Humans: Are we evil?
- Thread starter redisforever
- Start date
If humanity is the be the yardstick for something, than humanity is only average. So...not really.
If I am to be the yardstick for something, most people disagree with me. So...yes.
If I am to be the yardstick for something, most people disagree with me. So...yes.
Evil is such an opinionated word. It's a useless term that we seem to like applying to things that we just don't personally agree with. People have different beliefs than us? Evil. Different tastes in culture? Oop, they're evil too. I mean, if you think about it, when Europe invaded the Middle-East on one of their many Crusades, their Crusaders were all viewed as heavenly, God-sent warriors on the side of good and righteousness up there with angels and whatever. Yet on the other hand, the warriors defending their homes from these invaders viewed these murderous, raping, plundering lunatics as complete evil.
But, back on topic: Are humans inherently evil? That's a rather loaded question. Humanity as a whole is flawed. Terribly, terribly flawed. There's a lot of greed, bigotry, racism, sexism, hatred, religious zealotry, and otherwise a lot of complete assholes.
However, there are also wonderfully pleasant people who are just there to enjoy their life without getting in anyone else's way, and there are some people who try to make the lives of others better, sometimes at the cost of their own comfort.
And of course there's the middle ground. Good and Evil always has a neutral zone, though people tend to want to deny it. There's people just living their lives day to day, trying to make it to the next one while making some evil decisions, some good ones, all depending on how they personally feel about the situation.
But, back on topic: Are humans inherently evil? That's a rather loaded question. Humanity as a whole is flawed. Terribly, terribly flawed. There's a lot of greed, bigotry, racism, sexism, hatred, religious zealotry, and otherwise a lot of complete assholes.
However, there are also wonderfully pleasant people who are just there to enjoy their life without getting in anyone else's way, and there are some people who try to make the lives of others better, sometimes at the cost of their own comfort.
And of course there's the middle ground. Good and Evil always has a neutral zone, though people tend to want to deny it. There's people just living their lives day to day, trying to make it to the next one while making some evil decisions, some good ones, all depending on how they personally feel about the situation.
No, we are not. Furthermore, VERY few people ever see, much less commit evil acts.
Let me put it this way, if evil is defined as being conscious and deliberate wrongdoing, then Hitler was not evil, neither was Stalin, nor dozens of other murderous scum throughout history. All of them did what they did because they believed they had the right to do so. Even your average thug has a tendency to believe that the rules don't really apply to them, that their crimes are somehow justified by their situation. Only sociopaths as a group tend to make their choices in full awareness/acknowledgement that what they are doing is wrong, and even there, exceptions exist.
But let me answer your question more directly instead of redefining the issue. Regardless of how you choose to define the term evil (assuming you use a definition that makes any sense whatsoever), the answer is still no. Human beings are best described as a potential, our basic nature is ultimately a product of our own instinctive urges and environmental programming. But nothing about that nature prevents us from CHOOSING a path to take, whether because of, or in spite of, those urges. You might be able to get away with declaring a particular individual, or even possibly a social group as a whole, as evil. But humanity itself? no way.
Let me put it this way, if evil is defined as being conscious and deliberate wrongdoing, then Hitler was not evil, neither was Stalin, nor dozens of other murderous scum throughout history. All of them did what they did because they believed they had the right to do so. Even your average thug has a tendency to believe that the rules don't really apply to them, that their crimes are somehow justified by their situation. Only sociopaths as a group tend to make their choices in full awareness/acknowledgement that what they are doing is wrong, and even there, exceptions exist.
But let me answer your question more directly instead of redefining the issue. Regardless of how you choose to define the term evil (assuming you use a definition that makes any sense whatsoever), the answer is still no. Human beings are best described as a potential, our basic nature is ultimately a product of our own instinctive urges and environmental programming. But nothing about that nature prevents us from CHOOSING a path to take, whether because of, or in spite of, those urges. You might be able to get away with declaring a particular individual, or even possibly a social group as a whole, as evil. But humanity itself? no way.
I believe that humans are neither born evil nor good. They learn to be good or evil due to the various influences in their lives. However, the "evil" things tend to be easier to do than the good because doing good can be painful while the evil can bring easy profit. Humans are programmed to avoid pain, but those who can overcome this instinct can do what is good.
No happiness can come without sacrifice, be it your own or someone else's, and no action is truly selfless. The difference between good and evil depends upon whether or not making sacrifices for others makes you happy.
No happiness can come without sacrifice, be it your own or someone else's, and no action is truly selfless. The difference between good and evil depends upon whether or not making sacrifices for others makes you happy.
I think people are inherently selfish. While this often makes us do evil things, we are not inherently evil. Really, this thread was done like 2 months ago wasn't it?
Good and Evil are just constructs to justify human laws. Animals constantly kill each other for whatever reasons. Are they evil? But it's worth our while to be good people to further humanity.
Here's my view on humanity in a paragraph, or two. I don't know I haven't started writing yet.
So basically, I believe, that we are all born with an innate nature to do certain actions. These impulses are very broad and general, like say wasting time, being lazy, hunting, learning, etc. These natures make up a large part of who we are. Then parents come into the mix. They act as a suppressant or accelerator to our nature's natural impulses. These can be good, say stopping a child from biting the head of another baby, or encouraging a child to always be kind to others, or don't be afraid to defend yourself, but only if it's necessary. Conversely these can be bad, such as forcing a sociable child to stay home because you feel 'lonely' or encouraging a child to torture small animals simply because they are stronger, or to repress anger and never speak a negative thing if it is to a person's face. etc.
