is mankind inherently evil? or merely ignorant?

Question

I mean with all the horrible things in the world happening to essentially our own race i.e. Human (in most cases ;-) ) how do we justify all the bad things that happen, if we’re good why do we allow them to happen, and in the rare (ulterior motive or not) intervene does it more often than not end up with disastrous results?

Answer 1

Both good and evil equally, at all times.

Why? Man is by nature a duality. Everything man does is a duality and even his physical form is duality personified (thus almost equal halves joined together and a need to find a partner externally).

So, there is no such thing as a bad person or a good person.

There are only good-bad persons.

Answer 2

Most of the "horrible" things in the world have been done with the intent of doing something good. And the "good" things also.

There are several phenomenon that could be an explenation to not taking action in the wake of what one perceives as wrong or "evil." The "bystander effect" being one of the most interesting, well documented, and researched of the reasons.

Often intervening does result in disasterous effects, sometimes it doesn't. There's no way to quantify which weighs most. Additionally the smallest act, whatever, the motive has such far reaching unpredictable changes in the course of events in the future no one can see far enough or measure to see if the ultimacey of the act was cumulitively good or bad.

The only ignorance is not being able to see that far. In a sence the very perception of right and wrong is ignorance. It is a lie of the mind. There is no good or bad outside of the mind.
Perceptual error.

As Shakespear once said. "For there is nothing good or bad but thinking makes it so."

Answer 3

Part of it is ignorance, part of it is egoism. Of course, it can be changed. Why we aren't doing it, I don't know. I guess it's always the question of "where do I start?". You cannot change other people because it's just your opinion what's good for them and what's not. Everyone should start form themselves. That's the answer. It's like, if you want the street to be clean, sweep your yard first. Then you can help your neighbour (but only help). And if we start changing the humanity without firs changing ourselves, everything is going to be even worse. That was the problem of Hussein, that is the problem of Bush, that is the problem of everyone.

And another thing is that there has to be a balance between good and bad. If there was no bad, we wouldn't know what good is. We would be like robots in a way.

Answer 4

Mankind is neither. Mankind is basically lazy. For example, the Christmas season brings out the "good" in people. This is when volunteer groups receive the most donations. Knowing this, advertisement hits the public hard with sad stories to encourage the public to give. Why do the same people not give during the year? I believe people are lazy and procrastinate doing good. They know the Food Bank requires donations all year long. Yet, they do not make the effort to donate. Does this make them a bad person? People are passive. This is why Jesus refers to "keeping my commandments." Love is not a passive word, but an active word. There are people who believe, but take no action. Are they bad people? No, they are lazy. Don't misunderstand me. Lazy is not a good thing, but it does not translate to a person being evil. Evil is also an active word. We can sin by being lazy. But, sinning does not make a person an evil person. An evil person is a sinner who does not repent and desires to continue to sin and encourage others to sin. Definition of repentance: First, a person must realize his mistakes. Second, he/she must make restitution to the person(s) they have sinned against. Third, they must seek forgiveness. And, forth, and this is very important, he/she must turn away from that sin. A person can not fully repent if they continue in that sin.

Answer 5

People by themselves are not, what you call inherently evil, just not enlighten enough to realize that we are all related to each other. It is only when the individual starts to lead people that the temptation for evil becomes a reality.
Most truly bad things come when a group forces their own belief on others that the balance of goodness is tipped over. Ignorance is a cause but self egomania is the result.
Spartawo...

Answer 6

Selfcentered.
There are a lot of people in the world working to do some good and change the world. It just takes a lot more people.
Did you ever hear about the two people walking along the beach where there were thousands of clams washed up on the shore. One of the people was picking them up and throwing them back in the water so they wouldn't die. The other person asked why he was throwing them back, there are so many you won't make a difference. Then as he threw another one into the water he said, makes a difference to that one.

Answer 7

Man kind has choice we can be evil or we can be kind unfortunately there are always those out to con the kind ones causing a stir up of society. When mankind first started out chances are all the kinder more gentle humans were killed by the more violent ones just like how the grey squirrels kill all the red squirrels.

Answer 8

The purpose of man, as I see it, is to seek knowledge.The more knowledge you acquire the less you are likely to act in an ignorant manner.In our country,USA, at the moment we have serious problems to address. Health care, racism,
economic needs going unmet, the war in Iraq, jobs for all, and yet some of the candidates for President of the USA create fear of illegal immigration because a lot of people are homophobic and may just vote for them for that reason.. We support China, a country that is truly evil in its behaviour and we keep buying and borrowing from them. On the other hand, a smaller weaker dictatorship like Cuba is attacked by sanctions and propaganda daily. Can someone in our community explain whats happening here? Thanks.

Answer 9

Good and evil are just abstract concepts created by humans. I don't think the human race or any other species could ever be said to be 'good' or 'evil' in any absolute way...

Answer 10

Yes it is bad, but that is because we do it to ourselves. We're still learning and developing as a species, sometimes it is greed others it is ignorance. Sometimes we just have to flow with it and as with all things the worries of today will be different than tomorrow's.