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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pawsplay" data-source="post: 3340355" data-attributes="member: 15538">I have a problem with that because it's a circular argument. Good is that which kills evil, evil is that which kills good....The question, to me, is "What makes Good different than evil?" If detect evil requires you to smite something because it's Evil, then the question of good and evil has resolved to purely one of prudence. That is, you kill something because it does evil, and you don't want it to. But you don't want it do, because it's evil. If evil is "what sets off detect evil," what causes something to set off detect evil?Trolls are not composed of evil. They are living creatures with their own desires and interests. They are evil, descriptively; they are not evil, in the sense that being a troll is the same thing as being evil. There are neutral characters who commit crimes and must be punished, and there are those who do not. Clearly, the non-criminals do not face a paladin's wrath, while the criminals do. Is there not the same difference, then, between something that is evil, and something that is evil and does evil? A troll DOES have a choice, although trolls tend to make it in a certain way. You could argue that humans have a "choice" to act in the manner of a celestial or an angel, but in fact, humans does not have the capability to do so. You cannot judge a creature morally, simply for the fact of being a mortal creature with weaknesses. Children are naturally selfish; that does not mean they should have be whipped on the pillory for stealing sweets, nor should be smote by a divine servant because they have the nature that would cause them to do so.Punishing someone who is not guilty of something, purely because they might if they had the opportunity, is not just. Simply because humans might wipe out an ancient forest in a few generations is not a justification to begin exterminating their children now.</blockquote>

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