Evil is based upon good
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Re: "Evil not so banal, says disturbing new probe", Opinion, September 9.
In a now-famous 1961 experiment by psychologist Stanley Milgram, volunteers administered shocks to other students, starting with 15 volts and progressing to 450 volts.
The volunteers thought the shocks were real, but they were in fact fake.
A recent review of the experiment discovered that the volunteers’ actions were motivated by a sense of pleasure, of duty fulfilled, or of having served a higher calling.
More than 2,300 years ago, the philosopher Aristotle taught that every decision made by an individual is preceded by a premise of good.
Even the most heinous crimes are committed by those who feel a sense of good behind their actions, no matter how twisted or perverted their definitions of “good” might be.
We can forgive those with unacceptable definitions of good, yet also uphold their punishments, as those who act upon such definitions must be appropriately punished for the good of society – though not simply for revenge.
Those who can change their false definitions might be, in some circumstances, forgiven further.
Guy Baker
