Are People Inherently Good Or Bad?
I have never looked at a newborn baby and thought,
wow, they’re gonna grow up to absolutely wreak havoc on the world.
Safe to say, I think people are inherently good. I’ve always believed this. From my perspective, everyone is born inherently good. Struggle, traumas, environment, and upbringing tarnish the goodness in one’s life, and it may turn them bad. But I don’t think the badness is inherent.
It should also be noted that my views aren’t really based in any religious beliefs; that is, they’re relatively secular in this regard.
In a recent class discussion, I was shocked at the number of students who believed that humans are inherently bad. My classmates cited many historic examples, such as the amount of wars and fighting that has occurred in the past, the greed humans have for wealth, the desire for power/status over others, doing things for personal gain, and the mass amounts of general maltreatment humans exhibit towards one another. They reasoned that humans couldn’t possibly be inherently good if they do all these horrible things so often and easily.
They also suggested that humans and their inherent badness cause them to not have too much hope of it changing in the future. They noted that people will always be this way, so society will pretty much never escape the ‘horrible things’ I mentioned above. That’s just the way things are. So bleak!
Using my thought process, I saw it like this: these people are obviously horrible and bad people, but just because they did all that doesn’t mean they were born that way. Stripped away of everything they’ve grown to be, what would it be about their mere and sole existence as a human that makes them bad?
Additionally, I tried to take a more optimistic view of the future of the world, believing that things are getting better, albeit very slowly but surely. I believe that as time goes on and there are culture shifts, I see people as being more self-aware, more willing to change and ‘stop the cycle,’ if you will.
It could also be that humans aren’t inherently born good nor bad, they’re just born. They just exist as a living entity, and their trajectory is determined by endless factors in their lifestyle.
What is your perspective on this? I’d really love to hear it.
Also, check out some of my other work down below if you’d like! Thanks again for taking the time to read this and furthermore for sharing your thoughts :)
