Are humans naturally good or evil? Essay

Fundamentally speaking, are humans naturally good or evil? This is a question that has been repeatedly asked throughout humanity. For thousands of years Philosophers have debated whether we have a naturally good nature that is corrupted by society, or an evil nature that is kept in check by society. I believe that we are all born what society calls evil. Our instinct is to kill and survive but as society and civilization has evolved we have been taught to live in a different manner. We try to rationalize our behaviour to act civilized. Evil is our inner beast that we choose to control or be controlled by. Jack from Lord of the Flies is a very good example as he was a boy who was well mannered. He agreed with Ralph about the idea of having rules amongst the boys on the island. He said that rules are necessary as they were not savages that they were English and they English are always right. As time passes, he forgets society and manners. He becomes the savage from within, the savage that was always a part of him but was hidden. Children behave in a bad way and can be thought of as evil but we change their behaviour and teach them what we call manners. We change their behaviour to suit our surrounding’s and the image we have made ourselves portray and disobey our human nature. The Darwin Theory clearly states that us humans have evolved from apes. Apes are animals that hunt to survive. We are more advanced than apes but still have a similar motive as our nature. We were born to hunt to survive like other animals. It is us whom have evolved in such a manner that we have created society. We have taught ourselves to act in a certain way. Cavemen are the original humans. They are early prehistoric humans. They behaved in a manner that was the original purpose for them, to kill to eat, to survive. We show our nature at an early age. We show our selfishness, to want things for ourselves. You only have to look at a child to see the signs of our evil trait. However, a child can be thought quickly to behave in a moral way. The child will often stick to the boundaries set at an early age for the rest of their lives. ‘Moral acts’ persevere our reputation in society because of our fear of the law. Us humans are born evil but obtain our inner sanity and change our actions to become good and civilized. On the other hand, there are some who cannot control their inner self and act upon their nature as they kill and break what we call the law, our society’s rules. Some of us do not obey the law. This is why we have serial killers, murderers, and criminals. Our world constantly has violence. As is proven by the constant wars happening around the world. Many people believe that media is to blame for the evil created in us. That theory is wrong as it all starts since the moment we are born as our first instincts can determine our future personalities. The media can be blamed to trigger the evil within us but not to create it as it was always there. Even though we are born what society calls evil, some people cannot contain their inner aggression and desperation for the kill sensation so they become a murderer. They become serial killers who react to the thrill of the chase. They sometimes fantasize for years about the type of victims and the method of the kill before they act upon the urges. The serial killers have been proven to have an extra X (female) chromosome. Having the extra female chromosome is also called Klinefelter’s syndrome. Tests have proven that serial killers carry the extra chromosome. The serial killer Bobby Joe Lang had an extra chromosome, which lead to him growing breasts during his adolescence stage. This led him to being bullied at school. This leads onto another question. Does a bad upbringing trigger the evil within us? This is shown in the novel Lord of the Flies, as Piggy is a character that suffers from many disabilities such as being overweight, his sight and his asmar. His parents passed away when he was younger. He lived with his auntie and comforted his sorrow and grief with the sweets from her shop. This led to him being bullied for many years not only at school but also in the island by the other boys. Piggy’s character was shy and sensible. He was not treated in the same way as the others because of his disabilities, which led him into disbelieving in himself, and caused low self-confidence. To conclude my essay I would like to state that out of the 7 billion people in the world, 10 million of them are prisoners. I believe that all people are born evil but only some people trigger their evil from within whereas others learn to control it.