Man is Inherently Good Essay Example

early deaths of his siblings. Since all his siblings died at an early age, Hitler was an only child and was extremely lonely.

Then slightly later in his life, the mother he was extremely close to, died due to cancer. These deaths that occurred early In Hitter's life and Germany's defeat In world war l, spurred Hitler Into action and he took out his anger and frustration out on the Jews ( Doll Hitler: Early Years). Both men may have grown up to be better men, but the circumstances changed them and made them into evil human beings. Philosophers John Locke and Jean Jacques Rousseau believed that man was born good but was corrupted by its environment.

In The Origin of Inequality, Rousseau reposes that man is slowly losing his goodness because he is progressing too much. By gaining more and more knowledge, the moral sense of man has changed.

Also, Ideas such as private ownership has fueled feelings of selfishness and greed. Rousseau believed that man could live peacefully in a state of nature in which he would live by himself and stay dependent on no one(Younkers). Even John Locke argues that man is born with a blank slate and experiences write on that slate. He says a new born baby does not automatically feel negatively towards anything because it doesn't have any experiences(Sheridan).

Just as a blind man can't form the concept of color, a new born baby cannot experience hatred towards anyone without being stimulated by the environment.

Inspired by the philosophers In the past, people today have formulated their own theories about the nature of human kind, and provide many examples

of the kindness of humans. Many questions are being asked such as, if there is so much evil 1 OFF humans have the instinct to take care of their young? While many animals leave their young to fend for themselves, humans nurse their young for many years. If man was evil, he would toss aside his children and not care for them(Shelter).

Also goodness is prevalent in people like Somali AMA, Opera Winfred, Mother Theresa and many more. Somali AMA is a woman who grew up as an orphan and lived in extreme poverty in Cambodia.

As a young girl, she was sold into sex slavery. She was brutally raped and tortured on a daily basis and even witnessed the vicious murder of a girl. She eventually escaped from this horrible life but she went back to Cambodia to help the girls still being tortured. Out of the goodness of her heart, Somali AMA has dedicated her entire life to improve the life of the girls who live a horrible life(Somali AMA).

The same goes with Opera Winfred and Mother Theresa. They both helped people and greatly improved the life of many people.

Along with philosophical studies of human nature, there have also been scientific studies about the true nature of humans. Since babies have had minimal interactions with the human world, they are the ideal study tool for researchers. Researchers conduct many tests in which a baby is often told to make a choice. One example of one these tests is one in which a baby is shown three shapes and a hill. One of the shapes struggles to climb the hill while one

assists it and the other enders it.

After seeing the shape struggle, the baby is given a choice of choosing the helping or hindering shape, and more often than not, the baby choose the helper.

Another study was done in which a baby sees three puppets. The center puppet gives the puppet to the right a ball and it hands it back. The center puppet hands the ball to the puppet on the left, and it runs away with the ball. Then the two puppets are given treats, and the baby is asked to take away a treat from one of them.

The baby took treats from the thief and smacked him on the head(Bloom).

This shows that babies have a natural inclination to stop evil from happening and helping the good. Although evil is prevalent in mainly all humans today, there is hidden positivist in all humans. When a baby is born, it learns what it does from its environment. If a child grows up in terrible conditions, he has a propensity to inflict cruelty upon others.

There are several exceptions to this theory which shows that there is goodness in the world. People like Somali AMA, Opera Winfred and Mother Theresa lived in horrible circumstances, yet they still aspired to help others altruistically.