Are People Fundamentally Good, Bad, Both, Either, or Neither?

This seems to influence people's positions a lot.

Some people believe people need to be ruled over because they're naughty. Other people believe people need to be let free because they're nice.

Other people believe people need to be ruled over to protect the nice. Some people believe people need to be let free to avoid the naughty.

I guess there are sadistic reciprocations to all of these too.

Anyway, I'm just focusing on the good and bad part here. Whether people need to be ruled over or let free is another story.

I believe people are basically good. The reason I say this is that societies tend to progress and become more sophisticated rather than the opposite. In other words, productive behaviors, which are often the result of good, outweigh destructive behaviors, such as crime.

People are neither fundamentally good or bad, people watch out for their own best interests and that may be good or bad, depending on the situation. People are fundamentally selfish.

Both and either.

Human beings are a dichotomy. There are tendencies within us that are good, and others that are bad. Having enough intellect that we are not slaved to our instincts, we are also capable of CHOOSING good or ill, and some choose to do bad consciously.

No human being is pure good, nor are many pure evil. None of us are so good that we do not sometimes harm others out of selfishness or carelessness or a moment of emotional turmoil. Few are so evil that they do not have some hint of good within them... sometimes even the worst mass-murderers have a sentimental fondness for animals or children, or seem to love their own family.

A lot of the good and ill we do is in some sense derived from social pressures and from our environment. Many will do good when it is easy and convenient and safe to do so.... few stick their neck out when it is difficult, dangerous or costly.

Social pressures have a lot to do with whether we manifest good or bad behaviors.

Need and necessity can make a killer out of the most gentle of persons.

For many people, civilization is a thin veneer that is soon stripped away if they find themselves hungry, cold, or lacking what others have.

Spiritually, I believe we are all born with a spark of the Divine within us... a spiritual connection to God, a conscience. We can cultivate that spark, or we can throw dirt on it until it is extinguished. This is a choice we make.

On the whole I think there is good in humanity, but we are tainted with evil and with the potential for great evil, and only great stress and dire necessity can prove which is dominant in any given individual.

Cephus said:

People are neither fundamentally good or bad, people watch out for their own best interests and that may be good or bad, depending on the situation. People are fundamentally selfish.

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some people are much worse than the others,,some people are more selfish.........

Cephus said:

People are fundamentally selfish.

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In other words, people are bad.

"Fundamently" and that being the key word here. I think people are by nature good. On the other hand, put a bag of money in the dynamic and all hell breaks loose.

I think most... key word: most... people are fundamentally good and decent and at least want to do the right thing. However, there is also a selfish streak, which is necessary for survival, IMO, and we also have the uncanny ability to rationalize.

All people are born with an evil nature.

Stole my thread...

I say good. Because we are inclined to do the things that keep us alive and prosperous, and the things that we call "good" tend to be community oriented and socially positive. We evolved to be kind to each other because the people who weren't died. We are good because being good is more practical than being bad.

How can they be good if they piss on dead bodies.

"Good" and "bad" are iffy words at best.

If we consider selfishness to be "bad" then all of us start life as "bad people" because a baby's only instinct is to feed itself and it doesn't care where that food comes from or how it gets there. As we grow and learn we are taught what is good and bad but this depends on our teacher's opinions of good and bad and what is or is not acceptable behavior in our society. (Belching in a college bar can be a sports challenge but usually it's bad and should be accompanied by an apology.) Most people tend to conform so, overall, they follow acceptable behavior patterns. This seems to lead to the conclusion that most people are "good".

Sunbelt said:

In other words, people are bad.

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There's nothing wrong with being selfish, it's an evolutionarily positive trait. It's when you become selfish to the point of becoming socially inept that it becomes a problem.

I voted "good," but that's an overly-simplistic summary of my view.

I believe people desire to do positive things more frequently than they desire to do negative things. Most people rarely wish to hurt others.

However, that doesn't mean they make the best decisions to promote positivity, and it doesn't mean they have the self-awareness to understand how their actions affect others. Frequently, they don't. And even those who do are only human. So, a lot of good people do a lot of bad things.

Generally speaking, brain damage notwithstanding, human nature is a constant. It only appears variable under varying conditions.

Given exact or nearly exact scenarios people generally behave the same: they do what they need to do to survive and thrive.

I find this to be good .. and so I voted "good".

People are fundamentally both, as a result of our dual natures. We have animal instincts, but we also have the ability to reason and imagine. Because of this, we have traits that would be considered good, and also traits which would be considered bad. It really just depends on what the individual suppresses and what he lets shine through. It's really not an issue of good and bad, but one of civility in relation to others.