Human beings are born with no concept of the morality pertaining to the social surroundings they will grow up in so it is impossible to label them either way.
Poll: Are human beings born good or evil?
- Thread starter UnwishedGunz
- Start date
Recommended Videos
"Well, we are all born with 'Original Sin', so the only evil people are those who were never baptized." [/Religious Banter]
In all honesty, I believe that a child's morality depends solely on the experiences it had with people around him or her. I think very few people are actually born genuinely good or bad. I was an Asshole when I was younger, but now I regret those days with a passion. I try to be as nice and civil as possible.
In all honesty, I believe that a child's morality depends solely on the experiences it had with people around him or her. I think very few people are actually born genuinely good or bad. I was an Asshole when I was younger, but now I regret those days with a passion. I try to be as nice and civil as possible.
First off "Good" and "Evil" are subjective terms. For the most part young humans are, in a way, sociopaths. They have trouble comprehending anything outside of themselves. As humans become older, they develop complex ideas and moralities which can always be cut short by abuse or just being raised to not emphasize with others. Anyways, we're born into our environment and we learn from there, which I guess would be a blank sponge.
Neither, since there is no good or evil. It's completely subjective.
Though babies are born "innocent" at least and their personality traits develop from there
Though babies are born "innocent" at least and their personality traits develop from there
by that logic your saying a murder could kill a defenceless child if he thought it was for the greater goodTalshere said:
now who the hell said anything about ME being good or evil, i know im a disrespective bastard and the people i know have gotten used to it...oktalist said:
but if i had to i would save the girl first and TRY to go back for the man
While children generally tend to be on the annoying side sometimes, it's completely untrue that they need to be taught kindness, generosity and things of that nature. Studies consistently find that even babies start being nice as soon as they are able. What they do have to learn is that being selfish is more likely to get them what they want in the immediate future.
That's not to say that babies are all purity and innocence and we corrupt them with our ickyness or anything, they're perfectly capable of being terrible little shits without being taught how as well, it's just that they have the potential for both right from the beginning.
I honestly wouldn't say that a person is ever a complete blank slate though. Genetics defines a beginning state that is unique to each individual, and by the time a person is born they've had around three months of experience since they developed independent brain functioning.
So in the end I find all of the poll answers fall short of reality by oversimplification. People are complex and never really pure anything, good, evil or blank. Purity itself is a fictional concept as far as I am concerned.
That's not to say that babies are all purity and innocence and we corrupt them with our ickyness or anything, they're perfectly capable of being terrible little shits without being taught how as well, it's just that they have the potential for both right from the beginning.
I honestly wouldn't say that a person is ever a complete blank slate though. Genetics defines a beginning state that is unique to each individual, and by the time a person is born they've had around three months of experience since they developed independent brain functioning.
So in the end I find all of the poll answers fall short of reality by oversimplification. People are complex and never really pure anything, good, evil or blank. Purity itself is a fictional concept as far as I am concerned.
Technically evil. You have primitive and morally objectionable instincts wired into your brain. Everyone does. Except me, obviously.
Thus, as a result, we kill each other over which fairy tale to believe in, who owns the oil and nuclear material because of pieces of paper we have assigned value.
Except me, obviously. I'm homeless.
Thus, as a result, we kill each other over which fairy tale to believe in, who owns the oil and nuclear material because of pieces of paper we have assigned value.
Except me, obviously. I'm homeless.
I'd say you're born leaning to one side or the other (although evil is such a ridiculous word to use), since personality traits are passed on through family members.
Having said that, much of it is to do with your environment. If you tell a baby of race X that he is better than race Y from the day he's born, they're more than likely going to believe it unless they're exposed to other opinions.
Having said that, much of it is to do with your environment. If you tell a baby of race X that he is better than race Y from the day he's born, they're more than likely going to believe it unless they're exposed to other opinions.
UnwishedGunz said:
No I'm saying they are people who would murder a baby to prevent Hitler from ever coming to power. There people would kill a small child, who is innocent of anything, after all at this point he has done nothing wrong, and they would have done it "for the greater good" and tbh a lot of people would support them for it, while a lot of others would decry it as murder. My own opinions on killing Hitler as a child can be found elsewhere on these forums. But this however, is an example of being able to murder someone "for the greater good".
But even Hitler killed of the Jews for a "good reason" he just got carried away. At that time, the Jewish population held the majority of Germanys wealth, which during the great depression was a big deal. You kill the Jew and you give the German people 2 things they need, control over their wealth, as the government would seize assets, and someone to blame for their current state, something to focus the people, so that action could be taken, after all, disillusioned and depressed people rarely do anything to help themselves.
I've no doubt that Hitler did what he thought was necessary to help bring the German people confidence again, and drag them out of the depression, and to be fair to him, it worked. Germany were the first country out of depression. Had he won, no doubt in 200-400 years time, once the whole "suppressed nation" wore off, we would all believe this. After all, history is written by the victory.
Thats a nice idea but there's really far much more going on in life than a scale with 'good' on one end and 'bad' on the other. I mean, right and wrong aren't even predetermined, everyone has their own morale compass.UnwishedGunz said:
It's generally accepted that stealing is wrong. Now say a woman steals a loaf of bread to feed her starving baby. I personally belive that that is an act of kindness, but the owner of the bread is unlikely to think the same way.
Even less black and white than that you have conflict between what is belived to be right and wrong by the catholic church and the goverment. The goverment have absolutly no problem with contraception, even promoting it and handing out free condoms at clinics around the UK. As far as they're concerned it stops the conception of an unwanted child, who is unlikely to be as well looked after as a planned child (a generalization on my part). The clever ones among you will of no doubt guessed my next point which is that the church views contraception as a sin. Who are we to deny the conception of one of gods creatures. Sex in their eyes is supposed to be for conception, not pleasure. Right and wrong in that sense depends entirely on you social predudice, wether you adhere to the monotheistic doctrines, or are atheist.
In answer to your question I belive how we are brought up effects how we behave, and that there isn't an afterlife.
Fixed. I didn't really mean what would you do, but which choice is good and which is evil. Making the point that actions cannot be defined as 100% good or 100% evil, because there are always going to be good and bad consequences to any action.UnwishedGunz said:
Well emergency personnel are trained to save the man first in this situation, as he has the higher chance of survival.