I've been pondering the question of evil in the human species vs the apparent lack of it in the animal kingdom. Humanity has probably always to a greater or lesser extent demonstrated a capacity for committing malicious, cruel and evil acts against its own kind and other species for reasons not connected with its own survival, acts motivated by greed, envy, hatred, lust and sheer malevolence. But it is rare to see animals committing violent acts other than for survival reasons. Of course there are predatory animals who attack anything that comes onto their territory. And there are animals which become vicious because of repeated cruelty on the part of humans. But man is the only creature, to my knowledge, who is capable of carrying out acts of violence against other people or animals out of sheer evil. Why is this so?
