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Post by Sally McDonald on Jun 22, 2013 8:58:47 GMT -5
Like all animals, humans will risk their life to save their genetic offspring. But why would people risk their life to save a stranger? Such altruistic acts would seem to indicate that people are born inherently 'good'. But others claim that people have to be taught to be good, just as they must learn other lessons in life. What do you think?
Do you think people are born 'good'? What thoughts do you have to back up your opinion?
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Post by arunavee on Jun 24, 2013 6:01:33 GMT -5
I believe everyone is born with good qualities.Over time these qualities may change based on how we are treated. If we have been treated kindly , have been shown love and affection then , I think it will be possible to return such feelings. Lessons in life teach a person to be good.We have seen countless cases of small children subject to all kinds of torture growing up to be gun toting terrorists.As children we tend to emulate our parents and other adults.There really is no such thing as "born bad" in my opinion!
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Post by bhamadaly on Jun 27, 2013 0:00:28 GMT -5
I'd agree with Sally that humans are inherently good, and that it is not just 'taught' through role models. A large number of children who grow up in violent circumstances go on to lead exemplary lives and use their knowledge to help others. Altruistic behaviour may have enabled the human species to evolve and establish successful communities.
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Post by arunavee on Jun 30, 2013 3:45:54 GMT -5
I definitely agree people are born good.That's what I intended to write.I have hence changed the sentence from, "There really is no such things as 'born good'" to "There really is no such thing as 'born bad' in my opinion". There was a typing mistake in my sentence!
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Post by Emma Rehn on Oct 25, 2013 20:39:47 GMT -5
Funnily enough, I had a discussion about this just last Thursday in a uni tutorial about The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, and it's something that comes up a lot in my English subjects. Unfortunately when I look at all the stories of horrible things that humans do, I have to believe that bad exists within us even without it being instilled in us (nature/nurture argument, once again). Conversely, humans are capable of truly remarkable kindness as well. Thus, as always, I sit on the fence with this one: humans are born with the capability to do great good and great evil. The mixture just varies a bit from person to person (nature), along with what happens to them (nurture/circumstance) and how they choose to act accordingly (nature).
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