The Evolutionary Biology Of Evil Paul Thompson

In discussions of evil, a controversial issue has been whether it’s completely moral or biological. On one hand, some argue that evil is caused by morality. From this perspective, the evils in human nature are solely based off of how a person was raised or brought up as a child. On the other hand, however, others argue that evil is biological. According to this view, evil has evolved through a process called natural selection and is part of human nature. My own view is that evil has evolved into human nature, but is enhanced by morality.

In his article “The Evolutionary Biology of Evil,” Paul Thompson agrees with the Darwinian theory of evil which is that evil is brought up through natural selection. Thompson himself writes, “They [the concept

In short, it is when the best adapted of two of the same species defeats or kills the weaker. By extension, is showing evil because of the action of two of the same species killing the other. Thompson then restates the fact that evil is divided into two kinds: natural and moral. Natural evil is triggered by human pain and suffering by nature. Examples of this include earthquakes, tornadoes, disease, and other natural disasters. Then he makes the point of agreeing with Darwinian theory of evil in evolution which is that the concept of moral evil is meaningless. Thus explaining to the reader that the Darwinian theory is based off of evolution and pure science. This means that Thompson believes that evil has been brought up by natural selection. Thompson proceeds to explain how evil is usually taken to be an important detail of the Darwinian theory of survival of the fittest, a part of natural selection. According to Thompson “It [survival of the fittest] embodies evil,” (Thompson 1). In other words, he believes that survival of the fittest is driven by evil. He explains this by restating the definition of survival of the fittest which is the war of all

This theme is shown throughout the novel and his highlighted especially in chapter eight when Simon, a boy who symbolizes goodness, is having a hallucination and begins talking to a severed pig's head. The head calls itself the Lord of the Flies which translates to Beelzebub which translates to the Devil or Satan. It begins to tell Simon that all of the other boys are evil and are only out for themselves. Golding writes “Fancy thinking the beast was something you could hunt and kill,” (Golding 143). The Lord of the Flies is explaining to Simon that the evil inside of each of the boys is the beast and the evil can not be killed. In fact, to explain that the evil cannot be killed, Golding himself writes, “You know perfectly well you’ll just meet me down there --- so don’t try to escape,” (Golding 143). In other words, The Lord of the Flies is saying that Simon will have to face the evil in all of the boys, including himself, even if he tries to tell them what the beast really is. Although Golding seems to agree with Thompson up to a point, he does not have the same overall conclusion that evil is brought up by pure biological means. In Golding’s novel he uses evidence that implies that morals have an impact on the cause of evil in human nature. For instance, he describes that as the boys lose sight of civilization, they lose