Man is inherently good or evil?

Post Reply New Topic

I tend to go with the "tabula rasa" idea. I can't look around and say that people are inherently good (at least not NTs) but I don't think people are born evil either. Environment has a lot to do with it.

I have.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

This is not answered easily for, I feel that there are many variables that can have a possible outcome on whether we are good or bad in that, no one person is so called,"born bad".Yes, there are a great many persons whom have committed a great many attrocities some, that have no words due to their abominous nature yet, on the same hand there are people out there whom conduct themselves in an honorable manner.. Truthfully, I'm not really sure how to define whether mankind is permanently good or permanently evil rather, undetermined..

We can be either or both.

ruveyn

Eviligence topic

One book I am reading right now is The Science of Evil, by Simon Baron-Cohen, who is also an Autism researcher. He equates evil with intentionally cruel actions, deliberate harm perpetrated by a conscious chooser, who may or may not deny committing the action, but who may rationalize the chosen behaviour as a right. This conscious chooser may or may not also commit good and decent acts. This conscious chooser may not see the deliberate harm committed as harmful/evil, and/or not reflect upon it once the behaviour has been completed. Simply put, the perpetrator may not care two whits about what has been done.

There are those in the world who commit more deliberate harm than good/functional/beneficial actions, and vice versa, as on a continuum.

As a side note, Simon Baron Cohen is also a cousin of comic actor, writer, and director extraordinaire Sasha Baron Cohen.
Yes, for real.

-Bill, otherwise known as Kraichgauer

Good and evil are a point of view. Humans, as a whole, I think display tendencies to be selfish, greedy, and lazy, but you can't just lump them into neat little good or evil categories.

Humans are inherently human, with all the good and evil that implies. There is no one word answer such a question.

And at times some humans have been noble and brave.

ruveyn

To quote Voldemort: "There is no good and evil. There is only power." Although the man was supposed to be the embodiment of evil, I do believe this to be the case. As far as science go, good and evil are mere concepts of an unnaturally intelligent species (us).

Species are created to fit their environment. If one species is generally calm and gentle, and another is hot-tempered or cruel, it is because these behaviors suit their environment.