Semi-cheesy question Are most people inherently good?

NJSue
Wed, 30 Mar 2016 12:06:09 +0000

@anomander, the studies conducted (i.e. 6-10 month olds watching “morality play” videos and judged to be displaying a preference for characters who help rather than hinder based on attention span) don’t, to me, suggest that babies are “good.” There could be many reasons why the babies preferred to watch one character over another (more movement, more sound, more color). The conclusion made, that babies instinctively recognize cooperation, also does not mean they are “good,” The Smithsonian article opened with an anecdote from a researcher’s life; he was beaten up randomly as part of a probable gang initiation, which fostered his fascination with questions of inherent good and evil. Yet the gang initiation itself is a form of “cooperation.” Cooperation, the desire to get along and be accepted, is not synonymous with moral goodness, which sometimes requires the opposite (at great personal cost).

No one has really defined what it means to be a good person.

I agree with @oldfort. When your life has been easy and you’ve been well-treated most of the time within your society, of course you are going to say that people are basically good. It’s kind of a luxury to be able to think that way. It’s what I believed as a child. I don’t regret having a trustful childhood, though. High-trust societies are better to live in than low-trust ones.