Oversimplification, Classifying Good and Evil

Ethics, Morality, and Sin

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Purple Knight
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Oversimplification, Classifying Good and Evil

Post #1

Post by Purple Knight »

Question for Debate: Is this classification system reasonably descriptive of the moral landscape in reality?

I use a very simple alignment system in any D&D game I run. In place of the nine D&D alignments, there are just three. I use the ESP (Enlightened/Selfish/Protective) system which I didn't develop but I consider to be a good one.

Selfish: The Selfish person does not have moral consideration for others. He may have consideration for others but only if they are useful to him. He thinks only of himself. He will do anything that benefits him if he can get away with it, but may shy away from doing those things if he might get caught and suffer punishment.

Protective: This alignment encompasses those who will engage in what would otherwise be considered evil acts, but only against those they feel have committed wrongs first, typically the Selfish. For example, a Protective person might believe that hitting is wrong, but he will hit a Selfish person beating up a random person for his coin purse.

Enlightened: The Enlightened person believes certain acts are wrong, period. If he believes hitting is wrong, he will not hit someone to stop them from hitting someone else. Typically he will even lecture the person who hits back, saying, you know hitting is wrong, or you wouldn't be trying to punish someone for it, so why do you think it is appropriate to hit, ever? The most extreme Enlightened will even punish someone trying to exact retribution but not the initiator of violence, because to the Enlightened person, this is a genuine wrongdoer, while the initiator knows not what he does. The Enlightened person will generally try to exclude, shame, or starve the Protective person into either behaving or going away, and only use violence as a last resort, if at all.

The Selfish person doesn't have a mental concept of evil, not a true one, though he will parrot the idea that the Protective person is evil if that means he gains by it. The Protective person believes the Selfish person is evil. The Enlightened person believes that the Selfish person is not evil (he simply doesn't know any better) but that the Protective person is evil, because he is knowingly doing what he believes is wrong.

Here's where I think the D&D alignments fall in this system:

Chaotic Evil, Neutral Evil: These are the same alignment, and they fall under Selfish. They will both inflict suffering for personal benefit and have no moral consideration for others. The chaotic version is just the neutral version with a taste for mayhem. They're not morally disparate.
Lawful Evil, Lawful Neutral: These people follow a code, and have a tendency to punish others for violating their code, or local laws. They don't believe hurting someone is wrong if that person is himself a wrongdoer. They're Protective.
Neutral Good, Lawful Good: These fall under Enlightened.
Chaotic Neutral: Not a real alignment. If you just like mayhem and you cause it for your own pleasure then you're evil.
True Neutral: Not a real alignment. You either have moral consideration for others, making you good, or you don't, making you evil. It is said that Nature is neutral, and so it is, because it doesn't have a mind. If there is a mind behind survival of the fittest, death to the failures and eat them, it would be rightly classed as evil.
Chaotic Good: Not a real alignment. It's just a person with moral consideration for others who will break rules, but all good people will break rules, if those rules aren't good. If a good person is following a bad rule it's either out of cowardice or ignorance, not a genuine belief that good people should submit to bad rules.

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William
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Re: Oversimplification, Classifying Good and Evil

Post #2

Post by William »

[Replying to Purple Knight in post #1]

This classification system seems to offer a useful way to think about different moral alignments and how individuals may prioritize their own interests versus the interests of others.

Morality appears to be based on the requirement for humans to work together in order to survive and prosper.

This classification system may be a useful starting point for understanding moral perspectives and motivations, but it is not necessarily comprehensive or universally applicable. Different societies and cultures may have different moral frameworks and values, and individual perspectives may be shaped by a variety of factors, including social context, personal experience, and cultural background.

Moreover, any classification system may have limitations and blind spots, and may not fully capture the complexities and nuances of human behavior and motivation. As such, it's important to approach any classification system with a critical and reflective mindset, and to recognize its potential limitations and biases.

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