Robin Hood Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 In religious texts, there is the famous story of Cain killing Abel. Also since the beginning, humans have committed other heinous crimes like rape. Wars have exploded and continue to explode to our modern era. In 2008, there was the story of the Austrian guy who raped his daughter to many long years. Recently, we heard the story of a Bengali women blinded by her husband. So the question is, are human beings good creature or evil creatures? What pushes people to act like or worse than animals? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erk Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Well, I only know one Huan, but he's a pretty nice guy. I think I'd say good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Well, I only know one Huan, but he's a pretty nice guy. I think I'd say good. Same here. We must know the same huan? He is a good guy tho! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limoncello Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 What a great philosophical question, and we could ponder over it endlessly:) But I think that its important to first identify what makes someone good? or bad? Do you consider someone bad only if they have done something atrocious and criminal? what about someone who who is good? how much bad can a good person do before he/she is considered a bad person? Some evolutionary psychologists/biologists believe that being a contributing member of society represents an adaptive trait, which helps increase the survival of an individual. So if we consider someone to be good by the extent to which they comply with certain positive social norms (ie. its good to cooperate, its wrong to kill, torture), then I would say that at least biologically human being are more likely to be good innately... But I'm really sleepy so I might have to continue my thread of thought later....lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 You spelt my first name wrong. And no, I'm not evil. Neither is GLADOS or Wheatley. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
<abstract> Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 You spelt my first name wrong. And no, I'm not evil. Neither is GLADOS or Wheatley. lmao.. +10000:D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Human beings are neither entirely good nor evil. As a species, we're capable of both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clever Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Sorry.. I don't understand the question Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Hood Posted June 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Sorry.. I don't understand the question Do you think human beings are good or evil? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kkentm Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 evil 100%. humans are greedy, selfish and destructive. imo, its a part of human nature (ie. survival of the fittest) to hoard material things and sacrifice the wellbeing of other living beings (humans and animals included) in order to further benefit one's own life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clever Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Do you think human beings are good or evil? yeah... I'm still not gettin' it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thehumanmacbook Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 evil 100%. humans are greedy, selfish and destructive. imo, its a part of human nature (ie. survival of the fittest) to hoard material things and sacrifice the wellbeing of other living beings (humans and animals included) in order to further benefit one's own life I thought they taught us teamwork, collaboration, and respect in our program. Missing it after all these years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Community episode 109 - "the debate" has a great bit on whether or not man is good or evil. its hilarious and I wish I could find a link. anyways, they come to the conclusion that man is inherently evil Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mithril Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Community episode 109 - "the debate" has a great bit on whether or not man is good or evil. its hilarious and I wish I could find a link. anyways, they come to the conclusion that man is inherently evil You watch Community? You're awesome. Let's be friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gemini Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Hahaha we already are! Try to guess who I am Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Law Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 I don't accept the question. I don't think you can ever classify the entire species as good or evil... and then, good or evil is such a subjective term. There are both "good" and "evil" tendencies in humans and I don't really think you can apply one brush to coat everyone with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin Hood Posted June 24, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 I don't accept the question. I don't think you can ever classify the entire species as good or evil... and then, good or evil is such a subjective term. There are both "good" and "evil" tendencies in humans and I don't really think you can apply one brush to coat everyone with. Examples: Good: Helping others, fighting crime, not abusing people Evil: Murder, rape, robbery The reason why I ask this question is because there must be a predominating tendency in human behavior, either they are more inclined to act in a good manner or they are more enclined to act in a bad manner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarza Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 I'm curious to know how you think rape could be justified as good (while I fully appreciate that you would not agree with that position). Robbery to feed a starving person, murder in self defence are fairly obvious but I don't see the other side to rape. It's just pleasure for someone and horror for someone else. There's no link basic needs being met like there is for robbery and murder. Unless you go the route of we're all just animals and we are programed to pro-create. