The Nature of Evil

“Evildoers” are a national preoccupation, but what do we mean by “evil”? Nature is indifferent to cruelties that humans abhor. Violence and “murder,” according to some scientists, are present throughout our primate lineage.

As an object of empirical study, the moral faculty is just part of our evolutionary standard equipment, and moral beliefs are just cultural artifacts. Can science explain, then, how good differs from evil, or is “evil” just a matter of whose side you are on?