Ethics, virtue and Evil

[Resolve]

How can questions of ethics, value, virtue and evil be addressed in contemporary culture?

[jno]

actually, the mission statement on the homepage does say AB is intended as a forum for debate on issues of general interest. Fair question, Resolve, though I don't have an answer off the top of my head. Bernardo, take 200 brilliant lines.

[Clanad]

Not to worry, Resolve, actually bernardo is quite witty, but it seems to depend on his medication level... (8,000 in 2 years; my that's nearly 11 a day, every day...).

Your question does, pose some problems though, in that each answer provided by a submitter is limited in length to 2,000 characters... so be prepared for 2 and 3 part answers to this one... (Welcome, BTW)

[brachiopod]

* Gasp! *

Accusing bernardo of being 'small minded', 'taking up valuable web space' and posting 'useless lies' - and on a first post to boot!

Welcome Resolve, please don't get the wrong idea about bernardo, he is amongst our most respected and knowledgeable AB-ers. But I have to admit, your question sounded a bit 'straight off the test/coursework/exam paper' and there are plenty of those about at this time of year.

A (rather long) browse around previous posts would reveal plenty of blatant exam questions, some of which even have " ..... Dicuss [10 Marks] " at the end of them. These tend to receive rather short shrift.

Conversely, the same obvious test/exam question preceded by "How should I go about answering the following...?" from the poster, followed by a 'please' and 'thanks' tend to receive helpful and civil answers.

We seem to have got off on the wrong foot, I hope you stick around long enough to see that we're a decent bunch on the whole. Then you too, will join in with the universal *sigh* the next time someone asks what was "Tasty, tasty, very, very tasty".

[jamesy boy]

It rather depends on your definitions of the terms you use, e.g. Is Evil the absence of good, or the negation of good?

I hope the course-work counts for more than the exam, by the way, Resolve.

[jno]

sheesh... Bernardo originally suggested Resolve was posting a question from his exams. Resolve said he was a civil servant posting a genuine question of general interest and was interested in hearing answers. These posts have been removed, leaving what now look like inexplicable comments from Clanad, Brachiopod and me... so now another accusation of posting exam questions has been posted! And nobody yet has managed to answer the question... Resolve must be wondering why he ever got out of bed.