Are Humans Naturally Evil?

You have to look at many different scenarios. When in the presense of others, people will be more inclined to act based on what they feel the other person would be comfortable or "cool" with. When one is alone in a situation where there are no repercussions and he is the only one that will know of his wrongdoing, that is when his choice would be the most conclusive as to whether or not he is naturally evil.

 

I think anything living is somewhat naturally evil. We have to learn the rules of society, without them we would do whatever the hell we wanted.

It also depends how you look at the sense of evil. Something evil to you, may not necessarily be evil to me.

 

I feel that there's no actual answer to this, as there is no "natural" definition of "Evil".

 

People aren't answering the question. He is not asking what your definition of evil is, he is asking whether humans are born evil. Poking holes in the question because of his definition of evil (the opposite of good) is shallow and not what anybody's looking for. Evil is a pretty common term.

Some people are stating that babies are born ignorant, that seems to have a negative connotation. Babies are simply born, they are blank slates, and are defined by their experiences at an early age.

 

^ like I said, empiricism.

I like one of the posts above, seemingly, evil is based on perception.

 

Ignorance is lack of knowledge, so babies are ignorant at birth.

 

There is so such thing as "evil". Evil/Good are terms made up based on common conceptions of morality.

 

What? You wouldn't call killing someone and evil act?

I think some people are evil because of how they were raised. That is an interesting point about babies though. When babies are born they have no clue how to act and act on their instincts. So when a baby gets upset and throws stuff its fine because they don't know any better. Would that act be considered evil? Also kids don't grow up to be good by themselves. They usually do bad things and need to be corrected for them. So their intentions are selfish and bad and will continue until corrected. They don't know any better is the excuse for kids when they grow up. If they don't know any better, then what they act on is their instinct, once again which is bad or evil.

 

I've been debating this in my philosophy class for a while...

Some major standpoints is

For something to be born "evil" it must have something pre existing, a soul?
Do you believe humans have a soul, if so where does it come from... and where does it go when it dies?
Heaven;? If so then that means that you're saying an unproven belief may or may not actually lead to the concept of evil

Also, If evil is pre existing, what about other characterstics like the concept of justice? Where does it come from is it pre existing as well?

It's a very long argument that varies on your beliefs, definition and background

 

Yes, I would. But once again, that's my moral standpoint, not a universal one.

 

Okay. I just didn't understand what you meant by there is not good or evil. Could you explain?

 

I think so, it's just how we're raised to be properly told to respect orders.
cuz if i raised myself from birth im sure i'd do anything to survive type of thing.

 

There is no such thing as "good" or "evil".

 

What you might consider evil, others might not. Same goes for good. One can argue that giving money to charity isn't "good" in the sense that people only do it for the sole purpose of feeling "charitable" or getting the feeling of "doing a good deed". Of course this isn't the case with everyone but I just put it in a different perspective for you to understand.

 

Any person with the ability to take whatever they want will do so. That is what the entirety of human society is built upon. The main restraint of relentless violence is other people wanting that same thing and overpowering the individual in order to have a chance at it themselves. Eventually this cycle ends in things like culture, which is the same thing, only quieter.

 

for me evil is just a word created by religion to limit ourselves of the capabilities of man..

but generally speaking.. man is not naturally evil. it merely acts out of human drive and instincts. its what other people that sees in the action that it is labeled evil

 

For my final paper in English I discussed Stephen King's "Why we crave horror movies" and Mark Twain's "The damned human race" they both have a lot to do with the OP.

I will send anyone the essay if you'd like to read it. My professor told me it was very well written.

 

Hmm.... The human race has caused the following:

Vets Charge Money To Save A Pets Life

We Kill Tree's

We Force Animals Out Of There Habitat

Pounds kill dogs because nobody adopts them

People Kill People For Money

Money has became more important then people

The poor are dying and the rich 1% get all the cash still...

Yes it is Evil. We are the worst race known to man the only way to achieve true peace is to destroy the human race.

 

In time we will become extinct.

 

man is born evil and a sinner. l2thebible :}