Are human beings born good or bad? Give examples.?

neither. we’re shaped and prodded into the people we’ll be. parents, teachers, and friends are all monstrous influences

It depends on how the parents are.

Neither. Everyone is born with the potential to be both. Nature and nurture interact to determine which will win out. But also keep in mind that “good” and “bad” are pretty black and white terms, and reality is rarely black and white.

I really think that we make our children to be what they are, where you live, their friends, what you do at home, all of these can make or brake a person. You are not born good or bad, you are just born alive.

Well the nature of man is bad. just think about it even when you were a baby have you ever displeased your parents? sure. babies cry and bawl and sometimes it irratates them.

i completely agree with firstalli…

In a perfect world there is no GOOD or BAD. If I am a prehistoric man and I want you – I take you for my woman. If I feel threatened and jealous by another man – I kill him. Is this good or is this bad? Is this just nature at work?

i believe that human beings aren’t born “bad or good” but that theyre born as innocent beings that have to learn about everything….if they grow up in a bad enviroment and get influenced by it…they’ll most likeliy grow up “bad”…if they have well-respected gaurdians who look out for them and always have the best in mind and heart then that person will grow up to be “good” if they choose to follow that path…..it all up to the person to decide

That’s a great question. One that cannot be answered due to the complexity of the human brain. In psychology, there is the argument of nature vs. nurture. For some, generally moreso spiritualists, your personality is defined once you are conceived. However, the more modern approach to this is that humans are believed to learn their behaviors through the environment that they reside in. There is evidence that supports both sides of the argument, but nothing that can 1% prove either. So to say they are born good or bad is a fallacy.

both most are taught good and bad…. I do believe that some have a ‘goodness’ or ‘meanness’ gene. Iv seen some people who didn’t feel bad when doing bad and others who never felt bad. That’s why some respond so well to medication.

all human beings are born good,,,,babies don’t know ‘bad’,,,they either learn it or are taught it…..the surroundings ,neighborhood,way of life all factors in to what we turn out to be……plus there is the personal choice to be bad or good as well……

There is no such thing as good or bad, just actions and how we view them.

If you are into innate evil or supreme good, read comic books.

Human beings are born without the cognizance of good or bad. We are born with self interest. We are born unware of the consequences relating to that self interest, we act on desire and needs we might never understand. We are born, in effect, amoral.

An example would be when a child cries. It cries for attention, which can cause its parent(s) stress. It does not desire to do that, but nor has it been shown, so far as I know, that it cares if the stress could be caused by its crying. The child may feel the stress of its parent(s), but it thinks more about how to ease its own needs that the burden it is to others. That doesn’t make the child evil, just self interested.

I feel that no one is neither good nor bad when born its the fact that how you direct yourself and how you let things affect you. But be certain be yourself no matter what. If people don’t like you, they don’t like you move on.

Source(s):
A misunderstood ghetto poet is who i am

All men, human beings, are inherently evil. That is, it is in our nature to be “bad.” You can see the best example of this when you raise your children. Ask yourself, do you teach your children to be bad or to be good? You teach them to be good, right? Why? Because they already know how to be bad.

My two year old son knows how to lie to get what he wants or to stay out of trouble. I never taught him this, he just knows. My four year old daughter’s first reaction to hearing “no” is to scream and yell like she’s dying on the end of a spear. I have to teach them to NOT behave this way.

Another excellent example of this is the crime of passion. Someone is inflamed or enraged and they immediately revert to their basest self: The wife catches her husband in bed with another woman and shoots him, the man gets cut off on the freeway and kills the other driver, two women fighting over the same pair of shoes get into an altercation and both are arrested for assault. When you are accused of a crime of passion, such as Second Degree murder, you are held to a lesser standard, almost as if it’s not your fault you “snapped” and you are given more mercy under the law, 10 years instead of 25, almost as if the writers of the law knew that BECAUSE man is inherently evil, you cannot hold them as accountable for their base nature.

A very excellent question; one of the best I’ve ever read.

good and bad are constructs.
people are born as they are.
culture imposes judgments and decisions of good and bad.
good and bad are false polarities.
all of life is and contains both.

