Are Humans Good Or Bad By Birth? An Ethical Dilemma

Honestly speaking, this is a very debatable topic to talk about. Are humans good or bad by birth? People come up with different opinions.  Ages ago, philosophers argued a lot about this very question. They had set two conditions. They said that human beings have a good nature that is further exploited by society. The other condition says that human beings are born evil but they are not exposed in front of society. The philosopher's approach had not satisfied humans to consider them either bad or good inherently.

But psychology has helped a bit to solve this mystery. Psychologists discuss that

“to evaluate people on the criteria of good and bad nature. First of all, look at babies. They exhibit good examples of human nature by showcasing their innocence.”

So, the ambiguity is somehow resolved. The reason behind this is related to their minimum interaction with society. They have an unbiased approach to society. Humans are born good. It's the society that alters human nature from good to evil and vice versa.

Here I will add the perspective of post-structuralists. They propose that:

“Behaviour is executed by collectivity.”

This rule is implied in the human’s nature as well. When people grow and have interaction with others, they are strongly influenced by the bad side of society. So, this factor supports the philosopher's point of view as well. They believe that society plays a vital role in structuring either a good or bad nature of a human being.

But again, they had another side of the picture. Aristotle is of the view that:

“morality is learned, and that we are born as ‘amoral creatures’”

This is again creating confusion to have a final decision about humans as being good and bad by birth. So, the endpoint is that there is no such final result to conclude, since this narrative is highly subjective.

From all the philosophers and physiologists' viewpoints, Islam has a different criterion for evaluating human nature. Islam says that,

“Every human being is born on sound nature”

In this way, Islam gives a person authority to develop a better nature as well as a better human being. It is up to the person who has to choose the path of good or bad behaviour. Therefore, we cannot say that there is a determined parameter to count people having good nature and bad by birth. Every person is exposed to different circumstances. Having said that, human nature is developed in a different way. However, at the same time, we cannot deny the impact of society on the individual’s nature.