Debate thread: Are people born good or evil

theacoustician said:
Get a regular job and work for a bit. You'll quickly come to change your mind.
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but i've had real jobs, and i've found that while a few are hard to get along with, most everyone i've been around have been just fine.

so define what you mean by assholes. do you think people are naturally evil? or are you saying that people are just selfish and display what they want to, when they want to? does that make them evil, or just (non-evil) assholes?
i do agree with the latter...i think society has become very me,me,me and have disregarded manners and etiquette to the wayside, but i do think that people are GENERALLY good. i think there are ALWAYS going to be rotten eggs out there, and yes, i think they are wired to be that way (nature.) but i would like to think that people, while having very selfish tendencies they aren't afraid to show, are good and kind at heart, and have a flat assumption of right and wrong.
 
A little off subject, but, I think that in normal every day life a person's attitude tends to sway a persons opinion of others. My husband (I love you hon, but you know this is true) is more confrontational and has an "angrier" attitude and he tends to be able to find the negatives in people pretty quickly while people like Thorn see the good of people far out weighing their bad.
 
Dharma1521 said:
This is funny, I just went to a Buddhist center last night and the discussion was on this very topic. The teacher said that living creatures are good. And that if you spend enough time with someone you will find at least 5 good qualities in that person (he said some people take longer than others) but the qualities are there because they have to be.
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This sounds like something I'd be interested in as well. I've been looking to go to a Buddhist temple for quite some time and keep putting it of. I assume this place you speak of is local. :)
 
Both.

I think there are very few "evil" people in the world, especially considering the amount of humans that are currently on earth and have ever lived on it. I believe these people may have had more tendancies to do things society deems evil (I'm referring to serial killers, tyrants that murdered countless indivuals, hitler, people like that) but they still became that way through the choices they made and if they had tried hard enough to be different they could have.

On the other hand if you are raised in a home where you are abused or witness to it and never taught the appropriate way to act in society or how to treat people, that can definitely affect the adult you become.
 
BeerAd said:
If people can be born gay what stops them from being born evil?
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IMO, they ARE born evil. there's wiring in their brains that allows for this to be who they are. i have NO FORM of scientific basis for this, so i could be waaay off, but it makes much sense to me how this could happen. the brain's a magnificent, wonderous, intimidating, controlling animal.
 
kiwi said:
A little off subject, but, I think that in normal every day life a person's attitude tends to sway a persons opinion of others. My husband (I love you hon, but you know this is true) is more confrontational and has an "angrier" attitude and he tends to be able to find the negatives in people pretty quickly while people like Thorn see the good of people far out weighing their bad.
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i was going to make a thread EXACTLY about this. i wonder if people like, for example, knyte, get a completely different experience from people based on the attitude they give off. i, for example, do have a tendency to smile, make eye contact, extend simple etiquette to strangers. i figure i'd get a more positive response from mankind from this, as opposed to sending a very different vibe to someone. and i can't say that people are nice to me for my looks, because i'm certainly not beautiful by any measure, so you can't pin it on being female and cute.
 
kiwi said:
A little off subject, but, I think that in normal every day life a person's attitude tends to sway a persons opinion of others. My husband (I love you hon, but you know this is true) is more confrontational and has an "angrier" attitude and he tends to be able to find the negatives in people pretty quickly while people like Thorn see the good of people far out weighing their bad.
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I've mugged school kids for less!
 
Thorn Bird said:
IMO, they ARE born evil. there's wiring in their brains that allows for this to be who they are. i have NO FORM of scientific basis for this, so i could be waaay off, but it makes much sense to me how this could happen. the brain's a magnificent, wonderous, intimidating, controlling animal.
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I enjoy you because we are a lot alike in our thoughts ;)
 
Ryokurin said:
People looking out for themselves and hurting others is a part of human nature as its a part of survival. Good is taught by decent parents at a very early age. If someone was born and turns out pretty evil very very early on it kind of shows that their home life wasn't all that great.
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I'm with Ryo on this one. I wouldn't say that people are inherently evil, we are just complicated animals with a basic instinct to survive. What sets us apart from other animals is our capacity to function above our basic instincts. Humans have an instinctive level of empathy as most animals do, but the more advanced capacity for empathy that we are capable of is a learned behavior. Many people are never taught to think that way tho, or at least to the extent that others have been. But according to Jung one's basic needs must be satisifed in order for someone to function at the other (higher) levels of existence. But our basic needs and instincts are always our primary level of functioning and the #1 motivating force behind everything we do.
 
Thorn Bird said:
IMO, they ARE born evil. there's wiring in their brains that allows for this to be who they are. i have NO FORM of scientific basis for this, so i could be waaay off, but it makes much sense to me how this could happen. the brain's a magnificent, wonderous, intimidating, controlling animal.
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Very VERY true. Some people are wired differently, their brains just doesn't function normally. Sociopaths do not comprehend things the same way 'normal' people do because they just aren't capable of doing so. Just as some people suffer from psychological illnesses, others have psychological (mental) defects that prevent them from functioning normally. There is plenty of scientific support for all this but I don't have my psychology textbooks with me. ;)
 
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