Ethics+1

At least two comments are due by 11:59 on Sunday, March 20th.

For this week, let's explore a question posed by our reading:


 * Do you think it makes more sense to say that people are basically good and become corrupted by society, or that people are basically bad and must be kept in line by society? Explain.**

B. Uribe: It makes more sense to think that people are inherently bad and society keep them in line. It is in human nature to be selfish and be only preoccupied with one's one well being in order to survive.

A. Castaneda: Ms. Uribe, since it is human nature to be selfish then how is it possible for society to keep them in line?

B.Uribe: The behavior of inborn bad behavior is seen everyday in the way parents must teach their children what is right and wrong. For example, it one toddler takes the toy from another child, the toddler is too young to know that behavior is bad and must be told by the parents to give the toy back. Society and the pressure of conformity are what keep everyone in line.

G. Yanez: It makes more sense to think that people are neutral, they are not good nor bad, nontheless they are members of society, therefore, they are influenced by the group of people they belong to and become good or bad.

A.Castaneda: I believe that indivuals are naturally good however, it is society and what surrounds them what makes them turn "bad." Individuals tend to be easily brainwashed through the "evil" of society and focuses on only assimulating.

N.Cuevas: Ms Castaneda, i disagree with you because I believe that we are basically bad but are shaped by society in order to become "good citizens" and think not only for ourselves but also care about others' lives and security.

E. Gutierrez: It is popular to believe that all in all, humans are born "good" and are corrupted by society, which is why there is a constant need for reform and why there will always be change. This is possibly because the alternative answer, when subjected to a binary question such as the one above, is that all humans are born evil and that there is no hope for the species, even through societal intervention. I beieve that all things are possible but that they do not come without sacrifice. To an extent It is possible that some people are born "good"while others are born "bad" and the evil are those who think and act while the good are those who simply are and spectate. The former theory can be applied to almost any instance of war or revolution.

E.Tenort: You learn in option E in Manroe's that if you want to test if something is genetic then you must isolate the subject and see if it still has that behavior. For example birds genitally know to fly a certain way an certain time of year even when isolated from their 'society'. I think we need to do this with humans if you really want to find out how much is nature and how much is nurture.

E.Tenort: Nature vs nurture is the argument this question arises. If you ask Mr. Manroe, he says that we do not know how much of which determines what.

L. Silva: I agree with Eric, we won't be able to determine how much is nature and how much is nurture until we test this. We might be able to do this, perhaps like in the Tuman Show movie, although it would give rise to ethical issues concerning the whole life of a human for means of testing.

E. Gutierrez: I agree with Mr. Tenort that nature vs nurture is the primary arguement brought upon by the question, however; is it possible to completely isolate a human from any societal contact from birth till maturity while still being close enough to observe it? If so, what are the ethical implications of the experiment?

M. Gutierrez: I would say that humans are born neither good or bad because being selfish (like Ms.Uribe said) is not considered bad because that selfishness is just us trying to survive and its the environment that we are put in and what we are taught that makes us "good" or "bad".

G.Yanez; Erick is right, in order to know so, we would need to isolate a human being from society and run several test to find out whether some of us are born band or evil. Nevertheless, ethics also gets in the way as it is not right (ethically speaking) to subject a human to be a lab rat. human beings are

N.Cuevas: I believe that humans are basically bad and must be kept in line by society because people tend to think in a way that benefits the individual and therefore be selfish. Ethics that are indoctrinated by society makes citizens more humanitarian and teach individuals how to create a "good" environment.

Curtis Wilson-Patterson: I believe it would make more sense to say that people are good and corrupted by the society in which they live.It has been proven that ones environment greatly impacts their behavior,some even say their outcome but that has been disproven.

Curtis Wilson-Patterson: On the other hand people are born with an evil sin nature inside of them meaning that their flesh seeks to go after what pleases the flesh.Environment does greatly impact an individual by exposing them to things that their flesh might get tempted by.

M.Gutierrez: But Mr. Curtis Wilson-Patterson isn't that just how we try to survive? if it is i don't think that would be considered selfish.

M.Getch: And Buddhism teaches you to separate yourself from desire and wants, but I would argue that for religion to teach us that it should be considered an outside influence in itself

M.Getch: As a Hobbist I believe all humans are intrinsically bad, and the need to coexist makes them righteous. Nature is not clean and friendly, nature is violent and destructive. Life is tenuous at best and the need to exist makes us conform, but at the end of the day we are all interested in self preservation.

L. Silva: I think it makes more sense to say that people are basically bad and must be kept in line by society. To establish order in a society authority must exist. Yet, the self interest theory implies that due to selfishness and the desire for one's own benefit people act like corrupts and that is when the rest of the society must attempt to keep those individuals in line.

E. Peterson: It all depends on what we see as ethically correct. If I kill, do drugs, and other things which society has decided to classify as bad/evil, I can still say im good. Of course others would disagree.

E. Peterson: I was also thinking, it is up to the individual whether he lets society corrupt his or her way of thinking and/or whether he or she believes that it is corruption or not.