by Marsha Russell-Devaney

Created on: May 08, 2008

Resubmit: Evil and Benevolence (New Title: Evil by any other name is still evil)

As I reflect on human nature in all of its various forms, it is a sobering thought to realize that society is still unable to distinguish between perverted freewill and unabashed evil. When individuals commit acts of crime on a large scale, such as the Columbine incidence or the recent wanton murder of several students at Virginia Technical College, the first reaction is to look for social conditions, and any external forces that may have contributed to their actions.

While various ideologies such as freewill, independence and personal freedom have inundated the Western mind-set, I believe we have failed to examine how these ideologies affect our conceptions of human nature. Has human nature become nothing more than a set of behaviors that are justified or rationalized as malignant attitudes and unethical values that are the sum result of environment, neurological disorders or social pathologies? And, have philosophical theories all but explained away evil as the absence of moral judgment or character? Sadly enough, contemporary Western culture defines evil as nothing more than external forces acting upon human agents.

I have come to believe that in our society, a misconception between intentional wrongdoing and social misconduct exists. The media uses common phrases such as, he is evil, she is evil and they are evil to describe human actions we find reprehensible or counter to social norms and expectations. There seems to be some confusion differentiating between intentional wrongdoing and bad behaviors, attitudes, values and beliefs. Contrary to much contemporary thought, evil has been held to be any event or action that resulted in harm. For example, natural disasters were natural evils whereas moral evil was unnatural, and caused by human agents. I am interested only in human evil here.

It is essential to explore and analyze the motives behind moral or human evil in order to clarify the differences between human evil and perverted or malignant wills. I propose that human or moral evil is the direct result of personal freewill, individual characteristics or personality and to a lesser extent environmental stimulus. In order to defend this position, I have utilized the four attributes of intentional wrongdoing as defined by Roy Perrit. He explains these attributes as such

Wrongdoing must flow from a particular kind of character, the wrongdoing must be motivated and done because

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