Quote:
Originally Posted by Trollheart
Well, sure you could debate the "nature of evil" or even whether it exists till the bovines find their way back to where they originally set off from, but that's not really the question. I framed this poll in a way that asks what do you consider to be the root of what is generally accepted as evil, and I gave examples. Sure, you could say (I disagree) that being a meat-eater is selfish - I like my meat and I HATE vegetables - but I didn't ask what's the root of selfishness? In the same way, not all evil is necessarily selfish. That's another question altogether. Selfish in one way, I guess, as you are satisfying your own needs - be they sexual, racial, territorial or financial - without considering those of others, but if I had time to think about it (about to make dinner so quick post) I would imagine there are examples of evil that are not driven by selfishness. So some of those examples you give would not, for me (and I think for most people) fall under the heading of evil as we understand it. I know you're changing the question to what is selfish, but I don't think that really helps, or applies here.
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yeah you can do evil without necessarily just doing it for what we would call purely selfish reasons in terms of status etc. Someone can be motivated by an ideology to do evil and be so dedicated to it they will actually make sacrifices for it. Like Osama didn't need to turn to extremism, he had a pampered life in Saudi Arabia and ended up living out of caves in Afghanistan.
Obviously whether what he did was even evil is a matter of interpretation. But for whatever category of behavior you categorize as evil there's gonna be a variety of potential sources and not one singular root of all evil.