Do you believe people are inherently good or evil?

[Writer]

I used to believe that people are inherently good. I believed this in spite of routine encounters with destructive individuals, including a few in my immediate family.

Yet recent events in my life have led me to believe otherwise - that people are inherently evil. However, the moral implication of people being evil, I believe, seems a bit general. In today's modern psychological context, I think it's more likely that people are inherently selfish. The more populous we become, the more we expose ourselves to one another's cruelty.

What do you believe?

[Robb]

1. People are inherently idiots.

The good and evil stuff pretty much comes out of how they choose to hide their idiotness. :D

[Deja Q]

2. I'll let you know the day I marry a wonderful human being.

Let alone find one.

[RedG1]

3. Democrats are inherently good...

the Repubs have that evil flawed gene that makes them evil

[zanne]

4. I think people are inherently good.

Even some Republicans are inherently good. They just try to hide it.

[acmavm]

5. Inherently bad. It takes work to be good. It's easy to be lazy and evil.

Goes straight to the question of character.

[ZombieNixon]

6. Depends on your definitions of good and evil.

If we're speaking in universals, then I tend to equate "evil" with the scientific concept of entropic decay; that is, the tendency toward self-destruction. So, you could say that those people who chronically act in self-destructive ways and make no effort to stop it are acting on the impetus of an inherent evil/inner entropy.

I believe that "good" and "evil" are just terms we use to describe concepts; concepts that change from person to person depending on his or her morality. People don't *exist* (a static verb) in a state of inherent "good" or "evil," but they can *act* (a dynamic verb) as such.

[Nikia]

7. I'll agree with the inherently selfish part

If most people feel connected and regularly see most of the people who they are around, they will be good out of hopes that they will be treated well by those people and that those people won't hurt them in return.
When people start feel unconnected and anonymous, it is no longer as beneficial to be good. Some people who feel that they can get away with it, will do "evil" things out of selfishness.

[blue neen]

8. I choose the neither option.

Some people I've met have been good from the get go...wouldn't hurt a flea in their entire lifetimes.

Then there is your basic model of evil, Dick Cheney. Has he ever done anything good?

[idgiehkt]

9. good

I believe that Buddhist saying that every single thing people do in life is motivated by love or the attempt at receiving love.

for some reason we dont' want to acknowledge childhood and that is what is killing us off as a species. I think most of our motives for future behavior are caused by damage before the age of 5 or 10...pretty much our whole emotional lives are mapped out during a time that most cultures don't see as relevant, which is pretty tragic

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. I think they are inherently self-focused and selfish and it takes a decent

society and proper training to make them into human beings.

But I wouldn't say they are inherently either evil or good. Just selfish.

[Sugar Smack]

11. Buck up, baby! We're all DOOMED.

That's the good news. ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-) ;-)

[qnr]

12. umm.. yeah, they're good or evil, they're also good and evil

and I'm a PITA

[Elidor]

Yes. n/t

[SOteric]

13. I believe people are inherently

Human Beings. Whether they are good or evil is a judgement I leave to God. ...or maybe Rabrrrrrr when he's wearing his crankypants.

[Benfea]

14. We have defined good & evil such that everyone is both. -NT

[citizen snips]

15. neither

n/t

[pitohui]

16. i believe most are inherently good but a minority is inherently evil

most people just want to be let alone to live their own lives but there is a significant fraction of people who cannot be happy unless they are fucking w. others

[Jara sang]

17. I don't believe in good & evil.

They are human constructs, like time & money.

[swag]

18. No.

[Kajsa]

19. I think people are inherently good.

Circumstances in their life, chemical imbalances and
psychological problems can all contribute to their souring.

What if they are born with psych problems?
That's a whole different ballgame.

[Arugula Latte]

20. Neither ... They're just animals. n/t

[KT2000]

21. Both

some people are good and some are evil.

There was a line in the move Secondhand Lions where a man is teaching a young boy the rules for life. He said sometimes we have to believe certain things whether they are true or not. One of those is that people are inherently good. The resoning being - we lead better lives if that is our basic assumption. Imagine living a life believing that all people are inherently evil!

Better to be disappointed than to sink to our lowest common denominator.

[skygazer]

22. I do believe most people are inherently good

However, they're also sheep for the most part and go along unthinkingly with a lot of stuff. That gives the evil minority the ability to play on that and take advantage of it.

Most people, in a one on one situation, will reach out to someone without really thinking too much about it. But put them in a group and they wait for someone else to act. Put someone in charge who is evil and they'll tend to follow that lead (as long as the progression is subtly and artfully done).

I think you're right that group dynamics play a large part in this. But as individuals, I think most people are fairly compassionate and relatively kind.

[Joe Fields]

23. I think many people take the "path of least resistance" these days.

A lot of the moral fabric of our collective society is pretty frayed around the edges, and moth eaten in some places.

I think people want to be good, but in many instances it is just too much work for them.

I can think of a number of reasons why this is.

[bertha katzenengel]

24. Good. The alternative is too sad to contemplate.

[wildhorses]

25. I think the capacity for both is inherent

only in our actions can we determine...

[Zhade]

26. Gevil. Which is to say, both.

It's all a matter of which is sublimated and which is brought to the fore, IMHO.

Hi again, Writer. :hi:

[LeftyMom]

27. No.

People make good decisions and bad ones, they act out of altruism and self-interest. They don't seem to be any better at one or the other, generally.

[leftofthedial]

28. yes