Is man evil by nature or good by nature?

Question

i'm just curious

Answer 1

Didn't Shakespeare say, nothing is good or bad, only thinking makes it so.

Answer 2

I believe good, otherwise political correctness would not exist.

The theory is when people get into groups they lose their own sense of self to go under the guise of "the group" as a whole idea. It's why people in riots tend to steal, when usually they'd do no such thing. They do what they believe the consensus of the group to be, casting away their own personal responsiblity, for whatever reason. Could be fear, or habit, or innate action, but all crowd behavior is the same in that respect. And I find political correctness tends to lean towards the good. When someone once spoke out against the pope, the crowd will boo, likewise when someone says something positive or uplifiting, the crowd will cheer. They seem to do this by default, thus I'm taking that the general aspect of political correctness is bent around an idea of goodness. Whether or not it is plausible is debatable, but being that that idea exists, I'd assume that to be reason enough to assume people are good by default.

Answer 3

The human race is neither good nor evil. Individual decisions can be construed good or evil, but that would depend on the opinion of the person doing the construing (if that's a word...). For example: the vast amount of Iraqi's who supported Saddam all the way to his death had their own reasons for doing so. They believed he was Good, despite the fact that us westerners believe he was Evil. And for the suicide bombers on 7/7 and 9/11: Would a man seriously give his own life for something he thought was wrong? Out of spite? No. Good and evil are a matter of opinion and belief. We should not judge people for their beliefs, as they are the foundation of self. We only believe they were evil for their actions, when we do not know what drove them to do it. To fully understand someone is to embrace their differences.

Answer 4

Depends on the outlook you take. I believe that humans are good by nature, compassionate and loving. But I think as we've developed so to has our intelligence which has caused us to become evil. If you took the hardest criminal you would still be able to find some shred of compassion.

Answer 5

I strongly believe that with some very few exceptions people are essentially good by nature. If people are provided appropriate environment they will like to lead their life in a positive way. The evils we see in the world are caused by either circumstances or pure ignorance.

Answer 6

man is not evil or good by nature, he just is and teeter tooters back and forth , from one side to the other. know if you were to get an answer form Nature she'll tell you MAN is very evil; from her point of view.

Answer 7

Look into a new born baby's eyes. Do you see love or malice?

I believe all humans are born good but the envoironment that we are braught up in determines whether we will grow up to be a happy rounded individual or not. It's mainly the people who are not happy and rounded that do bad things.

Answer 8

Animals are just expedient by nature.... man is both good and evil by nature due to the intensity of his emotions..... when free from emotions, he too is more intelligently expedient

Answer 9

All creatures desire happiness and usually, good results in a happier life ,
but given adverse circumstances , people can be evil in the misguided attempt to find happiness (or feel that vengeance would alleviate pain from previous bad experiences - it does not)

Answer 10

It's down to your own perception at the end of the day how can anyone determin good and bad, things are only bad or good because we percieve them to be (obviously to a certain extent you cant justify things like murder etc) so as long as its not against your morals its ok. Perception is reality

Answer 11

Good by nature but Twisted by events