What Makes Something Objectively Good Or Evil?

Student Name Professor Name Course Date Good and Evil When it comes to differentiating between good and bad or evil people, we can easily say that good people are those who neither threaten nor harm others, and bad or evil people are those who are directly or indirectly involved in some crimes or deal others with arrogance. It is a dangerous and odd over-simplification to claim that some people are good and the others are bad or evil. The fact is that we have no right to say or judge who is good or bad based on our own interests, mindset and capabilities. The chances are that people we dislike are beloveds of someone else. It is one of those misleading concepts that underpin the justice systems of various states – bad or evil people are responsible for committing crimes and creating a mess for others, and good people are cooperative, humble, polite, sensible and responsible by nature and the ones who never harm others in any way. Various conflicts and wars took place in the history due to this misleading concept. People who fought for their rights and murdered the ones who wanted to harm them or their families were often considered evil, and people who remained calm and ignored the uncertain situations were called good and humble (Ingersoll 2015). What makes something objectively good or evil? It’s safe to say that good and evil do not have any objective existence, besides human experiences and perceptions. Let’s assume that there are no humans in the world. Can actions or events (earthquakes, tornadoes, explosions) then qualify as evil or good? Taking it further, let’s assume that if there is neither any animal and plant nor any human in the world. In such circumstances, the entire universe will look meaningless as there won’t be any living thing to create any disturbance or make movements from one part to the other. Stars might explode, oceans might dry, and planets might change their position or location, but without life, no one is going to see all those things or get his or response recorded. And if there is no life, then there will be no mean to say whether something is good or evil. Thus, we can say that good and evil depend on the existence of humans, animals, and plants. In fact, all living things, whether we can see them with the naked eyes or not, are responsible for their actions and can be good or evil. For instance, some microorganisms are harmful to human health while the others are beneficial. So, we can say that the microbes that benefit our bodies are good and human-friendly, and those who cause diseases are evil or bad in nature. Similarly, some large-sized animals are friendly while the others are known to eat flesh. Thus, the concepts of good and evil can be quasi-objective, but they are not absolutely objective, because without living things’ involvement, they will make no sense at all (Soares & Stoddart 2010). Why do the innocent (humans, animals) suffer? It’s absolutely true that both humans and animals feel pain, and the plants and microorganisms are somewhat free from it. That’s because they don’t have strong senses to feel any pain or suffering, and thus living their lives senselessly. Both humans and animals seek to avoid pain to an extent, but these creatures cannot entirely ignore o...