Are humans born good or evil?

Question in title.

 

Neither. Those are learned characteristics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tabula_rasa

 

I agree, it's experience entirely that shapes the way a person is. With the exception of mental illness, which isn't really relevant.

Not the most credible source in the world however.

 

first off, good and bad are subjective terms
what is good to you may not be for me

so you would need to define all "good" characteristics before i could make a comparison

second, we are not born a blank slate. we have certain propensities. ie. biological urges to reproduce and support vehicles that carry our genes (children)
this is the basis of evolutionary psychology

 

I don't think he was suggesting that humans and all other species are born without instinct, nature. That's not what that theory suggests either.

 

Humans can be genetically predisposed to some actions though. It has become a fairly prevalent theory that some serial killers are predisposed to violent crimes.

 

I agree with the above posters both are learned traits and point of view.


But in the big scheme of things its not how one is born, its how that person shapes his or her life that is important and determines the quality, good or bad, of said person.

 

My meaning is, if a person has NEVER had human contact, for the sake of the arguement we will say he has lived in a white square room for 30 years, eating only one thing and drinking only water, will this person be good, or bad?

 

I feel he would be insane, so we would look at him as evil or at least look down upon.

Or he would be curious, wondering what was outside the white square room - though I still feel he would be insane.

 

He would know nothing.

Part of the experience is knowing the different between good and bad. In your example, he won't know the difference.

 

seeing as you obviously didnt see this, ill post it again

first off, good and bad are subjective terms
what is good to you may not be for me

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genie_(feral_child)

you know what he means by good or bad lol

 

not necessarily

he could mean good, as in healthy
he could mean good, as in politically correct
he could mean good, as in consistent with specific cultural norms and expectations


ex.
a neo-nazi may think doing harm to jewish people is good
a christian my think that indoctrinating people is good
a PETA member may think that saving animals is good, whereas modern tribal groups would not


see what i mean by saying these words conveying purely subjective meanings?

 

I am assuming he means good and bad by standard western customs. There are certain expectations of rational and sane people - which are mostly persuaded by law. Law really is the driving force between good and evil. What makes someone good and evil? Then we can decide if someone is one or the other.

 

Well I feel that children are all born good and are influenced by their peers and social media.

 

The concept of "good or evil" really relies on the culture people are raised in. I feel that everyone is born intentionally "good" but can crossover to becoming a "bad" person, whether it be by being influenced by media or their peers, anyone can become influenced to do something that society considers a "bad" act.

 

Humans are born neutral, it's the acts they see and do that judges their characteristic. Like me for example, when I was younger i was that good boy who got good marks an never did anythg bad. But now since I matured i act differently and I show some characteristic of "evil" and "good" deeds. But honestly a human can never be all good or evil

 

Assuming good or evil is defined as what we see normally as good or evil, obviously there is evidence that some generic inheritance occurs in biological traits.

However, there is research evidence to suggest that mostly every human has the opportunity to be either "good or evil", and this process is also inevitable.

This is by psychologist Sigmund Freud and is more commonly known as the "Oedipus Complex"

Basically during infancy, we go through critical periods, and it is in these periods that we do a lot of learning, how we learn our first language so fast and to walk etc etc.

The Oedipal complex, as described by Freud,
is a developmental conflict that emerges during the
phallic (third) stage of psychosexual development
(4–5 years), and describes the unconscious,
powerful, passionate love and desire that the male
child has developed toward his mother.

It is during this time (a critical period) that we may have undesirable behaviours towards our mothers, that we actually have an "unconscious desire" to have sex with them, and that we may "fear the same sex gender" parent due to this unconscious desire.

In short, we rely a lot on our parents during these stages, and it also explains why males tend to love their mums more than dads.

Basically, with this theory, aswell as works from Merzenich, there has been alot of research evidence that those who have "evil" desires, or more specifically "dirty/evil sexual" desires, were due to the experiences that had occurred when they were younger.

As shown by a patient known as "A.", who had a desire to go for "fetished, dirty" taken women that had boyfriends, and women who wanted to be treated badly, was due to the fact that "A."'s mother acted the same way to him when he was younger.

_____________

What this can show is that
1) the most obvious, is that our experiences shape us becoming good or evil
2) reference to the Oedipus Complex by Freud, that we have a "naturally" desired cognitive process that wants us to "possess" the opposite sex parent and to "kill" or "eliminate" the same-sex parent.

This is quite intriguing on this topic, because although mostly experiences can shape us, once conformed to picking sides of parents, we gain this "natural urge" to kill one and possess the other, which to me, in this case, can be seen as "good or evil"

 

Neither, what they do describes how they become.

 

Good and evil are human characteristics that you gain based on your actions. Babies ain't done shit so they have neither characteristic.