How to define evil?

[Rem Nightfall]

What is evil?
What is justice?
If you read and you watch a lot of shows. We always view the bad guy as evil, but if you truly look at it. The bad guy is just a rebel. He's causing a civil war, he's breaking out of the rules. Does that make justice, our fear of change? If a bad guy wants to change the world, but we say its evil to do that....does that make justice fear of change? What defines an action as evil? What defines someone as evil? What defines someone a hero or good? What defines an action of justice?
Hope that wasn't to confusing.

[Eris]

There is no objective good or evil. Objective evil would require objective morality. Even though there are things that virtually every person on earth can agree are evil, that doesn't mean that there is objective evil. Philosophers typically defines something they call a Moral Agent -- which basically is anyone that shares a similar view of right and wrong as you -- and argue that this means that there must be an objective morality, since there are so many of these moral agents, but I call that a load of crap. Moral agents is just a patch for the huge gaping hole in their idea of morality that is called sociopaths.

Sorry if that didn't make sense. I've been more sober.

[Hamashimura]

Simply said,evil is morally objectionable behavior...Evil person is the person that's being morally wrong in principle or practice,the one that is considered to have negative moral and ethical judgment...
That's the definition of evil in todays society...
Mainly,whatever one think is good,oposite of it would be considered as evil...
There is no true definition nor theory over it,only the aspect of seeing it and way of thinking about it...

[Amray The II]

Neither exist, or they both exist within eachother.

What some people may see as evil, others may see as justice, and vise versa. If I were to murder someone because they have done wrong then I might see this as justice, whereas others may think that I have done this wrong doing for no reasonable justice and think of it as evil.

This is how I would define evil and justice anyway.

[Miss Moonlight]

Both good and evil are moral concepts, and everyone has their own idea of what is evil and what is good.

IMO:
Evil is immoral and devoid of any "good".
Justice is triumph over evil or injustice

I found this part on wikipedia article interesting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil

Sociological views on evil

Some sociologists, psychologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists have attempted to construct scientific explanations for the development of specific characteristics of an "antisocial" personality type, called the sociopath. The sociopath is typified by extreme self-serving behavior and a lack of conscience as well as an inability to empathize with others and to restrain from, or to feel remorse for, harm personally caused to others. However, a diagnosis of antisocial or sociopathic personality disorder (formerly called psychopathic mental disorder), is sometimes criticized as being, at the present time, no more scientific than calling a person "evil". There is much debate over this, however. Some, most prominently Robert Hare, author of "Without Conscience", consider psychopathy to be a widespread disorder quite distinct from antisocial personality disorder.

What critics perceive to be a moral determination is disguised, they argue, with a scientific-sounding name but no complete description of a mechanism by which the abnormality can be identified. In other words, critics argue, "sociopaths" are called such because they are first thought to be "evil" - a determination which itself is not derived by a scientific method.

Research into sociopathology has also been investigated biologically,[10] Are there biological reasons why people are evil rather than moral? Are there physical underpinnings of behaviors that societies reject as sociopathic? Most neurological research into sociopathology has focused on regions of the neocortex involved in impulse control. Some other research seems to indicate that sociopathy may at least partially be related to a lack of ability to realize the true consequences of one's actions.

When a person acts in such a way as to use others as means to achieve one's own personal ends or fails to consider the consequences of his or her acts upon the lives of others, it is considered to be psychopathic or sociopathic. If one accepts the Christian ethic that "by their deeds you shall know them", such acts are evil. This is the view taken by Walter Wink, the Christian theologian of non-violence. Some authors, like the psychologist Benjamin B. Wolman, consider society as a whole to be moving towards a psychopathic mindset, but this stance has yet to gain wider acceptance.

[Inamorata]

Evil is selfishness..
You only think of yourself..
~The root of all evil~

[Sagat]

A human construct. One person or groups good may be anothers bane or evil.

And the most important factor is power. When one person/group has more power than the other - good or evil no longer matters. The powerful decide what is good or evil over those weak enough to believe in the concepts.

[Haze is Dreamin']

Evil is bad imo.

[Wio]

What is evil?
What is justice?

Evil is doing harmful things without legitimate reasons.
Justice is punishing evil actions and rewarding good actions.

If you read and you watch a lot of shows. We always view the bad guy as evil,

Speak for yourself. I don't view the bad guy as evil, it's just that his actions are evil and he should be punished for them.

but if you truly look at it. The bad guy is just a rebel. He's causing a civil war, he's breaking out of the rules.

