Are humans inherently good or evil? What is your opinion?

Question

It is not necessary to read the following in order to answer; I’m just giving some of my thoughts.

I think it takes a lot more effort to build and create than it does to destroy. Since humans have built bridges and buildings and created music and art, this tells me that humans are inherently good.

Here’s a quote that I admire.

“But we are born of risen apes, not fallen angels, and the apes were armed killers besides. And so what shall we wonder at? Our murders and massacres and missiles, and our irreconcilable regiments? Or our treaties whatever the may be worth; our symphonies however seldom they may be played; our peaceful acres, however frequently they may be converted into battlefields; our dreams however rarely they may be accomplished? The miracle of man is not how far he has sunk but how magnificently he has risen. We are known among the stars by our poems, not our corpses.”
- Robert Ardrey

Answer 1

Neither, humans are just humans.

Good/Evil are not absolutes. Any action can be deem both good and evil depending on each viewers perspective. (ie. You might see teaching a person to fish as a good deed, while I as a fisherman or fish seller will see it as evil since you are a) creating competition for me [the fisherman] and b) depriving me of a customer [the fish seller].

By your logic people are evil since to create anything the need to destroy something else that exists in nature, to build a house you have to cut sown trees for lumber, dig up land to find metal for the nails and wires, burn something to create the fire to fuel the process to work the metal.

Answer 2

But are not most of our tools of destruction supremely clever creations of man. I mean the Gatling gun, the armored tank, or the nuclear bomb may not be a 'Mona Lisa', but make no mistake they are equally as much the outworking of man's genius and desire.



Surely these things did not just spring into being from chaos. Great work and spirit were spent on their creation.



I have been in war....it is an awful creation indeed. It does not just happen. War has not only has been created by man but it has been honed and perfected over the centuries like a hulk of steel forged into a sword of sharp perfection.



We stand in a world where man has readied thousands of thermonuclear weapons to obliterate the entire globe.



If it is the love that swells within us that prevents that obliteration, then why have we tirelessly readied the weapons at great expense of time and money in the first place? Wouldn't we have been wiser to enrich ourselves with some pleasant sonnets or knit work? Instead of busily creating that which can kill us all.



I say that it is not the good in us that prevents our demise, it is only the mere pleasure of God that allows us to draw our next breath.



Hope that helps.

Answer 3

All evil has its roots in irrational thinking. We are born with the same insticts and the same impulses as all other animals. The baby has the potential of learning to reason logically, but logical reasoning is not automatic. What we learn in our infancy, the abstractions we make through life may be rational or irrational. Our job is to put order in our minds. Throw away what was learned that was irrational and correct all our illogical errors. The cultivation of rationality is the highest moral human activity because all irrational ideas lead to irrational actions. Extreme irrationality means extreme evil and destruction. Extreme rationality means peace, intelligenece, creativity, productivity, love and happiness. No other human virtue is as high as rationality, since no other human virtue is possible without it.

Answer 4

Humans are inherently good and evil.

As much energy as it takes to create, it takes to destroy. That energy to destroy may not easily be seen, for many of us it is deep inside and may not ever be shown to others. But for people like Hitler, he had such evil energy that he became engulfed in it and took the lives of millions. There have been many like him, before his time even. Maybe not killing quite as many as he did, but killing is bad no matter the number, no?



Also, look at it this way. This world was created within a perfect balance. We have taken that balance and thrown in out that window from the beginning. If we were so good, would we have done that?

Answer 5

We are inherently amoral. Our environment shapes us into "good" or "evil" people. Here's an example: take baby Hitler and isolate him from any contact with the outside world; and lock the him up in a seclusive bubble with all the necessities of life. Let him grow up to adulthood and then release him into the world. Will the most evil man ever born be evil after growing up in total seclusion? Not even possible. He would not even be able to speak. Adolf Hitler would be a totally blank person--neither evil nor good. The lesson? No one is born evil. Rather, it is their interactions with other humans that causes them to become malevolent. In reality, evil is merely the the product of imperfect social structures.

Answer 6

Gn 6:5 still rings true: All of our thoughts all day long are evil.



Take the internet for example?



