Theory of Fundamental Evil

[carnivalforone]

The theory of fundamental good states that humans are born good. if the theory that humans are born good is an ideal that means the theory of fundamental evil is simply reality. People must make a conscious effort to be good therefore it is a forced lie when good is done. desire lies at the core of human nature and from that the world is rotten and failed from the start. it's just a bunch of bad people trying their best to be good.

 

[sserafim]

The theory of fundamental good states that humans are born good. if the theory that humans are born good is an ideal that means the theory of fundamental evil is simply reality. People must make a conscious effort to be good therefore it is a forced lie when good is done. desire lies at the core of human nature and from that the world is rotten and failed from the start. it's just a bunch of bad people trying their best to be good.

Well, people are naturally and inherently selfish, so I think that people learn to quell this nature. Even animals are selfish. I think the natural state of all living beings in this world is selfishness (probably to survive). People have to make an effort to not be cruel and selfish. Selfishness is not necessarily evil, but it is still self-interest, and therefore "bad". I agree that people have to make an effort to be "good".

 

[carnivalforone]

Well, people are naturally and inherently selfish, so I think that people learn to quell this nature. Even animals are selfish. I think the natural state of all living beings in this world is selfishness (probably to survive). People have to make an effort to not be cruel and selfish. Selfishness is not necessarily evil, but it is still self-interest, and therefore "bad". I agree that people have to make an effort to be "good".

It's a society of liars and hypocrites all good is done out of the need to appear as so, it's done deliberately and as such will never be genuine since the innate desire will always be the root driving it to even be attempted. to think that if our instinct was tweaked just a bit how much things might've changed

 

[Himalayan]

People don't have to make a conscious effort to be good? Also, humans have both good and bad in them, most of the time. Life is fundamentally a coop game, even a psychopath needs to learn how to live in society, he doesn't just self isolate.
I tried to be a lone wolf for a long time and it didn't made me any good. So yeah, humans needs others by default, even on a mental level. The world really isn't not evil at all, it's just silly tbh.
I think you see it as evil because you're stuck in a scenario where bad stuff happened and maybe you want some validation that what happened to you was really evil, or maybe you feel stuck. Idk, life isn't that hell

 

[Jealous Blackheart]

Whenever you start discussing philosophy it's important to begin from zero. Before any discussion of implication can begin you must first go over what things are in the first place and what they mean. @ifeelthelight resorted to putting the word good in quotes for this very reason. What does it mean to be good? If it is abnormal to be good, and human nature is implicitly evil, then would evil not be natural? Can something that is natural be considered rotten and failed? Does social programming and false expectations about life's true nature have damaging effects on people's perception of reality and make it difficult to readjust their world view on what is ultimately considered good?

It is important to try to answer philosophical questions but the most important aspect of a philosophical mind is the ability to ask the right question. I make no claim that these are the right questions, just that there are more questions worth asking than there are statements worth making.

P.s Go read Plato's dialogues.

 

[Forever Sleep]

Does 'good' and 'bad' exist in nature? When a jewel wasp stuns and drags a live cockroach into it's burrow, lays eggs in it and blocks it in- only for its young to devour the poor thing alive- is it being 'evil'? Or cruel even? I'd say- no. It is acting on instinct to do that.

Maybe humans are different because we know when we are being cruel. But- how do we know? Because we are taught. Even within our own race, people will act according to a wide variation of morality. Some of that is influenced by how they were brought up. The serial rapist and murderer Ted West's Dad used to have sex with animals. He was raised thinking that anything was fair game. It's not to excuse what he did but you can see how some people turn out the way they do.

Are people born good or bad? I doubt they are born either entirely. I suspect genes make a difference. Bad behaviour is likely motivated by selfishness. Maybe some people have more selfish genes than others. Richard Dawkins also talks about altruistic genes in his book 'The Selfish Gene.' The theory that- living in communities, we have also evolved to have altruistic genes because ultimately- helping others may well benefit us in the long run. I certainly think certain attributes are inherited but a lot of it is nurture I suspect too. But yeah- I think we probably all know people who have inherited the good or bad tendancies of their parents. And those only become more reinforced by being around them and being taught their moral compass from them.