Good and Evil
`What is good and what is evil?'
Philosophers of all ages have thought over this question.
Each reckoned that he had solved the question once and for all, yet within a few years the problem would re-emerge with new dimensions.
In fact, most of the answers would be later found inadequate or unsatisfactory. Religious thinkers also joined in presenting a solution in this regard but only added confusion.
It also offers a solution to this question and an effort will be made to explain it.
A few basic questions need to be answered in order to arrive at some satisfactory answer. They are:
(i) Are good and evil absolute or are they relative to the conditions associated with time and place? Do conditions surrounding a particular situation make an act good and at another time make it evil? Does an act appear to be good in the overall perspective, but when torn away from its environment appear to be evil?
(ii) Is the concept of good and evil imbued in the nature of man or has he been given divine guidance? If not, how are good and evil identified? If reason is the only guide, is there some criteria to determine what is good and what is evil?
(iii) If good and evil are independent, do they have the same creator? Or is God the Creator of good alone? If so, who has created evil?
(iv) If the knowledge of good and evil is instinctive, there should be uniformity of thought between various nations, religions and groups; but there are vast differences among them in almost every aspect. What are the reasons?
These questions have been thought over by philosophers and thinkers of all times. I will now briefly discuss their views. However, I will mention only those philosophers whose views left a deep impact upon philosophical thought.
