Underlying Reality of Good and Evil in Man’s Existence
Thus, this notion of good as being that of the highest degree of principle, affirms the thought that one way or another, the aim that man seeks to achieve is to strive towards the path of highest principle, which is the good and to avoid what is basically contradictory to this notion..
Throughout man’s existence, the presence of moral demand has been a constant guiding principle in one’s life. It acts as a basis for man to follow the path of what is moral, of what is considered to be good. Given this notion, we came across this inquest of seeking to know why there is this presence of such moral demand and how it affects one’s existence.
For one to be considered as good, it has to be that something which is considered important to that being. And to some degree, man regards something to be good when this implies the thought that it seizes within it a positive property that benefits him. Man considers good as that for him what he understand to be valuable for him and what he believes to be that which deserves to be consider as such.
The nature of good being it defined as “...that which is valuable. i.e., possesses some positive quality that renders it apt or worthy to be valued by some valuer.”[1] Suggest the thought that what is considered to be good is that which is valuable, seen as having a positive quality, and worthy to be valued by a valuer.
Contrary to this notion, the concept of evil is that which man perceives to be the opposite of the concept of good. Evil is rather expressed as “whatever we experience as the opposite of good in some way, i.e., whatever our appetitive or valuing dynamisms turn away from or disapprove, disvalue, as not perfective valuable, lovable, desirable but harmful, destructive, repugnant…” [2] with this notion, we have a grasp of what we consider to be good and what we consider as evil.
As beings oriented of what is good and evil, man tends to follow the path of what is considered as good. “Yet in all things good is the highest degree a principle"[1]with this implication, we understand how the good is seen as that which points towards what is highest in terms of the degree of principle. This affirms the notion that indeed, the good is implied as that which is understood as having the highest degree of all things.
The nature of man suggests that in his being, he tends to lean towards the highest ethical standard. Here, the understanding of the good is seen as the basic assumption above all things. Thus, this notion of good as being that of the highest degree of principle, affirms the thought that one way or another, the aim that man seeks to achieve is to strive towards the path of highest principle, which is the good and to avoid what is basically contradictory to this notion.
With the presence of good and evil as both thought through as underlying principles of man’s existence, the existence of such moral demand somehow indicates that this sense of moral demand came to develop basically because man experiences the reality of good and evil. He has a sense of what is right and wrong, he recognizes the notion of what is considered good and evil and through this experience of the reality of good and evil, it draws him closer to follow the path of what is morally good.
Such presence of moral demand dictates the underlying reality of good and evil. The experience of man of the reality of good and evil stands as basis of the existence of moral response that man goes through. Through the acquired knowledge of the concept of what is good and evil, man feels such moral demand in his life.
--SREE.
sources: Nemesio S.J., ed. 2001. Central Problems of Metaphysics
Aristotle, Introduction to Metaphysics
