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Human Nature: Good or Evil?

Posted by lenchertzt • 7/07/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: evil, good, human nature

Philosophers have been pondering this question for centuries..."Are people mostly good or evil?"

I feel that people are mostly good, but can be easily blinded by greed and selfishness!

What do you think?

User Comments

7/07/09

Anok

Both terms are entirely relative, which is why no one can answer the question.

What is "good"? What is "evil"? If everyone was "good" even some good things would be considered evil, relatively speaking. The smallest slight would still be bad, even though in today's society it's considered OK. And what is evil? If everyone were evil, there would still be some people who are less evil than others, making them "good".

People are people.

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1. 7/07/09
  
  lenchertzt
  
  Thats a good point! I've never really thought about it like that...but your right...people are people...and can really only be judged as "good" or "evil" in relativity to those around them. But what makes one person concerned with doing well unto others....while others plot and scheme in harmful ways?
2. 7/08/09
  
  SweetViolet
  
  @lenchertzt: ...what makes one person concerned with doing well unto others....while others plot and scheme in harmful ways?
  
  Anok is right...it is all relative. It is a value judgment. What is good in one society may well be evil in another, and it is one's society that defines good vs. evil.
  
  But in any society, there will be people who, within the confines of that society, are considered evil. Those people will be those who defy their society's definitions of "good" for their own self-interest and gratification. They may be driven simply by selfishness or they may have an underlying disorder, such as sociopathy or, they may simply adhere to concepts that are considered "good" in other societies but "evil" in their own. An example of this might be the "honour killings" that plague Britain: a "good" thing in the context of the belief system of the killers, an evil thing in the context of the larger British society. The girls are killed because they adopt attitudes that are "good" in the British society...independence, the right of self-determination, etc.,...but considered evil within the smaller society. They are killed to restore the family honour they tarnished by adopting "evil" ways.
  
  There is no answer to the question in the abstract because any possible answer has too many "it depends" attached to it.
7/08/09

acousticguitarist

What do you define as human nature?

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7/08/09

harveyavatar

I'd say the question that philosophers have been pondering for centuries is "what is good and evil?".

Some have pondered over the question for years, before concluding that good is simply the absence of evil - just as illness is the absence of health - well upstream of any moral consideration.

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7/08/09

pandora106

Without evil there cannot be good. People can be good and do evil things and evil people can do good things. Human nature? I think it's both. Are some people pure evil and other's good? Logically I think no but emotionally I think yes. I have looked into some one's eyes before and all I could see was pure evil, is that my interpretation or what this person was at that moment?

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1. 7/08/09
  
  harveyavatar
  
  Usually, people don't wish evil per se, they center their attention on a lesser good.
  
  Well yes, if we speak of a lesser evil, then there must be a lesser good.
7/08/09

freshtunesfinland

Another philosophical dilemma to add to this, is actually everything relative? Can it be that there is just action, and no good / evil - action. Does everything have to be on a good / evil - scale, and furthermore, since that scale is judged according to your personal beliefs, what is evil if your own personal beliefs are "off". And how would you know if your own good / evil - scale is actually off or would you ever know?

Yeah I'm still sleepy.

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7/08/09

Agit8r

Are people inherently driven to harm one another, or are they not equiped by Nature with the quality of empathy?

Science tells us that the later is the case. That the former has to be compelled upon mankind by society.

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7/08/09

wagerwitch

I think there IS good and Evil.

I think most people are inherently good - however have moments of evil doing.

Yet... there are a few - who are inherently good that have moments of evil doing.

Example of the latter: A Priest who becomes excommunicated because he touched young boy inappropriately. Surely he did good somewhere in the church - but was inherently evil.

Example of the former: A sweet 16 year old girl finds boyfriend having sex with her best friend and then takes a baseball bat to his car and smashes all of the windows. Surely she was doing a bad thing in the moment of passion - yet - she is usually the kindest, sweetest person.

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1. 7/08/09
  
  wagerwitch
  
  Yet... there are a few - who are inherently good that have moments of evil doing.
  
  Well - uhm...
  
  that was supposed to say:
  
  Yet... there are a few - who are inherently evil that have moments of Good doing.
  
  Sigh...
  
  Proofread... proofread... proofread.
7/08/09

LovePhotoshop

I agree with the philosopher who said that humans are born pure and good, but later, they are corrupted by society.

I think that we all have the free will and capacity to do the good AND the evil. Humans are the creatures who can rise as high as angels, or fall as low as pigs. So it's up to us.

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7/08/09

allofarts

all expet sweet woman !

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