Good Vs. Evil--Mankind’s Debate

Good vs. evil has consistently been debated since possibly the beginning of mankind. It’s significance in history has been evident over centuries of stories, tales balancing conflict as if there are only two viewpoints to be on, good and evil, no medium or third group joining the duel. What is good, and what is evil? Is there really a difference between the two? Or is it simply our nature to give everything that happens a name in order to make sense out of our lives?

The classic novel, Gilgamesh, is said to be the earliest recorded story known to humanity. It is so old, that it was recorded on clay tablets and written in cuneiform, the earliest form of writing discovered. In this story, Gilgamesh plays the hero, who has to destroy Humbaba, the giant monster who protects the forest. The first story ever known even shows the battle between two sides, one the human, which is supposedly good or righteous, the other, the monster, which is supposedly evil and horrible. Even what is known as the starting-point of human writing shows our own bias towards ourselves and our beliefs being good and righteous, while the other is shown to be wrong simply because it is ugly or different. Modern hero stories such as those like Superman in comic books typically portray the villains to be ugly looking and demented. The typical villain is not sweet-looking and enjoyable to have around. But in real life, sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference, because we don’t have that physical appearance or eccentricity in nature to decipher who is good, and who is evil, or what is good, and what is evil. We have to decide for ourselves by thinking critically about how others act. Basing our motives upon physical appearance would be outrageous in the real world. That would be called discrimination.

Star Wars shows good vs. evil in a more personal manner, suggesting it as an inner-struggle. In the movie, young Anakin is at first good before he becomes power-hungry and misled by the evil Supreme Chancellor Palpatine. Anakin’s inner-battle between choosing to become a jedi and living life fairly and understandingly verses becoming a ruler, but of the dark side, is shown clearly in the third movie, Revenge of the Sith. In all of the other movies, it shows how the jedi must use fair means in order to destroy their opponents, whereas the evil dark side may use whatever cruel means they like. Young Anakin found it easy to choose a side with such freedom and power, even though it would ultimately corrupt him, and he would later become Darth Vader. When Anakin makes his decision, he must fight against the people he once loved. Near the end of Revenge of the Sith, he fights Obi-Wan Kenobi near live running lava. In their fight, Anakin is angry and childish, defending his decision, while Obi-Wan is hurt and upset, unbelieving of the decision his once great companion has decided. As they fight with their light-sabers, Anakin falls into the lava and his body burns severely alive. This scene is the physical representation of how his decision has mutilated his soul. It is almost as if the evil that has possessed Anakin has taken over so much, it is now taking over from his interior to his exterior. His inner-struggle between good and evil seems to be complete, but it is in the last movie, when the fight is over, that Anakin makes the decision to be good once and for all, right before he dies, and he joins the light side.




This video is of a three year old explaining Star Wars Episode IV.

Ultimately, mankind’s struggle between choosing good and evil, can root right to the individual’s battle, because it is not just our society as a group that has trouble deciphering and understanding the two, but inner-selves. As children we are taught about this thing we have called a conscience, but how do we know what that is, or how it exists? Is it something we’re born with, or something our parents have to teach us? Do we feel guilt because we are told early on to feel guilt about certain things, or is it natural for most of us to know what is good and what is bad? According to Sigmund Freud, the concscience is, "nothing but external commands internalized." This student's philosophy paper explains her theory here, stating that with Freud's definition, when a child does something wrong and it goes unpunished, they will continue to do it with the belief that they are right. It is harder to define the opposing view, that our concscience comes from ourselves, not simply what we have been taught. I believe it is a combination of both though. Our parents teach us what to do that is right in certain situations as children, and then as we grow older we learn how to apply these things to all of the problems we face. Since parents can't teach us the right move to make for every situation, this is where our battle between good and evil comes in. Maybe the reason that we have this inner-struggle, is not simply because of the temptation to do bad things, but also it's our indecision in complicated situations, between what is wrong and what is right.

The debate of abortion is a great example of our indecision of what is good and evil.

How could our parents teach us to make a decision like that? In real life, it can be so much harder to decipher between what is and what isn't evil. We don't have an easily dividable dark side and light side. Villains are not hideously ugly; the most beautiful people in the world can take on even the ugliest of physical forms, while the most evil people in the world can look completely normal. Abortion is a touchy subject with everyone, because people have different opinions of what is good and what is evil in it. I am not choosing a side here. That would be an entire other paper. It seems like everyone has an inner-struggle with deciding what is right with this decision, mainly because it hits so close to home. After all, almost everyone has babies, and everyone was a baby. Abortion is a perfect example of how we struggle to make good choices, but we cannot always tell which one is the right one.

All and all, no matter how we view what is good, and what is evil, everyone in mankind has to face this inner-battle. Once we've learned how to deal with situations from our parents and made our own decisions with our hearts, we have to decide ultimately for ourselves what to do is right. Even though we talk about how dangerous and evil our society has become, I'm glad we're a society that has the choice to decide between these issues in order to become better. Our indecision and our struggles are beneficial, because if we didn't care, we wouldn't have this problem at all. The battle between good and evil is something that we are conflicted with as human-beings, and the reason it is so hard to choose sometimes, is because in life sometimes it is hard to give certain things a definition. We have to figure it out for ourselves, and this is where our confusion with the subject begins. I believe that because of these struggles though, we are ultimately good people for even worrying about such things...If we were bad people, I don't think we'd even care where we'd end up.