Adjective

evil (comparative eviller or more evil, superlative evillest or most evil)

Positive evil

Comparative eviller or more evil

Superlative evillest or most evil

1. Intending to harm; malevolent.
2. Morally corrupt.

Synonyms

• nefarious
• malicious
• malevolent
• See also Wikisaurus:evil

Antonyms

• good

Derived terms

• evil eye
• evil laugh
• evilly
• evil-minded
• Evil One
• evil twin
• evilness

Evil, in many cultures, is a broad term used to describe intentional negative moral acts or thoughts that are cruel, unjust, or selfish. Evil is usually contrasted with good, which describes acts that are kind, just, or unselfish. In some religions, evil is an active force, often personified as an entity such as Satan or Ahriman.

Philosophical definitions

Western philosophy

Spinoza

In Western philosophy, evil is usually limited to doing harm or damage to an object or creature. Socrates (in Plato's early work) argued that which we call evil is merely ignorance and that good is that which everyone desires. Benedict de Spinoza said that the difference between good and evil is merely one of personal inclinations: "So everyone, by the highest right of Nature, judges what is good and what is evil, considers his own advantage according to his own temperament... ."

The duality of 'good versus evil' is expressed, in some form or another, by many cultures. Those who believe in the duality theory of evil believe that evil cannot exist without good, nor good without evil, as they are both objective states and opposite ends of the same scale.

Carl Jung

Carl Jung, in his book Answer to Job and elsewhere, depicted evil as the "dark side of God". People tend to believe evil is something external to them, because they project their shadow onto others. But from a psychological point of view to be evil is to refuse to acknowledge the weaknesses in one's own personality. Jung interpreted the story of Jesus as an account of God facing his own shadow.

In religion and ethics, evil refers to the "bad" aspects of the behaviour and reasoning of human beings—those which are deliberately void of conscience, and show a wanton desire for destruction.

Contents

• 1 Sourced
  • 1.1 Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895)
• 2 Unsourced
• 3 External links

Sourced

• Every person has the choice between Good and Evil. Choose Good, and stand against those who would choose Evil.
  • Friedrich Kellner

• Now you see, Lone Starr, that evil will always triumph, because good is dumb.
  • Dark Helmet, Spaceballs

• One, who enters the places of evil repute has no right to complain against a man who speaks ill of him.
  • Ali, a hundred sayings

• Jamais on ne fait le mal si pleinement et si gaiement que quand on le fait par conscience.
  • Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it conscientiously.
  • Variant: Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction (trans. W.F. Trotter)
  • Blaise Pascal, Pensées (# 894 or 895, depending on differing editions)

• He who studies evil is studied by evil.
  • Ranjen Solbor, "The Changing Face of Evil", Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, inspired by the famous quote of Friedrich Nietzsche

• Without followers, evil cannot spread.
  • Spock, "And The Children Shall Lead", Star Trek

From Wikiquote under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Thu Jun 11 21:12:52 2009