I’m working on a writing discussion question and need support to help me learn.

Choose one option to write about:

Option A: Discuss how the Greek and Roman philosophers understood evil vs. good. What virtues were considered good and why? What did labeling something “good” support (i.e. proto imperialism, conservative virtues, class, family norms, community, what today we might call “patriotism”) and how was the bad or evil used? Did you get a sense of how the definition of the good might have changed over time?

Option B: Discuss how concepts of individual evil, the evil impulses within everyone, are understood in early Judaism. How is defining people or thoughts/actions as evil and associating them with supernatural beings different from saying they are wrong or misguided?

Option C: Discuss the development of satan/Satan within Judaism. What role does this entity play as it develops and why do you think satan becomes Satan for some Jewish communities?

Reply

Concepts of evil include individual evil, someone can think evil thoughts but never take action on them likewise with evil impulses where people may have the urge to do something evil but it is not materialized into action or plan. In early Judaism evil was understood as the individual feeling guilty for their thoughts, this confusion was also a reflection of the Yezer which operates on the “psychic level mythically “acting out” the primitive and urgent emotions of man. It is the Yezer that struggles to overcome man and to dominate him” (Goldman, 336). In Judaism they defined people based off of their actions and if they lead with logic versus emotions. It was expected that when having visitors you offered them food, shelter, a warm place by the fire and providing hospitable service played a huge role in defining if you were good or evil. When comparing how people were evaluated within these empires, “The struggle between good and evil are experienced on all levels of consciousness: intrapsychically, socially, and cosmically” (Goldman, 232). It mattered if you were someone who prioritized friendships, family, other peoples good opinion, the number of minions also reflected the amount of power you had which reflected you as a good individual. What also deemed you as someone who is good is someone that displayed logical reasoning, self-control and fortitude, was duty driven and pursued his duty to his own detriment (Feres). However, I don’t agree with the belief that those who displayed emotion were necessarily evil because they could have most certainly been wrong in a situation or misguided which resulted in an individual to be triggered and respond in a way during that time was deemed unacceptable. What is interesting when discovering more about the depictions of evil is that many of these ideas were developed by men who had a lot of exceptions to display masculinity and dominance during an era that could have really benefited from compassion. Allowing room to understand the complexity of human emotion, individuality, community. It makes you wonder if had the approach been different when establishing what evil was, maybe society would view individuality, display of emotion and impulses from a perspective that’s more understanding and compassionate rather than immediately trying to classify someone or something as evil, bad or good, or simply for what is.