Is there more good in man than evil or more evil than good?

Question

How does one measure either or?

Answer 1

I believe it is up to the man, in that respect

Answer 2

What an incredibly complex issue! It’s an issue that has been debated for many many years. I believe humankind is born with the propensity to be evil or good and maybe both at once. Although the latter is a paradox, often societies define what is evil and what is good. The qualifiers change within cultures and religion etc. The fact is, Adam, we all have influencing factors in our lives that may increase our tendency to be good or evil. Even so, many people feel that man (and woman) is born with an inherent ability to know the difference between good and evil. Some people call it a "conscience". Other people feel that mankind learns what is right and wrong. That is, they must be taught by parents and by social constructs. I believe a combination of factors contributes to helping individuals be “good”. Hillary Clinton once said or implied that it takes a village to raise a child. She received a lot of backlash for that, but there is some truth to it - from a different perspective. While parents do not need villages to raise their children nor do they need interference, the “village” has an influence on them – in school, in the community, in the media, in the church etc. If you have concerns about dealing with the complexity of good or evil in your life, I encourage you to contact a minister or a member of the clergy in your area.

Answer 3

In this country, about 80% of people are good, most of the rest had bad parenting and a few are born with mental disorders or defects. It is hard to measure, but they have done studies of men in prisons to find their common denominator and it was often childhood abuse or neglect. They have also done studies on the effect of testosterone to levels of violence and aggression, so it seems fairly easy to measure the level of evil in a man . It is much more difficult to measure the effects of love on the world. Evil and hate are really caused by a lack of love.

The 'new age' movement, like many others, proposes that by filling the world with love we will attain world Peace.

Answer 4

It all depends on the individual, as each individual has different amounts of both in him or her.

We are all born with equal amounts of good and evil, and continue with almost equal amounts of good and evil until we all reach the age of consciousness, usually referred to as the age of reason.

This is the time usually during one's middle childhood years when a person is able to decide for his or herself what is right and what is wrong.

As soon as we are able to know this difference and understand it fully for the very 1st time, we have reached the age of reason, and then there is no turning back from the accountability of our actions that follows for the rest of our lives.

Good and evil in a person are determined by both our genes and our living environments throughout our lives, in a way similar to medical disorders and conditions.

Finally, only God can measure the amounts of both good and evil in our lives, so we can only follow our consciences, the Bible, and our religion's teachings to know with some clarity what is truly good or evil.

Answer 5

OOoo, Good question. Ethics is always a touchy subject because not everybody has the same morals and ethics. I would like to think that there is more good in people but that is naive. So my answer is half n half. There are many good people but everybody has a dark side, whether it be a strange fetish, or judgement over people who have a different view of life. Also there is the nature vs nurture factor. People being genetically predisposed to violent acts and poor environment. Let me ponder this more and see what else i can come up with

Answer 6

I believe man is generally good, otherwise we wouldn't be in a world that is depressing and sad...we all want to be happy and that is good! We all know what we need.

You might want to think about how conscious is man of his actions and ponders whether they are evil or good? And, does he care? If he does wrong is he evil? If he thinks wrong is he evil?
What is wrong, what is right? Who makes those general rules that defines our conduct?

You asked a really great question, Adam.

Answer 7

It seems when we are born we are innocent and balanced with more good, as we grow and gain knowledge of evil that is when the balance sometimes tilts a little to the evil side then it is up to us to catch those mistakes and stop look and listen and push the reset button on our brains when our conscience is saying no then we can regain the balance. There is always more good in us, it is the choices we make in life that tilts the scales to evil.

Answer 8

Thats a great quetion! well the truth is there is more evil that good. But in the other hand, the good is more powerful then evil. Therfore, the good in man mostly wins.

Answer 9

If "in man" means mankind, then there is more good. The press basically reports evil because it sells, and so we are prone to think that evil is more abundant than good.

Answer 10

i think every one of us is unique, inasmuch as we all have good and evil in varying degrees. i feel that i am basically a very good person, yet i am not a very good christian, [i doubt that there is a good god worthy of all the adulation that some people seem to demand that he gets]. i don't lie,[ but i have done] i never steal [i have in the past] and i don't cheat on my wife...but i did with my previous wife, but she deserved it!
i try to be charitable, but i seldom give to charity, i guess i'm just an enigma.
then again there are people who thrive on doing evil. they steal, kill, hurt and do all kinds of bad things to children or other humans. some people think because others eat/do harm to animals that they deserve gods vengeance, which they are happy to dole out. fact is folks
GOD DISHES OUT HIS OWN PUNISHMENT IN HIS OWN TIME. this is annoying when somebody has sinned against you, Jesus said "TURN THE OTHER CHEEK" words of wisdom or words of the weak? you decide

Answer 11

A man wills himself to act according to his wishes, which could be good or evil.