Nature of humans

Society Religion & Philosophy
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Re: Nature of humans

It's a good idea to define what's "good and evil" first. In any case the human character is a combination of the nature and the nurture. If you want to know what the nature contributes, you can look at the Chimpanzee. It does not look good though. One should also remember that it is the average nature contribution. The genetic makeup of every human is unique, and there are humans whose genetic makeup is very different from the average, to better or worse.

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Re: Nature of humans

Good and Bad are learned behaviors. Humans are born selfish. A baby does not care about anyone else but his//her needs. Humans after they grow up, need to learn that lying, stealing and adultery are not good habits.

I say at the best, Humans are born neutral, not good.

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Re: Nature of humans

Peace TLK

I have a somewhat different take ... If we say that 'good' is defined as the Will of God, and evil as Not the Will of God ... Then we can say that children are born good, because they have not developed the ability to choose ... So by defaulting to what comes naturally to them can only be good, because they are conforming to the Will of God ... However, as we begin to develop a sense of the ability to choose then we are required to do so ... By not doing so and continuing to be selfish when we can choose not to be is what can be defined as evil.

So in a way evil is acquired though the disparity between being able to choose right, but failing to do so on account of our animal natures. The very animal natures that were once good as we were children then themselves becomes traits of evil if left untempered with reason and wisdom.

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Re: Nature of humans

OMG, (atheistically speaking), it's such a slippery slope...

[QUOTE]
So by defaulting to what comes naturally to them can only be good, because they are conforming to the Will of God ... However, as we begin to develop a sense of the ability to choose then we are required to do so ... By not doing so and continuing to be selfish when we can choose not to be is what can be defined as evil.

So in a way evil is acquired though the disparity between being able to choose right, but failing to do so on account of our animal natures. The very animal natures that were once good as we were children then themselves becomes traits of evil if left untempered with reason and wisdom.
[/QUOTE]

How can you decide that what's naturally is good (conforming to your god or whatever)? Many things can come naturally. Especially, when you are hungry....

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Re: Nature of humans

Which lake can frogs smell coffee in? (Jk)

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Re: Nature of humans

Actually he claims those frogs can smell coffee with their legs too ... LOL.

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Re: Nature of humans

Mr. Southie ... Has inspired me to give you Mr.queer a response ... if a persons thinks they are good then there is chance for arrogance to creep in ... But if a person thinks they are not good enough then they can continue improving ... It is therefore accurate to say that to be good is to desire and work to become good and never to think oneself there ... Humility is a virtue and surpasses the virtue of truthfulness ... A person may be good and think it too ... But it leaves the door open ... Good and evil is like playing a game of snakes and ladders ... We do things that are good and some that are evil and what defines us as good or evil is the aggregate result of our good and evil deeds. But we must be warned again ... The second to last square on the game board is the head of the longest snake ... It is the snake of pride ... If we think ourselves succeeded in being great before the game ends ... Then we acquire pride and fall down that snake to the bottom again ...

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Re: Nature of humans

Humans are only as good ir as evil as the excuses they use justify themselves. Another words, no one ever says they are evil, no one sets out to do evil. Evil acts are justified by the excuse of a noble cause. The Taliban will say that even though their act was perceived as being evil, their cause was just...

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Re: Nature of humans

Since when have you become a spokesperson for the Taliban?

Muslims say that neither the means nor the ends are allowed to be unjust ... The West however do not practice this level of moral prudence, but they should.

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Re: Nature of humans

Thats why the Taliban are criminals and their actions unIslamic.

My point was that good and evil are simply labels which we ourselves put on things. No one considers themselves to be evil, and in fact, no one is evil. Acts can have consequences that can define them as evil, but I dont think anyone ever has evil intent. Aside from sociopaths, just about everyone, tries to justify their actions to make them appear wholesome. The very fact that they try to justify their actions means that on some level, there is good in them, striving to do good. The Taliban as an example. I think they are deluded and deranged, but I dont believe they are evil. They do what they do because they believe their cause is just. So their actions may be labeled as evil, their means may be labeled as evil, but their intent ultimately is to produce a society that, at least in their minds, is just and good.

