Are People Naturally Evil Or Good Research Paper

It is a very arguable subject on whether or not people are born with good intentions, and therefore taught by others the ‘evil’ side of their personality. Whether it is the absence of ethical conduct in human nature, or just the way one perceives a situation, evil seems to be prominent in our everyday lives. Humans seem to have a moral code that follows them with every decision they make, yet despite the laws of morality and society, people of this world still seem to behave inhumanely because of the act of self-preservation, human interest, and who exactly the authority figure is at the time.

Human nature is a topic some people are torn about. Are humans born good or bad? Or are there more factors that need to be involved with that conclusion? William Gay's opinion on human nature is that all humans are born bad, that deep inside there is evil. Some people may agree or disagree with Gay's opinion. In psychologist Samantha Smithstein's article, "Are We Born Good (or Evil)?", Smithstein states, "We are

I believe that human beings are basically good. When they are first born and grow up as babies and toddlers, humans are innocent. However, with the effects of outside experiences and social expectations, human beings can be prone to evil. Humans want to be recognized within society and this can be seen in the movie, “The Talented Mr. Ripley”. Due to the social environment that Tom Ripley lives in, he feels the need to fit in and be wealthy like the people around him. This causes him to seek for ways, whether the action is moral or immoral, to attain a higher social status.

In reality all humans are not inherently good or bad; doing something bad does not make you a bad person and vice

Many people have their own views on humanity. They can either be that humans are essentially good but can become corrupt or that people are just essentially evil. They have their own opinions, some people can tell their perspective on humans in other fashions. If people are essentially good, they how do they become corrupt? Or if are truly evil, then why do some people seem like they are kind people and they can never do such things? To take both of these into account, a person may saw that people are good but deep down have evil within them. People may ask how does the evil within a person come out, the answer to that is that it is thanks to their environment. The environment around a person can undoubtedly draw out the evil within them

Good and bad, two opposite terms that are used by people. ‘Good’ is known as morally excellent and ‘bad’ is known as being wicked or having an evil character. The ideas of good and bad are thought to be connected to human nature. Human nature is the characteristics, feelings, and behaviours of humankind that is shared by all humans. Because good and bad are two opposite terms and it is in human nature this has led to attempts to explain how both good and bad behaviours affect peoples’ daily life. The debate of on explanations of human’s good and bad behaviour still is ongoing nowadays. Two Chinese philosophers, Mencius (2016) and Hsun Tzu (1963) have relevant approaches to analysing this behaviour. Hsun Tzu focused on human

Then, what is the basic nature of human beings? Although people do great things and are good people according to their society, the basic nature of human beings is to be bad and every individual has a little evil within them.

There has always been a sense in people's hearts for what is right and what is wrong. The sense that tells you to turn that lost wallet or purse into the lost and found. The sense that makes you feel good when you open the door for a stranger, and the sense that helps you make good choices when faced with tough decisions. While this is how most of our minds work, there have always been bad people in this world. They think completely different. Some think its okay to keep a man's watch he forgets in the train station bathroom, while trying to hurry to catch his next ride. Others think its okay to rob a bank. These people had their goodness corrupted by situations they were put in throughout life, turning them into bad people. Everyone is built

No one is born good or evil; it is one's environment and the people they encounter in life which makes them good or evil. A lot of time it is not the individual's fault of the way they are, they might have seen so many bad doings that, they are use to it and might think that it is right. One is not born with a vision of knowing what is wrong and what is right in life, but learns when something happens to

The age old question, is human nature intrinsically good or evil? Throughout centuries, philosophers have theorized about this exact question. The book, Thirteen Theories of Human Nature, discusses several philosophers and their ideas about the essence of human nature. Four renowned philosophers, Hsun-tzu, Hobbes, Mencius, and Rousseau each propose a theory concerning whether human nature is innately good or evil. While Hsun-tzu and Hobbes believe human nature to be intrinsically evil, Mencius and Rousseau believe human nature to be intrinsically good.

Whether human beings are instinctually good or evil in an elementary natural state is a question that has been boggling the minds of even the greatest philosophers. There is a spectrum of theories that support both good and evil within the human race, each with valid points that explains the range of our interests, being either for ourselves or for others. However, my personal stance is the sensible theory of Altruism. Past experiences and observations allow me to take the stance, and support the argument that humans are caring and genuinely good individuals and have the will and desire to help those around them.

Hsun Tzu wrote an essay called “A Man’s Nature is Evil.” The idea behind this essay is to show that a man’s nature is evil, and that goodness is the result of conscious activity (Tzu, 2017, p. 709). This idea depicts that human beings are evil from the beginning of their lives. One must be taught “the ways of the sages”, as Tzu would describe. In his essay, Tzu compared human beings to that of a warped piece of wood. Tzu states that “a warped piece of wood must wait until it has been laid against a straightening board, steamed, and forced into shape before it can become straight” (Tzu, 2017, p. 710). I do agree that we must be taught how to be good when we are born. But, I do not agree that a man’s nature is “evil.” Instead, I believe that a person’s nature is to think for the benefit of

The concept of good and evil is a popular dichotomy found in many fields such as religion, philosophy, and psychology. Philosophers continue to ask the question whether human beings are innately good or evil and often state that human nature is much greater in complexity on the scale of human behaviour. It is important to define what good and evil is, understanding the complexity of human behaviour and applying personal experiences relating to the topic. As to question whether humans are innately good or evil can be a misleading concept which can lead to conflicts.

Being good or doing good things leads to many things, but in order to give a clearer definition, one must understand what it is that these good actions created. Once one understands this, then the individual can clearly see the logic behind what some would consider an evil action. Over time, humankind has strived to become what they believed to be holy pure or good. This attempt at being what is virtuous has given birth to a set code of conduct or thoughts that are now commonly seen as the right thing. This code of conduct was based upon morals, which are any given individuals thoughts and believes on what is acceptable as good and evil. Due to the fact that mankind also strives to be accepted by there peers, a common set of morals was established and agreed upon by any specific generation of people to be the good thing. Understanding and knowing these the morals of these given times in history will be necessary to understanding how to define evil.

Human Nature is defined by Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary as "the fundamental dispositions and traits of humans." Throughout the world, however, there are many different groups of people, all with varying personalities and characteristics. One recent article that brought up this issue was What's Really Human? The trouble with student guinea pigs. by Sharon Begley. Begley states that "given the difference in culture between the U.S. and East Asia, no one claims the American way is universal." This suggests that one's environment, not one's nature, shapes one's characteristics and features. This separation of cultures also leads to a different view of good and evil throughout the world; murder is generally bad and charity good, but not everyone may care about murder or think charity necessary. The only way to find human nature may be to look at the time before the first cultures developed. Thomas Hobbes referred to this time as the state of nature, where every man competes for resources, driven on by greed. This greed is considered to be a bad trait by today's society, making human nature apparently evil. I believe that humans are evil in nature and need parameters to be good because of the writings of twentieth century authors, Chinese philosophers between the Qin and Han dynasties, and pre-Enlightenment philosophers.