Reality as a feeling
People often say things that imply they have a preference for how reality fundamentally works, which I find strange. Saying "I just prefer evil being something you choose rather than something you are", like I saw someone say on Reddit, feels as odd to me as saying "I just prefer oceans not having salt." Reality isn’t something you get to prefer. It just is. Whether evil is inherent or chosen isn’t up for debate based on personal comfort; it’s a question of how the world actually functions, independent of what we’d like it to be.
This kind of thinking feels like a subtle form of magical thinking. It assumes that, on some level, reality should conform to human desires. But reality doesn’t care about preferences. Gravity doesn’t pull downward because we’d like it to. If evil is something inherent in certain people, then that’s just the way it is, regardless of whether someone finds that concept unsettling. Preferences don’t shape facts.
At most, I can understand why someone would wish for a world where evil is always a choice, because it makes things feel more just. If evil is chosen, then justice makes sense, and morality stays within human control. But if some people are just born evil, then that removes agency from the equation, which can be a disturbing thought. Still, preferring one version of reality over another doesn’t make it true. It just highlights how much people want reality to be structured in a way that aligns with their emotional needs.
When you look at it this way, a lot of human beliefs and arguments make less sense than people think they do. Some aren’t actually based on logic or evidence but on what makes the world feel more livable. And that’s fine. People rely on psychological coping mechanisms all the time. But what bothers me is when people mistake those mechanisms for truth rather than seeing them for what they really are.
Going back to evil preferences
The ocean having salt is not based on opinion. The origin of "evil" on a certain individual is also not based on opinion. It doesn't matter how many people have that opinion. Given a specified context, there will be an absolute truth, regardless of how many people see it or not.
Some people choose to be bad, some people just have brains that align best with what we qualify as evil so they simply do what's natural for them.
I.e., cannibals don't necessarily kill people because they want to be bad, but they certainly do it because that's how they can get human flesh.
I.e., pulling the rug under coworkers so you can get a promotion instead of them is destructive and evil-aligned but no one even sees that as evil, only as being a competitive asshole at the very most.
I.e., predatory sociopaths and psychopaths do what's natural for them.
Morality is a guideline for coexistence. Culture and genetics affect people's relationship with morality.
We have an amygdala in our brain. The bigger and more active it is, the better you are from a morality standpoint. A psychopath's amygdala is dysfunctional. Someone who donates their kidney to a random stranger also has a dysfunctional amygdala - it is too big.
image https://pixabay.com/pt/photos/gloves-human-m%C3%A3o-evil-faca-weapon-4888840/