Even Hitler, for all his crimes, still wanted what was best for his own people, even if at the expense of others. He was demented, not evil.

Actions can be labeled as evil, but the intent of the individual is never to do evil, even though its the result.

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Re: Nature of humans

I read this article many years ago when I was doing my undergrad & back then it was quoted in a research article, but I googled it and found it. The point is that often we simplify things that are not so simple or easily explainable. The nature of human is alterable, and not everything in life is absolute..white or back. There is lot of gray area that we often don’t understand.

Brain tumour causes uncontrollable paedophilia - 21 October 2002 - New Scientist
Brain tumour causes uncontrollable paedophilia

10:00 21 October 2002 by Charles Choi
The sudden and uncontrollable paedophilia exhibited by a 40-year-old man was caused by an egg-sized brain tumour, his doctors have told a scientific conference. And once the tumour had been removed, his sex-obsession disappeared.

The cancer was located in the right lobe of the orbifrontal cortex, which is known to be tied to judgment, impulse control and social behaviour. But neurologists Russell Swerdlow and Jeffrey Burns, of the University of Virginia at Charlottesville, believe it is the first reported case linking damage to the region with paedophilia.

“We’re dealing with the neurology of morality here,” says Swerdlow. Since the area does not affect physical health, “it’s one of those areas where you could have a lot of damage and a doctor would never suspect something’s wrong,” he says.

“He wasn’t faking,” says Burns. “But if someone argues that every paedophile needs a MRI, the difference in this case was that the patient had a normal history before he acquired the problem. Most paedophiles develop problems early on in life.”

Massage parlours

The man, a schoolteacher, began secretly visiting child pornography web sites and soliciting prostitutes at massage parlours, activities he had not engaged in previously. Swerdlow says while the man felt that his new behaviour was unacceptable, “in his words, the ‘pleasure principle’ overrode his restraint”.

When the man’s wife found out he had made subtle sexual advances towards young children, he was legally evicted from his house, found guilty of child molestation and medicated for paedophilia.

The judge ruled that he had to pass a 12-step Sexaholics Anonymous rehabilitation program or face jail time. But the man was expelled after he failed to restrain himself from asking women at the program for sex.

The evening before his prison sentencing he took himself to a hospital complaining of headache and saying he was afraid he would rape his landlady.

Balance problems

After he was remanded to psychiatric care, he complained of balance problems and a MRI scan revealed an egg-sized brain tumour. Further tests found the man was also unable to write or copy drawings and was unconcerned when he urinated on himself.

But seven months after the tumour was removed, and after successfully completing the Sexaholics Anonymous program, the man returned home. In October 2001 he complained of headaches and secretly collected pornography once more. But after a MRI scan revealed tumour regrowth and it was removed, the behaviour again disappeared.

Swerdlow suggests that physicians who see personality changes coupled with an inability to write or copy pictures may now want to consider brain disease as a possible cause.

Behavioural neurologist David Rosenfield, of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, says: “They have an interesting patient. I would wonder whether the tumour caused hormonal changes.” Rosenfield thinks further research should investigate whether other problems with the orbifrontal cortex can be linked to paedophilia.

Burns and Swerdlow presented their findings in New York at the annual meeting of the American Neurological Association.

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Re: Nature of humans

**It is difficult to generalize the collective nature of humans.

**
Each** individual **has since birth various traits either built in; to what this person may develop the character later in life as
good or bad.

(Studies have shown that even lack of mother's touch after birth CAN make a person aggressive/violent)

Having said that, various religions say the humans are either sinners by birth or unthankful.

Certainly humans do need general laws and regulations as well as religious sanctions to stay within the boundaries and limits of what may be perceived as good.

Hence one can say, **humans do have 'tendency' to do bad and need to be controlled by various means.

**