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

[Incredible Bullshitting Man]

Neither; We're born with initial instincts that have no placing on the fabricated and entirely subjective 'Good' and 'Evil' slider.

Feeling lazy this morning, so I´m pleased someone already stated my opinion. Thanks.

I too believe, that humans are born only with basic instincts, the same ones every animal has. The notions of good and evil aren´t one of those; they are artificial, cultural constructions. Our world is full of arbitrary notions and artificial mental constructions that are learned, rather than born with. It may be because of our higher intelligence that we eventually grow up more complex than other animals.

 

[Beefcakes]

Define Good and Evil, then I'll help out
Those are purely objective standpoint based on ones own morals and ethical guidelines...

But I still think Pokemon got it right
Everyone is neutral, its your surroundings and who your with that can make your apparently good or evil by their standards, not your own

 

[traceur_]

Tabula rasa, good and evil are subjective, morality is determined by a persons experience and influence.

 

[Doug]

Both, to be honest. Its a combination of genes AND environment that determine behaviour - you're upbringing and earlier social interactions have a large affect on you're personally. Good and evil are abit nebulous really, but if we rephrase it as "Those who persuade and interact" vs "Those who manipulate and force" (with 99+% of the population somewhere between), I'd suspect that we have some 'built-in' position on that axis, but upbringing and environment has a greater impact.

 

[Xanadeas]

There is no inate good or evil, only perceptions of right and wrong. Morality is all subjective to a person's point of view. I could go back in time and kill Hitler and people would praise me as a hero while many of the Nazis would seem me as a villain to be reviled.

 

[Tharwen]

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.

Adolf Hitler was not evil to the Germans when he massacred to the Jews, yet we now use him as the evil 'stereotype'.

Kim Jong-il, the leader of N. Korea, is not considered evil by his people, despite the appalling conditions he causes them to live in, but his methods are thought to be evil by many under Western ideology.

etc.

Evil is subjective.

 

[Asdrubaal]

Nietzsche's leviathan or Rousseau the age old question ....

 

[Artemis923]

You aren't BORN anything. Your actions dictate the course of your life.

 

[.Warheart]

You start as a clean sheet and your surroundings influence who you will become.

 

[Doug]

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.

Adolf Hitler was not evil to the Germans when he massacred to the Jews, yet we now use him as the evil 'stereotype'.

Kim Jong-il, the leader of N. Korea, is not considered evil by his people, despite the appalling conditions he causes them to live in, but his methods are thought to be evil by many under Western ideology.

etc.

Evil is subjective.

Adolf Hilter was evil to the Germans, really - he got them into a war they couldn't win with Russia whilst tied to the Italians. Add to that, in the last few months of the war, he tried to inflicted a scotched Earth policy on the food infrastructure of the German people as they'd 'failed' him.

Kim Jong-il isn't considered evil by him because they've been so cowed by their government they aren't allowed to even think that.

 

[Exterminatus]

Blank Slate.

I believe good and evil are subjective concepts and little more. Humans live and act according to the surrounding social structure and environment, with every action - future and present - being dictated by a mixture of basic human nature, nurture, instinct and logic.

There is no way to gauge good and evil on a universal scale, only your own.

 

[Ophiuchus]

John Locke would like a word with y'all.

I could fire off some basic theory to answer some of the more silly things spouted in this topic but I didn't sleep last night so forgive me for not being able to summon the effort right now. Maybe tomorrow if anyone cares.

 

[4fromK]

My beleif is that good and evil simply do not exist. good and evil are subjective inventions based solely on one persons point of view. IE to a lot of crackpot conspiracy theorists, george bush was undoubtably evil. not just bad, not just incompetent. blow-up-your-own-national-icon-in-order-to-wage-war-on-a-third-world-country-because-they-have-oil evil. however, to some hardline conservatives, Bush was an answer to prayers: a man with vision and drive etcetera etcetera (ok I don't really understand the pro bush sentiment as much as the anti bush sentiment but then thats because of the limitations of my viewpoint.) But bush was neither good nor evil. the case can be made for the fact that he was incompetent, but I fear even this feature of his personality was blown out of proportion by the media and youtube videos ("LOL! bush hit his head on the roof of a helicopter! he is clearly lacking the requirements to govern our country! fuck america!"
Bush was simply a person. a persons psyche is impossible to boil down into good or evil. Hitler was a dissilusioned youth, with a string of miserable failures in his life, who saw the jews and other minorities as a scapegoat to blame his failures on (among other things). How Hitler felt at this point in his life was no different to the college student that says "Man, fuck the capatilist government in bed with the corporation, polluting our world and forcing artist and decent people like me to flip burgers and eat two minute noodles!"
Whether a person/group is determined as "Good" or "Evil" by another person/group is entirely based on individual perseptions. this is how wars are started ("fuck the israelits""fuck the palestinians" etc) and this is why PR departments make so much money.

Sorry for the Wall o text....

 

[Kevvers]

I find it isn't practical to worry about good or evil, but to examine the consequences of your actions - intended or otherwise. If, on balance you consider an action to have a net positive effect on the world, then do it. If not, don't. How you make those decisions depends on the person and is informed by a mixture of environmental and genetic factors. That is, some you can control, and some you cannot. We must learn to accept the things which are beyond our control and make allowances for them - for example a person with a family history of alcohol abuse would be wise to avoid drinking altogether. However, one should avoid judging others as without a complete knowledge of a person's situation (which is impossible) then your judgement cannot be perfect.

Well, those are my thoughts on the matter.

 

[hypothetical fact]

How can anyone believe in good and evil in this day and age? (Unless you've been watching Fox news.) The subjectivity, perspective and parenting issues would have already been brought up by page 2; so just remember that evil is for lazy writers who can't make character development to save their life.

 

[Lieju]

Good and evil are labels we put on actions and things. So this question doesn't make much sense.

 

[aussiesniper]

Humans are born neither evil nor good, but sociable capitalists.

A combination of sociability and greed is the foundation of civilisation.