I’m attempting to create a coherent definition of evil. My current definition:
Evil is the deliberate imposition of avoidable, significant harm on another agent, where the harm is not required by any legitimate necessity and the other agent’s interests are disregarded.
Appreciate the reply. No, bacteria do not meet my intended definition of an “agent”, which is shorthand for “living thing with the capacity for consciousness”. It’s an imperfect word, but the closest I could think of to encapsulate that. To give a slightly more precise definition, an “agent” as I intend it is “an entity with the capacity to form intentions, consider alternatives, model consequences to some degree, and choose between possible actions.”