Thoughts on Good and Evil

Arguments about Good and Evil are often raised when people attempt to demonstrate the existence or non-existence of God. After all, if there is evil (war, murder, famine, earthquakes, volcanoes, disease etc.) then there must also be good. To determine what is good and what is evil, we apparently require a moral law. If there is a moral law, there must be a law-giver, i.e. God.

A major problem with this is that Good and Evil are entirely subjective. For example, when a volcano erupts and destroys entire cities with pyroclastic flows, rock-bombs and lava, is that Evil? For that matter, are any natural "disasters" evil? There are many "evil" things that are the result of human actions (murder, war, rape etc.). For now, I`m going to talk about events that are totally beyond our control - often ironically called "Acts Of God".

Floods

When the Nile floods, anyone who fails to get out of the flood-plain is likely to be drowned. The victims of this, and their friends and family, may consider the flood to be evil. However, when the flood subsides, the Nile Valley is thoroughly fertilised and crops may be grown there. Without the regular flooding, no-one could farm there at all. From that point of view, the floods could be considered to be Good.

Volcanoes

The same point applies to volcanoes. Even though volcanoes are incredibly destructive, the area close to the volcano becomes extremely fertile and productive. It would seem that these sorts of natural disasters are Good if no-one is hurt and no property is destroyed, and Evil if there is death and destruction.

Storms

What about hurricanes, typhoons and tornadoes? Well, in the USA many people die every year as a result of these storms, and little benefit appears to come from it. However, in the Far East, the typhoons are a part of the rainy season, without which crops would fail and people would starve. Some people see typhoons/hurricanes as destructive, others welcome them. It should also be noted that these storms are not limited to the Earth. Jupiter`s Great Red Spot is a hurricane bigger than our planet, and has probably been raging for thousands of years. The destructive energies it contains could level every building on our planet - is it therefore Evil? On the other hand, it cannot possibly harm us, and through studying it we can gain insights into the structure of Gas Giants and acquire knowledge about the Solar System - is it therefore Good?

Lightning is striking the ground almost constantly - somewhere on the globe, lightning occurs many times a second. Lightning forms a part of the nitrogen cycle, releasing valuable nitrates and nitrites that plants require for growth. Many plants rely on lightning for their survival - some seeds will not germinate until they have been through a forest fire (conveniently clearing a space for them and eliminating competitors), which are often triggered by lightning. Conversely, many plants are killed as a direct result of lightning strikes, and if a human happens to be hit by lightning, he could well be killed. Is it Good or Evil?

Earthquakes

Earthquakes are probably even more destructive than volcanoes, and regularly level entire cities, killing thousands. They are the result of the Earths tectonic plates sliding around. Without this movement, we would not have mountain ranges and the planet would be a very different place and humans might not even exist. Many earthquakes are completely harmless, and happen deep within the crust where they can only be detected by sensitive instruments, or only felt as small tremors. As well as killing people, earthquakes help us to understand the mechanics of our planet, and possibly even predict future quakes. Are earthquakes Evil?

Others

There are plenty of other natural disasters/events that could be discussed here:

Solar radiation
Meteorites
Famine
Plague
Drought
Over-population
Ice Ages
Avalanches (and mud-slides)
Christian Rap music

All these things happen to humans and other creatures all the time, but this is not a reason to believe that some Evil force is trying to harm us, nor that some Good force is trying to send us an obscure message or teach us some sort of valuable lessons. If they were caused by a Good force, why couldn't it find a gentler way of achieving the desired result, or build the expected knowledge into us from birth?

(It`s also interesting to note that when someone manages to survive one of these disasters, it is often referred to as a miracle.)

Good or Evil?

My point is this - major natural events are only considered evil if people get in the way of them; nature is neutral to us. We interpret these events depending on how they effect us. The regular flooding of the Nile is beneficial to the local people - they expect it and arrange their lives accordingly. The unexpected flooding of other areas brings death and destruction (but will also revitalise the soil). One countries disaster is another countries life-giver.

Many similar events cannot be predicted, and happen entirely without warning, resulting in many tragic deaths. They are not, however, a physical manifestation of an Evil Force. Or are the forces of Good and Evil working as a team - one floods a valley, trying to kill people, the other makes up for this by making the valley fertile once the waters have subsided? (If that is the case, then Good is pretty stupid and has a poor memory - making the land fertile again will make people want to live there once more, where Evil can have another go at killing them. It would make more sense for Good to create fertile land in an area safe from floods. Currently, it looks like they're working together with the intention of killing as many people as possible.) Whether an event is considered Good or Evil depends on where the observers are at the time it happens.

From an atheist point of view (i.e. there are no supernatural forces at work), all this makes perfect sense. Whether or not humans are around, the world will keep on having major natural disasters. If people are in the wrong place at the wrong time, they will suffer the inevitable consequences. The only thing we can do about it is to learn how to predict earthquakes and volcanoes, and mobilise ourselves to help flood, storm and famine victims as quickly and efficiently as possible. We can't stop these things happening, but we can learn to live with them, predict them, and reduce the resultant suffering as much as possible. We know what causes them to happen, and that there is no reason or purpose behind it all. The Earth moves, and we move with it.

If the Goodness or Evilness of natural disasters cannot be adequately determined (due to the consequences being ambiguous, subjective or irrelevant) then they can tell us nothing about any sort of moral law or supernatural law-giver.

For the theist, however, things can be a bit more difficult. The old Argument From Evil raises it's ugly head. Is an earthquake a purely natural occurrence (that a God could easily prevent), a manifestation of Evil (which God could also surely prevent) or a Sign From God trying to tell us something by arbitrarily killing a few thousand people? We mere humans are powerless to prevent floods and volcanoes, but believers Know A Man Who Can...

The Evidential Argument from Evil (1998) - Nicholas Tattersall