"Tourism" in Asia?



Sex slaves in the U.S.?



Half of businesses have an ongoing fraud?



Corruption in government?



Bad church officials?



Congress?

Answer 7

We are the results of living on this earth. We are not good or evil, we are human. We are not evil, we simply strive to exist, and sometimes we do bad things to this end. Though overall, we do a lot of good things for ourselves and each other as well.

Answer 8

I think most people are inherently good. I don't believe in absolute evil and I think even people who do terrible things have some good in them. I also think that the overwhelming majority of people prefer to be good and will strive to be helpful and kind rather than seek to tear others down or be destructive in general. It's been my experience that mankind in general is good rather than bad.

Answer 9

Mostly, humans are inherently human.



Two of the "things that this makes them especially good at, are 1: "Grabbing the sh*tty end of the stick".



2: Being bloody self righteous when some one else "Grabs the sh*tty end of the stick".

Answer 10

Humans are inherently afraid of falling, and of sudden loud noises. Everything else is a result of upbringing.

Answer 11

They're neither....theyre just people. People are People, nothing says they have to be one way or the other. and evil is only in the eye of the beholder. Is it evil to kill an animal if its to eat food to survive? vegans would say yes, other people would say thats just human nature.

Answer 12

So when Hitler built gas chambers... that was good... because he was creating and building??



That can't be your only metric for good and evil.



I believe humans were created good and became inherently flawwed, universally preferring to do evil.

Answer 13

Humans are inherently selfish. Good and bad is decided by society. Evil is a meaningless word.

Answer 14

I'd say neither.



Good and evil are very relative terms.



It was good when the pilgrims came and genocide the "savages", right?

Answer 15

There is no such thing as good and evil. Those are concepts, and concepts are nothing but a arbitrary definitions.

Answer 16

This is not my though. This is from the Bible: "There is none good...."

So, the answer to your question, from the Bible, is: no person is good.



And, remember that every thing man has built, man has also destroyed. Which tells me, there is a lot of evil in man.



As for your quote: You can claim an ape for one or more of your ancestors if you wish, but I know that all my ancestors were human.



I hope this helps you.



Go in peace.



Jesus loves you!!



Uncle Floyd

Answer 17

Neither. Humans have positive natural impulses and negative ones. Which predominate is largely a matter of culture, education, environment and individual differences of temperment.

Answer 18

I believe everyone is born with the ability to do good or evil. Humanity has free will. Tabula rasa, you know?

Answer 19

I believe man is inherently good, but has the capacity (and in some instances great capacity) to do evil.

Answer 20

I think they're inherently good, and I have a major problem with any religion that teaches children that they are inherently evil and can't possibly be good on their own.

Answer 21

Sounds like it was from the Planet of the Apes movies.

Answer 22

We are neither good or evil the definition of good and evil is variable

Answer 23

The fruits of your life are determined by the roots of your life...apple doesn't fall far from the tree!

Answer 24

Humans were created with free will, meaning we can choose whether we want to be "good" or "bad". For more information on what the Bible says about free will, see this article:



http://www.watchtower.org/e/dg/article_05.htm

Answer 25

Jer 17:9 The heart [is] deceitful above all [things], and desperately wicked: who can know it?

Answer 26

if a person was found in the wild, with no previous contact with humans, than that person would have no morals since no one taught him "good". i don't think he would be evil though. he would just go with his natural instincts.

Answer 27

They are both, but some people like to be evil and some like to be kind.

Answer 28

Humans are inherently one to immediately label things "good" and "evil."

Answer 29

Yes I believe people are basically good. They just do bad things sometimes.

Answer 30

A person (individual) is good. People (society) are evil. IMO

Answer 31

I don't know. Do you think animals are inherently good or evil? There is your answer.

Answer 32

"Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."

- William Shakespeare

Answer 33

id say its 50/50

Answer 34

The Bible says we advance from bad to worse.

Answer 35

What is good and what is evil? Is there an universal morality now?

Answer 36

Good

Answer 37

Innocent, therefore good. We learn to be selfish.

Answer 38

YOU are your own liquor control board.

Answer 39

Evil............