(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); What do you guys think? Are people inherently good or evil?

I know this is a fairly popular topic amongst most debaters. I'm interested to hear what everyone's thoughts on the topic are

Ah, the classic nature-nurture debate...I am an empiricist; good and evil, along with the moral codes held by all men, are determined by social convention and personal experience. I do not believe that nature endows man with certain knowledge, or that some characteristics or personalities were divinely inspired or determined at birth (yes, I'm also denouncing astrology). The psychology of man is entirely influenced by daily experience, upbringing and several socio-cultural factors. Expanding on what I stated earlier about good and evil being determined by society's standards- what is morally and legally "right" is entirely dependent on the values of said society. Men are born bereft of any knowledge of good and evil, and will instinctively pursue what they find comfort in, or what they deem essential to sustain their well-being. Several civilizations throughout history have had discordant beliefs and notions of what is lawful and decent, so it is to be expected that men's values are profoundly influenced by social etiquette and tradition.Men are indeed "selfish" and independent-minded by nature, but their values and course of action are predominantly molded by their interaction with society and its values. The code of morality is not universally alike among all men; one who is born into an "evil" society will always continue to believe that their path is right unless told, or convinced, otherwise.

neither its life choices that makes them evil or good

Well, I believe that no one is born good or evil, we are all born without any knowledge and in our early years we've learned a lot from our parents and family in general, our moral principles are achieved through education which is acquired at home from our parents or people who educated us. But honestly, I think all of us are born inclined to have a good or bad character, for example, I've met kids who used to mistreat animals even though their parents did not teach this to them, then I wonder where this come from? this evil? Anyway, I have also met people who were very well educated and had all the good and the best and later in life became horrible people and even thieves or something bad. But this "bad character" can be improved through good education or the parents can change the character of someone who seems to be a bad person since childhood?? I'm between the two hypotheses. There is a program on discovery channel ( if im not wrong) called "Most Evil" and they show so many stories about people .. I am in doubt about whether people are born bad or even influenced by the life they had .. I believe that each one is master of their own destiny and that sometimes people choose the downside for trivial reasons or occasion but deep inside you, you know what is right and wrong and we make our choices sometimes good or not.

I'm of the opinion that everything - literally every decision you ever make will be influenced by everything you've experienced up until that point and your decisions are what shape your perceived 'personality'. It also ties into my agreement with Determinism.

I think your either born good or your born bad some people have morals some dont.

I think everybody is born neutral. Like a couple others said above, it take life experiences to shape who the person become. You have other factors that influence behaviors like tv programming, religion,etc. It all depends on the individual will of the person.

I don't believe in good or evil. I believe for every action, there is an equal or opposite reaction(physical or emotional). I don't think there are good and bad choices. Good and bad are only opinions of others. Not saying I go out and commit homicides on a daily basis, nor do I praise individuals that go out and kill, but good and bad are merely adjectives to me.