I think that people learn good or bad behaviors. A serial killer doesnt start out that way from birth something happens along the way to change a veiw point and vice versa. Good behaviors are taught from childhood and carried on through life or not.

All humans are born good its what they are taught that turns them bad

Pure and Naked, They get wrapped into good or bad layers, as they grow

Man is by nature wicked to the core. these are not my words, they were first uttered by Jesus Christ

It depends on the parents habit like if she use drugs when she pregnant the baby will born unhealthy. If she have the aids virus the virus will be pass to the unborn child in her belly by blood. And also if she drinks a lot it will affect her unborn child like the child probably will not be born a Healthy person.

Most humans are born pretty much a blank slate. The child will learn how to behave from it’s environment.

SOME, rare individuals will be born with defects in their mental processes, because of factors such as injuries, chemical imbalances, or physical birth defects. These defects may not be detected until the individual grows into anti social behaviors.

The concepts of good and bad (or evil) are situationally relative. While many kinds of “evil” behavior are universally recognized, they do not necessarily hold true across all culturers. What is “murder” in one society may be condoned in another.

Even in “polite”, western cultures, the idea of “it’s only bad if I get caught” is often accepted.

They are born indifferent… being good or bad is decided by circumstances and decisions

I don’t think they are born good or bad, just with certain personalities. Some happy, some cranky, some mean, or any other trait you can think of. I think it depends on how they are raise as to whether they grow up model citizens or troublemakers.

This is gonna be a long answer. Hang on for a good ride.

There are many theories about human beings being inherently good or evil. I do not know many theories in the western literature, but I will give you the gist of it from chinese philosophers:

One line of thinking is that humans are inherently good. If one sees a kid who is about to fall down the well, he would instinctively give the kid a hand to prevent him from falling. Therefore, human beings are inherently good.

The other line is, off course, that human beings are inherently evil. When a kid sees another kid holding some delicious goodies, the first kid would just take them from the second kid without thinking. Thus, humans are inherently evil.

What is interesting about both lines of thinking is that, although both sides can’t agree on the inherently nature of all humans, they do agree that without nuture and positive outside environment, all humans beings can turn bad or stay bad. These two lines of thinking eventually merged into one distinct philosophy of forming orderly society where education and knowledge is the key to prevent societal breakdown. The most famous one of the philosophers among this line of thinking is none other than Confucius himself.

As for myself, I believe we all have a little angels and devils within us. How do we supress the devils within ourselves (or let them out at the proper time), and how do we let our inner angels speak their piece, define who we are. Until we are consciously aware of the constant conflicts of the angels and the devils within us, we can never rise to another level of consciousness, and perphaps attempt to build a perfect society.

XR

Source(s):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius

some R born evil,others turn evil when something bad occurs in their live,or if they get rejected or get no respect.
look at a gangster,he was born into that lifestyle because of his surrounding.
i know im from compton.
like ur Q.

Take a look at the ******* traffic jams on the ******* tv set. LOL. Very VERY easy answer!!!

Nobody is born evil. It tends to be a child’s upbringing which affects their morals, and beliefs. Such things as surroundings, parental attention (i.e. if when young you are showed your parents shouting, cursing and generally being violent it is more than likely you will feel this is normal and right and initially copy their example) etc can alter a child’s personality and actions. Some people grow up surprisingly well even when enveloped with a chronic childhood; so you could also argue a child’s moral and natural instinct comes into account of them turning out to be ‘good or bad’.

Being good or bad is a learned behavior. Children learn their behaviors from those immediately around them; parents and family.
Ex: Being good – observing nothing but calm people who are extremely polite, thus, a child with a good behavior.
Being bad – osbserving nothing but angry/violent people, thus, a child will behave the same way because they were not taught that type of behavior is NOT acceptable.

Babies are born a blank slate neither good nor bad. Choices they make after they reach the age of reason determines if they will be good or bad. Plus, anytime during their life, they can change direction. We are not predetermined to be either. An example would be Johnny Cash. He changed his life. St. Francis of Assisi changed his life from bad to good. St. Augustine changed his life from bad to good.