorality.”

As we all know, morality depends on a lot of factors. What’s morally right for you might be morally wrong for someone else and vice versa. This proves that both morality and immorality are mental constructs. I think we all have understood the answer now. “Evil is a mental construct.”

“The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his moral inferiority to any creatures that cannot.” - Mark Twain

The above quote means that whatever a living creature, apart from human beings does, is neither unethical nor wrong because most of them don’t have a moral code guiding them. Even Susan Neiman in her book Evil in Modern Thought, defined evil as “something that shatters our trust in this world” and trust is guided by moralities. Hence, that proves my point. Feel free to disagree.

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