Quote from: Cin on July 04, 2016, 04:23:55 PMI like to keep an open mind and would like to know where the concept of good and evil comes from. I am having difficulty seeing things differently, any insight would be greatly appreciated. Is there a scientific reason, is it human nature?
I would suggest the concept of good and evil is ideology, which is informed by culture, and culture is informed by basic biology.
What is good and conducive to human survival and harmony (harmony being conducive to survival) is considered to be good. So there would be the origin of "thou shalt not kill (indiscriminately)", "thou shalt not_____" (steal, rape, abuse children, etc.) because what all of these things have in common is that they lead to psychological damage, physical harm, social disharmony, therefore are bad/evil. The concept of the seven deadly sins is almost self explanatory in that all of these psychological states are states that can precede bad decision making, obsession, or are otherwise unhealthy in excess, so we discourage them.
There are many caveats but on the most basic and fundamental level what almost all cultures consider to be evil are indeed bad for humans and their society if overindulged, and most religions promote the idea of temperance, turning the other cheek, charity, fidelity, family etc. because these things tend to have been good for our health on the whole.
The origin of "good and evil" appears to be directly derived for the most part from what has been good for the human animal's survival, proliferation and social cohesion.
Sometimes it goes off the rails and becomes detrimental (i.e. original sin, pathological and unwarranted fear of hellfire etc.) but for the most part most things we think of as good, or as "goodness" are actually good for us.