Are humans naturally good or evil??

Answer 1

Neither. Good and evil are human concepts, value judgements that only humans can make. When someone (say Osama Bin Ladan) dies, it's good for the West...he was a mass murderer and we had to kill him to stop him. But to his followers, the evil USA murdered him. Get the idea. Good and evil are just value judgements of which humans are uniquely capable.

Answer 2

To say that humans are either good or evil would first suppose that the predisposition was determined by something in control ie God. So assuming God does exist, we would have to assume if humans are one or the other then God would have to be the same or at least contain the capacity.

Most simply it could be said that humans are neither good nor evil but carry the potential for both. And like any tendencies we can lean more heavily to one or the other as a result of our surroundings, experiences, and circumstances. Any resulting extremes can be considered anomalous and not an indication of trend.

Of course this is all very interpretive subject matter and has been debated endlessly for thousands of years and it will continue to be until the end of our time. So no answer is right here, just what you believe in your heart.

Answer 3

I think it depends on what you define as humans. We have developed a conterproductive world in many ways. When we get around our programming and reconnect the left and right hemipheres of the brain through intuition we seem to be good by nature. We are going against nature. You can define evil as living backwards, doing what is not effective for anyone in the long run. We have a sense of what to do naturaly, but we ignore it. It's called common sense or intuition. It leads you step by step to what to do in every given situation. Situations vary so truth is relative in that sense. Many have not quite grown enough to be called much more than children, and they don't know any better. Emotional Intelligence clarifies the situation for me. Our feelings guide all our attempts at reasoning and feelings have to be understood or they will continue to lead us no matter where or what we think we are doing. We have to regain control, by looking up Emotional Intelligence for an excellent start, It has thirty years of research behind it and is being used in everything from large corporations to sports and the family.

Answer 4

That depends on your definition. Humans are naturally self-involved. By nature, there is a need for safety and security. The Good and Evil part come in how you decided to fill that need. That comes from education and experience.

Answer 5

In my mind, not much in life is black-and-white.

Human beings are instinctively concerned with self-preservation and are programmed to value their own lives and the lives of their own offspring above the lives of others. This isn't necessarily "evil", it is just survival instint. (This is why communism doesn't work. People aren't willing to work hard just for the good of society, they need personal incentive.)

Serial killers all have serious mental health issues. Are they "evil" or is their brain chemistry just out of balance? Hard to say.

On top of all of that, external influences can turn a potential doctor into a rapist or mass-murderer.

I'm not trying to suggest that noone is responsible for their own actions. I believe that everyone has the ability to excersize self-control. I am only suggesting that it is harder for some to excersize self-control than others, and it probably isn't out of "evil".

The terms "good" and "evil" mean different things to different people.

Answer 6

Well, some of this question centres on what you consider good or evil - is it evil to steal bread to feed your family? Is it good to arrest the bread thief, thus depriving his family of food? Or is good and evil more of a moral choice?
If that is the case, I believe that a lot of what and who we are is based on nurture/lack thereof AND most especially Life Chances. What we get, how we come by it, and the value we attach to it all go towards forming our character - and how we will react in future is often based on these experiences.

Hope this helps!
Shane

Answer 7

"In each of us there are two natures. If this primitive duality of man: good and evil, could be housed in separate identities, life would be relieved of all that is unbearable. It is the curse of mankind that these polar twins should be constantly struggling."
Yeah hipe that helps.
It's form Jekyll and Hyde by Louis Stevenson.
That's a very good book it helps you understand more about this topic.

Answer 8

excellent question. Morality is about service to others first and yourself second. This is in the trust that Morality, when observed by a society, will protect everybody, including the self.
Does one steal bread to feed his child? No. He trusts society to understand his needs and will be helpful in finding a moral answer to feed his family.
By working in concert with others rather than independently, WE find new answers together.
The history of man suggests that evil lies in every man, but good is the pursuit of those whom value it. Our nature is thus evil, but good is still attainable.

Answer 9

No, but we are imprinted and socialized to "believe" this to be true - as a few of the above answers demonstrate.

It is this 'belief' in duality internally and externally that is the cause of the war between one's authentic Self and the learned defensive egoic thought system and the chaos in our lives. "Thoughts are things!" Reality mirrors the contents of consciousness and beliefs in duality/opposites - even though they only exist as universalized/eternalized early experiences we had with dysfunctional egos.

If the ego is observed, transcended and discarded, reality synchronizes with the authentic nature. This unity state can only occur with the dumping of dualistic ideas.

Answer 10

I would have to say neither.People are born into the world innocent of all ideas of good and evil, charity and greed, etc.
We learn about good and evil as we grow.We learn about the benefits and penalties of both sides. We decide for ourselves, in most cases, what is right and wrong,to the benefit or determent(sp) of ourselves or humankind .