Above is a link to an article on evil, that is, a force, idea,
or action of highest compassionless cruelty. I find little to quibble with in
Gray's notion that evil is part of the full range of potential human behavior -
we've proven it over the millennia. His rebuke of some who paint as evil those who
do not conform to Western liberal notions of the inevitability of Enlightened
progress toward more widespread democracy, equality, and justice, also seems
well founded. There is potential for evil thoughts and behavior in all of us. But
there is insufficient reason or evidence to conclude that evil is an
independent supernatural force or that as such it can “inhabit” a person or group. Without human thought or action evil
disappears along with all our other labelled categories for reality and human
experience.
See also my earlier post:
Good And Evil – Hardwired, Learned, Or Both?
