During a class discussion, it was a subject based on the very broad difference between good and evil. It revolved around how do you constitute between good and evil. This is an interesting debate since it can be based on certain ethical standards and boundaries that some people may interpret to be good and others may have a different opinion on that matter. There can be levels of extremity to constitute what is really good and what is really evil. For instance, there is a level of extremity for evil when it comes to stealing someone’s pencil and stealing someone’s car, or for a “good” example, would be saying bless you to someone sneezing and saving someone’s life or donating to a charity. I believe there is obviously a fine line one the good to evil spectrum, but again, some people may have differing opinions.
A second discussion was brought up, still on the difference between good and evil, about are people born either good or evil. Again, there were many differing opinions, but I saw this as more of how do you learn a language. You’re raised to learn it by people around you otherwise you won’t know how to speak or whatever to say. The same applies to people born good or evil. It is how you are raised and brought up because when you are born, you’re born with no knowledge as well as a “veil of ignorance” that there is no “ultimate position or decision” and no one is biased. Once people learn how to act and speak a certain language then they arrive in the “original position”. So, I believe that it’s all about how you grow up and are influenced by the people you surround yourself with.
I spoke up in this discussion and gave my opinion about how I dislike the comparison between good and evil as I saw it as too extreme. I believed that a better comparison between people who are selfish and people who are unselfish resonates with people all over the world. It can be as simple as whether or not to hold the door for someone or tip the waiter at a restaurant. People use these examples to determine whether or not they may like or dislike an individual based on how selfish or selfless they come across. Again, there are certain levels of extremity like theft or stealing to make someone be evil or selfish, but there are also debates like if someone were to rob a store in order to pay for medicine for a sick friend or family member, is that considered selfish or evil? These are the real questions that go up for debate, and how I perceive it as to whether it’s selfish or unselfish to act on this. This was a very fascinating class discussion, and I enjoyed participating.