@WestonTaylor  @The_Real_Paul  @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue A few of the books that matter to me on the subject: "Beyond Good and Evil" (Friedrich Nietzsche), "Fear No Evil" (Eva Pierrakos & Donovan Thesenga), "Jung on Evil" (C.G. Jung).

 @The_Real_Paul  @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue this is funny because I had literally just written an essay on ethics and utilitarianism. 

 @The_Real_Paul Then you have people like Mitt Romney, who was simply born mercenary.

 @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlueFirst to answer that question you have to deal with the issue of morality in general. It's a complicated topic, and it's drawn a lot of disagreement from brilliant philosophers, theologians, and logicians over time. While debate still abounds, the one thing that most agree upon is that there does seem to be a sense of morality that is ubiquitous among humans. Most moral philosophers dismiss so-called "moral relativism" on the grounds that this is no better than having no morality at all. What it really boils down to is that ethics serve several purposes, among these: to preserve the human species,  ameliorate suffering, create desirable conditions for life and co-existence, and to protect the rights and freedoms of the individual. To drastically oversimplify things, morality benefits us from a Darwinian perspective, which helps to explain why we all seem to have some sense of right and wrong. With these goals in mind, we can attempt to construct a moral compass. I can't cover all proposed ethical systems here, but some of the more popular ones include utilitarianism, deontological ethics, egoism, and altruism. I encourage you to research these systems and decide which ones you find the most logical.

With that said, our understanding of morality changes drastically over time. Just over 200 years ago, many people thought that slavery was perfectly fine. It took a great deal of bravery, intellectual honesty, and critical thinking to question that tradition, but it now seems obvious that slavery is an egregious and inhumane act. This is just one of many horrible things that has taken place throughout history that were once seen as commonplace. The point is, our understanding of morality improves over time when people question the status quo and use reason to improve it.This is a principle known as fallibleness. Basically admitting that  we don't understand everything, but we can constantly move forward and attempt to mold an ethical structure that accomplishes the established goals of morality. 

Now onto your question. I think we're often too quick to label all people who do bad things as "evil". Sometimes people commit horrible acts not because they're "evil" but because they have some external motive to do so. An example would be 9/11, when Bin Laden had a religious motive for his actions. Or Timothy MrVeigh, who had political motives for the Oklahoma City Bombing. A more subtle form might be somebody who abuses their children because they were abused growing up. Some people have psychological ailments that cause them to behave erratically. Sometimes poverty or hate can drive people to do terrible things. These explanations don't dismiss their behavior or make them unaccountable for their actions, but they do help to explain the existence of what's perceived as evil without appealing to the supernatural.

There are tons of factors that go into a person's mental and psychological makeup.The two categories used to encompass them are often referred to as "nature" (your genetic predisposition to act a certain way) and "nurture" (the influences that occur in your lifetime that shape your behavior). If somebody really were to be defined as "pure evil" you'd have to focus exclusively on the "nature" aspect. Of course, no experiment has ever been done to isolate a human from "nurture" (that would be unethical),but often we observe people with similar upbringings and backgrounds who turn out quite differently, morally speaking, so it is fair to say that some people tend to act in a more "evil" way than others. But also keep in mind that even very "good" people do some bad things and vice versa. We all have the potential for both in us, but what we act upon is what defines our character.

Whew... that was a marathon. I hope you find my thoughts helpful. Again, I'm nothing like a philosopher, but I hope this encourages you to read more about the subject and try to understand your own ethical responsibilities. 

 @The_Real_Paul  @EephusBlue i do, I personally have no religious background, I have a jewish name and I go to a catholic school, but im basically agnostic so go ahead and give me your thoughts!

 @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue whew, that's a doozie man. i can give you my own answer, but I'll warn you, it won't coincide at all with a catholic or judeo christian worldview, so you might not want to wander down that rabbit hole. If you decide you do want a secular perspective, I'd be happy to oblige. 

 @The_Real_Paul  @EephusBlue its kind of an obvious question, but I go to a catholic school so I have to deal with this sort of thing: my good friend asked me "can someone be born evil? are people born with a preexisting idea of right and wrong, presumably from God?" I said no, that you are born with limited knowledge past basic instincts and everything you learn morally comes from others, but he disagrees

 @EephusBlue  @Kewldood69 ill tell my mom to get on that

 @EephusBlue  @Kewldood69 i dont even know, my mom made it

 @EephusBlue We are. I think I'm going to go to the pantry now.

