good and evil; light and darkness

[IbnAbdulHakim]

Can there be good at all without the existence of evil?

yep if you think about it most evil comes from injustice, and there will be no injustice in heaven. So good can exist without evil, if we enter heaven we might see proof o fthat.

What I mean is, is what we mean by 'good' not defined by what we mean by 'evil', and vice versa?
Can one exist without the other?

i believe so as what "good" is, is defined by our holy scriptures and morals etc. We dont need evil to define good, neither do we need darkness to define light. If Gods telling you somethings you dont need the vice versa or polar opposite to accept it, only to perhaps better understand it.

Perhaps we can equate this to light and darkness.
Can light exist without the existance of darkness?
Or is what we perceive to be light not defined by the absense of darkness, or vice versa?

light and darkness are not equal, good and evil are not equal. There is a theory that chaos gives balance to good, ie it makes one feel more alive etc and gives you more of a push but honestly, you can get the same lively feeling and push etc from the fear of God and his love...



Peace

 

[Snowflake]

Glo: Can there be good at all without the existence of evil?

Yes, I believe so. For example when we look at something that's white, we know it's white, but we only know how white when we put black next to it. So good can exist without evil; although we wouldn't really appreciate if there was no evil.

What I mean is, is what we mean by 'good' not defined by what we mean by 'evil', and vice versa?
Can one exist without the other?

Good isn't destructive so yes it can exist without evil, whereas evil is destructive and if there was only evil it would wipe itself out because of it's destructive nature. So evil alone cannot exist.

However, both are vital in nature. But I guess that's a different topic.

 

[KAding]

Maybe defining 'good' and 'evil' would become impossible if they can't be contrasted against eachother. So our puny brains might not be able to grasp the concepts of goodness or evil anymore. However, in purely practical (and not philosophical/linguistic) terms without evil there would simply be less pain and suffering. At that point we might not be able to recognize the 'goodness' of that, since we can't compare it with evil. However, that does not mean that a world is such a state wouldn't be 'better', it would IMHO only mean we wouldn't be able to imagine how it could be worse.

 

[Pygoscelis]

we actually define good by its contrast to evil..
the same way we contrast darkness by seeing light
or hunger by being satiated. relieved by having felt pain.. one can't exist without its polar opposite...
if it were day light all the time, you wouldn't know what night time is and that would be normal... because of the introduction of one can the other exist in a distinct state be enhanced or even defined...

cheers

I do believe this is the first time I have ever agreed with this poster.

You can not recognize good without evil anymore than you can recognize short without tall or up without down. Opposites define one another.

Of course, where I disagree with the folks above is that I don't believe in Good or Evil as entities or forces that exist independent of the minds perceiving them. Where there is no sentient being to enjoy the good or suffer the evil, there is no good or evil.

 

[ranma1/2]

Can there be good at all without the existence of evil?
What I mean is, is what we mean by 'good' not defined by what we mean by 'evil', and vice versa?
Can one exist without the other?

it woudl of course depend on your def but id say yes.


Perhaps we can equate this to light and darkness.
Can light exist without the existance of darkness?
Or is what we perceive to be light not defined by the absense of darkness, or vice versa?

and light can exists without darkness.

Of course we might not have a term for either with out somethign to compare it to.

can you have peanut butter without chocolate?
can you have pepsi without coke?

 

[barney]

Can

can you have peanut butter without chocolate?
can you have pepsi without coke?

Yeah, you can take the ingerdients that make them up and produce either pepsi or coke.

Light is on a scale of darkness.
Darkness is the absence of light.
Thats the easy one. Even the Bible and Quran allege to this, which is amazingly, one of the few places I agree with both books

Evil and good. Thats the tricky one. Does humankind have original Good or Original sin?