Are people inherently good, or inherently evil?

[Prophet Saddam]

I'm inherently good, everyone else is evil.

[Parallax]

can you define "good" and "evil"? if the two are opposite ends of a spectrum, where would the line separating the two lie?



personally i think that nothing is "inherently good" or "inherently evil". "good" and "evil" are just words made up by people. there is no such thing as good and evil beyond human societies, and even then, whats good for one society is considered evil by another, and vice versa.

[Praise Jah]

nothing is anything except in comparision to something else.

[Waves]

Originally Posted by Parallax

can you define "good" and "evil"? if the two are opposite ends of a spectrum, where would the line separating the two lie?



personally i think that nothing is "inherently good" or "inherently evil". "good" and "evil" are just words made up by people. there is no such thing as good and evil beyond human societies, and even then, whats good for one society is considered evil by another, and vice versa.

i agree

people are inherently curious creatures willing to make decisions and those decisions can be good or bad depending on who your talking to.

[Ziggy Fry]

Originally Posted by Praise Jah

nothing is anything except in comparison to something else.

Quoted for the truth.

Sin.Ziggy.

[tedkennedy]

people are inherently interested in self preservation and passing down their seed. thats all folks.

[The Rev]

While people being evil or good is arguable, that they are inherently stupid is a cold hard axiomatic fact. So, the real question should be: Is stupidity inherently evil? I would say it's responsible for most of the evil shit that happens, even if often indirectly.



The Rev

[toilet paper]

" Looked at from a relative standpoint, this world of appearance is a bleak place, and as such it often drives us to despair. The seers, with their larger knowledge, tell us otherwise. Once we become conscious, even dimly, of the Atman, the Reality within us, the world takes on a very different aspect. It is no longer a court of justice, but a kind of gymnasium. Good and evil, pain and pleasure, still exist, but they seem more like the ropes and vaulting-horses and parallel bars which can be used to make our bodies strong. Maya is no longer an endlessly revolving wheel of pain and pleasure, but a ladder which can be climbed to consciousness of the Reality. From this standpoint, fortune and misfortune are both "mercies"-that is to say, opportunities. Every experience offers us the chance of making a constructive reaction to it-a reaction which helps to break some chain of our bondage to Maya and bring us that much nearer to spiritual freedom. "

William Golding

[Terry]

Evil with occasional bouts of sincere goodness.

[snapshot]

While I agree with some that nothing is inherently good or evil--for it would mean that the Universe itself placed these labels upon certain actions, violating Hume's is-ought dichotomy--but I do believe that people inherently want to please others and want to limit harm to others, at the very least, to those around them

Virtually every human conceives of himself/herself as "good," no matter how they define it or if it contradicts someone else's definition of good. People would sooner adopt a belief system which defines their actions as good rather than confronting any moral evil they've committed. For instance, instead of defining one's self as evil in the eyes of one's parents' religion, one would sooner drop that religion than bathe in the darkness of moral decay, maintaining that world view.

The majority of the world (84% the last time I checked) is religious. Whether they believe that it is one's duty to be good for the sake of being good, whether they believe that obedience to a higher power is the greatest good, or whether they just like the feeling of being good, the majority of people join religion for moral reasons. Even the atheists and agnostics who oppose religion do so with moral arguments.

The fact that people do stupid, crazy, and evil things is not a result of people not wanting to be good.

[FineazPR]

I think I am accidentally evil, and everybody else is not so good...

[Charley Phogg]

From my standpoint, I would say that a lot of what people WANT to do (i.e. their "inherant" nature), secret desires and such, is derived from what society says we shouldn't do, but we all know kicks ass. So, I would say that people are in one way inherantly evil, but without society's constraints our actions would be perceived as good. The pursuit of happiness seems to be an act of goodness, as long as it doesn't hurt others. So, it could be both.

Got it? Here, smoke this and you'll get it:

[farmergiles]

Evil=stupid

[turmaline]

I believe some people are just evil.

Born without a conscience.

[adruffd]

aah we actually talked about this question in my philosophy class. Luckily my Religion (Roman Catholic) has an anwser. Let me share...

When we were created, life was perfect. Man lived in paradice and was inherantly good. Then he was overcame by original sin and ate from the tree of knowledge (for thoes ignorant haters out there, there was never an actual "tree", it is symbolic. But that is becide the point) and in doing so we "had the knowledge of God". This first sin, the betrayl of God, was the first strike of evil in the world. Man was then banished from paradice but now had the knowledge to choose to do evil or good.

