Is there any such thing as human nature and is it good or evil?

Answer 1

it is good and evil at the end of the day we are animals

Answer 2

Good and Evil are human inventions... they are subjective concepts based on cultural norms...
When my cat attacks my leg because she is over excited or agitated, then she is not being nasty, she is just acting on her instincts and she doesn't know the difference between nice behaviour and naughty behaviour, so i can not say that she is a bad cat.
We place the label of 'Evil' on acts that we (as a culture) don't like, but if we, as a culture, consider something to be beneficial, then we label it as 'good'.
Examples: some historic cultures used to sacrifice children to the gods and this was considered good, not evil; England and America used to practise slavery and this was considered culturally normal and not evil (althought not by everyone), today most people consider it an evil practise for good reason; I consider George Bush to be evil, but many people consider him to be their saviour against the evil of Bin Laden and his followers; Bin Laden and his followers believe that they are righteous and doing God's work.
So Good and Evil are all subjective, and can only be defined by the person giving the label. They are not absolute terms.
I agree that there are some behaviours and acts that almost everyone would term as evil, such as serial child killers or child abusers... but again, this is a decision that is reached by a consensus of the majority of the population, it is not an absolute term, it is a consensus.

Answer 3

Yes of course there is such a thing as human nature. It is mostly good if you are a good person and evil if you tend to be an evil person.

Answer 4

6 of one and half a dozen of the other! The eternal struggle between good and evil. Although some people it seems are pure evil and don't appear to have an oz of good in them (they end up in the news..... and Hell). It also appears that intelligence is relative to whether you are good or evil. People that enjoy beating and bulling people for enjoyment can be said to be evil, which i would assume would also be classed not very intelligent. People who are truly enlightened and know through experience and study would be classed as good and it follows are reasonably intelligent. Of course there are exception to "the rule"(ha), but we are not robots! in my opinion we are all pre-determined to fail (intelligent design).

Answer 5

human nature is what we are born with, it is the primal animal instincts that have helped us survive in the past. were or not our instinct will continue to help us survive in the changing future, only time will tell.

Good and Evil is a human concept, that only we can develop, and pursue. we are given the capacity of choice, do something positive and be good, or do nothing and let evil triumph.

Answer 6

- i think human nature could be described as wanting to satisfy our biological desires. Most people have good intentions but a few of the less ethical overly enjoy achieving those goals with evil methods.

-- We want to feel good.
-- We want to feel needed
-- We want to procreate.
-- We want to live.

By nature those are our animal instincts and our socialization. It is the methods we use to achieve those goals that is good or evil.

I could easily view all humanity as evil as the vast vast majority is very thoughtless how they achieve their goals.

I could likewise view all humanity as good as they embrace their humanity and do what they can to fulfill their part i it.

So in answer... Yes. And it depends on how I am feeling that day.

Answer 7

This is classic Cartesian dualism. Try to see through the apparent duality, it is the illusion that Plato´s cave dwellers are under and the cause of much misery and suffering in the world. There exists neither good nor evil, just one thing. One thing called nature.

Answer 8

yes, and both. we are a social animal like most of the ape species and we tend to think about things and work things out so i suppose that is our nature, but we are not good or evil they are actions not a person and a person who does a action is more than that action for instance if a charity worker killed someone does that make him good or evil or a soldier saved a childes life but killed the child's family is that soldier good or evil, no one is good or evil they are both.

Answer 9

There are many things that define us a humans which are both bad and good.

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Answer 10

Well, it is in our nature to be good and evil. That's why it's called human nature; it's both.

Answer 11

Human nature is the same as animal nature.
Only ours is being curbed by civilisation.
There is a balance in the nature.