During World War II about 65 million people died, during the famines in British India about 27 million people died, during the fall of the Ming Dynasty about 25 million people died, during the Stalin Dictatorship about 20 million people died (White), during the Boston Marathon Bombing three people died (“Boston Marathon Terror Attack Fast Facts”), and according to the Central Intelligence Agency out of 100,000 people, 839 die per year (“The World Factbook”). Have you ever wondered how many of those 829 people are actually murdered, stripped out of their lives? 5.3 out of every 100,000 people are murdered yearly and most of them are innocent people (“Assault or Homicide”). Even though the world has always strived to enforced justice in humanity, evil always finds the way in the cracks of society. We can perceive the results of its presence all around us: in wars, disasters, hunger, among others.
The constant presence of evilness in life has led many people to question its source and the reason behind it. Most of the approaches taken to answer those questions are from a religious point of view. However, the issue with this approaches is that a new series a questions surface, including questioning the omnipotence of God himself. Religion has taught us how God is morally perfect and omnipotent (Tooley). That belief has existed for so long that now it is practically hardwired into our brain. It is because of that belief that we are unable to understand how God being morally perfect can allow so many catastrophes around the world to happen all the time. Those questions raised in relation to God are described as issues with theodicy (Cunningham, and Kelsay 102).
In a literal definition from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, theodicy i...
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... Prevention. N.p., 30 May 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
"Boston Marathon Terror Attack Fast Facts." CNN. Cable News Network, 24 Oct. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
Cunningham, Lawrence S., and John Kelsay. The Sacred Quest: An Invitation to the Study of Religion. 6th ed. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2006. Print.
"Introduction to the Holocaust." Holocaust Encyclopedia. United Stated Holocaust Memorial Museum, 10 June 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
"The World Factbook." Central Intelligence Agency. N.p., 12 Nov. 2013. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
"Theodicy." Merriam-Webster. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
Tooley, Michael. "The Problem of Evil." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Stanford University, 30 Nov. 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
White, Matthew. "The 100 Worst Wars,Genocides and Dictators in History: 10 Bloodiest."Book of Horrible Things. N.p., 2012. Web. 30 Nov. 2013.
In January 2002 James Waller released the first edition of the book “Becoming Evil – How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killings.” Dr. James Waller is a professor at Keene State College in New Hampshire and is home to one of the nation’s oldest Holocaust resource centers, the Cohen Center for Genocide and Holocaust Studies. Becoming Evil uncovers the historical and modern day reasons to why people do evil and attempts to debunk common explanations for genocide and mass killings. Some of Waller’s other notable works include “Prejudice across America” and “Face to Face: The Changing State of Racism Across America.” Waller takes and in depth look at the societal, psychopathological and cultural reasons that would make a good person commit such heinous acts of evil. “What culture, society, or nation, what ideology, historical prejudice, or ethnic hatred, what psychological profile or cluster of personality traits, what unusual situation or special circumstance is to be deemed the cause of such aberrant human behavior?” (Browning/Waller) Why do humans commit genocide and mass killings?
The problem of evil is a deductive a priori argument who’s goal is to prove the non-existence of God. In addition to Mackie’s three main premises he also introduces some “quasi-logical” rules that give further evidence to his argument. First he presumes that a good thing will eliminate evil to the extent that it can and second, that omnipotence has no limits. From these two “additional premises,” it can be concluded that a completely good and omnipotent being will eliminate all possible evil. After establishing these added premises Mackie continues with his piece to list and negate several theistic responses to the argument.
Evens, Richard; Gotfried, Ted; Lipsadt, Deborah; Zimmerman ,John; Sherman, Michael; Globman, Alex. “Holocaust Encyclopedia.” http://www.ushmm.org United States Holocaust
The article I picked to show the evil in the world today was about a man named Abner Louima. This man was arrested in 1997 and is suing the state of New York for being beaten in a restroom in the station while being questioned. The sole witness Conelle Lugg, 19, he heard loud screaming and banging noises against the wall of the bathroom while he was in his cell, he then saw a police officer push Louima into a cell pants down and blood rushing out of his open wounds. The officer then proceeded to tell Louima to get on his knees. After all this Lugg said, that Louima fell to the floor and screamed in pain and begged to be taken to a hospital.
While traditional theology has characterized God as being omnipotent, omniscient, and perfectly good, we all have seen instances of evil in the world, from the genocide currently occurring in Darfur to the mass torture seen in the Spanish Inquisition, where people have been forced to suffer at the hands of others for millennia. Mackie’s argument is that an omnipotent, omniscient and perfectly good God has the means, knowledge and desire to prevent such instances of evil from occurring, and yet evil clearly exists. Mackie argues that the removal of any one of the ascribed characteristics would solve the problem of evil; however few theologians have been prepared to accept this as the only solution. (Mackie, 1955)
One thing that history does is turn you into a doubter. Regardless of what period of history you study, you’re eventually going to come across a time of some pretty evil and nasty acts by humans against each other. Even till now the present day, massacre appears to be one of human beings favorite doings. On December 13 1937, in the book the Rape of Nanking, by Iris Chang, she states many reasons to why people are filled with good and bad natures in times like this.
