Is Mankind Inherently Evil

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, the word ‘good is defined as “Of a favorable character or tendency,” and the word evil is defined as, “morally reprehensible.” Philosophers and Psychologist have debated on the topic of humans being good or evil for centuries and our society is still unsure of what to believe. Humans do not like to think of themselves as pure evil, but they also do not consider themselves all good either. Although some may claim humans are inherently good , the truth is humankind is inherently evil because of selfishness, and revenge.
Many suggest humans are good because of how innocent and pure children are from birth. When one sees a baby one may notice how a baby is usually happy and smiley and causes no harm
to anyone intentionally. Research done on various young children show that traits such as compassion and empathy are with a baby from birth. In a 2013 article by The Guardian the author explains research being done by researchers at Yale University and British Columbia. The investigators put various puppets on display that either helped each other or created obstacles for one another, and they discovered that the eight month old babies usually pick the good puppets to play with. The children often frown at the puppets doing bad deeds and when they see a dog taking a ball away from a rabbit, the children proceed to take away the treats from bad dogs. Showing that humans from an early age believe evil should be punished. In an editorial written by Alfie Kohn for The Teacher Magazine she explains that although cruel events do happen it doesn't mean that humans are cruel. Kohn gives the example of war, individuals are drafted into war to fight for the state stating. Therefore, war is state versus state, instead of man versus man fighting. She brings up the idea of humans being naturally aggressive. Miss Kohn says, “Humans are bound to be aggressive….one may be relatively unlikely to oppose particular wars or to become involved in the peace movement,” (Kohn, 4). One can observe that humans do not intentionally do bad acts but are naturally ready to confront a situation when they feel attacked. For example, if someone were to take a baby's toy away the child would naturally try to snatch it back or cry. Showing, a human's natural aggressive way to react. However, although many believe that humankind is naturally kind because babies are kind, others believe that humans are evil because of their selfishness.
Although children seem to know how to distinguish between good and evil, people act selfish which is why people are inherently evil.
Being selfish is when one does not consider others and is only concerned with their own personal please. In Lord of the Flies a 1954 novel by William Golding a group of boys find themselves on a deserted island and try to govern themselves but ends in shocking results. The story shows the selfish side of humanity through the character Jack, a young boy who lets the need of power corrupt him. Jack says, “We shall take fire from the others. Listen. Tomorrow we'll hunt and get meat. Tonight I'll go along with two hunters- who'll come?” (Golding 161). In this quote Jack is talking about invading another tribe to get their fire. Emphasizing selfishness because he only cares about his own needs and doesn't seem to mind the needs of the boys he's taking the fire from. Additionally, a reason why humans are selfish is because of original sin. Original sin is a Christian doctrine that believes humans are inherently evil since Adam and Eve rebelled when they ate from the tree of good and evil. In the Bible, it states this fall, “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was for with her, and he ate it” (Gen, 3.6). The bible shows humans even from the beginning of time have been selfish. Adam and Eve had plenty of food to pick from but they choose the tree they were not supposed to eat from. Their actions show that man only thinks of themselves and their own wants, instead of following God's will. Both Jack, Adam and Eve were all selfish because they took their own needs before anyone else's. Jack put his want for fire first without thinking about the other boys that would also need the fire to survive, while Adam and Eve put their want to gain wisdom without realising that they were sinning by
disobeying God’s will. However, being selfish isn't the only reason people are evil, the need for revenge also proves to be important.
To collaborate, humans are inherently evil because they take revenge. Revenge is when someone gives a punishment in payment of a wrongdoing, such as Germany after World War I. After the First World War, Germany was angered because the Treaty of Versailles took away most of their territory, prohibited Germany from having a standard military size, and blamed the country for the cause of the war. The treaty obviously angered the German people and when a leader such as Hitler came to power and promised change, the people were able to support him. In a speech Hitler gave to German munition workers he said, “My ambition is to make the German people rich and the German land beautiful. I would like us to have the most beautiful and best culture. I was determined to rear our structure in the world, to widen our position and, secondly to arm at home so that the German soldier must no longer stand alone on the front, lonely and the victim to superior forces” (A Struggle of Two World's, Adolf Hitler). In Hitler’s speech he paints himself as a good leader when he is obviously trying to manipulate the German people into thinking they should be on war. He feeds the munition workers what they want to hear, which is that Germany is weak because of other countries. This shows evil in the German people because when Hitler promised to make Germany great again they let him do anything, their permission let Hitler invade various countries and end millions of lives just because Germany wanted revenge. Another example of revenge would be the Burr- Hamilton duel. The historic duel was fought by Aaron Burr, the United States Vice President and Alexander Hamilton, the nation's first Secretary of Treasury. The country was uncertain of who to vote for in the Election of 1800. When Hamilton swayed the public to vote for Jefferson, Burr decided to take matters into his own hands. In a letter to his friend, Charles Biddle, Burr writes, “It is too well known that Gen. H. [General Hamilton] had long indulged himself in illiberal freedoms with my character… it's become impossible that I could consistently with self respect forbear,” (Introductory Note). The excerpt from Burr’s letter shows that he wanted to take revenge upon his own hands for all the times Hamilton had embarrassed him. Burr wasn't able to just let all of their disagreements go, he had to punish Hamilton and he ended up killing a founding father. He left a legacy for himself, that is portrayed until today as evil. Both Germany and Aaron Burr were trying to take their revenge on other that were doing them wrong. For Burr, it was Alexander Hamilton and for Germany, it was the rest of the countries present at the Treaty of Versailles, especially Britain and France. Both of these examples try to take punishment into their own hands and end the lives of individuals, which proves they are inherently evil.
As settled, although many believe humans are inherently good, they are wrong because of traits such as selfishness and revenge. Plenty of people believe humans are good because babies are born innocent and pure. But, one knows humans are selfish like Jack, in the Lord of The Flies and through the Christian belief of the original sin. Also, one can acknowledge the fact that humans are evil because of revenge such as the citizens of Germany after World War I and the duel of Burr vs Hamilton. Many philosophers since the beginning of humanity have discussed the topic of good and evil. One may never truly know how humans are inherently, but they can choose to believe humans are evil.