No One is 'Pure' Evil

Some claim there is no evil (or good by extension) because these words don't exist as things in themselves (primary substances in philosophical metaphysics). But neither does the word truth represent something that exists in and of itself. Nor does the word sad, hate, joy, etc.

Actions exist, and those actions can be categorized through words that have descriptions to symbolize and refer to what we are trying to explain. Evil is a word to describe certain types of behavior. An evil person is a description of someone who does evil actions. Can someone be pure evil? No, not if you think about it.

Another area of confusion is when some claim there is no evil or good because they think of these words and their exemplification through actions as being "absolute", "pure" or "infinite" in it's applicability. Some people think you're either "good" or "evil", in some "absolute" capacity, while others reject such a fallacy and throw out everything in ignorance and denial of understanding what is being refereed to by the word symbols good or evil, and claim "there is no good or evil/right or wrong". Both types of thinking are incorrect and further the confusion.

The symbol evil is representing an idea. That idea is expressed in the behavior of individual actions in a range of degrees. The stealing of life (murder), sexual preference (rape), bodily integrity (assault) and property (theft) are all expressions of immoral (another symbol) behavior which can be categorized as being evil along a spectrum scale or continuum.

Good and evil are opposite ideas we use to categorize behavior. Something is more good relative to something else that is less good. Something is more bad relative to something else that is less bad. This places everything on a scale, continuum or spectrum for categorization.

If you don’t murder, that’s good, but if you do steal, that’s bad. People aren’t purely good or evil. The actions they engage in, the behavior they express, is good or evil in varying degrees of strength towards one polarity or the other. Each polarity is an idea, as an ideal — “absolute”, “pure” and “infinite” — that actions can be relatively positioned in a continuum, spectrum, scale or degrees to understand their relationship to each other.

Good and evil are polarized opposite ideas and ideals that are used to categorize our behavior. They can’t be "literally" reached because they are "infinite" ideas and ideals used to measure what we do and relate our "doings" with each other. An analogy would be like the ends of a ruler: there is no end to the spectrum or scale of measurements. The measuring scale is technically infinite, but we use relative measurements to relate and compare one thing to another.

The words we use are symbolic constructs to help us understand reality more by defining what happens in reality. Good and evil are used for that purpose in terms of the type of actions we engage in that have consequences for others. The same is so for moral and immoral, or right and wrong.

There is no literal “good or evil” existing as something in itself, just as there is no literal “action” that exists as something in itself, or literal “emotion” that exists. These are all references for what we do and create. Emotions reference and correspond to electro-chemical physiological processing that we feel. Actions reference and correspond to the power of our hands, feet, bodies or voice to affect or create change. Good and evil reference and correspond to the type of actions we create.

If you still think someone could be "pure" evil, what does that look like? To be purely one thing, you have to be that all the time. They would have to be doing evil actions, all the time. It's not even comprehensible to imagine someone existing this way. It's a non-existence, and isn't a valid way to categorize someone, despite it's simplicity in portraying someone to be a certain way.

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Thank you for your time and attention. Peace.

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