Do you think some people are evil?

[antelopevalley]

I think most people who do awful things do so for a reason. Abusive past, drugs, coercion, etc.
But I do think there are some people who are simply evil. People with no empathy that enjoy making others frightened or hurting others. People who can do terrible things for no real reason than they want to.

I think you are describing people who are unwell and don't behave as most people do.

Yes I do. My brother is evil. Has always enjoyed inflicting pain (physical, emotional, financial) on people/animals. I could go on, but I will get shaky.

Yes. Definitely.

Yes some people are truly evil.

Yes. I think a lot of people are twats etc but some are just vile evil things.

I've worked with very serious offenders and no, I don't. Evil is a moralistic concept.

Anti-social behaviour (even extreme) is nature or nurture or a combination.

Putin

By evil I mean nature.

Would anyone argue that Hitler wasn't evil?

Or Putin?

Or Ted Bundy?

If hitler was evil then by that logic, if hitler were a baby right now, and you had the opportunity to kill him in his cot and not be punished for it, would you? Because he's evil?

Hitler absolutely evil to me. But he seemed to have a plan that justified the goal. So not to me the same as OP suggests in a way. Psychopaths are the unemotional killers but our entire history is made up of evil acts/wars that weren't classed as evil at the time.

I think you are describing people who are unwell and don't behave as most people do

Yes but if their behaviour is evil does it matter really? They behave in an evil manner - its kind of splitting hairs IMO

Of course they are. Look at Emma Tustin and Thomas Hughes, for example... there is no background of abuse that could explain their behaviour. In any species, there will always be outliers - individuals in whom certain traits are exaggerated. We accept that it in some people's genes to be unusually tall, unusually strong, unusually intelligent, etc. It follows, therefore, that some people are predisposed to have an unusually high tendency towards cruelty.

I’m not sure about evil but there are people who literally have no empathy at all. Mix that with rage or hatred. Very bad combination.

Yes. I think my sister is evil. I think she has narcisstic personality disorder, and I think that she chooses to do/think/say evil things (as opposed to choosing good) simply because she "can" and because she enjoys it. It makes her feel superior and somehow better/cleverer than you. It's completely unnecessary most of the time but it feeds her pathetic ego, selfishness and self-centredness. And it's in pandering to her innate crappy personality characteristics that makes her evil.

Yes, of course, some people are pure nastiness

Some people commit the most harmful acts

but no i don’t believe someone is born evil

Is evil a religious concept? As an atheist I kind of wonder if I would another more correct word. But maybe I'm wrong. Evil always seems sort of undefined and emotive

if I would use*

I don't know if having a plan that justified the goal excuses Hitler's evilness?

Yes Hitler was evil, but so were the proponents and intigators of say, the british empire, or the transatlantic slave trade etc, who saw opportunities to exploit other people and countries and make wealth for themselves. Just because the Crown approved it and became complicit in it, doesn't mean the overall plan wasn't evil, and run by faceless bureaucrats that executed them behind the scenes. They were all evil together, both the psychopathic leaders at all levels, and the sheep that followed them, who often have no moral compass of their own.

I think some people are born with evil characteristics, or have evil traits, such as lack of empathy or selfishness. but their upbringing can be the maker or breaker of how their character develops and expresses itself through their actions and choices.

Having said that, if someone has NPD, I think this is pure born evil, and those people will always be evil regardless of how well they were treated or brought up, due to an innate sense of entitlement and superiority.

By evil I mean nature.

There are people born with the propensity to commit evil acts. I would still argue that isn't an 'evil' person.

My definition of evil is someone with no propensity, who can process empathy, who feels and understands pain in others, fully understands the consequences of their actions, no history of abuse, isn't insane and still does evil things.

I've never met someone like that and I've worked with murderers and worse.

We believe in goodness and good people but harder accept that there is evil. It is not a question of religion, or sin and it does not include people who are mentally ill and driven in ways that they cannot control, that can make them very destructive. It is an insult to them to compare it with evil.

Josef Mengele was a highly qualified doctor and he tortured children to death in the name of his pseudoscience, because he could. He did not care about them or their suffering. He managed to evade capture for the rest of his long life. He showed no signs of any mental illness. Wrap it up as psychopathy of you wish and what made him as he was I do not know, but I will make no excuses for him or those like him. He was evil.

*if you wish