Forums → The Tavern → What is..... Evil?

What about the psychopaths that admit that they're evil and that they enjoy being evil? What are they?

"Evil" by the standards of the society, most likely. I have not read up on any of this, but as mentioned, psychopaths have little or no empathy for other human beings, and I don't think they would be able to define evil without going by the standards the society has put out.
It is a bit like asking a person without any empathy or emotional abilities to describe love. If they had never learned of the definition of love, they would not be able to describe it.
All this being hypothetical, considering I am no psychologist or have any education in this.

It is a bit like asking a person without any empathy or emotional abilities to describe love. If they had never learned of the definition of love, they would not be able to describe it.

I disagree. It's more like asking someone who is in love about love, from my point of view.

I disagree. It's more like asking someone who is in love about love, from my point of view.

People in love are crazy.
But, if you are unable to understand or feel emotions and do things because you are not affected by it at all, you would not think of yourself as evil unless it is a concept that you find, per description, relates or fits you.
It is not like being in love and describing love, because you are finding understanding in other people's feelings. You react quite strongly on stuff, and spurs of the moments will make you do stupid or fantastic things.
Psychopaths does not work on instinct and emotion. The stereotypical cold hearted killer plan something ahead far into the future, and enjoy every moment of the plan when they live it out, right? It runs like a clock, if we are to believe the movies, and they move on from there. No consequences for them, no emotion to understand and no reason to feel remorse or sadness, because the ones you torture are not like you. You don't understand them, they don't understand you. You are not in the same place.
It's like ripping the wings off a fly. You can't feel their pain. It just gives funny results.

One quick question then: How do you know psychopaths don't have emotions? I'm sure they do.

I am talking about the people without empathy. Feelings are often conjured through others, that is, if you are mad, I will be mad, if you are happy, I will probably also become happy.
In the cases of lack of empathy, there will be a basal lack of understanding between people. If you lack empathy, you will not be able to tell if a person is feeling fear, for example. If you can't read another person's face, you will not be able to tell if you are doing them any harm.
As already mentioned a couple of times, this is all hypothetical, and I don't have any education on this. My only knowledge comes from various articles I might have stumbled upon. This means that it is all speculations. My opinion, if you will.

So, let's assume you are unable to read other people's emotions and thus lack an understanding of non-verbal communication. You see people do something, but don't know what it is. You might try to mimic the movements and expressions that people make, and learn to mimic it at the right expression in the right time to seem normal. You don't understand the use, but you understand that you need to - fit in, if you will. Be one of them.
Just, that you are not one of them. You don't have to be like them, but it is easier to get them to do what you want, if you do what they do, and manipulate them without them noticing.
So, you don't understand these feelings, you just understand the concept of them. Someone tells you how it is to be in love, and you will use that to mimic the feeling. Someone will tell you that if you don't care about other people, you are evil. You don't care about other people, you don't mind that you don't care either, so you must be evil. Does it feel wrong to be evil? No, because there is no remorse, no sadness, no loss, no nothing to make you feel like what you are doing is wrong.

In past wars (when people were fighting face to face), about 2 percent of the soldiers would be able to kill other humans without being completely traumatized. You get traumatized if you observe the fear and horror in another human being's face when you are about to kill them, because no matter if they are enemies, if they are of another ethnicity, anything, they are still humans and still show the same emotions as you do.
Now, out of the last 2 percent that were able to kill, one half did so because they were able to set themselves aside and force themselves to work to be sure no one else would have to.
The other half were psychopaths. Unable to understand the fear, it would be nothing but a mere game, an easy task.

Now, while we are at soldiers.
Society says that killing others is evil.
Soldiers kill others, yet they are not evil.
If they tell themselves that what they do is wrong, they would go crazy. They will have to keep a distance to everything, even the norms of society, and justify their actions.
In reality, they still kill.

Anywho, enough with this. I hope I made myself clear, if not, I will just say that normal humans are not evil, even if they do "evil" deeds. Whether or not it counts for mentally ill persons is another discussion, that could probably go in the World Section.
Nice to discuss with you, Possum. Was interesting.

Psychopaths does not work on instinct and emotion. The stereotypical cold hearted killer plan something ahead far into the future, and enjoy every moment of the plan when they live it out, right? It runs like a clock, if we are to believe the movies, and they move on from there. No consequences for them, no emotion to understand and no reason to feel remorse or sadness, because the ones you torture are not like you. You don't understand them, they don't understand you. You are not in the same place.
It's like ripping the wings off a fly. You can't feel their pain. It just gives funny results.

My definition of evil goes a step further than what Cenere is describing as being a psychopath. Not only is the psychotic person devoid of maternal/paternal instincts, any emotional attachments to other humans, lacks understanding of the harm they're causing to others. My definition describes the cannibal, like Edi Amin
and the brutal maniacal tyrant Pol Pot
just to name two. The Yale piece on Pol Pot mentions other maniacal tyrants of history.

Evil is whatever you're against.

Exactly. That is the exact philosophy of Republicans, even if they can't see it.

Evil are the name of actions that reflect in a severe negative manner. We are our own actions

Would that mean that only wicked people do evil things, like eat the flesh of other humans, lock children in basements, closets or chain them like animals?
That makes me want to ask so, what is wicked? In my mind Evil people do wicked things, not the other way around. As I see it evil describes the noun and wicked is the verb.

Evil is the thing inside you that likes to do bad things.

Like and evil conscious?

In my opinion evil is when you harm another person, or creature simply because you can.

I agree with your definition and it's appalling to me that cold hearted r*p*sts and serial killers and cannibals could ever be paroled or set free to reenter society or even that society thinks they should be pardoned.

calamity (whatever that means)

Check the dictionary?

I am just going to point to my discussion with Possum, and again mention that the concept of evil is largely made by society. Which means that you can't count on a description, unless you have pointed out where, when and how it will pass as being right, and when/where/how it will not. (Conscious killing people = evil, unless you are in war/defending yourself/whatever)...