There’s a pretty philosophical question that’s been on my mind for a while: are people naturally born good or evil? The obvious noncommittal answer is that it varies, and the end result is also dependent on the state of society upbringing and such too. Then my next question is this: What, then, would be the natural tendency for someone in my same place to be, good or evil? Taking my parents and siblings into account, it seems the answer is good.

But backing up a bit, there still seems to be an unanswered question here: what exactly makes a person good or evil? There are two parts to the English ambiguity of “make”: the first is definitions, and the second is causes. For the purposes of this thought train, I’d like to define “good” as always doing things for the benefit of others, and “evil” as always doing things for the benefit of self. I realize this might be slightly different from a tradition definition of good and evil as moral vs anti-moral but maybe I’ve shifted the morals around a bit, no?

So the causes of good and evil: unclear. Genetics of the brain and upbringing must have something to do with it (wow so deep that’s literally everything it could be). I have no idea why some people seem to be inclined to help others, and others only themselves. Maybe it even depends per-situation? See that’s why I’ve been thinking about this. I want to be good. But I end up falling into my own definition of evil (see Being selfish). Yes other people want to be my definition of evil, and truly believe that is the best thing. I understand it, I think I do, but I don’t know. (As a side note, a lot of times conflicts can even arise between good and good people depending on who they want to help).

So there you have it. Some of  thoughts on naturally tendency and good and evil.