The Teaching Of Evil Summary

While the role of a bystander can be considered evil, it does not necessarily mean that a person is inherently evil. In "The Teaching Of Evil”, Bottery examines upon this principle, in which a normal person can become the doer or onlooker. He substantiates Zimbaro’s argument on situational factors, and argues for a categorization of evil. Bottery describes this categorization in the form of institutional, societal, and global evil. He examines the notion of institutional evil, when he states, “The institutional. This is the belief that evil can be manifested in actions which are the result of rules and regulations, rather than purely through the conscious initiative of the individual” (Bottery). In accordance to the above statement, an action

There may be an underlying factor such as simply following the orders of a higher authority or having no knowledge that such rules may possibly lead to harm. In a similar manner, societal evil is related to institutional evil. For example, Bottery makes this connection, in which he writes, “Societal evil. When a society coordinates its institutions in such a way that people or principles are prosecuted with the total intensity of the state, a capacity for evil is created which totally dwarfs individual and institutional examples of such actions” (Bottery). From this, societal evil can be described as an extension of institutional evil. More specifically, societal evil is when there is a collective effort amongst a society to regulate institutions towards a common goal. Through a coordinated series of rules and regulations, a society as a whole, can focus on the intentional and planned means to harm a group of individuals. Nazi Germany is an example of societal evil, in which a society had adopted measures to target and persecute a group of people under an specific belief and ideology. A broader spectrum of societal evil is described by Bottery in the form of global

In the “Evil Is More Than Banal: Situationism And The Concept Of Evil”, Berkowitz defines evil as an intentional will to harm another person. He establishes that evil must be interpreted in a form of a scale, as not all evil are of the same weight. Likewise, that same scale also applies to accountability, as the one who commits an evil act is most responsible. However, in The Lucifer Effect, Zimbardo examines that a portion of responsibility can still fall onto a separate individual or group. He illustrates that a bystander can be considered evil due to a series of situational factors. Subsequently, the role of a bystander is further substantiated with a historical account of the Rwanda Genocide. Staub’s description of the United States role details how inaction only further perpetuates the existence of evil. In "The Teaching Of Evil”, Bottery shatters the contention for an inherent evil, and affirms that evil is nurture. His argument demonstrates how forms of evil can exist on an institutional, societal, or even global degree - that rules and regulations should never be blindly trusted as it could intentionally be constructed for evil. Lastly, Calder details the atrocities of Hilter and Eichmann, and substantiates Berkowitz's and Bottery’s explanation of a evil with different degrees and forms. As a society, we must realize that