notions of good and evil (how did they come about)

this was a question on disinfo.com but the answers page is down.........

how do you think the notions of good and evil came about??




"The notions of "good" and "evil"--and the notion of life as an epic battle between the two--originated when and where?

a)They've always been with us; they're hardwired into the human brain

b)They probably developed in the human race's dim prehistory

c)Persia, circa the 5th century B.C.

d)Nazareth, circa 30 A.D."


soz if this is the wrong board for this type of question

It's an interesting question. I think the concept evolved through time - for example, I don't want one of my friends to be killed, and so do you, because it will result in sadness and anger - thus more killing. So killing became "bad", then there were other cultures later on with different kinds of codes - like, you can be killed if society knows that you have killed, or stolen, raped and so on.

I mean, bad things are things that are bad for most people - murder, stealing, forcing people to do things they don't like. Good things, on the other hand, are things we like to do for one another - love, friendship, making things together, working together towards the same goal, and so on.

So, my meaning is that the concept of good and evil has always been with us in one form or the other. Maybe it is genetic - maybe it is a coded thing that we live together with each other to reproduce?

The origins of our distinction between "good" and "evil" go back much, much farther than any era in recorded human history. In fact, the predecessors of our species, the proto-human species, were probably already making such distinctions long before "Man the Wise" ever appeared on the scene.

In its earliest form, this was probably a distinction between items and conditions that perpetuated our survival. For example, fruit = good, while snake = bad, and light = good, while darkness = bad, and so forth.

As far as I can see, what we more sophisticated modern humans call "good" and "evil" all dates back to our obsession with material possessions. If you steal, you're evil. If you covet your neighbor's property, you're evil. If you have an affair with your neighbor's wife, you're evil. If you kill for selfish reasons, you're evil — you can kill for moral reasons, however, and we'll pin a medal on you.

— Doc Velocity

MARKETING in it's original form. Can't say your good unless you have evil to compare yourself to. marketing is really the oldest profession.


mikell

I must agree with Doc Velocity here.
What we consider evil or taboo at one time most likely had adverse effects on you or the people around you so we deemed them evil. For example most religions consider laziness to be a sin; if you’re lazy you don’t contribute to the group, so therefore you are evil. Nobody likes to have their stuff stolen; taking something that does not belong to you is a sin. And so forth.
I recently read a article somewhere about how morality has been observed in other members of the greater ape family, I’ll see if I can find it.
It’s my believe that it is most likely a nature and nurture combination that leads to morality