HACKER Q&A
📣 kylebenzle

Is Stupidity the Same as Evil?


Is Stupidity the Same as Evil?


  👤 throwaway295729 Accepted Answer ✓
No, unless intelligence is the same as morality

👤 ofalkaed
If it is everyone is evil. We all exhibit stupidity at times.

👤 BMc2020
No but they are often seen together.

👤 Quinzel
Not at all. In fact possibly quite the opposite:

https://www.radoslawrogoza.com/uploads/1/2/3/1/123141801/kow...


👤 ksec
Stupidity is the same as evil if you judge by the results.

Stupidity is the worst form of evil.

Stupidity is a more dangerous enemy of the good than malice.

You can probably find the above quote from different places. There are plenty of materials and philosophy on the subject matter. Dietrich Bonhoeffer may be the more modern one. But some can be traced back to ancient Greek.

As with everything philosophy, there isn't always a concrete, scientific, right or wrong answer. And different age group, which related to different stage of life in experience may also have different answers. The word of stupidity and evil or malice may also have subtle difference depending on context which makes discussions of the subject matter even more difficult.


👤 vvendigo
Chaotic evil, maybe.

👤 theGeatZhopa
Evil needs an evil plan and stupid is to stupid to do it.

Stupid can be evil, though. But still, it needs a planing capacity of the stupid brain.

For example, stupid switches off the electricity of a local hospital as revenge for firing him. Done a stupid thing. It's evil because a lot of people could get problems.

Vs.

Evil gets fired and make an evil plan to destroy his ex employer. After weeks of planning, the electricity had been switched off.

That's my logical and philosophical approach.


👤 EvanAnderson
A subset of stupid is evil. There's also a very dangerous class of stupid that's couched in good intentions.

👤 edent
Is a noun the same as an adjective?

👤 beardyw
Not at all. Evil requires that the perpetrator understand that what they are doing is wrong. So stupidity mitigates against evil. The law properly applied punishes those who understand their wrongdoing more than those who do not.

👤 wmlive
Very recommendable read in this context: https://archive.org/details/1922-08-15-00-carlo-m.-cipolla-0...