Moral evil is any

morally Morality () is the differentiation of intentions, decisions and actions between those that are distinguished as proper (right) and those that are improper (wrong). Morality can be a body of standards or principles derived from a code of con ...

negative event caused by the intentional action or inaction of an

agent Agent may refer to: Espionage, investigation, and law *, spies or intelligence officers * Law of agency, laws involving a person authorized to act on behalf of another ** Agent of record, a person with a contractual agreement with an insuranc ...

, such as a person. An example of a moral evil might be

murder Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the ...

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

or any other

evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

event for which someone can be held responsible or culpable."The Two Types of Evil." BBC News. BBC, n.d. Web. 13 Sept. 2014
Christianity: good and evil
/ref> This concept can be contrasted with natural evil, in which a bad event occurs naturally, without the intervention of an agent. The dividing line between natural and moral evil is not absolutely clear however, as some behaviours can be unintentional yet morally significant. The distinction of evil from 'bad' is complex. Evil is more than simply 'negative' or 'bad' (i.e. undesired or inhibiting good) as evil is on its own, and without reference to any other event, morally incorrect. The validity of 'moral evil' as a term, therefore, rests on the validity of morals in

ethics Ethics or moral philosophy is a branch of philosophy that "involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior".''Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy'' The field of ethics, along with aesthetics, concer ...

. First impressions on morally evil actions dictate, how people see events, not only murders/death but the level of inhumane cruelty.

Philosophers on moral evil

A philosopher named Christopher McMahon had a theory regarding moral evil which was questioning the idea that although murder is considered worse than an accidental death, preventing both deaths would be of equal value, despite the fact that murder is morally evil whereas accidental death is not. He uses examples to demonstrate violations of moral evil and harm related to first impressions.

The Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europ ...

is seen as morally worse than the

Spanish influenza The 1918–1920 influenza pandemic, commonly known by the misnomer Spanish flu or as the Great Influenza epidemic, was an exceptionally deadly global influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. The earliest documented case was ...

epidemic although the Holocaust had one third the number of deaths as the Spanish influenza epidemic. More people died in the Spanish influenza but since the Holocaust was seen as more gruesome and inhumane it is considered morally evil in peoples point of views.

References

Concepts in ethics Intention

Evil Evil, in a general sense, is defined as the opposite or absence of good. It can be an extremely broad concept, although in everyday usage it is often more narrowly used to talk about profound wickedness and against common good. It is general ...

Good and evil {{reli-philo-stub

Philosophers on moral evil

See also

References