Everyone is born either good or evil, with the possibility to have their natural inclinations curbed by the nurturing of those around them.
Poll: Are human beings born good, evil or something else?
- Thread starter Sewblon
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Everybody is born equal, a 'blank slate', you might say. It's the factors in their environment, the circumstances of their lives, and the kinds of parental/relative influence that change important factors of their lives. No one's born evil or born good. They may be born into a family tree that has a greater expectancy for aggression or smoking, but that doesn't necessarily dictate their personality.
Mammoth sized difference there between what I said and what your are saying. Societies that have practiced cannibalism did it as a part of a ritual, eating the heart of an enemy to gain his strength etc. Or in one case as a part of a mortuary ritual. Nearly always only specific parts where eaten and NOT for sustenance, outside of the ritual no thoughts where given to eating humans for pleasure or a kind of mysticism spiritual crap lines cannibals try to feed now. I will challenge you to name one society that accepted cannibals who ate the flesh of others outside of famine times, and outside of rituals, and killed what he was eating. There are few places in the world where cannibalism in the form I described is still practiced. Africa being one of major spots. There the people that practice it are usually driven from the villages. They are thought of as ill.LimaBravo said:
Edit: Cannibalism as I described is usually a sick thing, many cannibals thinking they are eating a portion of the persons soul. Think they derive power from the act. Or sexual related, they eat the sexual organs of the other person.
Cultural differences do crop up, and some things good in one country will be neutral in another, and some tings evil will also be neutral.
In your example they only way your persona could be labeled as good would be with a significant number of other white supremacists around. They would still be well in the minority and as such from a society standpoint (which is how I made my argument) they would still be evil sons of bitches.
You can argue all day that the lack of morality in one person, means there is no such thing as good and evil, but we are all part of a larger society that determines what is right and what is wrong in it. Take a quick look at what is generally illegal in societies around the world and you can come up with some common things pretty quickly.
I don't think that any one is born in a set way. I mean, some people are born and grow up to be like that, but children are never born and are instantly 'Evil' or 'Good'.
Okay, while I did cast a vote for "Tabula Rasa", I don't completely support it. While, yes I do think that we are not born good or evil, I do believe that we are born with a measure of survival instinct and curiosity (why else would babies want to mouth everything they see, even when they have already learned that it is inedible?).
To quote Star Wars, good and evil are points of view. That said, we are not blank slates because of our pre-programmed nature, though this can obviously be affected by nature. Anyone who has taken a psyc course knows that the answer to nature vs nurture is "both".
People are born as mammals with the base instincts to eat fuck and hunt.
We learn our morals through our parents, our societies and eventually through our own sense of basic emotions, such as feeling guilt (or pleasure...) after bullying the fat kid in class.
Unfortunately many of us are just not equipped with the emotional capacity to evolve beyond being selfish greedy apes.
We learn our morals through our parents, our societies and eventually through our own sense of basic emotions, such as feeling guilt (or pleasure...) after bullying the fat kid in class.
Unfortunately many of us are just not equipped with the emotional capacity to evolve beyond being selfish greedy apes.
Blank Slate is scientifically wrong - certain human behaviours ARE ingrained - such as the capacity for language, love, violence, etc. Everyone IS different, but most of us share common traits. It's the reason why we can create communities.
People are not inherent bad or good - they are inherently selfish. Even if they don't realize it. We are a communal creature, one of our traits is to live in communities, because communities increase the chances of survival. At our root, we are formulated to try to get along with our group, protect our resources, etc. It's not perfect (evolution is not about optimization, it's about what happens to work - we have flaws but our flaws aren't sufficient enough to kill off the species so evolution hasn't selected against it).
We are designed to live in groups that look out for our self interest. Because human beings are very complex animals, and because human beings are varied, sometimes our behavior gets a little kooky - but once again, usually natural selection kills off the really psychopathic crazies.
Humans are best at adapting - we try to fit in, exist within a group, because that offers the best chance of survival. All those ethical codes that (MOST) of us have are nothing more than biological imperatives to get us to fit in with other people and above all else survive. If human beings really were born with the desire to murder any joe schome they saw, humanity would not have survived. Only the humans with the desire to co-operate survived.
Of course, criminals and psychotics are still around - but you notice they are rare. Because of the sheer complexity of the human brain, and how it can e influneced by its environment in order to adapt, there will always be a small percentage of people who end up crazy or are born that way. But the vast majority of us want to live together, to create communities - it's the better way of increasing your odds of survival.
People are not inherent bad or good - they are inherently selfish. Even if they don't realize it. We are a communal creature, one of our traits is to live in communities, because communities increase the chances of survival. At our root, we are formulated to try to get along with our group, protect our resources, etc. It's not perfect (evolution is not about optimization, it's about what happens to work - we have flaws but our flaws aren't sufficient enough to kill off the species so evolution hasn't selected against it).
We are designed to live in groups that look out for our self interest. Because human beings are very complex animals, and because human beings are varied, sometimes our behavior gets a little kooky - but once again, usually natural selection kills off the really psychopathic crazies.
Humans are best at adapting - we try to fit in, exist within a group, because that offers the best chance of survival. All those ethical codes that (MOST) of us have are nothing more than biological imperatives to get us to fit in with other people and above all else survive. If human beings really were born with the desire to murder any joe schome they saw, humanity would not have survived. Only the humans with the desire to co-operate survived.
Of course, criminals and psychotics are still around - but you notice they are rare. Because of the sheer complexity of the human brain, and how it can e influneced by its environment in order to adapt, there will always be a small percentage of people who end up crazy or are born that way. But the vast majority of us want to live together, to create communities - it's the better way of increasing your odds of survival.
