Poll: Are human beings born good or evil?

[FortheLegion]

Humans are born stupid and needy not good or evil

 

[CroutonsOfDeath]

We aren't born inherently good nor evil. As children we have no concept of right or wrong or good and evil and have to learn about them. At some point whether it's fully conscious or not, people will begin to gravitate towards one or the other. Some people may just choose to be good or bad. Others just end up that way. However I don't think we are born that way.

 

[stranamente]

I think you may have to read this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homo_homini_lupus and this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Hobbes (for the evil side) and this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noble_savage (for the good side).
For me by the way is: Homo homini lupus. We're nothing but animals and milions of year of evolution can't be eradicated by a couple of thousands years of civilization. Really. Deep inside it's the survival of the fittest, and you know it.

 

[The Man With the Soap]

People are neither good nor evil. They just are.

 

[Srkkl]

Good and Evil is a perception, that varies from person to person. So neither.

 

[guntotingtomcat]

Humans are not capable of either.
They aren't smart enough.
We are trapped in a chain of cause and effect that we have no control over, doing good or evil things. Choice is an illusion caused by the mind. Practically, we have no choice at all.

I believe Good and Evil transcend humanity. We are victims of both.

 

[open trap]

Eh depending on what happens in their life, most kids in my town are douch bags and can go overdose like the buch of addicts they are

 

[Terminate421]

Neither, we are born to eat, sleep, worship god, have sex, and kill each other, its all neutral, it just depends on how we use one of those what makes you what.

 

[Superior Mind]

I believe humans are born stupid and through careful management a person can develop themselves to be less stupid. However inherent stupidity remains and it's always best to remember this.

 

[Yureina]

Neutral. It is the environment that they grow up in that turns a person "good" or "evil", or simply keeps them on a middle course.

 

[Grand_Arcana]

Yep, you need to teach a person to act civil.
You don't need to teach them to kill each other. That comes natural.

-snip-

Oh, and who was the genius that invented civility hmm? Because if civility exists today, it must have come from a fellow human.

 

[Gilhelmi]

I do not know. The beginning of knowledge.

Some are born good, Some are born bad, Some are born good but become bad, Some are born bad but become good. All are different, All are the same. All are equal in the eyes of the Lord.

That was my guess, I really do not know.

 

[Thedayrecker]

Have you ever met a baby or small child?

They're monsters.

Yeah religious discussions aside, no one needs to teach a child to be an ass, that comes naturally. Respect/kindness/patience/virtue/etc., those need to be learned.

Pretty much this. We're all evil, but eventually some of us become civilized

 

[Et3rnalLegend64]

I'd like to say blank slate or good, but there have to be exceptions. Some are straight good and some are not.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Humans are born innocent. Eventually we are imprinted on by society and form our self by our reaction to that imprint. I never met a baby who wasn't innocent and until I do my theory holds.

 

[comet5002]

I think you've been playing a tad too much moral choice style video games. Take any psychology class. People are born as blank slates, they get their morals and way of life through their parents or guardians who raised them. How they're raised is who they are. If I'm raised to think that slaughtering 20 people every week is perfectly acceptable, and nothing interferes with that notion, then I'm going to think it's perfectly acceptable.

 

[Mcupobob]

Neither, their not born with an idea or senese of right or wrong. Blank slates.

Whilst they definitely aren't born with in built morals - human beings are not blank slates. We know enough to come to the conclusion that a portion of a child's mental behavior and reaction will come through the parents.

You mean that the blank slates get their morals and ethics/ideals instilled into them by their parents. The same parents that take that blank slate and rise it?

Yup, inless of course you ment "We know enough to not come to the conclusion." Then I apoligize it was just a misunderstanding.

Other than that I don't think human beings don't start making their own morals intill around 15, but thats just a guesstamation.

Other than mental defects, I belive were all blank slates still just trying to learn to live and get the basics down.

 

[Bon_Clay]

Good and evil are human inventions, so applying them to people is always based on opinion. Hitler can be good and Gandhi can be evil from someone's point of view. So you can't really say either.

As for what the majority's opinion would be, I guess just a split between nature and nurture with maybe a slight edge for the latter. People have genetic traits they inherit, but their life can have a big influence and make them overwrite parts of their personality.

 

[oktalist]

I believe that humans are born with a scale with both good and evil balanced at 50%, everytime that person does something good the balance shifts to the good side. when they do something bad the balance shifts to the evil side

Oh wowzer, so it turns out that the karma meters in Fable and Mass Effect are actually totally realistic, not completely retarded as they first appeared to be. /sarcasm

No, nobody can even agree on what good and evil actually are, so arguing about how they are created or exhibited is a fruitless endeavour. And even if we could agree on their definitions, they certainly wouldn't be a one-dimensional slider.

Go watch this [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/extra-credits/1974] and tell me which is the good choice and which is the evil choice.

Then tell me which is the good choice and which is the evil choice here: you are the first to arrive at a car crash. The car may explode at any moment. Inside it is a little girl and her elderly grandfather. The man's injuries suggest he has a 90% chance of survival. The girl's injuries are more severe and she has more like a 50% chance of survival if rescued immediately. Who do you rescue first?

 

[laststandman]

Depends on if you ask Hobbes or Locke.