My theory is that since we are all programmed to survive which means we have natural tendency to be selfish so we would harm others to protect ourselves even in everyday life.
2006-09-20 08:14:39 · 15 answers · asked by Believe me 3 in Social Science ➔ Psychology
Thank you everyone who answered my question. I will read every single one of your answers.
2006-09-20 08:51:32 · update #1
I agree with you entirely. It would be nice to give the human race the benefit of the doubt in this case, but we have all shown time and again that it is not first in our nature to act polite and kind. When we are young, our parents teach us how to be nice to people, and how to feel empathy towards everyone else. But take a toddler for instance, they are self centered naturally. They try to please themselves, and get what they want, even if they act abhorrently. That is why we teach our children to be respectful creatures, because by nature, humans, at their very root, are selfish beings.
2006-09-20 08:25:15 · answer #1 · answered by outlandsishlady 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This raises some very interesting points but more interesting is that I don't believe that the answer is as simple as black and white. Its very easy to argue that humans duplicitous and selfish by their very nature, but at the same time history easily shows us that we, not only as a people, but as individuals have a great capacity for good. I honestly do not believe that every person is inherently evil, except for maybe Muslims.(*insert sarcasm here*) There's always the old saying that a person is smart, but a group of people are paranoid and selfishly reactive. I feel that this is not a question of humans as a species but importantly a question of humans as individuals. There are not two people on the earth that share the same DNA, as far as I'm aware. Is it really preposterous to think that we are all exponentially more different as people? I honestly think that we are generally good, but flawed. Its impossible to be perfect, regardless of our intentions. Humans will always try to do the right thing, but we will fail at time simply due to our very nature. Even recently regarding such events as 9/11 and so forth, we've literally witnessed first hand ordinary people performing extraordinary acts of selflessness and faith in each other. So to ask so generally "Are humans good or evil" is to ask a question that is simply impossible to answer with an affirmative 'yes' or 'no'.
-J.
2006-09-20 08:21:41 · answer #2 · answered by Jason 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The problem is that we need others to survive so it is not a natural tendency to be overall selfish. If someone was to harm you, wouldn't a friend step in to help you? After that friend helped you would you return that favor by being selfish by not helping them? We are more programed for equivalent exchange then selfishness. You help me, I help you type of deal. We are neither good or evil. We just are.
2006-09-20 08:31:37 · answer #3 · answered by hart_open 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I dont believe humans are generaly evil. And being a little selfish doesn't make you evil either. It has to do with self esteem and giving the best of what you have. If you want to talk generally, take a work organisation: how many of them are evils?? are all your colleagues evils? of course there might be some jealousy, or somebody who has problems wih themselves but that does not make them evil. So my belief is that generally humans are good.
2006-09-20 08:48:33 · answer #4 · answered by Amantia A 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
This is what I realised.
We were all born in the same way.. we were all babies once... Innocent.. fragile.. and still new to everything.
Then as we grow up... we begin to experience .. and learn things that are there for us to acknowledge.
Evil people become evil because of the bad experiences they've been through, and that noone was their to guide them thru anything. If you turn back time, and placed them into a much more loving enviroment to grow up in... wud u say tht they wud still grow up to be evil? or better off being in a place where much guidance and lessons are taught, and from there they are more aware of whats right and wrong?
Humans can be good.
But for those that dont believe in anything good anymore doesnt mean that dont have a heart... its there, but unfortunately has been covered by so much hate, from their bad experiences, tht its hard for them to ever recover it back.
And I think this quote by Martin Luther King pretty sums up how humans are or how they became what they became:
"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that.
Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spiral of destruction"
so do u think its possible for evil people to become good again? do u think u would have much patience to make it happen?
2006-09-20 09:02:26 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Not quite. We learned aeons ago that survival depends in large measure upon cooperation with our family and neighbors. That natural selfishness cannot be automatically termed "evil". Evil is described best as behavior that is harmful towards others without cause.
2006-09-20 08:20:31 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
This really depends on your definition of evil. If protecting your interests means that you have to attack somebody else. That is nature. But the extent to which you need to get your point across is the determinate of evil. If you exceed the necessary force to protect your interests, that is evil. I believe that humans are not generally evil. It depends on the threat that they are responding to. If the the threat is larger than life, that individual may be willing to take life in order to have his life (or family) protected.
2006-09-20 08:25:35 · answer #7 · answered by atothek96 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I have always believed humans are inherently evil. But I don't blame it all on the survival instinct. The survival instinct doesn't explain malicious, sadistic behavior. It doesn't explain pediphiles or serial killers. It doesn't explain why we subjugate every other species including subgroups or our own species. We just suck. We're power hungry, selfish, egotistical a**holes. Even our religions which are suppose to teach us moral and ethical values portray us as superior to all other species which only contributes to the attitude that it's okay to use and abuse anything or anyone "inferior" to ourselves.
2006-09-20 08:28:27 · answer #8 · answered by Angelina B 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I agree. The root of human nature is selfishness, and from selfishness is spawned all the evils of the world. We learn to take, so we believe we have the right to take things that do not belong to us or are not ours to take (like human life). We believe our lives are all about us and that we have the right to always look out for number one, regardless of the consequences to anyone else. That is why communism will never work -- people would have to be truly selfless and completely devoted to the greater good of society for such a system to work, and we're simply not like that at all.
2006-09-20 08:20:41 · answer #9 · answered by sarge927 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
I believe humans are born innocent, meaning no malice in them.
Then, when they grow up, they are losing in a different measure their innocence, due to the life they are living with their family or lack of.
Some people when they reached a certain age are more evil than others, some remain good, others change to evil.
2006-09-20 09:09:25 · answer #10 · answered by Ya no estoy en Y!R por Facebook! 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