The process you went through is known in other contexts as decategorification. You attempted to reduce the level of abstraction, noticed a potential problem in doing so, and concluded that the more abstract notion was not as well-conceived as you imagined.
If you try to enumerate questions related to a topic (Evil), you will quickly find that you (1) repeatedly tread the same ground, (2) are often are unable to combine findings from multiple questions in useful ways, and (3) are often unable to identify questions worth answering, let alone a hierarchy that suggests which questions might be more worth answering than others.
What you are trying to identify are the properties and structure of evil. A property of Evil is a thing that must be preserved in order for Evil to be Evil. The structure of Evil is the relationship between Evil and other (Evil or non-Evil) entities.
You should start by trying to identify the shape of Evil by identifying its border, where things transition from Evil to non-Evil and vice versa. This will give you an indication of which properties are important. From there, you can start looking at how Evil relates to other things, especially in regards to its properties. This will give you some indication of its structure. Properties are important for identifying Evil clearly. Structure is important for identifying things that are equivalent to Evil in all ways that matter. It is often the case that the two are not the same.
If you want to understand this better, I recommend looking into category theory. The general process of identifying ambiguities, characterizing problems in the right way, applying prior knowledge, and gluing together findings into a coherent whole is fairly well-worn. You don’t have to start from scratch.
The process you went through is known in other contexts as decategorification. You attempted to reduce the level of abstraction, noticed a potential problem in doing so, and concluded that the more abstract notion was not as well-conceived as you imagined.
If you try to enumerate questions related to a topic (Evil), you will quickly find that you (1) repeatedly tread the same ground, (2) are often are unable to combine findings from multiple questions in useful ways, and (3) are often unable to identify questions worth answering, let alone a hierarchy that suggests which questions might be more worth answering than others.
What you are trying to identify are the properties and structure of evil. A property of Evil is a thing that must be preserved in order for Evil to be Evil. The structure of Evil is the relationship between Evil and other (Evil or non-Evil) entities.
You should start by trying to identify the shape of Evil by identifying its border, where things transition from Evil to non-Evil and vice versa. This will give you an indication of which properties are important. From there, you can start looking at how Evil relates to other things, especially in regards to its properties. This will give you some indication of its structure. Properties are important for identifying Evil clearly. Structure is important for identifying things that are equivalent to Evil in all ways that matter. It is often the case that the two are not the same.
If you want to understand this better, I recommend looking into category theory. The general process of identifying ambiguities, characterizing problems in the right way, applying prior knowledge, and gluing together findings into a coherent whole is fairly well-worn. You don’t have to start from scratch.