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General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
The "Lawful" alignment, and why "Lawful Evil" is NOT an oxymoron!
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<blockquote data-quote="Maxperson" data-source="post: 6737697" data-attributes="member: 23751"><p>Evil is a matter of degree. You are correct that the quality is there in any amount, but the description of what that quality means can and does often change. Someone with 10 cents to his name is poor. Someone with 10 billion dollars is wealthy. Change wealthy to evil and you'll see what I am saying. Something has to rise to a certain threshold to be evil. Stealing some candy from a baby is bad, but not evil. Stealing the medication that someone needs to live is evil. The quality is selfish. The descriptor is evil, and evil doesn't describe all levels of selfish. It only describes the ones that rise beyond the pale.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Selfishly eating my candy bar without sharing it will never, ever, in any way or amount, be an evil act. Someone who runs around stabbing people is evil. Someone who runs around spanking people is not.</p><p></p><p>Or looking at it another way, since evil is a quality of relating to abrogation of worth leading to a false judgment, any misjudgment however small remains evil. Small misjudgments of worth would tend to lead to small evils, and larger misjudgments of worth would lead to larger ones. But again, any non-zero error would remain evil and be a blemish on the judgment.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Any amount of evil, sure. Any amount of selfishness? No.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>There hasn't been a person born in the past, present, and probably future, who hasn't had some selfishness. I don't accept any theory, and everything you have said is theory, that includes it being impossible for anyone to be anything other than evil.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Maxperson, post: 6737697, member: 23751"] Evil is a matter of degree. You are correct that the quality is there in any amount, but the description of what that quality means can and does often change. Someone with 10 cents to his name is poor. Someone with 10 billion dollars is wealthy. Change wealthy to evil and you'll see what I am saying. Something has to rise to a certain threshold to be evil. Stealing some candy from a baby is bad, but not evil. Stealing the medication that someone needs to live is evil. The quality is selfish. The descriptor is evil, and evil doesn't describe all levels of selfish. It only describes the ones that rise beyond the pale. Selfishly eating my candy bar without sharing it will never, ever, in any way or amount, be an evil act. Someone who runs around stabbing people is evil. Someone who runs around spanking people is not. Or looking at it another way, since evil is a quality of relating to abrogation of worth leading to a false judgment, any misjudgment however small remains evil. Small misjudgments of worth would tend to lead to small evils, and larger misjudgments of worth would lead to larger ones. But again, any non-zero error would remain evil and be a blemish on the judgment. Any amount of evil, sure. Any amount of selfishness? No. There hasn't been a person born in the past, present, and probably future, who hasn't had some selfishness. I don't accept any theory, and everything you have said is theory, that includes it being impossible for anyone to be anything other than evil. [/QUOTE]
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The "Lawful" alignment, and why "Lawful Evil" is NOT an oxymoron!
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