Do you think the concept of good and evil is out dated like the world was once thought to be flat?

Question

If not how do you define good from evil?.

Answer 1

No.  Its morality which will always be around.  Good and evil is sort of innately in us.

Answer 2

There needs to be the both, they co-exist like male & female. Think of it like this, without evil then good would not be exhuberated & vise versa.

Answer 3

no, haven't you seen The Dark Night?

Godly and Satanic

Answer 4

Absolutely - we now are much better educated than to believe that people are only 2 dimencnal. With the advance of psychology, we can understand the reasons why. This does not exuce an act that hurts others. However it does give us the way to understand and change.

The concept of 'good and evil' is really only the relims of Hollywood now. So at last we have cought up with Shakspear... There is nothing good not bad that thinking makes it so...

Answer 5

More and more people are realising that good and evil are not absolutes but are products of the human mind. Maybe the concepts of right and wrong are hardwired into us but exactly WHAT is right and wrong differ from culture to culture.

Lots of things that were once considered absolutes are now being seen as relative, depending on the attitudes of the individual and the values of the culture. I think this is a view which more closely matches actuality. Those people who hold the view that human attitudes and values vary and are not external to the human mind tend to be more tolerant than those people who hold the opposite view (that these things are set in stone by some external system or entity) because they accept that variety of views is the natural way of humankind.

As psychology and sociology take over from religious dogma in explaining these things I think that yes, it is very roughly analogous to moving away from the flat Earth view. We have learned to zoom out, to see the bigger picture, and this has blown away some of our narrow-minded illusions.

Answer 6

i think it's too simplistic to call anything good or evil, because what might be percieved as evil may lead to good happening, or may be done with good intentions.

similarly good maybe done in the name of evil. just consider war as an example.

and then there's scale of the issue. whether overall an event was good may have been made of many smaller acts of both good and evil.

and then again there's shades of good and evil. what is absolute evil (is it judged on intention or outcome?) and what is good - there's an interesting episode of 'Friends' where Pheobe tries to do something completely for someone else with no gain for herself (making herself feel good) and finds it almost impossible. So is good actually based on a selfish need to be seen to be good, to make yourself feel good about something, or can it only be classes as such if you've suffered yourself?

many many questions here!

Answer 7

So what if it is? That doesn't make it false, unfortunately. The age of an idea doesn't make it true or false but good evidence that supports it. It wasn't age that destroyed the idea that the world was flat but good scientific evidence. This is also common with the idea whether or not we ought to believe in God or not. People say "isn't the idea of God outdated"? So what if it is? Again, this doesn't disprove whether or not he exists. Likewise, the concepts of good and evil are old, yes, but this has nothing to do with whether or not they ought to be believed in, nothing to do with whether or not the specific opinions about them are true or not.  

Answer 8

dear friend:

in scripture ...the good was before the evil... and the good will always

over come the evil....for the maker of the heavens made them both..

and s.a.tan cant move with the ok of our heavenly father...read 1st...

corinthians 13th ...chapter ...about love. for there are those that obey

unto lift.. and there are those that do not obey ...that leads to death...

also read psalms 19th chapter in understanding the pure love of our

dear (abba)... our father.

                                                        may you be bless

                                                                               john w

Answer 9

Good and Evil will never be outdated as concepts. What will, has, and does change is what gets labelled as which.

For instance, 200 years ago, you would be considered as evil for working on a Sunday; whereas now that is actually common practice.

Until very recently, my job would have made me evil (I'm a surgical tech); as i'm involved in cutting people open.

Good and Evil as a concept will always be necessary; but we will continue to redefine what is which.

Answer 10

Heavens no there is more evil in the world today than ever, more people inherently more evil.

Pedophiles are evil. murderers are evil, there are temptations that if you are a strong person you can avoid for instance drugs and the people that sell them are evil. I can list many other evils within the world that we live. The concept is not out-dated at all.

Answer 11

the last president of the flat earth society died in 2001 they are looking to regroup.

My guess is that the concept of  good and evil will hold whilst people perceive themselves in that divisive state.

I think it shows our wounded divided  psyches - to choose to split in this way.

There needs to be some way of describing behaviours that are unacceptable  but evil implies a lack of responsibility.

I don't even know if right and wrong does it as it implies a fundamentalism that just isn't there .

For me soemthing like

'real opposed to defensive' might or 'love as opposed to  fear"

Life enhancing as opposed to life brutalizing.

I don't know but I'd like to see the back of good and evil,

  

Answer 12

You have to drop society's morality because it's immoral. To be moral and to see what is moral you need to get beyond what society and your country says and does Society's morality is based on greed, hate, envy, fear, competition, anger, revenge, etc. Those values can't possibly moral, and the morals the way religions practice theirs is just hypocracy, so basically morals are outdated because they are all immoral.

Answer 13

Many philosophers have defined "the good" differently. Google it for a wide array of answers.

But Aristotle laid the foundation by saying the good was what was good for the species. Some birds only eat dead, rotting meat. That is good for them; bad for us if we eat it.

But man is the only species that needs morality if he is not to kill off his own species. Therefore the good for man is what promotes his well being and his existence; the evil (being a moral judgment) is whatever is bad for the species--or for any individual man. That means the use of force against another is evil. It may be a minor evil, like a punch in the stomach or inciting hatred. Sometimes it is major, like murder.

Answer 14

I do think there is good and evil still in existence, though not in the "religious" form of heaven and earth, god vs satan. I do think there are two forces, one good one bad. I think good and bad exist in each and every one of us. Its almost as if we have to fight it within ourselves. There will always be people on the planet who let bad win; the cheats, liars, cereal killers, con-artist and criminals out to make what they can for themselves as sod the rest of humanity.... abuse, cruelty and unkindness will always be part of human nature... but thankfully most of us keep our darker side in check!  

Answer 15

no not really becuase it a choice you can choose to be good or choose to be evil , both exist i know both types of people

Answer 16

There is nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.

Answer 17

The idea that the earth is flat was based upon speculative knowledge of something that had actually never been seen. The knowledge that proved to be flawed when improved method of observation were available. But even when earth was assumed to be flat made no difference to the fact that there is night and day. The physical reality of earth in our mind has changed but not its experience in our lives that is just that same as it were thousands of years ago.

I think both good and bad are in fact the manifestations of the reality of our mind. They are not out there automatically, as good above beyond blue skies, and bad, down below, but in our mind are both to be found, and through our deeds they are expressed, as always.

Answer 18

Who said the world isn't flat anymore? Wasn't it yesterday that Celine Dion fell off the edge of Canada.

Answer 19

I don't think there is such thing as outdated when it comes to good and evil.