'There Is No Such Thing as Absolute Evil'

[Arawn-ap-Hywel]

Interview with Notorious Lawyer Jacques Vergès: 'There Is No Such Thing as Absolute Evil' - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

(before the quotes Dear Moderators this is placed here because it contains social rights as well as religious and philisophical implications imo)

SPIEGEL: Mr. Vergès, are you attracted to evil?

Jacques Vergès: Nature is wild, unpredictable and senselessly gruesome. What distinguishes human beings from animals is the ability to speak on behalf of evil. Crime is a symbol of our freedom.

SPIEGEL: That's a cynical worldview.

Vergès: A realistic one.

Vergès: I believe that everyone, no matter what he may have done, has the right to a fair trial. The public is always quick to assign the label of "monster." But monsters do not exist, just as there is no such thing as absolute evil. My clients are human beings, people with two eyes, two hands, a gender and emotions. That's what makes them so sinister.

SPIEGEL: What do you mean?

Vergès: What was so shocking about Hitler the "monster" was that he loved his dog so much and kissed the hands of his secretaries -- as we know from the literature of the Third Reich and the film "Der Untergang" ("Downfall"). The interesting thing about my clients is discovering what brings them to do these horrific things. My ambition is to illuminate the path that led them to commit these acts. A good trial is like a Shakespeare play, a work of art.

The title of this debate is 'There Is No Such Thing as Absolute Evil' and I am satisfied this is a reasonable and correct statement.

What is your view?

[Jack]

When the topic is human perception (and good and evil are perceptions, not objective realities) I have to agree that there is no absolute evil. Depending on the context, there may be persistent evil, overwhelming evil, uncontrolled evil and a host of other expressions of evil. But neither evil or good are absolute.

[Piscean]

It's just a matter of opinion and how you define it.

[PatrickHenry]

There is...but it inhabits the Spirit Realm...

[Nono]

I believe we all have a capacity for evil, an inexhaustible capacity. I sure do. And, depending on your personality and circumstances, shunning evil deeds is more or less a struggle.

How's that for a nutshell? And speaking of nuts, some individuals get really carried away.

This guy Vergès certainly has a way of ending up as the courtroom lawyer of wicked people. But he has a point -- everyone's entitled to a fair trial, and it often takes a talented lawyer to ensure you get one.

The thing about Hitler and Saddam and all our other pet evil-doers is that we do, indeed, portray them as monsters. Meaning not as human beings, as Vergès points out.

And when you reduce someone to the status of "monster", you leave the door wide open to complex human beings doing monstrous things, since they don't happen to be sporting fangs and horns.

Hannah Arendt had it right -- the evil-doer is often the unspectacular guy next door. (Hell, look at Bush...)

Bit of a ramble the above, but you did ask.

[Piscean]

There is...but it inhabits the Spirit Realm...

I don't know if you are being sarcastic but you are probably correct.

[Nono]

Oh, I don't think Pat would be sarcastic about the Spirit Realm.

[PatrickHenry]

Nono knows me pretty well.

I believe in the existence of absolute evil, but human beings are redeemable.

Not so the spirits that oppose the Almighty...

[gela]

I don't believe there is such thing as absolute evil.

Everyone has a reason for doing what they do.

As far as I can tell, 'evil' is purely a lack of empathy.

[Walrus]

I don’t think there is such a thing as absolute evil or for that matter absolute good.

... possibly the concept of a belief in absolute good is more terrifying. Hitler did what he did not out of a desire to commit evil, but because he believed it to be good.

[Diogenes]

I find it funny that any atheist would even give any credence to the word ' evil '...the words ' good ' and ' evil ' are constantly flowing out of the mouths of atheists here.

When, if values come from cultural/societal evolution, there is no such thing as either. Nor is there really anything that could be determined as being right or wrong in any respect to morality.

Evil, good, bad, right, wrong, righteous, morality, etc are religious notions based upon a set of values that is beyond man's ability to enforce or avoid.

In a pure atheistic sense there is only different values...my values, his values, our values, and their values...none are right, none are wrong, just different. And the majority, or the strong, try to force those values they hold upon those that have other values.

[Dadoo]

Nono knows me pretty well.

I believe in the existence of absolute evil, but human beings are redeemable.

Not so the spirits that oppose the Almighty...

I would infer "Almighty" to mean absolute good, in that case. This is an interesting polarization.
As all equations balance to zero, the very presence of both absolute good and evil simultaneously would cancel each other out, or create a stalemate of sorts.
Operating from this archetypal standpoint, we then are somehow left to experience good and evil between these two equally powerful absolutes.
Hence, we subjectively experience the endless combinants of absolute (objective?) evil and good.

Actually I believe the highest level of evil intention within the 'weakest link' of humankind is the ever-changing "absolute" we speak of. I personally do not have faith in the absolute unknowns such as gods and devils. I do understand their meanings conceptually yet my imagination cannot sustain nor defend the presence of spirits as palpable beings; although a pantheon of archetypal icons can be found in myth and parables, we are left to deal with the actions of our fellow humans, ourselves included. Comparable to the archetypes, but rarely equal.
My query: How much evil can a person even fathom? There is the personal absolute.

Reality has shown that such 'absolutes' may be much worse than we imagine or
most often, not as terrible as we feared. For as absolutes go, there is plenty of good to equal and balance whatever one deems 'evil'!

Absolut Dadoo

Don't get evil, get even!