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Originally Posted by aggie  oh c'mon...this is exactly what i am talking about...we are talking intentional evil....evil that is being done intentionally...not some pseudo theoretical situation.....  |
As absurd as the example may be it's a valid point. If killing is universally evil, is it wrong to kill in self defense, or in defense of another? Or is the pleasure what would be wrong, assuming you felt any?
Good and evil are flimsy concepts. For anything that could be considered "universally" good or evil there's at least one circumstance where it isn't.
Of course, it also depends on how you define them. Defining acts as inherently good or evil is rife with problems. If you define it as the intention to help or harm you've got something much more solid to work with but even that has its problems.
For the purpose of this discussion, people who live their lives actively trying to destroy other people are too disturbed to be happy. The exception is when it furthers their goals, or when they think they're improving the world by their actions. Happiness, like good and evil, is a very loose concept that's hard to pin down. It's not a feeling in itself, it's the amalgamation of other feelings. If somebody is satisfied with their lives, if they get out of bed looking forward to what lies ahead, then they're happy. They may not feel the same way you do when you're happy but they're happy. It all comes down to what satisfies the individual.