Are humans inherently good or inherently evil?
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Good and evil are value judgements, and value judgements only exist with a valuer and a valuee. The valuee in this case is humanity; whether humanity is good or evil though is entirely determined by the valuer. And by how you define the terms of course, but linguistics is probably a little off topic.
i'm just going to drop this in here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g&feature=relmfu
basicly because this thread is dancing around nature of humans and this interested me. i don't think humans are inherted evil or good. Just social; its all very grey.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7AWnfFRc7g&feature=relmfu
basicly because this thread is dancing around nature of humans and this interested me. i don't think humans are inherted evil or good. Just social; its all very grey.
Philosophical and socio-political discussion on what determines whether something is "good" or "evil" aside, I believe humans are born "neutral". By that, I mean, upon the moment of our birth we are effectively emotional and intellectual blank slates. We're effectively "nobody". Our brains aren't developed enough for us to even have concepts of "good and evil". It's our environment and the way we develop genetically that determines what we become.
While most of us try to do the right thing, I firmly believe that everyone, under the right circumstances and given the knowledge of pure anonymity, can and will be a jerk. It's a natural response to our environment and our genetic heritage. We've spent thousands of years having everything in nature trying to kill us. Acting like a jerk is often a defense mechanism. One usually driven by fear. (not always the case, of course. some people are just assholes)
Think of it as wearing sun-glasses to see a movie. Regardless of the topic matter or look of the film, you're going to see it as dark. You'll see any movie as dark. This won't stop the movie from effecting you in some way, but it will effect how that information is filtered in and will leave an impression on top of anything the film does to you.
So, I've always believed it's a combination of both factors. The environment we live in and how our genetic makeup causes us to perceive that info through a filter. With enough effort, one can manipulate and/or overcome either, but in most cases it's both that determine who we are.
While most of us try to do the right thing, I firmly believe that everyone, under the right circumstances and given the knowledge of pure anonymity, can and will be a jerk. It's a natural response to our environment and our genetic heritage. We've spent thousands of years having everything in nature trying to kill us. Acting like a jerk is often a defense mechanism. One usually driven by fear. (not always the case, of course. some people are just assholes)
I agree, except that I'm equally on the side of nature. You can surround someone with any kind of environmental stimuli you like, but their inherent genetic make-up will determine how they perceive those stimuli.Baradiel said:
Think of it as wearing sun-glasses to see a movie. Regardless of the topic matter or look of the film, you're going to see it as dark. You'll see any movie as dark. This won't stop the movie from effecting you in some way, but it will effect how that information is filtered in and will leave an impression on top of anything the film does to you.
So, I've always believed it's a combination of both factors. The environment we live in and how our genetic makeup causes us to perceive that info through a filter. With enough effort, one can manipulate and/or overcome either, but in most cases it's both that determine who we are.
Depends I think a lot of it is just by how you're raised.
But yes I do think you can simply inherit the "dickhead genes"
But yes I do think you can simply inherit the "dickhead genes"
humans are inherently born with the ability to be good, evil, or in between. its how they live their lives that decides who they are individually. or at least thats my opinion.
Good and evil are human-made concepts that change based on your culture and upbringing.
Killing someone for punching a cow might seem evil and senseless to you, but to someone raised in India that would be a sin (please tell me I got it right...). Especially in old times where religion had a lot bigger impact on human lives (in the more developed countries, not talking about specific groups or regions).
Hell, look back few decades ago - a woman wearing male pants was considered evil and sinister by Christians. Now it's a pretty normal and typical clothing.
But I digress. Humans are born animals with instincts that are later shaped into ideas and so on. Or not.
Killing someone for punching a cow might seem evil and senseless to you, but to someone raised in India that would be a sin (please tell me I got it right...). Especially in old times where religion had a lot bigger impact on human lives (in the more developed countries, not talking about specific groups or regions).
Hell, look back few decades ago - a woman wearing male pants was considered evil and sinister by Christians. Now it's a pretty normal and typical clothing.
But I digress. Humans are born animals with instincts that are later shaped into ideas and so on. Or not.
Blahhh, I don't feel like spending the time that it would take to refer to all the bloody psychology and philosophy I've taken regarding this subject, so I'll just be short:
Humans are inherently gray, their moral/ethical base reflects their nature, which is usually "dog eat dog world"
Biologically, humans are "good" because they tend to cooperate for the good of the species, but competition plays an active role as well, hence: douchebags.
I could make a more detailed description, but I really don't feel like it right now, and it is so damned wordy >.>
Humans are inherently gray, their moral/ethical base reflects their nature, which is usually "dog eat dog world"
Biologically, humans are "good" because they tend to cooperate for the good of the species, but competition plays an active role as well, hence: douchebags.
I could make a more detailed description, but I really don't feel like it right now, and it is so damned wordy >.>
We are the sum of our experiences. Hrm, forgot who said that. Either way, it's true. Were you born with greater IQ than others, did your mother have a troublesome pregnancy, were you wounded, loved, laughed at. Our experiences are our programming, each day another line in the code, another function. So no, we do not start out evil, we do not start out good, we start up as a cell that collects and analyzes data, and from there we grow.
I think that one trend humanity's never been able to shake is second guessing. Second guessing has lead to some pretty stupid shit happening, so I'd say second guessing is evil, and therefor making a decision in this thread makes you inclined to be just as evil as anything else.
I think it varies from person to person, though on the whole I'd say blank slate, but you can't discount the whole nature/nurture element.
Regardless of all that, I don't believe that humanity as a whole, is born evil.
Regardless of all that, I don't believe that humanity as a whole, is born evil.
What is this, the 1950's? 'Good and Evil' is something found in Disney movies and literal interpretations of the bible, stop trying to attach simplistic labels onto an organism that's just been brought into the world.
For the most commonly accepted definitions of "good", that is the opposite of what is true.freakonaleash said:
I think we're born inherently BADASS
On topic, have you seen those babies? I don't think they have any evil intention ever. I'm not sure we're born even knowing the concept of the good or the bad. However, it has been proven that babies react possitively to a face with standard features i.e. eyes being about the width of an eye apart and so on, so whilst a baby won't understand the good or the bad, they know the ugly.
On topic, have you seen those babies? I don't think they have any evil intention ever. I'm not sure we're born even knowing the concept of the good or the bad. However, it has been proven that babies react possitively to a face with standard features i.e. eyes being about the width of an eye apart and so on, so whilst a baby won't understand the good or the bad, they know the ugly.