Man, in its original nature is inherantly good. However we have the choice to do evil as well. These days it seems that we are "influenced" to do evil so it can appear that man indeed is evil. But I hope one day you all will have an encounter that will show the goodness of man in the face of Jesus Christ!

[FineazPR]

Religion - schmeligion!, bible - shmible!! there's a book I would not live my life by...ever!! what you need, is a joint and a Spelling Lesson...!! ASAP!!

:big joint:

[adruffd]

AAH another person saying religion sucks with no evidence. Trust me I know more about negative arguments aginst religion than most of you do, especially aginst catholicism because its not like that the people in the church havnt done things to draw such criticisms. Even with these things the Good far outweighs the bad.

BUT people often mix up people within the church to the church its' self. People, in general, are not a good representation of their religion (ex at colleges thoes "preachers" telling everyone that they are going to hell, but all that they are doing is turning people away)

As far as the Bible goes, it can be validated as a historical document.
I can prove this if the discussion decides to go in that direction.


And thank you I will take that joint and I know I do really need a spelling lesson Thank God for spell-check

[verklingen]

Originally Posted by adruffd

aah we actually talked about this question in my philosophy class. Luckily my Religion (Roman Catholic) has an anwser. Let me share...

When we were created, life was perfect. Man lived in paradice and was inherantly good. Then he was overcame by original sin and ate from the tree of knowledge (for thoes ignorant haters out there, there was never an actual "tree", it is symbolic. But that is becide the point) and in doing so we "had the knowledge of God". This first sin, the betrayl of God, was the first strike of evil in the world. Man was then banished from paradice but now had the knowledge to choose to do evil or good.

Man, in its original nature is inherantly good. However we have the choice to do evil as well. These days it seems that we are "influenced" to do evil so it can appear that man indeed is evil. But I hope one day you all will have an encounter that will show the goodness of man in the face of Jesus Christ!

i don't know whether it's for the sake of familiarity or what, but i like the garden of eden story. i think gives us a lot of clues for what our consciousness is all about, and it interests me to try and make sense of it.

i don't consider man in the garden of eden and man outside the garden as the same kind of man. in the garden man lived with god among all other creatures. he and the creatures lived with and by god, and i consider this state as analogous to how animals act within nature today: which is to say that their actions are dictated by genetics. the moment man "disobeyed" his genetic instruction (the commandment of god), he adopted a consciousness separate from god. he became aware of his own free will, and thus became the master of his destiny.

the snake is also interesting to consider. its speech is what brought man to awareness of his capacity. . . speech delivered with a forked tongue. where once man was singular in his awareness (as an animal is, i.e. eats if it is hungry, sleeps if it is sleepy, etc.), he is now burdened with the responsibility of thinking about his needs. the serpent with its forked tongue represents to me the method man adopted to negotiate the provision of these needs: thinking in terms of past/future, using his past experiences to serve as a guide in providing for the future. the utilization of this template has provided us with the experiential roller coaster we call humanity.

[JcP]

Originally Posted by adruffd

aah we actually talked about this question in my philosophy class. Luckily my Religion (Roman Catholic) has an anwser. Let me share...

When we were created, life was perfect. Man lived in paradice and was inherantly good. Then he was overcame by original sin and ate from the tree of knowledge (for thoes ignorant haters out there, there was never an actual "tree", it is symbolic. But that is becide the point) and in doing so we "had the knowledge of God". This first sin, the betrayl of God, was the first strike of evil in the world. Man was then banished from paradice but now had the knowledge to choose to do evil or good.

Man, in its original nature is inherantly good. However we have the choice to do evil as well. These days it seems that we are "influenced" to do evil so it can appear that man indeed is evil. But I hope one day you all will have an encounter that will show the goodness of man in the face of Jesus Christ!

Well that fuckin' sucks. So because some asshole thousands upon thousands of years ago ate a fuckin apple (metaphorical or not), the rest of us don't get to chill in paradise?

lame. That's like me yelling at the baby of a mother who cuts me in line at the supermarket. "SCREW YOU FOR HAVING THE MOTHER YOU HAVE!!!"

And now there is a war going on between forces of good and evil to either trick me into hell or embrace me into heaven?