Even though I haven't read all of Plato's writings, there are some that have spurred my intellectual curiosity. I'm referring now to the three IDEAS or FORMS, actually abstract concepts that he considered as the true essence of things or thoughts. He said that our intellects are constrained as if in a cave, from which we could only divine realities through the shadows projected in the walls. Aristotle rejected that idea of his mentor, thus allowing for the development of science. I would say that Plato was the last of the pre-scientific philosophers, while Aristotle was the first of the scientific ones. Still, during the years, I've been endeavoring to reify the three 'Pillars' of Plato's thought, feeling that they are indeed of basic value for the understanding of life, humans, and the world. Of prime importance I consider the concept of the GOOD, which is therefore the subjecy of this mini-essay.

Evil appears to be a mysterious --"satanic"-- force, fighting in a Manichaean chessboard as the "dark" army against God's supreme creation called "goodness." Attempting to analyze critically the complex subject of GOOD, BAD, and EVIL, I'll start by saying that until a thinking creature called Homo sapiens was developed by evolution, those moral concepts did not exist. In fact, for that very same reason, there could not exist EVIL, which one may safely qualify as a concept signifying BADNESS of extreme degree.
Is it possible to define GOODNESS in the absence of a concept for BADNESS? Were Goodness and its apparent opposite created simultaneously at "The Beginning?"

Such Manichaean concept, influential in some Jewish groups like the Essenes (who lived before Mani) and subtly passed on to some Christian tenets, was and is a commodious way of "understanding" and therefore accepting, the harsh realities of the otherwise incomprehensible "mysterious ways of God." Thus the resulting longing for the Messiah by Judaism, or The Second Coming by Christianity, or the Mahdi by Islam.

The amazing thing is that BADNESS was "created" first, when the second life form evolved. The first one, a microbe of the genus archaea, lived off the energy provided by heat and from minerals, so that he was not "bad." Comes then a second organism, and both "discover" that ingesting the other is useful, whether for only symbiosis or -definitely-- to exploit its digested molecules as nutrients. This latter development gave rise to the first "badness," if we care to judge the act of sacrificing another living form according to Nature's dictates. It should become clear that without such behavior there would have been no evolution, and no Man to enact moral laws. Therefore, "badness" is an integral attribute of the creative instinct. After thinking Man established moral laws, the axiological definitions became as follows:

A human act is Bad when it infringes upon the accepted rules of behavior determined by a society. When this act is excessively BAD, the qualifier EVIL is applied. As an example, surviving by means of cannibalism of cadavers is 'disgusting,' but not necessarily morally qualified as BAD, while live cannibalism is called EVIL, except in the case of true Cannibals.

New evidence, obtained from sociological studies of chimpanzees, indicates that they empathize with the suffering of their fellow individuals, to the point of manifesting their enthusiasm when a stressful situation is overcome. Other animals --the dolphin, especially-- protect their wounded, to the point of self-sacrifice.
So, what is Goodness? It is not the opposite of Badness; it is an evolutionary development that allowed the formation of societies, which happened to be beneficial for the individual. Thus, badness concedes individual advantages, while goodness allows for societal advancement. Self-sacrifice for the benefit of others is perhaps a manifestation of such development.

It has been revealed that living cells posses a mechanism --called 'apoptosis'-- which results in self-destruction when the need arises. Perhaps at the beginning of unicellular life forms, excessive growth --causing overcrowding-- pressed for the evolution of a mechanism for the destruction of new --detrimental-- unicellular organisms. Thus, even though 'badness' was primordial for evolutionary self-advance, 'goodness'would appear to have evolved at a later stage, as useful to the advancement of the species. It was later on that man codified the societal rules for the containment of 'bad '(egotistical) inclinations.
'Evil' acts are determined by mental derangement, dictating psychiatric intervention.

But that is not enough: Group means family, clan, country, and also humanitarian, religious, political and ideological organizations. An individual may feel like acting for the good of several groups. According to his mental and emotional makeup, he might consider good to cheat and worse, for the sake of his cherished groups. The infamous Eichman wrote that to him the highest good was obeying orders. He of course meant the orders and principles of the Nazi political party, which gave meaning to his otherwise empty life.