Are Humans Evil by Nature?

[IIIIITHE1IIIII]

Soundwave said:

Actually I think there is an evolutionary basis for human beings being civil and cooperative with each other .... we never would've survived as a species in the wild if we were constantly killing each other.

We had to survive in a group/tribe culture to hunt, raise children, and protect each other. I think this is especially true of humans because physically we're not anything special ... put a human in a cage with a tiger or a lion and we're not lasting very long. We needed to be in group and to be able to think and communicate to be able to do things like hunt in a more cerebral way, since physically we're relatively on the weak end of the natural kingdom.

I think the natural human "equilibrium" is actually to be in a relatively peaceful state with the person next to you. It's advantageous to human survival, a person who's running around like a nutcase, killing and raping etc. at will would be counter productive in an evolutionary sense and could put the tribe/group at risk.

Feeling "bad" or guilty when you've done something awful very well may be an evolutionary "reflex", which eventually we came to rationalize as morality. 

Exactly. Doing bad things in that case would cause nothing but harm to yourself and everyone around you. People will choose to be good as long as they see good actions as the most benefitial thing to do. For instance, being born in an area with poor education and/or being born with more or less mental issues can stop you from gaining enough (if any) 'profit' from good behavior.

As for the whole definition of evil discussion, yes of course everyone has their own definition of the word (I don't prefer to use that word myself, but I imagine most people do), but pretty much everyone must agree that the basic crimes such as stealing, raping, and killing are considered evil. In other words: Gaining 'profit' by harming others.

On another note; I was hoping to see more religious people express their views on the 'lack of hell' scenario I presented.