The Nature of Man, good or bad? Options

[dancerellie714]

sorry if this is already a topic.


Okay. The question presented here is "what is the nature of man?", which basically means...do you think that all mankind is mostly evil or good? Also, are you born good/bad or do your surroundings mold who you are?

good luck with this one

[Ington]

Innocence, as defined by the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, means "free from moral-wrong; sinless." I don't know about you, but I think PLENTY of babies are not innocent. They scream and cry at night and wake everyone up from peaceful sleep for no reason at all, they poop and pee in their diapers and force others to clean it up; why, I'd say that babies are truly evil.

I love you.


This topic isn't about the nature of babies though. Its the nature of mankind. Man, as well as any animal, wants to survive. That is its nature. Mankind is naturally selfish, wanting more assurance it will survive.

I don't see this as evil. Wanting for yourself before others is a natural, reasonable trait. Its religion that defames this characteristic. Honestly, I don't buy it. God would not have built selfishness into us so that we ignore it. I believe this is just another defamation of the earlier Catholic Church.

The Catholic Church is widely known for determining good and evil. Who tells them what's good and what's evil? God, supposedly. But we don't know that. Its a fact that the Catholic Church defamed many things for the sole purpose of religious control. For example, the Catholic Church defamed Judaism in Spain and 'sponsored' the Spanish Inquisition. It defamed Satanism as well, and made it what many think of it today (If you didn't know, Satanists do not actually worship the devil. They are normal people, like you an me, but they somewhat worship human nature in its entirety.) Another example is the outlawing of sexual desires of priests and nuns.

I'm not trying to offend any Catholics here. I know you didn't do anything, and I know the modern day Church didn't either. I'm just stating how whats good and evil is carved in stone, although many evils are just human natures that cannot be controlled.

Yeah.

evil, because we all are the ones responsbile for slowly destroying our planet day by day.

We're talking about human nature. Meaning, if there was no outside influence, what would we be like?

And anyway, I don't remember the last time I started a forest fire or doused a lake in oil. We're talking about humans in general, not capitalist leaders. And anyway, who declared it evil? Why is wanting personal satisfication over wanting to save the world evil? Some people just have different values. Does that make them evil?

This is almost the same point I made before. Society has carved what is good and evil in stone, although if you think about it, there is no good and evil. There is only perspective on life.

[Spirited Away]

I love you.
This topic isn't about the nature of babies though. Its the nature of mankind. Man, as well as any animal, wants to survive. That is its nature. Mankind is naturally selfish, wanting more assurance it will survive.
I don't see this as evil. Wanting for yourself before others is a natural, reasonable trait. Its religion that defames this characteristic. Honestly, I don't buy it. God would not have built selfishness into us so that we ignore it. I believe this is just another defamation of the earlier Catholic Church.
The Catholic Church is widely known for determining good and evil. Who tells them what's good and what's evil? God, supposedly. But we don't know that. Its a fact that the Catholic Church defamed many things for the sole purpose of religious control. For example, the Catholic Church defamed Judaism in Spain and 'sponsored' the Spanish Inquisition. It defamed Satanism as well, and made it what many think of it today (If you didn't know, Satanists do not actually worship the devil. They are normal people, like you an me, but they somewhat worship human nature in its entirety.) Another example is the outlawing of sexual desires of priests and nuns.
I'm not trying to offend any Catholics here. I know you didn't do anything, and I know the modern day Church didn't either. I'm just stating how whats good and evil is carved in stone, although many evils are just human natures that cannot be controlled.

so if wanting to survive is not selfish and selfish is evil, why would the nature of man be evil, or are you defending otherwise?
*nods about the Church*.

Yeah.
We're talking about human nature. Meaning, if there was no outside influence, what would we be like?
And anyway, I don't remember the last time I started a forest fire or doused a lake in oil. We're talking about humans in general, not capitalist leaders. And anyway, who declared it evil? Why is wanting personal satisfication over wanting to save the world evil? Some people just have different values. Does that make them evil?
This is almost the same point I made before. Society has carved what is good and evil in stone, although if you think about it, there is no good and evil. There is only perspective on life.

What would be considered as "outside influence"?

which goes on and on until all sides run out of breath. So in a way, end of story.

Um, the respond to that is still a "no", by a long shot. according to that logic, we shouldn't question anything nor try to work out disagreements because it's all subjective. what's true to you may not be true to me so we should all shut our mouths and never start out a sentence with "I think" or "in my opinion". there is no point to the this debate forum. there is no point in black and white. what's white to you may be black to me.

Not necessarily. There can be a point where one person can admit that the other person's views make more sense. Sure, it doesn't happen much here in the debate forum, because most people are busier trying to "prove" how smart they are and would never stoop so low as to admit they might have erred in their thinking, but in theory, a debate could potentially come to an end at some point.

agreed. however sheridan, even if a debate between two people comes to an end by mutual agreement or by one yielding to another, the story goes on. opinions are like imaginations in that they are endless in capacity and limitless in variety.