@Scrwd o yey, I got your point, nice.
@nobile not dropping it. Also, don't think anybody here is arguing about slavery being okay, we're just simply trying to present the point that the slave owners at the time may not have necessarily been seen as bad guys because slavery was an accepted practice at the time. Everyone knows slavery is bad.
@Rgal
What you said was repeating and rephrasing what Scrwd said, which is "You cannot be evil when your actions during your time and place were not considered evil". That "being bad" somehow depends on when and where and what and who thinks about "being bad". That's pretty unambiguous. And wrong. Very, very wrong.
See, we don't just live in a society. We are a society. Our opinions are partly influenced by those around us, true; but ultimately, it is us who make final decision on wether or not something is worth doing. That is how societal norms form. And some of those norms are bad, because some of us decide that it is worth to do bad things and use sophistry to avoid feeling guilty about it. So yes, you can totally be evil even when everyone around you knows what you did and are totally on board with it.
Simply:
However, we disagree on:
Everyone who did so, was inherently evil.
I disagree with this because I recognize someone being evil when, they do something that is morally bad, even though they know it's bad.
I do not see someone as evil, if they manage to recognize that the things they were doing were bad (if they're made aware of it). The things they did were bad, yes, but they're not inherently evil.
Specifically because of: "I recognize someone being evil when, they do something that is morally bad, even though they know it's bad."
So if a society as a whole knows the things it's doing is wrong, and still goes on with it, it's evil. Yes, I agree, however, you cannot then label everyone who actively participates evil, refer to what
@Artemi said a bit earlier. While you can do what you said
here, this assumes that they knew that what they were doing was bad.
This exchange just now made me realize we're arguing based on two different assumptions somehow:
Mine: The people of the time were simply taught what they were taught about the social norms, and they gave it no further thought, either because they didn't care, or had other things to worry about (like surviving in general).
Yours: People at the time were able to realize that what they were doing was wrong, but decided to go with it anyway because they either didn't want to admit to themselves that what they were doing was wrong, or because they enjoyed power.
I'm going to have to state this very boldly now, because you missed it the last time: I'm assuming this is what you think, and I also assume you will correct me if I assumed wrong.
I say this because I stated "
I think our whole discussion right now comes down to the following:" earlier, and you immediately attacked me.
Under my assumption, the people aren't evil because they'd correct their view on the matter if they were made to realize the error in their ways. The people would eventually come to realize as a collective that what they've been doing was wrong, and that it has to be fixed. If people refused, then you'd able to start thinking about them being evil.
Under your assumption though, and I have to stress this again,
this is what I think you're thinking, how did we as a society accept that slavery is bad? Did all the people who knew they were in the wrong one day suddenly decide that slavery is bad and that it has no place in society?
Once again trying to stress this: The only reason we're even able to argue about slavery being bad, is because we as a society realized that slavery is bad. If slavery was still accepted, we'd be the strange ones trying to argue that slavery was horrible. We'd seem strange, but if we managed to convince enough people, the perception that slavery is okay would eventually turn into "slavery is bad". It wouldn't be immediate, but no change in society happens in a day (this whole point is assuming the society is the one I'm assuming above).
