Just to put a question out on the table.
Are human beings inherently good or evil?
The first one…NO NO…b, yea, b…no… wait…A yea Good…no…uh…C, C, none of the above…damn…final answer: dunno.
R.J.D.
That depends on how you define good and evil.
There’s always another beer.
Yes.
What do you mean, Polycarp?
The answer’s a definite “maybe.”
There’s always another beer.
I disagree completely and vehemently with Polycarp.
The answer is “No.”
I agree with Polycarp here… humans are inherently good or evil.
``All of your dreams will come true. All of my dreams came true, but now… I have a bunch of other dreams.’’ – Sonic Youth.
Beeruser-
Use the definitions from an abridged dictionary. Getting technical isn’t the “definition” of a genius. So don’t get technical.
Think before you respond like that again, Einstein.
R.J.D.
This “einstein” would also like to know what you mean by Good and Evil. Do you mean following one religion or another? Do you mean doing what you think is the right thing to do, even if it hurts others? It was a damn good question, so answer it.
[I’ll show that durn newbie…]
Hey, Spiritus! Erratum! make 'im define “human being” too, and resist and discredit every definition he offers!
You’re right, Lib. The definitions of “good” and “evil” are universally agreed upon. All societies have the same moral and ethical values, and all churches agree with each other. Whatever was I thinking about?
Oh, Slythe, just let society do the thinking.
Did Libertarian just say that SOCIETY should do the thinking?? NOT the individual?
{checks calendar}
No, it’s not the first of April. Must be some troll posting in his name. Unless of course he is again giving his opinion that my thoughts are not worthy of this board.
Slythe, what’s your take on this:
“He has shown you, O man, what is good… True religion… is this, to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God”
– the prophet Micah, c. 600 BC
slythe,
Let me use the word “good” in a sentence.
You are good for nothing.
R.J.D.
Slythe
Disagreement does not equate to disrespect, not even when we are being satirical with one another. Your thoughts are more “worthy” of this board than mine are. You’ve been here longer, and my thoughts are unpopular. If I reach out to you to give a friendly tickle, don’t pre-anticipate it as punch in the nose.
Thank you for an actual answer to the question, Polycarp. Though the definition of “justice” varies from person to person, and the “walk humbly with thy God” section leaves me out, at least you’re not dismissing the obvious need for a definition.
Thank you.
Libertarian, I mis-understood. AND apologize.
I think that humans are inherintly good by definition. Whatever humans intrinsically believe or do is said to be good and we act in that intrinsic pre-set way so we are inherently good.
You know, doing what is right is easy. The problem is knowing what is right.
–Lyndon B. Johnson
Lemme try a skewed post to the question, and see where that takes us.
Human beings are not “inherently good or evil.” Human beings are inherently human, with all the “good” and “bad” factors that entails.
We are born selfish, the proper state of affairs for altricial infants who will die without demanding and obtaining parental care. We are conditioned to be altruistic through the benefits of altruistic behavior received and the principle of fairness (which appears to be much more deep than one might expect; two-year-olds espouse it almost as soon as they can utter one-word sentences), as well as the fact that an adult who is not altruistic towards its newborn edits its genes out of the race. We abstract from this hodgepodge of selfishness and altruism a concept of good and evil that is beneficial to us as individual sentient organisms. We attribute generic ethical categories to the abstract concepts of the universe, god, etc. based on our understanding of what they are in human terms, which is relatively pragmatic.