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 A lot of good vs. Evil with respect to humanity comes down to cultural ideologies from our respective societies. A big reason why i don't think we should be playing god in countries we don't understand just because what they do doesnt conform to that of our own societial views. However, some actions cannot be condoned. Can be good things depending on the perspective. For most of us they are reprehensible and we wouldn't do them or condone them, for certain subset of society they are totally acceptable and "good". The point is that good and evil are subjective and don't have a universal definition or agreed list of constituents. ex: Robbery: Bad for the person being stole from, good for the person acquiring what they need. The classic example is stealing a loaf of bread to feed a starving family. Murder: Killing an innocent person for no reason is "evil", what about killing a killer (death penalty), or war, or crime of passion, or in self defence, there are no black and white this is evil and this is not. Rape: I'm not touching this one.....I’m just not, some people on here can be surprising closed minded even when discussing philosophical issues. Rape is bad is my official position. Some soldiers in Africa would disagree with me, we can't discount their opinion just because we don't like it. That is subjectivity for you. Ready, set, fire away at how monstrous I am. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 evil 100%. humans are greedy, selfish and destructive. imo, its a part of human nature (ie. survival of the fittest) to hoard material things and sacrifice the wellbeing of other living beings (humans and animals included) in order to further benefit one's own life Unless you believe in game theory which then your perspective changes but in general i tend to agree. We're all morally corrupt to our own benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aaronjw Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Every time someone says "evil" I think of Bush standing on an aircraft carrier trying to explain his view point using his fifth-grade understanding of the universe. "They hate us for our freedom", "Saddam and Al Qaeda are evil", "jesus loves America!" what's funny about this is the regimes the US annointed are the ones which haunt us today. They spent the better part of the last century trying to play god in these countries and now denounce them because they are no longer under their thumb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerena Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 I think humans can be both good and evil. And act out in certain ways depending on their circumstances. One outweighing the other at times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarza Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 Making the question more specific takes away from the philosophical nature of the potential discussion. I would hope that most people would agree that reality is a shade of gray than purely "evil" or "good". Which one has more influence on us as a species I think is a very valid question to discuss, with our own definitions of good and evil being part of that discussion. It’s just tolerance of ambiguity. For me, the relevant “good” here is not the enjoyable qualities of an activity but the morals and ethics related to it. The evil part of rape is the benefit of it is not necessary for survival how eating and, well, not being killed are. I’m not suggesting I be the ultimate power to decide what is bad and good; it’s just my opinion that I am willing throw out for discussion. As for the stance that rapists may have good reason for raping, I reject that. I don’t see how it could be argued as morally good, although I’d listen if someone else has ideas on this. Pleasure is irrelevant in that sense and neither is procreation as the human species isn’t dying off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zarza Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 It's a valid point. I would think, although I don't have time at the moment to do the research and confirm, that rape became (or is becoming, rather, in some parts of the world) a more serious crime as women's rights have evloved. When women were consider more property than person, it makes sense that rape was considered acceptable. In the modern western world where women have equal right to men, I don't think there could be an arguement made to the "good" of rape. Although this point ignores the fact that men/boys can also be raped... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdDave Posted June 24, 2011 Report Share Posted June 24, 2011 If you look at rape throughout history I think it adds perspective to this discussion. Ancient Greeks and Romans would laugh at the notion that raping slaves was somehow evil. In medieval Europe rape was considered a military tactic to literally sow seeds and unite peoples by interbreeding. It is only recently that rape has been elevated to the same level of murder on the list of no-nos. This does not diminish the severity of the act; it only served to highlight the changing zeitgeist when it comes to what is considered evil. Good points. Also if you look at the act of rape in the animal kingdom from a strictly evolutionary point, it just makes sense. Sounds harsh I know. Think about it, if some animals genome isn't as attractive as others and it doesn't have others willing to mate with it, it can either die without progeny or try rape... Good thing we humans developed the morning after pill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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