People...good by nature?

Discussion in 'Philosophy and Religion' started by stacy lulu, Apr 14, 2011.

  1. Plasticfantasticlover

    Plasticfantasticlover Member

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    I think you're born in the middle. As you get older and you start having perceptions, making choices, living you change. You wont always stay good or bad, You can change, For the better or for the worse. It depends on how you chose to live. Myself, I think I have chosen 'good'.

    But, Hey. What is good, And what is bad? It's all how you look at it.
     
  2. acuarela

    acuarela Member

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    I think good is a man made concept.
     
  3. TheOnionMan

    TheOnionMan Member

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    I have a firm belief that people are born "good" by nature. I say this in no religious sense, because I hold none. I think the only way a person becomes a "bad" person is by the environment around you, especially as a child. I think in the end everyone wants to get along. As a human being we find happiness in helping others and being amicable, it is a universal trait It's easier to just get along.
    A lot of the violence and negative traits we see are a product of our society and culture. If we get past it all, we are all the same, with the same hopes and desires. To be loved and love in return, to be accepted, to be respected, and most importantly to be independent. If we moved away from a society that places its cultural values on materialistic , narcissistic ,and judgmental values we would see a lessen in violence and other bad actions. And if parents took accountability and raised their children with good honest values, regardless of religion, that would make a big difference. Because in the end every adult was once a child, an innocent being with no knowledge of good or bad. It is what happened to that child after birth that makes the person they will be in the future.
     
  4. Lynnbrown

    Lynnbrown Firecracker

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    I don't think we are born good or bad - but innocent and selfish...we also have the self-survival instinct ingrained in us.
    That is good to stay alive; but bad for the prey, no?

    Like another poster said...it is all about choices. And I personally believe that the older we get, the more responsible we should feel and be about those choices.
    There are supposedly those who are born with an "old soul", etc...but they were still selfish, crying babies once upon a time. :D
     
  5. tuesdaystar

    tuesdaystar Interneter

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    I tend to think people are 'good' by nature, but that's mostly because I think I'm 'good' by nature.

    Children are ferel little demanding id monsters... is that "good?"

    I think what it all really boils down to is, THERE IS NO 'GOOD' THERE IS ONLY NATURE

    Everything is natural, even that which our socialization has taught us is unholy, undesirable, evil, and wrong. It is all part of nature and on a universal scale it might not matter at all whether I spit in your hair for no reason.

    Now, of course, if there is a god or some other extrahuman judge of good and evil tending the scales and such... well that would make that whole "good is just a social construct" thing wrong, but who knows...

    We all operate within the confines of our own perception. I said I think I am good by nature because what I think is good feels natural.
     
  6. Sir-.-'nOOBalloT

    Sir-.-'nOOBalloT Member

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    If the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many that would most likely be labeled as evil of course this is purely depended up on which side u belong to and I do not believe that the actual size of the network matters so much as the connections or similar characteristics which predetermines ur only network in existence. When u get down to it really we are simple creatures all the drama and complexity of the human reality is do to confusion when we try to navigate life as a confined network. We become disillusioned by our reflection relative to others of the hive mind not to say that individual mind is somehow bad it’s necessary for the process of originality within the collective which refines in to the hive mind a self replicating life force that we call consciousness its trial and error on a grand scale.

    So I think it all boils down to collaboration if we would list the characteristics of good behavior it pretty much be a list of giving receiving cycles. And this is directly linked to the nature of all life not just us we are all within a body of some kind be it an atom within a molecule be it a a link within a food chain or a cog within the human society and maybe finally a neuron within the collective consciousness. This need/drive to belong to something bigger is the strongest asset of everything and anything in existence.
    There’s no doubt about it we are striving for one goal whatever that maybe… by these standards I believe we are all born good.
     
  7. themnax

    themnax Senior Member

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    there is no being good or bad. there is only doing or not doing.
     
  8. lovelyxmalia

    lovelyxmalia Banana Hammock Lifetime Supporter

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    I think all people have some form of good in them.

    All good by nature? That's up for debate.
     
  9. SunLion

    SunLion Lifetime Supporter Lifetime Supporter

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    Since we are human i think we can define "good" as something like "acts in a manner that reduces or prevents suffering. " Not all people are good but most clearly are.

    Sent from my Droid using Tapatalk
     
  10. Emanresu

    Emanresu Member

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    People are neither good nor bad by nature. Rather it is a part of human nature to have capacities for goodness and badness. And yes, of course, these capacities are shaped by everything from the prenatal environment to the particular culture the person is born into.

    Societies in which goodness (perhaps sharing cooperating, non-aggression, etc) makes one successful will tend to elicit and strengthen people's natural capacity for goodness. Societies in which badness (aggression, cheating, stealing) makes one successful will tend to elicit and strengthen people's natural capacity for badness.

    For example among the Yanomami the most successful males tend to be the ones who have killed the highest number of other males, so children there learn quickly to utilize and hone their natural human aggression.
     
  11. too_many_summers

    too_many_summers Member

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    Some are, some not so much.
     

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