But even if you do, the term “evil” also implies that your top goals and theirs conflict, so it works even then.
That definition doesn’t work, because for starters it deprives you of the possibility to declare some of your own goals as evil.
Also the way I normally use the word, ‘evil’ goals certainly conflict with my own (I want to think), but not all goals that conflict with my own are evil.
‘Evil’ can be much more precisely defined in a way customarily understood if you consider it to be “the intentional pursuit of disutility”.
If I’m doing something that incidentally hurts someone else, that may be wrong but it’s not evil.
If I’m doing something that hurts someone else, because I want them hurt, so that if they stop hurting by this action I’ll have to find some other way to hurt them, that’s evil.
If you want to destroy a beautiful forest in order to build a powerplant, that’s not evil.
If you want to destroy a beautiful forest because you want people to stop loving its beauty, that’s evil.
If you don’t believe evil exists, you’ve never heard of sadistic and spiteful people.
That definition doesn’t work, because for starters it deprives you of the possibility to declare some of your own goals as evil.
Also the way I normally use the word, ‘evil’ goals certainly conflict with my own (I want to think), but not all goals that conflict with my own are evil.
‘Evil’ can be much more precisely defined in a way customarily understood if you consider it to be “the intentional pursuit of disutility”.
If I’m doing something that incidentally hurts someone else, that may be wrong but it’s not evil. If I’m doing something that hurts someone else, because I want them hurt, so that if they stop hurting by this action I’ll have to find some other way to hurt them, that’s evil.
If you want to destroy a beautiful forest in order to build a powerplant, that’s not evil. If you want to destroy a beautiful forest because you want people to stop loving its beauty, that’s evil.
If you don’t believe evil exists, you’ve never heard of sadistic and spiteful people.