What Is Human Nature? Good Or Evil? | Good And Evil

The question: is a person’s nature benevolent or malevolent? Good or evil? Or, good and evil? Similarly, is the common path for humanity ethical or unethical? Many philosophers have debated the "good versus evil" and "good and evil" issues to no end without any concrete evidence or finite answer. This is good, as it stays true to the open-mindedness of philosophical manner, and thus allows me to give my two cents. So, what do I think? Where are we all, good versus evil?

Let us start at childbirth. I think it is fair to say that we are all born with a “blank slate”; meaning there is not an inherent good or evil gene that foresees what we’ll become in life. It is our environment, how we are nurtured, that molds our virtues and values. Assuming my theory is true (seems pretty sound so far) I think it’s easy to ascertain that since it is our environment -- notably family, friends, and community -- that influences us so much, good versus evil, each of us tries very hard to become upstanding in the efforts of preserving and further caring for the “environment” which has so influenced and cared for us. It is the attitude that we not only need to survive together as a species physically, but also spiritually. It is in our best interest as a species to be good vs evil, to be ethical.

Granted, there are exceptions to this "good and evil" rule: a minority of purely self-serving, immoral beings who aim to get theirs at any cost. This minority does not aim to hurt others and yet they can, as psychologists describe sociopaths, separate themselves from emotional attachments. These good vs evil social outliers adhere to policies other than the good, not because they are naturally bad but because unusual circumstances have curtailed any hopes or ethical objectives within them. Good versus evil for the right reasons. Abuse and neglect, in both physical and emotional forms, can turn an otherwise healthy, balanced child or adolescent into a hateful, fearful shell of his or her self. Thus, an addendum to good and evil.

Are people good or evil, or good and evil? People are not blatantly either of the two, but I’d say most humans are quickly formed after birth into good versus evil, moral versus immoral individuals. The words “good” and “moral” refer to how the environmental figures around the growing child (mostly the parents) define the terms and choose to enact them. But all in all, I think that aside from the inevitable exceptions that come with anything else, most people aren’t naturally good vs evil but learn to be good instead of evil.