Is pride the root of all evil?

I have to agree with Midnight Rambler, at least on the "evil is subjective" thing. Until and unless we invent something that can objectively measure evil, and therefore make it a subject of scientific analysis rather than philosophical debate, the concept of evil will necessarily remain a subjective one.

Of course, that doesn't mean that evil doesn't exist. Just that it doesn't exist objectively. It is something you can experience and identify, even if you can't prove its existence to anyone else. (Compare love. You can't prove that it's there, but telling someone who's in love that it doesn't exist is self-defeating.)

A better question would be whether we as human beings can identify a concept of evil that we all share. Unfortunately, the answer is almost certainly "no", given the existence of sociopaths and the like (who we can objectively, scientifically measure that they have different brain chemistry and whatnot, so we know they don't have the same experiences as us even if we can't agree on what exactly are experiences are). So the question moves on to whether or not enough of us can identify a concept of evil that we share to form a functioning society.

The answer to that one is obviously yes, given that society exists.

Yeah, that's... pretty much what I was trying to say.

Let me just sum up my point of view on this:

Do I think certain acts are wrong in and of themselves? Yes.
Do I think these acts are objectively, provably wrong? No.
Would I still consider them wrong even if 90% of the people around me were fine with them? Fuck yes.

I recognise it's a bit of an awkward position, and I myself find it hard to defend at times; but I can't think of any stance on the topic that feels less wrong to me.

Personally, I believe the root of all evil is giving in too much to self urges. Pride is part of this. It is also by giving in to one's urge to satisfy oneself without thinking of the consequence except the satisfaction that the one will receive. Giving too much in this direction will make one blind to one's indiscretion and will lead to evil.

edited 26th Aug '12 10:01:07 AM by Blurring

This. I've never had someone try to kill or torture me, but if I did, I doubt the first words out of my mouth would be, "You can't do that, because it's wrong/against my rights/not fair/whatever!" Trying to tell that to someone who's made up their mind and either thinks they're doing the right thing or just doesn't care, is a pointless and futile exercise.

And let's not even get into Erdos.