All human beings are commingled out of good and evil." This quote by Robert Louis Stevenson more or less sums up my view of good versus evil. I do not believe in absolute good and evil in people, because "good" and "evil" are subjective. What is "good" to one person may very well be "evil" to another. And because of that, one can never triumph over the other.
So, I will take the biological view of this issue (you're going to hate me for this).
According to this article, psychologists have found that virtuous, or "good" behavior is correlated with the release of a chemical called oxytocin in the brain. That is, high amounts of oxytocin causes an individual to demonstrate more empathy and kindness toward others. Levels of oxytocin are higher in certain people in general, and also higher or lower depending on certain circumstances. Sometimes a higher level is innate, sometimes it is due to influence of the environment. And like the article mentions, a low amount of people have little or no response to oxytocin, which makes them naturally selfish and immoral.
Can we really define someone as good or evil, then? I think people like to believe that good and evil are characteristics we can choose, that we have full control in determining our tendencies and behaviors. But, evidently, this is not completely true. So, do “good” and “evil” really hold the same value if we know that we as individuals are not able to choose to be one or the other?
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