Norms vs Good & Evil

This response submitted by Kristin McCartney at 10:17 am on 2/14/01. Additions were last made on Tuesday, February 20, 2001. Section: Myers.

In your first query, it seems as though you are testing how people transgress normative systems, not the existence of an essential notion of good and evil. Which, of course, is an interesting project and probably more tenable than trying to find essential moral themes. Looking at the structures of morality (when and how people transgress) could allow you dodge the fact that in content moral edicts can be vary greatly. Attempting to address the seven deadly sins seems interesting, but entirely speculative; correspondence does not equal causality (ie just because something seems to make sense from an evolutionary standpoint that doesn't mean it was evolutionarily conditioned). If you still want to go with an essentialistic assertion of good and evil, find THE LUCIFER PRINCIPLE. It makes a pretty strong argument that we are innately evil and cites studies that you might be able to duplicate/modify.


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