With the combination of these two steps in a person's development, it leaves them pretty open to any kind of label, be it good evil ambiguous jerk douche saint friend, what have you. So in my delusional little world, that i choose to believe is true, (self-deprecating humor, you're supposed to laugh at that) people are not always inherently evil, and if they are their parents always do a good enough job of suppressing the most violent impulses they have, via their nurturing. Taken to the extremes, and the one of the reasons i hold this view, Hitler. Another Mother Theresa. A world that can hold both of these people must have a very diverse moral field and can't be a simple one step process in development, like simply, you are born evil.
So basically, I believe, that we are all born with an innate nature to do certain actions. These impulses are very broad and general, like say wasting time, being lazy, hunting, learning, etc. These natures make up a large part of who we are. Then parents come into the mix. They act as a suppressant or accelerator to our nature's natural impulses. These can be good, say stopping a child from biting the head of another baby, or encouraging a child to always be kind to others, or don't be afraid to defend yourself, but only if it's necessary. Conversely these can be bad, such as forcing a sociable child to stay home because you feel 'lonely' or encouraging a child to torture small animals simply because they are stronger, or to repress anger and never speak a negative thing if it is to a person's face. etc.
With the combination of these two steps in a person's development, it leaves them pretty open to any kind of label, be it good evil ambiguous jerk douche saint friend, what have you. So in my delusional little world, that i choose to believe is true, (self-deprecating humor, you're supposed to laugh at that) people are not always inherently evil, and if they are their parents always do a good enough job of suppressing the most violent impulses they have, via their nurturing. Taken to the extremes, and the one of the reasons i hold this view, Hitler. Another Mother Theresa. A world that can hold both of these people must have a very diverse moral field and can't be a simple one step process in development, like simply, you are born evil.
your mention of people not being able to get clean drinking water makes me think you are speaking of the developing nations which would mean you are including the whole world in your 1% statement. fun fact if you make atleast $34,000 in a year you are part of the 1% of the worldMflick said:
and also on topic the concept of good and evil are purely social constructs with no real meaning but to the observer. good evil , beauty ugly, Delicious disgusting. all are what you choice to see it as
There is a saying "I trust everyone, its the devil inside them i don't trust" i believe thats one way of saying everyone is evil in at some level.
Humans created "Good and Evil" so its pretty easy to say that we are both. It also comes down to what good and evil is...as everyone will see it differently. Am I evil for stealing a candybar from a store or and I evil because I lied about my age?
Frankly, i have always found the concept of "evil" to be quite silly and stupid, probably a concept created to help foolish people cope with why bad things happen. The universe knows no such thing as 'good' or 'evil'; these are human concepts, religious concepts in a way. If you shoot a man, is that evil? If you shoot a man who was going to kill 5 other people, is that evil? if you shoot a man who you think is going to kill 5 other people, is that evil?
The more you unravel it, the sillier the concept gets. As far as I can tell, the meaning of evil is 'to intentionally cause harm for no other cause or reason than for the sake of causing harm'. And by that definition, i don't believe people are evil; they can be greedy, they can be inconsiderate, they can be mentally deranged, but not ever evil.
The more you unravel it, the sillier the concept gets. As far as I can tell, the meaning of evil is 'to intentionally cause harm for no other cause or reason than for the sake of causing harm'. And by that definition, i don't believe people are evil; they can be greedy, they can be inconsiderate, they can be mentally deranged, but not ever evil.
This question is pointless. Good and Evil are completely arbitrary terms. Fifty years ago communism was evil, seventy-five years ago capitalism was evil; the meaning and criteria we judge good and evil by change constantly. If by evil you mean self-serving and unconcerned with the suffering of others then you still need to define terms. Are we assuming society plays a role, or do you mean fundamentally, without anything influencing us (which, by its very definition is impossible). Since this question is inherently so vague it is impossible to answer. However, since I feel that I should respond to something, human beings are inherently self-interested, whether this is a characteristic of good or evil is up to the individual reader to decide.
Considering it is in a way alot easier to do the wrong thing than what's right or beneficial to another human, I can kind of accept this fact.dududf said:
Plus NYU will allow you to get a Major in Evil.
I shit you not! I'm so going to New York
Had to be done. People aren't inherently anything and morality is purely a subjective concept. Ah, it's good to be a Nihilist. Really, I just think most of us are just indifferent to the suffering of others, thus we facilitate things that might be considered abhorrent.
I'm going to go with evil. We have the capacity to organize and to grow into good beings or at least act like them, but we inherently lean toward drastic, selfish, and wicked acts when cornered - when fearful we forget ourselves, and in that way we are evil. Heck, we've even got evolutionary hangups related to it like us all naturally being a little xenophobic.
Depends on what you mean by evil. Evil varies from culture to culture. Now in the broadest sense lets call good "helping society as a whole" and let's call evil "hurting society as a whole". If that is the case, there should be a genetic disposition to "good"(i.e. help society prosper). Those who do evil are quickly kicked out of society and/or killed. I am talking of hunter-gatherer days and even in the animal kingdom (wolf packs, etc).
Also, who can't not hug a bunny rabbit when they see one?
Too bad you are getting quoted anyway.Marter said:
Also, who can't not hug a bunny rabbit when they see one?