Is most Evil ideological or sadistic

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Well? Which is it?

Evil is as you define it. It can be both, but I would prefer you picked the one which you think influences most evil on earth.

(though i have to admit... I might not agree with your definition of evil... so please cite examples and we'll let the community at large determine the legitimacy of your response based on the definition and example(s) you use to clarify your position.)

It's utterly self-centered.

Most evil is driven by simple selfishness and lack of concern for others. Ideology would come second. Crimes of passion (i.e. driven by envy, jealousy, desire for revenge, etc...) would probably come third. Sadism would be a ways down the list.

I'd add hate and fear of the other to evil, too.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

That seems to go hand in hand with ideology though. I would probably combine ideology and group/self identity (i.e. "us" vs. "them" or "me" vs. "them" thinking) into a single category. What people tend to label "hate crime" is usually based on identity.

Desire for power over others is probably a big one as well that doesn't really fit any of the previous categories. So here is my order...

1.) Selfishness / carelessness.
2.) Desire for power.
3.) Evil in the name of an ideology or personal identity.
4.) Evil of passion.
5.) Sadism.

that's an interesting list marshall but can you provide some context by giving a definition and where this definition applies? And what do you mean by "Evil in the name of a personal identity" ? And it seems that ideology always underpins any and every drive to acquire power, and I apply this to the thug who gang-bangs for fun at a local convenient store, to a bunch of troops who gun down innocent civilians, to a man who kidnapps a 12 year old, locks her up in a cage in his basement, and after years of rape, has a sizable family with her, to a wall-street trader looking to scam a bunch of clients into bankruptcy. I ask, which comes before or which follows the other and it seems ideology comes before hand.

Its an artifact of a nonsentient universe. It comes from putting beings - ranging from bright-eyed and wanting the best to narcissistic nihilists and selfers - into irresolvable friction with each other via irregularities in resources, errors of human interpretation, random acts of nature that weigh against the common good, etc. etc..

can you expand on hate?

i think it mostly resolvable but ideology or perspective needs changing. i have a lot of family in compton and oakland/EPA who gang-bang and they seem to accept death in a "if I die, it was meant to be" sort of way. They glorify martyrdom for your group and the group name, and death is all to common that accepting the potential reality of loosing your life is numbly accepted and taking a life is not given a second thought. It seems only irresolvable to the perspective of the one committing the evil.

Hate is hate - the negative emotion that is destructive, and is fired up quite often by fear of the other, or out of a sense of being wronged by another that forgiveness seems to be out of the question. It's no accident that the great religions all emphasize love and forgiveness, even toward one's enemies. Otherwise, hate would not only destroy the subject of the hatred, but the hater would in time also run the risk of being destroyed from within.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Things like racism, sexism, nationalism, homophobia, etc. all fall under evil in the name of a personal identity. It's the whole "in group"/"out group" thing. One derives a strong sense of belonging/affinity to one group/category out of the conscious contempt for those who belong to a different group/category. I think this also underpins most ideological evil.

I don't quite follow how ideology underpins the drive to acquire power. Seems like it's usually the other way around. Those seeking power use ideology to gain it and justify it.

Evil is always a philosophical construct of idealism. Natural disasters may seem evil, but how can you define them as evil? They may bring pain and suffering but it's never out of any ideology; s**t happens.

Biblical ideas of evil are also idealism. Whether or not something looks sadistic or not, there's usually a reason behind the "evil-doers" actions. I think Dante's divine comedy is probably a good example of this, although his examples are mostly self inflicted, they're still base around an philosophies of the protagonist that may sound like a good idea at the time, but later though self reflection turn out to have caused harm to others.

I think even external influences still grapple with this, no matter where it comes from, there's still a chaotic philosophy behind it.

Mostly nihilism and listlessness combining out. They realize they've gotta flex their balls to be respected, get women, drug money comes easy, and since there's not much else to really matter for them this is where they're at. Give em real priorities and something might give.

Evil of often disguised as a quest for the Good. That is why it keeps on showing up.

ruveyn

Stupidity is also a closer approximate to the IQ of the universe. Stupidity will never stop reinventing itself and for as long as it does we'll be reinventing the wheel on common sense, calling common sense obsolete, destroying societies with half-baked ideas thought up by incompetant minds, and typically as soon as the whole mess seems like its on the way to cleaning up a whole new wave of stupidity and half-baked ideas with zeal driven by holes in cognition plunges hope back underwater again.