Upon reading Claudia Card’s “Evils” she deepens her understanding of evil post 9/11. Card goes on to write that her adjustments to the accounts of evil include first that evils are inexcusable and not just culpable, she also states that evils need not be extraordinary and that all institutional evil implies individual reason to blame. Claudia Card continues to define evil as reasonably foreseeable intolerable harms produced, maintained, supported and tolerated by culpable wrongdoings. Evils have two parts, harm and agency. How Card identifies the difference between evil and lesser wrongs is the harm component. Also she has named her theory the atrocity theory because atrocities are her paradigms of evil. But natural disasters such as hurricanes, floods and earthquakes can be disastrous they are not considered atrocities because they are not produced, aggravated by culpable wrongs. They are also not foreseeable. Some examples of evil include genocide or premeditated murder.
Anywhere you look, you are staring into the eyes of evil. You might not see evil staring back, but it’s there, trapped behind a wall of morality. It is always scheming, preparing to burst out of its confinement. It may find a hole for some time, but it can never win; good will triumph in the end. Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson, the authors of Dracula and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde respectively have this view of the world. Their novels illustrate that good and evil are constantly vying for control both in our lives and in the environment around us.
As most people would agree, the 20th century contained some of the bloodiest and most gruesome events ever recorded in history. Why do words such as Hiroshima, Rwanda, The Final Solution, A Great Leap Forward, The Great Purge and so many more spark such vivid images of blood, torture and murder in our minds? And despite those horrific images, what is it that causes us humans time and time again to commit such crimes against humanity? Those are the kinds of questions Jonathan Glover, a critically acclaimed ethics philosopher, tries to answer in the book he had spent over ten years writing, Humanity: A Moral History of the 20th Century. Through Humanity Glover tries to answer those questions in a way which will give a solution as how we can prevent ourselves from ever repeating those crimes in the future.
It is no revelation that humanity is fascinated by the subject of evil. So much th...
Throughout the world, most people believe in some type of god or gods, and the majority of them understand God as all-good, all-knowing (omniscient), and all-powerful (omnipotent). However, there is a major objection to the latter belief: the “problem of evil” (P.O.E.) argument. According to this theory, God’s existence is unlikely, if not illogical, because a good, omniscient, and omnipotent being would not allow unnecessary suffering, of which there are enormous amounts.
The problem of evil is a difficult objection to contend with for theists. Indeed, major crises of faith can occur after observing or experiencing the wide variety and depths of suffering in the world. It also stands that these “evils” of suffering call into question the existence of an omnibenevolent and omnipotent God of the Judeo-Christian tradition. The “greater good defense” tries to account for some of the issues presented, but still has flaws of its own.
In the “Evil Is More Than Banal: Situationism And The Concept Of Evil”, Berkowitz defines evil as an intentional will to harm another person. He establishes that evil must be interpreted in a form of a scale, as not all evil are of the same weight. Likewise, that same scale also applies to accountability, as the one who commits an evil act is most responsible. However, in The Lucifer Effect, Zimbardo examines that a portion of responsibility can still fall onto a separate individual or group. He illustrates that a bystander can be considered evil due to a series of situational factors. Subsequently, the role of a bystander is further substantiated with a historical account of the Rwanda Genocide. Staub’s description of the United States role details how inaction only further perpetuates the existence of evil. In "The Teaching Of Evil”, Bottery shatters the contention for an inherent evil, and affirms that evil is nurture. His argument demonstrates how forms of evil can exist on an institutional, societal, or even global degree - that rules and regulations should never be blindly trusted as it could intentionally be constructed for evil. Lastly, Calder details the atrocities of Hilter and Eichmann, and substantiates Berkowitz's and Bottery’s explanation of a evil with different degrees and forms. As a society, we must realize that
Humanity is cruel. Around the globe, there are people that choose to cause suffering to others. This includes inhuman individuals that take part in such sadistic acts such as being satisfied with stealing or committing murder. Another series of traumatic act that proves that humanity is cruel are genocides and holocausts. Many innocent lives were taken away through eras. In example, about 11 million individuals were killed due to the orders set by Hitler during the Holocaust. Roughly between 500,000 to 800,000 Tutsis were killed during the genocide in Rwanda. Even during the 1500’s, there was genocides of Native Americans. However, the Cambodian genocide is a very overlooked event in history. The death toll was very high in the numbers. The country of Cambodia almost went down into ruins during this time period. Yet, this harrowing occurrence is overlooked upon. This genocide is commonly referred to as the Khmer Rouge.
Good versus evil is an eternal struggle, conflict, war, or a unification. Good exists while evil does as well, this is because without evil, there can be no such thing as good, and without good, there can also be no evil. The question exists that if there is an all-good & powerful God who is omniscient; omnipotent; omni-benevolent; then how can evil exist within such absolute terms?