 @Kewldood69 I felt like we were communicating on some level

 @EephusBlue  @JakeHorvitz http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/meow-so-hard-cat.jpg

 @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue Ask away! But I also want to remind you to find out things for yourself. Don't just believe something because I or anybody else tells you. Always observe the evidence and arguments and decide whether or not to believe it (or to what degree you believe it) based on how compelling you find it.

 @The_Real_Paul  @EephusBlue ya this book im reading has taught me a lot about the patterns of thought throughout history and the way logic and sciences have  changed since the beginning of civilazation, still there are many questions I have and im thankful to have you guys around

 @EephusBlue  @JakeHorvitz it's always 42. 

 @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue You're welcome, man! I like meeting young people who are curious about the universe. I think it's awesome that you're a sophomore in high school and you're already thinking about how the world works, logic, laws of thought, etc. The world needs more people like you

 @JakeHorvitz  @The_Real_Paul The answer is 42

 @EephusBlue  @The_Real_Paul no not birds and bees, more like a philosophical question ive had a long debate with my friend about

 @The_Real_Paul  @EephusBlue  thanks so much

 @JakeHorvitz  @The_Real_Paul uh oh. its a birds and bees talk. Paul its all you bro

 @EephusBlue  @The_Real_Paul ya i have one for u guys tomorrow, now is a tough time to discuss it

 @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue I'll help where I can, my friend. I'll warn you, I'm nothing like a genius, but I do have a really uncanny curiosity for things, so if you ask me something I don't know the answer to, I'd be happy to do some research and figure it out with you. 

 @JakeHorvitz  @The_Real_Paul ask away

 @The_Real_Paul  @EephusBlue thanks paul, i really appreciate this, i may need your guys' help a bit this school year if you dont mind

 @JakeHorvitz  @The_Real_Paul The only thing u need to know is that there is no such thing as a bad cat meme

 @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue this is actually just one aspect of the theory; it's pretty complicated and gets pretty mathy in parts. One interesting thing is that it eventually predicts its own downfall. If you find this stuff interesting, I really recommend Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time". 

 @EephusBlue  @The_Real_Paul what about the physics of cat memes?

 @The_Real_Paul  @JakeHorvitz Jake, 1am is the domain of internet memes and cat GIFS not physics

 @EephusBlue  @JakeHorvitz that are true. 

 @The_Real_Paul  @JakeHorvitz Too late/early for science

 @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue In observable space, we see three dimensions. (length, width, and height). However, all events take place in a continuum called "timespace" A good way to think about it is that since the universe is so enormous, light that we see from stars happened a very long time ago, but we just now observe it. If the sun were to blow up, it would take 8 minutes for the effects of it to reach the earth, hence the added dimension of time.

 @JakeHorvitz  @The_Real_Paul Hit me up when u get to molecular biology as well. i am good at that shit

 @JakeHorvitz  @The_Real_Paul X Y Z Time

 @The_Real_Paul  @EephusBlue what is 4 dimensions?

 @EephusBlue well its actually AP euro history, but i have to read this book calleed "the history of knowledge" so its talkin bout einstein and how important he is, but its not really clicking; but its alright dont worry about it

 @JakeHorvitz  @EephusBlue Isn't it just a way of relating events based on an observer's position along a 4 dimensional continuum of space and time? 

*not a scientist. just read a lot of random books on random shit*

 @JakeHorvitz what is this? physics?  There is a good book on it tho

 @EephusBlue i know, this is when i do my homework

 @JakeHorvitz Its 1 am man

 @EephusBlue maybe u or me, but not us both together; speaking of which can u explain einsteins theory of relativity? I'm reading about it right now and i dont get it and yes this is a serious question

 @JakeHorvitz shes hot enuff and smarter than the both of us

 @EephusBlue i mean she's nice, not like crazy hot, but she seems good for like a mom if i knew her

 @JakeHorvitz shes a milf for dudes my age

 @JakeHorvitz nah not really i dont offend easily. I just find it amusing that you think of her as a milf. Which she is.

 @EephusBlue the thing bout harper or the milf? i feel ive offended you

 @EephusBlue what?

 @JakeHorvitz wow

 @EephusBlue i looked her up, she seems like a solid milf for kids my age

 @EephusBlue well he makes a gajillion dollars and hes 19, id be douchy too

 @JakeHorvitz oh and google Yahoo ceo. its more ironic that way

 @JakeHorvitz But Bryce Harper is a douceh. you don't want to be a douche do you?

 @EephusBlue wats her name? also bryce harper is like 4 years older than me and he was in college when he was my age

 @EephusBlue  @JakeHorvitz but then again, Yahoo blows.