Socrates believed that no one does wrong voluntarily. Evil is the result of ignorance. If people knew what was the right thing to do they would do it. We always choose what we think is the best or good for us. So, if someone chooses to do what we think is wrong, then that person made a mistake and must be educated to see the error. They mistook evil for the GOOD. Do you agree? Why or why not?
I believe it is relative. "Evil" sometimes is more than the opposite of "Good". It can mean "Easier" or "Pleasurable", or "faster" being not only a way to harm oneself or others.. It can even be a strategy, a part of a plan to do "good". Bad and good are often more than two opposite and incommensurable points. I believe they are like two ends of a very same continuum, and we can tend to follow or be attracted by one or by other depending on several factors that exceed mere ignorance, as Socrates believed.
Thank you for posing this interesting question. I believe that the notion of good and evil are influenced not only by an individual's judgement regarding conscience and ethics but also by the wider social, cultural, political and temporal constructs, which inform those judgements. Education is a useful and essential tool in helping individuals to deconstruct socio-political values and beliefs in order to reflect on their own values and beliefs. However, education can also be hijacked by the political elite to project the dominant ideology and maintenance of the statue quo. As Socrates also said ' The unexamined life is not worth living' and values and beliefs about good and evil thus need to be critically interrogated at an individual, group, cultural and wider sociopolitical level.
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