Poll: Are human beings born good, evil or something else?

[Sewblon]

I am not sure what I hope to accomplish with this thread but, it could lead to some good discussion. I believe that human beings are born evil. Why else would we need governments and rules? I know that everyone is born at least slightly different, but as a race we cause allot of misery and destruction, to other species and each other.

I think that anyone born a blank slate would stay a blank slate and grow up to work for the government. For our purposes lets define good as "considering the well being of other people and incorporating those considerations into ones actions so that they will ultimately leave everyone involved better off" and evil as "not considering the well being of others when taking action or deliberately harming others for the sake of harming others." If we agree that killing someone purely for fun is bad but saving a toddler from falling off a cliff is good I think this will work.

 

[supermaster1337]

we are exactly the same but have the capability of killing all.

 

[hcig]

tabula rasa, dude

 

[Neonbob]

I'd imagine we're all born different, but getting abused by the first person you ever really see (the doc) would probably put people on a path more inclined to being a bastard

 

[sneakypenguin]

Evil, i'd say. As a kid what's one of the first things we do, we start lying to parents, becoming sneaky little bastards and such.

 

[Sewblon]

tabula rasa, dude

Capitol letters and periods are your friends.

 

[RapidCrash]

Well we are born each with a unique personality. This is then greatly affected by how we are raised and treated. Everyone is capable of every side of the human personality, however each person will ever-so-slightly lean in one way or another.

 

[Leorex]

none, there is no good and evil, it is all subjective.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

Evil, i'd say. As a kid what's one of the first things we do, we start lying to parents, becoming sneaky little bastards and such.

This. You don't need to teach a two year old how to lie, he does it instictively.

none, there is no good and evil, it is all subjective.

Bullshit.

 

[Azaradel]

I think we're all born as blank slates, but will all end up evil, since the world around is nothing but a big, frozen ball of stupid and lacks the capability of raising decent people.

Yes, I think we are all horrible, horrible people.

Especially people on the internet who WrIt3 LiK3 Th1S.

...

No, seriously, they should be removed from the face of the earth.

 

[Deef]

In general, we're all born with our own interests at heart, and the interests of our loved ones as we grow into children. From that point on, our experiences shape our personalities and moral scales.

 

[TaborMallory]

Ok, just to put this out there: There is no good or evil.
There's relative good and bad behavior. Humans are born with basic animal instincts, generally regarded as "bad behavior" by mankind. They're taught "good behavior" by other humans.

 

[Skeleon]

I'd say that in general (not always, think sociopaths) we're born "good" (as in "acceptable to society") since we're genetically programmed to live in a group of people.
However, babies don't express this yet, they're the most egotistical beings on Earth (and for good reason, they dependent on their parents to live).
Education determines our actual moral values and beliefs. The basis for this is already implanted in us when we're born, though.

 

[UnwishedGunz]

I am not sure what I hope to accomplish with this thread but, it could lead to some good discussion. I believe that human beings are born evil. Why else would we need governments and rules? I know that everyone is born at least slightly different, but as a race we cause allot of misery and destruction, to other species and each other.

I think that anyone born a blank slate would stay a blank slate and grow up to work for the government.

it may be possible to be born with a blank slate but then what happens with the good and evil in your body it is and has always be 50% good and 50% evil and you do something bad your evil goes up when you do something good your good goes up and when you die depending on what percentage of good and evil you have in your body will determine if you go to heaven or hell that's what i think.

 

[twistedshadows]

Everyone's born different. Depending on factors in their lives, they may swing either way.

You always seem to cover what I'm going to say within the first few posts.
I'm not sure what that says about either of us.

Anyway, I believe that nature and nurture play somewhat equal parts in a developing child. People are born into different situations and grow up with different experiences which definitely plays a role in developing personality, but they also have genetic factors that influence who they are and what type of person they become.

 

[comet5002]

In my opinion, human beings are born as blank pieces of paper. Whether they're brought up good or evil depends on how they're raised, along with their own personality.

 

[gothsheep]

I would say that humans beings are born neither good nor evil.

They're born stupid.

And they need violence to smarten them up.

 

[Marv21]

TaborMallory is right, there is no good and evil...there is just what is morally acceptable nowadays and what isn't!

The whole thing about "good and evil" is the age we live in!

Lets just say in Roman times it would be considered morally in the clear to have a slave and sex it up every once and a while against his/her will, but now thats a horrible thing you can do....now they call it sex slavery!

Good and Bad is just the idealogies of the generation(s) being judged on you!

But if you want a relevant to this answer post, its a blank peice of paper whose views/idealogies are pen on your paper...almost permadent...but people change and thats called writing in pencil...for when people have pressure off they will always revert to what they really are...which alot of the time is what your parents made u!