Are human beings inherently evil?

Question

I have to write an essay for english about this.. and i have to agree or disagree with it.. but i dont' really agree with either side.. but if i can get some of ur guys opinions it could help me decide :) Greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

It is good that you do not believe in either side, because both sides are wrong.

The good and evil that you see don't even exist in reality, at least not outside of the mind that believes in them. They are only judgments passed by the individual from their own unique perspective. What one person sees as bad or evil may seem to be the only logical thing to do from some other perspective. The ideas of both good and evil are point of view specific. This is why people like bush and bin laden are either loved or hated. Bush is seen as good by people who share his fear based thought system. Those who have a compassionate concern for all of mankind often see him as evil.

Bin laden is much the same. He is a villain in much of the western world, but he is somewhat of a celebrated pop star on the Middle East. There are T-shirt shops that sell items with his picture as though he was Jesus. It all depends on your point of view or perspective.

To sum it all up good is the name we give to people who do things that we think we like.

Evil is the name we give to people who do the things that we don’t like.

This is of course based solely on our particular point of view.

Love and blessings

Don

Answer 2

I agree with other posters who say good and evil are human constructs. However, within that construct it may be possible to look at what "evil" might be - and whether we are all inherently so.

Evil is a concept for something opposite to the life force - the negative to the positive of hope, well-being, co-operation, etc. We associate those things with light and with feeling good about life, so evil is represented by dark - unseen, unknown, threatening, dangerous.

As far as humans representing evil, probably the modern icon in that sense is Hitler (though Stalin & Mao were likely responsible for more deaths). What do these people and, say, other non-political mass murderers like Dahmer or Sutcliffe, have in common? What drove them to it?

We all have instincts we can draw on in extermis - a capacity for violence - and those instincts are usually accessed through fear. Possibly those we call evil live in a perpetual state of fear (for whatever reason - abuse, starvation, indoctrination) so much so that they may not fully recognise it themselves as it is their normality. This creates a distorted view of the world and governs their relationships with others. If they have power - either by passing circumstance or through being driven to acquire it obsessively to protect themselves from their fear - they are then in a position to excerise that power to destroy anything that distrubs their great resevoir of fear. In the case of dictators that would be anyone who threatens their power base in even the slightest way. In Hitler's case, this included a wholly irrational hatred of entire ethnic and social groups, a sign of advanced paranoia.

So we all have capacity to do or become "evil". Some common feeling of humanity, parental love, and other things act as a check on that. Where these are absent or perverted then "evil" can flourish. Unbridled power is similarly unhealthy and the two combined are truly toxic.

Could expand on all this, but hopefully the above will get you thinking - remember the important thing in the essay is your thoughts.

Answer 3

Humans are inherently complex. Capable of both good and evil, mercy and severity. Even a serial killer might stop to help a poor kitten down from a tree. The point is finding a moral center, but with the society being structured upon "virtues" such as greed, vanity, pride or what not.... its only but a miracle to find a person with clean fingers or should I say "hands".

Answer 4

I don't believe that we are, I think that "leaders" in our divided societies teach us or manipulate us into believing in the whole us and them thinking, because in a divide and conquer based reality it benefits some group to have us fighting or believing that the other side is evil. If we could actually talk and maybe get to know the other side, we may find out we don't have that much different going on in our lives and that most of us are not "out for blood" but just want to live and relax and be ourselves without fear. I think that greed is what makes us "evil", and until we can agree as a whole that there is enough for everyone or some intellectual breakthrough happens that greed will manipulate us.

Answer 5

We all have a good side and a bad side. Our inner self has an inherent check and balance system. Some call it conscience, others instinct. It tells us when we are about to do or see something wheither it is good or bad. In a good person, they realise this as being bad, and stop their actions, in bad people they do not make the correlation and commit the evil deed. But we all have the ability to commit and recognize both good and bad deeds for what they are.

Answer 6

I aree with the other posters who have stated that evil does not exist. Evil cannot be defined, other than through human perception, world view, opinion. The only thing humans inherently are, I believe, is human. Even that can be argued...we could be fungus growing on a sponge, only believeing we are human without actually being so.

Answer 7

Human beings have survival instincts that are hard-wired into them. These present themselves in certain behaviours that other human beings interpret as evil because those behaviours conflict with the bleiefs and survival instincts of the observer. Human beings are not inherently evil. If they were it would manifest itself from infancy. Have you ever met an inherently evil infant? All joking aside, have you? No.
However, infants exhibit the clearest examples of behaviours that derive from survival instincts.

Answer 8

Good question.
If you are a Christian...
-you must believe that we are inherently evil. The bible says "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it." David said we was conceived in sin, and proved it with the Bathsheba incident.

If you are Atheist...
-then you must believe that we are neutral. The logic being that if there is no God, then there is no absolute truth and no morality. Know one can say I am evil or good because there is no basis for that judgment.

Answer 9

There is not Evil or Good
There is only Fear & Love.
That which is based on fear is self preservation, aslo seen as greed, but based on fear.
That which is good is from the energy of God/creation, based on what we know of as love.
Evil exists as a teacher.
Our resposnsibility is to learn the lesson.
That is what Jesus came here to teach us.
He came to over-rule the rules (first testiment, based on fear)
He taught Love.
He had no fear therefore no evil.
Are we inherently evil? We are animals who lack clarity, and therefore lack love.
We live in fear/ self preservation (most of us, there are a rare few who are enlightened) and in that fear, create evil.
so, in a word, yes, we are inherently evil, but with spiritual gudance, it can be overcome.

Answer 10

Humans evolved territoriality tendencies that would encourage them to fight if not murder other humans/apes whether they were trying to maintain their power. Emotions evolved to produce these strong reactions and therefore help keep that person alive. Humans also evolved benevolent characteristics that helped the entire group. Chimpanzee's, who can't swim, have been recorded jumping in a river to save a companion. I hope that maybe the scientific side of the argument can go into consideration when you write your paper. Please take what I have to say with grain of salt, but their is some truth to it.