Poll: Are human beings born good or evil?
- Thread starter UnwishedGunz
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Yet there are parts of our personality that would be the same regardless. Our sense of adventure, how spontaneous we are, our inhibitions. While these have learnt factors they are innately controlled by brain activity/chemistry and so technically you are born with them. Since these factors cannot be ruled out as potential contributors to whether we can perform an "evil" deeds, you cannot say outright that the ability to be evil is completely learned.Bocaj2000 said:
put in neutral. and replace good and evil with Altruistic and Pathological then I might consider placing a vote.UnwishedGunz said:
The problem with the OP's idea is that it requires an objective morality. Morality is not objective. Babies are born as a blank slate and very openminded.
This is merely my opinion but I'm sure it has already been mentioned over the last 4 pages.
When we are born, we are no more than animals, right and wrong, good and evil do not exist. They come about later through rigorous conditioning. Interestingly, this can only be accomplished successfully during the early years of development, if a child is left for more than a few years, whether in the wilderness, or in confinement, complete adaptation to what we call "society" becomes increasingly difficult bordering on impossible.
Without being taught the common perceptions of right and wrong, we simply stay in an animalistic state, where survival comes first. At this point nothing the child does is either evil, or good, simply instinctual.
Then again, even when raised in a social structure, morality is subjective to the culture the society is based on. What we, as "civilised" westerners may see as abhorent, others may see as perfectly acceptible or even neccessary.
When we are born, we are no more than animals, right and wrong, good and evil do not exist. They come about later through rigorous conditioning. Interestingly, this can only be accomplished successfully during the early years of development, if a child is left for more than a few years, whether in the wilderness, or in confinement, complete adaptation to what we call "society" becomes increasingly difficult bordering on impossible.
Without being taught the common perceptions of right and wrong, we simply stay in an animalistic state, where survival comes first. At this point nothing the child does is either evil, or good, simply instinctual.
Then again, even when raised in a social structure, morality is subjective to the culture the society is based on. What we, as "civilised" westerners may see as abhorent, others may see as perfectly acceptible or even neccessary.
They are born instinctive. This means that they will generally be selfish, which one may consider evil. Then again, teaching has been around for as long as people could communicate in the simplest fashions. Teaching ultimately influences one's behavior. It's like Tabula Rasa, but there are some things that are more or less certain.
I don't have time to sit through a 24 minute video, can you give me the gist of what you're trying to explain. Because I don't belive babies have the capacity to from opinions on thing straight out of the womb. Or from alliances outside of their parents.Kortney said:
Obviously there isn't a piece of genetic code that is specifically made to give babies "opinions" on issues. A baby cannot form opinions. It's not about that. What I'm saying is that it is flat out false to call babies a clean slate. As Pinker explains, anyone with more than 1 child or sibling knows it's not true. The fact is that humans are born with a strong tendency to act and behave in a certain way. Yes, their environment plays a huge role - arguably an even bigger one than their hereditary traits - but there are things that they are born with.Mcupobob said:
There is stacks and stacks of evidence to prove that they are given character traits from their parents. He obviously raises a lot of points throughout the video and has also written a book (which was a Pulitzer finalist). He talks about the classic separated identical twins cases, neuroscience, genealogy and many other things that prove there is no "blank
slate". (The brain scan stuff is particularly compelling).
I was a foster child and I am someone who has an identical twin. I can tell you first hand that a portion of any person's behaviour comes from their parents. Watch the video when you have time - but check out the book. The video is more of a reaction to the book and doesn't focus solely on evidence.
To me there is no such thing as "good" or "evil".
These are humanly created labels (usually religious/cultural in nature) that designate certain concepts,actions, things, people, objects, and places as being inherently dark,light, dangerous,benevolent,corrupting,inspiring; as powerful as they are opposing forces.
So in this logic I will assert that there are no good people or evil people. There are only people.
I could write a 2,000 page book about this topic, but I will add that our natural insticts, society, function/dysfunction, culture, genetics, and social development all play a role in how people behave or live their lives (making us all determined to a large extent with very little freedom for self determination).
A person who has committing unforgivable, cold blooded and frankly inhuman actions such as the serial killer Ted Bundy will be designated a pure evil (he killed dozens of women on very brutal and sadistic fashion and no one knows how many victims he truly murdered to this day); while a hurricane that destroys an entire city and kills over 2,000 people is never called "evil"?
A bit strange, but this is why psychology plays a big role in determining such things and has little to do any real existence of moral/spiritual dichotomies
These are humanly created labels (usually religious/cultural in nature) that designate certain concepts,actions, things, people, objects, and places as being inherently dark,light, dangerous,benevolent,corrupting,inspiring; as powerful as they are opposing forces.
So in this logic I will assert that there are no good people or evil people. There are only people.
I could write a 2,000 page book about this topic, but I will add that our natural insticts, society, function/dysfunction, culture, genetics, and social development all play a role in how people behave or live their lives (making us all determined to a large extent with very little freedom for self determination).
A person who has committing unforgivable, cold blooded and frankly inhuman actions such as the serial killer Ted Bundy will be designated a pure evil (he killed dozens of women on very brutal and sadistic fashion and no one knows how many victims he truly murdered to this day); while a hurricane that destroys an entire city and kills over 2,000 people is never called "evil"?
A bit strange, but this is why psychology plays a big role in determining such things and has little to do any real existence of moral/spiritual dichotomies
I see what you're saying now. Not 100% blank slate, but I still belive they're still "blank" enough to not be born either good or evil form the start. With no real morals or anyway to show their persnolity traits. The only person I can think of that was born evil was Damian...Kortney said:
Oh, and i'll check out that book. I'm sorry for my scientific ignorance.
Good and evil don't exist. Good and evil change between person to person and culture to culture. So therefore babies cannot be born good or evil because it's their society that will determine whether they are or not. However, a baby can be born with strong tendencies to act reactionary towards violence or aggression and combined with a lackluster upbringing they may turn out to be what some may call "evil".Mcupobob said:
Babies show their personality traits pretty early on.Mcupobob said:
Oh, don't be silly. I'm sorry for making it seem like I thought you were ignorant. For the record, I don't.Mcupobob said:
