How Evil We Humans Are

The concepts of “good” and “evil” are evidently shaped by the culture in which they are observed. This observation was already made by Montesquieu: “La justice elle-même change selon les pays ; une action est jugée innocente ici et coupable là-bas : cela dépend du point de vue que l’on prend. Souvent les lois changent en franchissant un méridien ou un parallèle.” (De l’esprit des lois). Hence the enormous differences between the legal systems of various nations. Some uphold the death penalty, others do not, and in some even life imprisonment rarely translates into actual lifelong incarceration.

In every system of values, however, there exists the dualism of “good” and “evil,” “good people” and “bad people.” With respect to the moral system prevailing in the environment in which I live, I must reluctantly admit that I do not feel entirely good. I can therefore well borrow the famous declaration that Spinoza himself took from Terence: “Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto.” The sentence expresses the awareness that both men recognized in themselves all the good and all the evil that, it seems, inevitably reside within human beings. On a large scale, evil appears to prevail. Tragically, we are forced to observe that the history of humankind is a history of atrocities. No other animal species has ever caused as much suffering to itself and to others as the human species has. This cannot be denied. In other words, to link “goodness” with “humanity” produces a true oxymoron. And yet, this constantly done. We often say of someone, “Oh, how human he is.” Or we claim that certain people are treated in an “inhuman” way (like we treat other species)!

This does not mean, of course, that human animals are constantly wicked. There are excellent reasons not always to be so. Among them are the necessity of social coexistence, the fear of retaliation from others, and—at times—even the desire to distinguish oneself from others by displaying and flaunting one’s (unnatural) goodness. It is a form of goodness born of pride, of the desire for superiority, of self-discipline, and of vanity at once. This, it seems to me, is the case with many of the so-called “saints” celebrated by the Church of Rome.

And yet, we fail to recognize and acknowledge this reality. We humans could quite reasonably admit to being the “demons of the planet.” And yet, we cannot. We lack this form of sincerity.