For civics, we have to write an essay on whether humans are good or evil. Opinions?

Question

Please give me your opinion and a reason or two why.

Answer 1

Humans are neither innately good nor evil. The concepts of good and evil are social constructs based on ideas upon which the majority of society has agreed.

Humans act in ways that are both "good" and "evil." No person has ever been solely "good." Everyone has some "evil." The reverse is true as well. Tendencies toward good and evil may emerge within an individual based on such factors as genetics, temperament, nurture within the family structure, peers, cultural influence (e.g. movies, music, etc.), religious influences, and so on.

Answer 2

Humans are neither 'evil' or 'good'. All humans are post instinctive, which means they have exceeded instinctive reaction, like animals, and are inherently 'free thinking'.
A person of any walk of life can live a good and honorable life or choose the darker, more sinister ways. People who are considered 'good' people can fault and commit a wrong by choice. A bad person can just as well be kind when they decide to be so. Even a murderer can still love his/her family. So the question should not be whether humans are 'good' or 'evil', but rather, "Does humanity choose 'evil' more or less often than 'good', and why? What factors take play in that decision?

Answer 3

I believe we are a combination of many things. I'm not sure everyone has evil in himself, but sure seems that some people do. Good or evil is a judgement. Behind what our personalities are are lots of things to consider. When you realize that someone did something that we consider bad or even evil, and that person was tortured and abused as a child setting off that bad fixation, or whatever, can we still feel that the person is evil? We are shaped by our experiences and some people have horrific lives shaping them into monsters sometimes.

Answer 4

An essay is a short work of writing that treats a topic from an author's personal point of view. Essays are non-fictional but often subjective; while expository, they can also include narrative. Essays can be learned arguments, literary criticism, political manifestos, observations of daily life, recollections and reflections of the author.
The definition of an essay is vague, overlapping with those of an article and a short story. Almost all modern essays are written in prose, but works in verse have been dubbed essays (Alexander Pope's An Essay on Criticism and An Essay on Man). While today an essay is partly defined by its brevity, voluminous works like John Locke's An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population refer to themselves using the term.
source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essay

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Answer 5

I read the answers possed to your answer and find them not really addressing how it is that a child is good or evil..
Case studies have shown that approxamatly in the fetuses 3rd trimester it respond to stimuli from the outside world. An expecting mother can validate that just by rubbing her belly or talking directly at it(towards her belly) the baby will move. now when their hearing has begun to develope is when the demeanor of the child determined. the fetus reponds to loud angry voices as well as hearing Bach. My wife and I experimented on our first child by provided soft talk and alot of classic music and other such as laughter. well when he was born the first thing he did to our amazement Ryan did'nt cry,was born awake(no slap on bottom,that is important as well)and he looked about the room first looking at me then his mother, then about the room. that was cool. he hardly cried only when he was hungrey or diapers needed changeing. we played soft music.and continued being pleasant(sort of, but away from him when a heated discussion came up)he is now 16 top of his class in everyway. we were unaware of the outcome of our experiment. glad we did it. he has a most creative side. is articutlate just a couple of traitsthat come to mind. he intensely take on tasks with zeal etc..etc. I can only speculate that if the opposite stimuli where exposed while in fetus, perhaps the demeanor would be quite the opposite. In ending, I believe we adults play an important roll in the outcome of wether the child tendencies lean to being good or being mischivieous. I hope that is a good lead. Oh and another point of interest is that when he hears bad he walks away from it,he instinctively,intuitivly aware of bad,evil. and tends to be around intellectuals. He already is showing a high interest in writing, and physics.

Answer 6

Both positions are unrealistic. Humans are products of evolution, and evolution is unconcerned with such abstractions as "good" or "evil." As Aristotle said, humans are social animals. We are neither "good" nor "evil." We are only inherently social.


From the beginning of our civilization, our vision of ourselves has suffered from a sort of schizophrenia, pulled between these two unrealistic poles of good and evil. Plato posited that we each had an angelic spirit in our mind, and a bestial demon in our belly, with all our actions, emotions, and passions torn between them. This provides a foreshadowing of Descartes' dualism, which remains a powerful idiom today, even though modern medicine has conclusively proven the strong interdependence of mind and body. Though I doubt it was a conscious modelling, it would be a mistake to overlook the obvious philosophical heritage this provides to Freud's formulation of the id, ego and superego. This dichotomy was only made more severe by the influence of Zoroastrianism. Once adopted by Judaism prior to the splintering of Christianity, and later Islam, this vision of the universe at war between good and evil was combined with the ancient Greek concept of macrocosm and microcosm to only further this "bizarre superstition."1 Even Jesus makes reference to this idea in the gospels with, "The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." (Matthew 26:41) In this vision, humanity itself is neither good nor evil, but only because each individual human is a spiritual battleground between the two. It is a vision of human nature that is not inherently good, nor inherently evil, but instead, inherently schizophrenic. Though widely accepted, it is a rather crude attempt to reconcile "the better angels of our nature" with the ugly facts of our history. Descartes' dualism, once fundamental to the early practice of medical science, has since become an impediment. Neurology, psychiatry and biopsychology have all highlighted how closely knit the mind and the body are. In fact, any separation is now recognized as utterly lacking in any basis in reality.

Answer 7

I would have to say there is good and evil in us all. I personally think circumstances and how you were raised have some to do with it. If you were brought to respect other people and their property, then I think that stays with you. If you were brought up to take as much advantage of everyone as you can, I think that stays with you as well. There are many exceptions to both methods of child rearing, good people go bad and bad people go good. I still think what you learn in your fundamental years makes a difference. Outside circumstances play a part..... drugs, desperation, etc.

Answer 8

Well I think if you think there nice, kind, genirous then they aren't evil. But if there bullies and you think they'll end up in jail or juvey before 18 then there evil. My opinions are...
1) Every body has good inside. But always acts tuff to hide there inner feelings.
2) Not all nice people grow up to be nice. Some even sacrafice there life or end up in jail.

Answer 9

I think if we were evil, we wouldn't even bother asking the question. Only a good person would care if they are good or evil.

Answer 10

We are both good and evil-sometimes evil is required to do good,and sometimes a good person can be manipulated for evil purposes.