Is Man Inherently Evil?

Is man inherently evil? I have my reason to believe they are.

If man is inherently good, how did Hitler, Stalin or Vlad the Impaler come about? The amount of harm these man do to other fellow humans must have triggered the primordial evil impulse for violence. The rise of man to the top of the food chain was characterized by violence: hunting and hand-to-hand tribal warfare. The most effective early tribes of hunter and gathers must resort to violence to survive. This fact, combined with the years of survival of the fittest, will put the impulse to eliminate people into our hearts.

Other people states that it is society that puts evil into our hearts. According to John Locke, government receives its powers from the people. If the people governing are inherently good, why must the government, or the institute of rule, be evil? If the answer is precedent, how does Nero, who had great precedent in leadership, turn towards the "dark side?"

People constantly tries to get away with acts of shame. Why would man of inherent good try to "get away with" evil acts? Wouldn't the sub-conscious parts of the brain kick in and act on behalf of the good side? Take a look at this article on BBC. How could the people looking upon an injured woman ignore her, yet still take the energy to swerve to not run over her? The reason for this action is that humans are self-centered.

People don't give a crap on what happens to other people. Sure, influences such as church, school and family, will make humans seem to care about each other, but at the lost of authority, I think humans will descend into savagery. As Golding's Lord of the Flies illustrates it quite well, man without authority to control them will descend into chaos and self-worship.

Another theme that pops up in Golding's book is that of manipulation of the mind. There's always the saying of "going with the wind" but this study may say that we as human may be too manipulable by others. My reasoning for this manipulative power is the want to please, to bribe, to make our way to the top at the expense of others.

The only thing that's guarding us against harming other humans is the possible repercussions of the act. The prime examples are the marvelous dictators of the world. With full power comes full exposure of corruption. Power does not increase corruption of humankind, just the visibility of it. According to the Stanford Prison Experiment, if you were to be a cop, you would gladly shoot a 92 year-old woman.

My final argument for the evilness of mankind is this. In this study, humans were given a "memory test" where for every incorrect answer, a person in another room was shocked. To increase the stakes, for every incorrect answer, the voltage will be upped. Also, the person being tested can fully hear the "shocked" person suffer. The results are disappointing to optimists, most of all the people continued with no objections till the highest voltage levels. Mankind are too concerned about pleasing guys in lab suit than worry about the suffering of fellow human beings.

Though man have risen to a position of great power in the biological world, they retained the instinct of violence. Then with the advent of communication, warfare and torture, the human mind unlocked its own Pandora Box.

-runiteking1

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