In my opinion, evil is strictly a human condition. My definition of evil is anything that is done deliberately, intentionally, with malice of forethought that causes harm or damage to another. Non-human animals, plants, non-living things are not and can not be evil as it has to be a deliberate, conscious decision one makes to cause harm.

Evil does exist. Just look at the White House.

Evil does exist, more in the form of what people do, but not in the form of some external force that drive people to commit bad or evil deeds. P3eople can be evil without any e3xternal influences, such as in some cases of sociopathy or virtually all cases of psychopathy.

Blaming it on genetics or upbringing or society is just making excuses. There are some people out there who are just plain evil. They hurt others because they enjoy it, not because someone hurt them.

To get beyond good and evil is the real struggle. Good and evil are only ideas, or adjectives for things. We are imprinted from birth, by the social structures of the society we are brought up in,(Jung's persona sysyem) to recognize certain things, ideas, people, mythological entites as being good or evil. Kind of a survival instinct for us to get along in the society we are initiated into. Different societies will have different ideas on what is good or evil. When in Rome....

Evil is a relative thing. It's what you define it. There are rights and wrongs but in a reality where you can step back far enough and look at what we are, creatures that live, grow, spread our genes and die on a tiny mote of dust in an unremarkable star system in a medium sized galaxy out of billions or trillions of galaxies, what we do is not really that big of a deal.
Just try to be the best version of yourself and don't worry too much about other people unless they are preventing you or others from being the best version of themselves.

I define good as that which advances life and evil as that which impedes life, so yes, there is evil. This is the basis of morality.

What is the differences between yes and 2?

Genetics is the basis of everything.

Psychopaths are the result genetic mutations. And they are evil because of it. So YES and NO.

Shocking to me that people can try and cover "evil" with excuses but then again many of these same people believed in god. I guess realization can't happen all at once for some. As a prosecutor for 20 years I can say that I've seen pure evil. People with no conscience. Are people requiring that you be born evil to be evil? Not a whole lot of newborns committing horrible murders. Just like I asked a friend the other day, if there is no god, would it change how you live your life day to day? Why is it so hard to admit that there is evil? Just for kicks, ask the opposite question and see if the same people think that good exists. Would they all say no, it has to be learned? It's explained by genetics, upbringing and society? By the way please show me some study that has found the "evil gene."
p.s. for some that would mean that anyone who commits murder for example must be mentally ill and should not be punished.

i have SEEN evil. i don't attach the word "pure" to it for a variety of reasons, not least of which is that it's not a THING. it's a characteristic, and no human characteristic is pure. it's always mixed with other stuff, not necessarily conflicting stuff, but other. so "pure" doesn't apply. it's not a force. it's not the wind, or a god. it's how some people are.

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It depends on what you mean by "pure evil." If it means an intelligently malignant intent independent of physical beings, then no.

But I believe that there are people who enjoy malignant (and cruel) actions for the sake of cruelty alone. Are they "pure" evil? And I say I don't care; they are evil enough for me.

Yes, horribly destructive behavior that cares for nothing but it’s own power driven by hate! I don’t believe I need to aprouch it from a biblical perspective since as evidenced by this platform none of us believe in a God or Devil... evil is in the White House and anyplace people suffer while the greedy stand on their shoulders!

There are good people and bad people. Evil comes from and was invented by religion.

We probably need to define evil in a sociological sense to be able to move forward on this one. Evil is an emotive word and therefore requires an agreed definition, not just a rehashed dictionary statement couched in religious rhetoric ‘such as sex outside wedlock is evil’

Most of what we consider evil is likely a biproduct of survival. We are a social species, with empathy and the instinct to nurture. However, in situations of attack or hunting, that empathy needs to be shut down right quick, or we die childless.

This ability to be ruthless when necessary has served us well in the jungle, but now when there is only humans around, it's causing trouble for those of us with low aggression.
Combine this quality with any of our more unsavory instinct like sexual cruelty or uncontrollable rage and we have a monster.

Did you watch Judge Kavanaugh's performance on the Senate hearing? The man was evil.

I don't accept that evil is its own tangible force; its a cumulation of factors that commonly wind up causing people to behave abhorrently. Evil in its purest form exists as a result, not as a precipitating factor. Although evil, or misdeeds if you like, are often perpetrated on others and depending on their reaction, can breed more of the same. Hurt people hurt people, but its more like a cause and effect of a chemical reaction or recipe gone awry and not so much its own well defined force or phenomenon.

There are all sorts of ways to go tits up. A great many misdeeds are done out of ignorance, passionate haste or malice on their own, but evil in its purest form is usually a person with 2 or 3 terrible combinations of traits like that, each causing a tragic overreaction in the others. When a very dimwitted narcissist is born to fortunate circumstances and no consequences; when a very intelligent person is born into terrible circumstances and few options other than breaking bad etc. Theres two very different ways to play each hand but the most common routes for tragically ironic circumstances often find someone down a pretty malevolent path. If enough bad nature and nurture combos clash in a person not strong enough to grow and learn healthy lessons, youll wind up with an accumulation of deeds that are hard to call anything but pure evil. Its hyperbole but as shorthand for an accumulation of terribly unfortunate factors, I believe evil exists in a rather pure form and I see it in the Orangutan Oligarch every day.

What the heck is "pure form"? If you mean as a separate entity or being, that is just something people make up because they cannot accept that evil simply lies within human nature. Nothing should be surprising about that. There is a tremendous amount of brutality that exists in the animal kingdom. But people who cannot accept that we are part of the animal kingdom need something outside ourselves to blame it on.

A hammer can be used to build or destroy. Using it to destroy does not make the wielder evil, however, it may prove he's an asshole. What is my point? I have no idea.

I’m my mind, with the denouncement of god, comes the denouncement of the devil. Just as you would have to believe in “all or nothing” when it comes to the stories in the Bible, I believe the same is true when you decide not to believe, it’s all or nothing. Good and evil only exist in the minds and actions of all living things, in my humble opinion.

I even wrote a book on this subject. Idea of evil and the devil has always intrigued me. The most insight into the concept I've found is presented in William Golding's Lord of the Flies. The concept of the devil is nothing more than a primitive attempt to explain human evolution from carnivorous pack hunters. The character "Jack" is the Freudian "id" (it), the seat of feral, human emotions like rage, anger, jealousy and envy.

The character Simon says, "Maybe we are the beastie". Religion has clouded our view of our own nature. Most people just read a disturbing story about choir boys stranded on an island. There's more to it than that. It's the first attempt to study human nature, as under a microscope.

How do you say "Lord of the flies" in Hebrew?" Beelzebub.

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I think that (evil) is subjective.
Some people do some shit things, yet also do good things too. does that make them evil?
I think there is a sinner, and saint in every one, No one is pure anything.
Even killing. there are times when it is a bad thing, and there are times when it is good.

A whale kills more shrimp and fish in one week than all of the tyrants that ever lived. Do we call the whale evil?

I guess that anything could be good or bad depending on ones point of view.

Nobody sees themselves as evil.

Everybody thinks they are doing what is necessary when they act against others. Save the country from sh~hole migrants, behave as a compassionate conservative, round up those minorities, whatever.

Of course. The 20th Century alone is full of many evil dictators, killing millions of people, mostly their own citizens.