Poll: Are People Inherently Good?

[Avida]

Humans are not good or bad. People are inherently people, nothing more then that. We made the concepts of good and evil ourselfs, and those definitions are not solid and differ all over the globe. Hence it's an impossible and irrelevant question to ask. People are just people, just another species in the big history of the planet.

Cultural values can change across geography but morality spans the globe. An impossible question, perhaps, but irrelevant? Hell no. Just because we made a term doesnt mean we cant apply it.

We can only apply it on ourselfs, we say that we are good (or bad), but that's rather easy to say that about yourself. Good or bad compared to what, who decides what good and bad is, and why would that person/thing hold that authority, on what ground. I don't see the use of the terms good or bad, I only see the use in analysing cause and effect, especially effect in the case of morality and ethics.

I dont mean anything along the lines of "You did X, so you are evil. I did Y so i am good" i mean something more basic applies, something like;

Does person X have any form of moral guideline? If no he/she does not strike me as human. If yes does he/she follow it, or ignore it, break it, or bend it for something self beneficial. If no add + points. If yes add - points. Mitigating circumstances apply for exceptional cases of course.

 

[Farson89]

Good and evil are essential meaningless words based entirely upon personal perspective.

What people are is inherently selfish.

 

[Zephirius]

I hate to roughly quote Dr. Cox but, "people are bastard coated bastards with bastard filling."(yes very rough) If you took away rules people would regress to animal instincts, humans are, at heart, self serving bastards.

That's actually Kelso, in reply to Cox.

Anyway, I think people are inherently good because we are social creatures. Therefore we seek to make those around us happy to keep ourselves happy. You can argue all you like about self-serving, but that's just basic instinct. What makes us good or bad is the choices we make, and nobody likes being completely alone. There was a point in here somewhere, but I'm too tired to remember what it was.

 

[Cowabungaa]

I dont mean anything along the lines of "You did X, so you are evil. I did Y so i am good" i mean something more basic applies, something like;

Does person X have any form of moral guideline? If no he/she does not strike me as human. If yes does he/she follow it, or ignore it, break it, or bend it for something self beneficial. If no add + points. If yes add - points. Mitigating circumstances apply for exceptional cases of course.

But who are you, or me? What gives either of us the right to decide such things, what gives any individual from the current 6 billion humans that right, not even mentioning the billions of humans before us. If everyone decides for itself what good and bad is, doesn't that make those concepts so incredibly relative, that the question of this topic is completely unanswerable and thus irrelivant? It would mean that the concepts of good and bad don't work or don't exist on such a big scale. I could also be talking out of my ass right now, but it's really late, so I'm really tired. I should stop staying up so late, my biorithme is suffering.

 

[Kogarian]

Most people think their side is the right one, usually. So relatively speaking, most people are 'good' because they simply don't think they're the bad guy.

 

[Blyyr]

Most people think their side is the right one, usually. So relatively speaking, most people are 'good' because they simply don't think they're the bad guy.

Untrue, theres always those people who believe they are the 'Bad Side' And take pride, and evern to the extent of relishing that fact.

 

[Blyyr]

In the end, it is based on the person, which is usually based on what that person has experianced in their life.

I like to see myself as nutural, I do bad stuff, yeah, but I also do good things, but I realize I am not perfect, and embrace those facts.

What is dictated as 'Good' and 'Evil' is all based on ones own opinions, if you locked a person away from birth, with no human interaction whatsoever, he would be nothing but an animal.

If you locked a person in the room with nothing but a radio spewing gospel to him, or some radio station that teaches how to do "Good" things, he will follow that.

The same applies if you locked a man in a room with nothing but videos of violence and gore and death, he will be that kind of person.

 

[Master_of_Oldskool]

I personally believe that people are inherently dickweeds, and the manifestation of "good" is merely one excercising some control over this inherent nature.

 

[Jerious1154]

I don't believe that people are inherently anything. People's values aren't decided from birth, they're ingrained into their minds from their environments, their cultures, and the people around them.

 

[quack35]

I believe everyone is born as a completely blank slate, not good or bad.

