Poll: Are human beings born good, evil or something else?

[A random person]

Human's aren't evil per se, just selfish. Evil things that come naturally just come from our survival instinct. Human's are, if their baser desires are fulfilled, naturally somewhat good. Unfortunately, since social pressure is so strong and tends to take priority over thought, people end up rather intolerant and close-minded, hence a lot of war and genocide in history. Though there are some tribal instincts in there, a lot of it is social.

As for the Tabula Rasa thing, people are a blank slate other than the instincts I mentioned above and some genetic things. And genetic things, with behavior, aren't strong unless enabled by an environmental factor.

 

[Bulletinmybrain]

It depends on which side of the fence you kick rocks over.

 

[SulfuricDonut]

There is no 'good' or 'evil' because both of those are simply one person's perspective of the other person. The only reason someone can be considered 'good' is if he is compared to someone who is already considered 'evil'. Also, a person who a 'good' person considers evil would likely consider themselves to be good and the other person to be evil instead, simply because they are different from them.

 

[boardman1000]

as a psychologist and an amateur philosopher, there are many different things that go into the formation of a persons personality. for example there are heritable things from genetics. but behaviorists argue that the experiences that we have influence and mold future behaviors and solidify all of our own idiosyncrasies.

in a philosophical realm, two main proponents behind human nature are hobbes and Locke. Locke argues that people are good but learn to be bad. Hobbes says that people are bad and needa leviathan (gov't) to make sure they behave themselves.

personally i believe that we have a genetic disposition to be naughty monkeys but the goodness comes from the socially desired behaviors that we are rewarded for.

but thats just a man with degree from University of the Pacific.

 

[Colodomoko]

No one is a perfect shade black or white, were all shades of gray with free will and all.

 

[Scobie]

DELETED

 

[JonasBrothersSuck]

Evil.

 

[GodsOneMistake]

Nobody is born one way, unless they have a mental instability. It's how you are raised and who you associate with

 

[Ethereal.Frog]

TVtropes answers this threads question nicely as far as I can tell. It seems natural to me and it seems to seem natural to my friends to exploit others for personal gain,exploit others for the gain of friends which results in personal gain, abandon other people for selfish desires etc. etc., thought I'm an anti-social freak who spends most of his awake time in a basement.

Humans just generally seem to be a pretty shitty species to me when it comes to interacting with others and different/new things. We fight each other over unimportant things like race, religion and *other example*, when it would be so much easier and beneficial to everyone to just accept other people's opinions.

But then again, maybe exploitation and selfishness aren't evil in your opinion.
Maybe having a different opinion than yours really is evil from your point of view.
Maybe I hate Fallout 3 because it's not like Fallout 2.
Maybe I like Halo 3 because it doesn't change anything from Halo 2.

Change sucks.

Oh look at that, I didn't prove anything.

 

[dontworryaboutit]

"Is evil just something you are or something you do?"
~Morrissey

 

[Simriel]

Human beings are born Human. Thus they have the potential to commit acts of both good and evil depending on factors that come into play after birth and sometimes their mental state.

 

[Schmee]

I went for blank slate, people change depending on what hands they get dealt in life. But "IF" someone was born from 2 psycho killers, well you know.... =)

 

[sokka14]

in a philosophical realm, two main proponents behind human nature are hobbes and Locke. Locke argues that people are good but learn to be bad. Hobbes says that people are bad and needa leviathan (gov't) to make sure they behave themselves.

locke advanced and advocated the "tabula rasa" concept. he did not think humans were naturally good, this would contradict the principles of tabula rasa.

 

[7moreDead_v1legacy]

Indifferent is how I perceive people being born as.

 

[Chaosut]

I suppose i do believe that genetics and environmental factors play a very large part in behaviour, which doesn't really leave alot of room for free will. Although i wouldn't say i'm a determinist, i'd say free will has alot less of a part than we might initially think.
So in connection to the original question, what free will we have may then be on a varying scale of good, neutral and evil. However in theory believe these are all subjective (which brings up another whole debate), though in practice we need to place the actions of other people or animals in certain categories so we act in a way that is either most practical. For example, just because subjectively (or so i believe) there is no good or wrong, if we saw someone getting raped it would certainly be alot more concerning than saw two friends shaking chatting about a movie they've just seen. So for the sake of practically in everyday living, good and bad are real categories.

 

[untelligence]

everyone is born different but many are just different shades of EVIL!!!