Moral evil is the result of any morally negative event caused by the intentional action or inaction of an agent, such as a person. An example of a moral evil might be murder, or any other evil event for which someone can be held responsible or culpable.
This concept can be contrasted with natural evil in which a bad event occurs without the intervention of an agent. The dividing line between natural and moral evil is not absolutely clear however, as some behaviour can be unintentional yet morally significant and some natural events (for example, global warming) can be caused by intentional actions.
The distinction of evil from 'bad' is complex. Evil is more than simply 'negative' or 'bad' (i.e. undesired or inhibiting good) as evil is on its own, and without reference to any other event, morally incorrect. The validity of 'moral evil' as a term, therefore, rests on the validity of morals in ethics.
Some other examples of moral evil: violence, adultery, dishonesty, foul language, slavery etc.
Famous quotes containing the words moral and/or evil:
“If there is any moral in Christianity, if there is anything to be learned from it, if the whole story is not profitless from first to last, it comes to this: that a man should back his own opinion against the world’s.”
—Samuel Butler (1835–1902)
“What is wanted—whether this is admitted or not—is nothing less than a fundamental remolding, indeed weakening and abolition of the individual: one never tires of enumerating and indicting all that is evil and inimical, prodigal, costly, extravagant in the form individual existence has assumed hitherto, one hopes to manage more cheaply, more safely, more equitably, more uniformly if there exist only large bodies and their members.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)