If he's a bad guy in a movie, then he's probably doing something that is hurting or will potentially hurt others. That's what makes his actions evil. It doesn't matter what he is literally doing.

Does that make justice, our fear of change? If a bad guy wants to change the world, but we say its evil to do that....does that make justice fear of change?

No one fears change. People fear being hurt or killed. If you offer someone 100 dollars, I'm certain that's a change they wouldn't fear. If you tell them you're going to rearange their face with your fist, there ia a change they fear.

Change honestly doesn't mean anything to anyone. It can be good or bad, significant or insignificant.
People fear worse and desire better.

What defines an action as evil? What defines someone as evil?

See above.

What defines someone a hero or good? What defines an action of justice?

A hero is someone who does good things beyond what is expected of him.
Good is when you do something to benefit someone for a legitimate reason. It's the opposite of evil.
Actions of justice are actions that punish evil behaviour or reward good behaviour.

Hope that wasn't to confusing.

Ditto.

[Anime Forum]

Evil - Evil is pretty much doing tasks with a more destructive method. An example of this is someone evil would not give much thought to kill a person to gain and succeed in their evil deeds. Their are more was to describe evil but mostly its a more dark way to complete tasks.

Justice - Justice is pretty much doing something in a more clear and non destructive way.

Even though my explanations are bland, they are kinda easy to understand.

Evil - Content on being bad

Justice - Content on being good

[Zedekiah]

There is, to me, two kinds of evil.

The good kind. (Ziz)

and

The bad kind. (Zat)

[jtdlives]

good and evil are tied into our own perceptions. During the 2nd world war people in Germany looked at hitler as a hero. Then after Germany fell they looked at hilter as a monster. Their are people out their who look at serial killers as their hero's even though most people look at them as villians. Most people here think of Bin Laden as a villian. While some people in the middle east look at him as their hero. We as people judge good and evil by our own percecptions. Quote Obi wan kenobi most of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view.

[Saint Seiya]

raping someone - evil
killing someone for no reason - evil

ehhh i could go on and on

In other words when you try to hurt for no reason. Thats my opinion. I dont think being a rebel is evil, most of the time rebels are good people with great ideas who want to do good things BUT they tend to do a lot of ugly things in order to achieve their goals.

[Baka]

I would probably define evil by looking it up in a dictionary.

[Kubisa]

Evil is creating negative externalities upon a third party with direct intent.


YEAH.

HOW'S THAT FOR A RESPONSE?

[Khanxay]

Evil is when you start lagging in an online game. EVIL!

[Kojack]

Something is evil if it disagrees with or is counter-productive to my interests.

You come into my house and drink my milk, that's evil.
I go into your house and drink your milk, I'm just thirsty.

Slightly irrelevant tangent: power corrupts. Absolute power is kind of neat.

[Diocletian]

To produce one's life to go into disarray or to prevent them from achieving ones pursuit of happiness.

[rikumi]

I don't think that people who confronted the law or disobeyed anything majorly are evil. I think those adult who give a lot sweets to little kids are evil. They might end up eating them during Christmas....when the kids grew really fat.

[Kissed by Obito]

Justice is someone getting what they deserved from their actions be it good or bad. Evil is someone who gets enjoyment from causing harm to others.

[Manhattan_Project_2000]

Evil is whatever I say it is. If you don't agree, I'll add you to the list.

[Rem Nightfall]

I would probably define evil by looking it up in a dictionary.

That is quite a rude answer.
I was asking in a philosophical term.
I wanted to see how people express evil.

[Mayonnaise-Senpai]

Hope that wasn't to confusing.

Yeah... that was crystal clear for me to understand.
Well... there are many ways to define justice and evil. Your right. The bad guy does want change and he ends up being shut down by everyone else and someone always comes and destroys him.
I don't have a definition of evil after you explained all those confusing stuff but I'll take a crack at it.
Evil: The opposite of good
Boy... that was a noob thing to say

[Rem Nightfall]

Yeah... that was crystal clear for me to understand.
Well... there are many ways to define justice and evil. Your right. The bad guy does want change and he ends up being shut down by everyone else and someone always comes and destroys him.
I don't have a definition of evil after you explained all those confusing stuff but I'll take a crack at it.
Evil: The opposite of good
Boy... that was a noob thing to say

Its all right.
You tried your best and that is all.
Most of us don't have an opinion or a view on what is evil.
Most of us either make our view on it from what we have been told or what we have been observed.