 

[sokka14]

Good and Evil are a point of view so how can you realy say someone is born 'good'. In a society such as ours we have a specific set definition of good and bad. If people don't follow the ideal of good then they are labeled bad. To be born good totally depends on the place and people.

Agreed.

 

[War Chief Will]

I believe that most people in the world are good. But for this argument one would have to question what is good or evil? In my opinion there are only sides. Reason: Some sides can be seen as good to some bad to others.

E.g. IRA are seen as freedom fighters to Irish catholics but terrorists in the eyes of the northern Irish Protestants.

What I'm saying is that people are inherently good and bad through the judgement of other people.

 

[LINKXIII]

Most people you meet are evil bastards (I know I kinda am) who would betray wou when things got Extremely tough but I have good people who I care for enough to stick with no matter what

 

[Kogarian]

Most people think their side is the right one, usually. So relatively speaking, most people are 'good' because they simply don't think they're the bad guy.

Untrue, theres always those people who believe they are the 'Bad Side' And take pride, and evern to the extent of relishing that fact.

Key word here: 'relatively'.

 

[Avida]

I dont mean anything along the lines of "You did X, so you are evil. I did Y so i am good" i mean something more basic applies, something like;

Does person X have any form of moral guideline? If no he/she does not strike me as human. If yes does he/she follow it, or ignore it, break it, or bend it for something self beneficial. If no add + points. If yes add - points. Mitigating circumstances apply for exceptional cases of course.

But who are you, or me? What gives either of us the right to decide such things, what gives any individual from the current 6 billion humans that right, not even mentioning the billions of humans before us. If everyone decides for itself what good and bad is, doesn't that make those concepts so incredibly relative, that the question of this topic is completely unanswerable and thus irrelivant? It would mean that the concepts of good and bad don't work or don't exist on such a big scale. I could also be talking out of my ass right now, but it's really late, so I'm really tired. I should stop staying up so late, my biorithme is suffering.

It be late here too (a bit past 1am) so consider us on a level playing feild.

Yes, technically with us not being divine beings we dont have any right to say whats what, but what i said was culture free and basically worked off the basic definition of good and whatnot so i shouldnt think it can be too objectionable - As long as someone has a moral code and is following it, reguardless of how squewed it is i dont think they can be accused of being a bad person, they were only doing what they thought was right (or at least normal).

Yes these concepts are very, very relative, but so is everyhing else - all neatly tied along to something that vaguely resembles a definition. While 'labels' of good and evil can be a mile off i'm certain we can take a pretty good stab at the 'divine perspective' on all this, however pretentious that may sound. Anyway my point is yes, this qustion is impossible for us to answer right but no question is ever irellevant, getting some lovely poll results and 5 pages of debate is justification on its own.

Anyway, i suppose im rambleing past 'decent answer' terortory and right into 'the crazy mess that is how my mind works' so i'll end this here, night all.

 

[floppylobster]

Unfortunately not. Currently, we are quite good. But that could break down very easily.

Natural selection will always mean we will not be inherently good. However, society currently puts more value on being good and so we are good. But take away the police, the courts and prison and we'd see just how people really are.

And it's not really their fault, those who are more aggressive, more willing to put their needs ahead of others will survive better - EXCEPT in a world where society, and being part of it, dictates who does well.

So we may slowly become better as we learn to live with others, but if that world breaks down it will only take one selfish person to start a trend that will lead us right back where we came from. Unfortunately for all living creatures, life feeds off life.

Although we have to question what is 'good' before we really get into this.

 

[SmartIdiot]

Nurture over nature. Can't put it more simply than that.

 

[acturisme]

Ppl are good to those with whom they are close. The rest of the planet gets the one finger wave. Some examples: Roadrage, Racism, Forum Posts.

 

[TaborMallory]

No.

People are inherently animals and are taught manners. Until we're old enough to learn to be civilized, we're no better than animals.

 

[trollboy]

When a child first enters the world he/she is completely innocent. This innocents allows for an inherently good nature. However, because he/she is being raised by other people he/she is immediately effected by those around them and the interactions with them. This causes him/her to act and imitate those that they have contact with and will then change their nature to be coherent with them