I suspect the use of the word evil delivers us personal advantages (less cognitive load, tribal identification, less uncomfortable uncertainty, the joy of believing ourselves to be right) that have nothing to do with its reliability in moral judgments or finding a way to articulate an objective fact. I think the more interesting question…
I suspect the use of the word evil delivers us personal advantages (less cognitive load, tribal identification, less uncomfortable uncertainty, the joy of believing ourselves to be right) that have nothing to do with its reliability in moral judgments or finding a way to articulate an objective fact. I think the more interesting question is not “is there evil?” but what are the limits to our abilities to excuse an action that causes harm and what are the conditions that expand those abilities.
I suspect the use of the word evil delivers us personal advantages (less cognitive load, tribal identification, less uncomfortable uncertainty, the joy of believing ourselves to be right) that have nothing to do with its reliability in moral judgments or finding a way to articulate an objective fact. I think the more interesting question is not “is there evil?” but what are the limits to our abilities to excuse an action that causes harm and what are the conditions that expand those abilities.