Ontological Reflective Evil: A Philosophical and Empirical Framework for Universal Ethics Based on Self-Empathic Reflection

This paper introduces Ontological Reflective Evil (Ontological Reflective Evil), an ontological framework for identifying maximal moral culpability. Rather than treating evil as a property of actions, outcomes, or social norms, ORE conceptualizes evil as a status attributable to agents who, with full reflective awareness, act in violation of what they would reject for themselves under conditions of self-empathic reflection, including the dimension of consent. Distinct from norma- tive ethical theories grounded in consequences, duties, or divine commands, the framework centers on reflective reciprocity as an intrinsic and potentially universal moral capacity. Crucially, ORE advances an empirically testable account of evil grounded in observable parameters, including reflective awareness, consent relations, and counterfactual self-preference. The paper develops the conceptual foundations of the framework, proposes avenues for empirical validation, addresses major philosophical objections, and illustrates applications across legal, clinical, educational, and technological contexts. In doing so, it presents ORE as a rigorous ontological tool for analyzing moral responsibility without presupposing any particular normative moral doctrine.