Can Good Create Evil?

Simple question:

Can Good Create Evil?

"Create" is an interesting word...

My first thought was yes, because sometimes we try to do good but we were misguided, or misjudge, or just make mistakes, and it turns out pretty messed up. But then, is that really good creating the evil or did evil step in a perpetuate itself somehow...? Honestly I just get confused from there.

I think some of the problem I'm having in sorting my thoughts about this is that I don't really see good and evil as being separate enough to be able to consider them in this way. Sometimes my good can certainly be someone else's evil, and in that sense good creates evil (and vice versa). I'm just not sure good and evil are distinct enough from each other for me to say that they exist without the other in the first place.

Haha, how is that a "simple question"? There are so many subtleties here! For all four words one can ask just what is even meant by them in this context, or for that matter, what is meant by the whole...

River wrote: "Create" is an interesting word...

My first thought was yes, because sometimes we try to do good but we were misguided, or misjudge, or just make mistakes, and it turns out pretty messed up. But then, is that really good creating the evil or did evil step in a perpetuate itself somehow...? Honestly I just get confused from there.

I think some of the problem I'm having in sorting my thoughts about this is that I don't really see good and evil as being separate enough to be able to consider them in this way. Sometimes my good can certainly be someone else's evil, and in that sense good creates evil (and vice versa). I'm just not sure good and evil are distinct enough from each other for me to say that they exist without the other in the first place.

What role does intent play? Can you be or do evil by mistake?

ZealotX wrote:
What role does intent play? Can you be or do evil by mistake?

I know this doesn't answer your question, but I don't know the answer. I don't even know if there is an answer. I'm not good at wrestling with the complexities of what ifs, but I also felt that I should respond and not just leave your question hanging.

So, I don't know if evil can happen on accident or if it's all about intent. I'm not sure it matters, for me and how I live anyway. What is, is. I do my best in a given moment and I trust that others are doing their best in a given moment, and we will do our best to deal with whatever the outcome may be.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

Wescli Wardest wrote:
The road to hell is paved with good intentions.

It's funny you picked a quote, I was going to go with

'All it takes for evil to prosper is for good men to do nothing'.

I would like to offer you a reflection in connection with the proposed sentence.
Once I asked a great and recognized Christian Catholic Priest if God, being omnipotent, could destroy evil and therefore have only good. He replied that being God immensely good, he could not do an evil deed by "destroying" something.
Certainly in this summary answer there are many implications and theological errors.
In a pantheistic vision, perhaps the two things, good and evil, must necessarily coexist, such as light and dark, heat and cold, and so on.
Life is always changing and the balance between 2 things is always in the hands of humanity, with our individual actions.

I would offer the opposite of this question can: Evil create Good?

Sometimes, it's not so easy as labeling good and evil. It's always a perspective thing.

"I've seen a rich man beg
I've seen a good man sin
I've seen a tough man cry
I've seen a loser win
And a sad man grin
I heard an honest man lie (uh)
I've seen the good side of bad
And the downside of up
And everything between"-Everlast

Yea, but its not required for it to be created and it might not create it.

I'll give a dialectical perspective here. I believe that all of these "good" and "evil" things are more of a matter of perspective. Ones reality is greatly influenced by their perception, and we see reality as we are, not as it is. So that being said, when we are practicing DBT we don't utilize the terms good, evil, bad, and what not. We say "effective" and "non-effective," as it takes the perception out of it, and bases the moment on the facts of reality instead of our own opinion.

DBT answer aside, I'd look at this like the mother who had amazing intentions, raising her child giving it everything she could because she loved him or her so much it hurt. Protected them from every potential harm that would come their way. And now the child ends up being "spoiled," mean to others, thinking that they are better than everyone else and intentionally lashes out because of a superiority complex, or maybe because they never learned how to social interact with others when they were being sheltered. Just like the knights said earlier, her intentions were good, but it led to an "non-effective" result. So I guess good intentions can create evil or bad outcomes, but i'd also say that those evil outcomes can have the opportunity to change as well. If we set something up to be good or bad, eventually the pendulum will swing and it will become the opposite. Hence why walking a middle path is so important, so that way we don't set ourselves up to suffer with the "pendulum" effect.

-David

All great responses. Even the "I don't know" response is a great response.

Why? Because "I think" good is NOTHING... except for my own perspective/understanding/experience of what good is. Evil is NOTHING... except for my own perspective/understanding/experience of what evil is. So yes, good can create evil and evil can create good depending on who's perspective/understanding/experience we're using as a measure.

The reason I asked about intent is because that's how we position ourselves, relatively, between these two poles. The more selfish the intent is the more it could negatively impact (therefore become evil to) someone else. The more selfless our intent the more it could positively impact others.

Without a mirror do you see your own face? Which perspective matters to you when your actions are judged? In general, I think we try to balance the two. We balance self-evil a.k.a self-sacrifice in order to avoid evil or sacrificing others. And this is inherently good because it would be bad not to. At least I think it would be bad not to.

So if we are not mindful of ourselves... have no ability to reflect... to see ourselves from a higher vantage point... how can we know if we're doing good or evil? Does it matter to you?