Journal #1

9/7/2017

Do you think that human nature is either good or bad? Is a human being born with this nature or is it developed?

Edison Pavon

9/8/2017 07:55:09 am

In my opinion I believe that human nature is neither good or bad we aren't perfect obviously we tend to blame others for our mistakes and we tend to use excuses to get out of bad situations but the good thing is that we learn from our mistakes and not commit the same mistakes I believe that things happen for a reason I mean everything happens for a reason either good or bad it just all depends how we handle situations

Ynigo, Ira

9/9/2017 08:05:35 pm

This was the same idea i had really, to briefly sum it all up. human nature not being good nor bad but just a way of self preception and how we decide to discern the things we do versus the things we want and need and how we will attain them.

Esmeralda Chavez

9/10/2017 04:54:58 pm

You make a valid point. However, I believe people tend to be selfish naturally unless there is reason not to be (such as helping a loved one, for example).

Jazmin Ibarra

9/8/2017 04:46:16 pm

Personally, I believe humans have the capacity to be good and bad but how you're raised and what ideals are instilled in you (like Caleb said) have a lot to do with it. I'd like to be an optimist and say humans are inherently good because of the fact that we're emotional beings that can try to put ourselves in other people's shoes and not add to the bad we see around us.

Jackie Duong

9/9/2017 08:48:48 pm

I agree with your comment and I would like to say that almost everyone is good and we would try to help others by putting ourselves in other people's shoes. Most people would try to understand, be reasonable and would like to help others with our best capabilities.

Stephanie Buenrostro

9/9/2017 09:55:01 am

In my opinion, I believe human nature is both good and bad. and I believe that some people are born good or bad, but others are taught to be good or bad. I've heard stories where even people who had a loving and caring childhood are still bad or choose to do bad things in their adulthood. No two people are alike so their experiences and thoughts can never be the same and being good or bad depends on the person and their mind.

Jacob Rubio

9/9/2017 10:20:36 pm

I agree with you that people with a good and loving home can turn into bad people with bad intentions and beliefs. Then on the other hand people with not so great homes can be pure and innocent with a human nature to match. So it can be from experience and nurture.

Ynigo, Ira

9/9/2017 08:01:01 pm

I myself am very big on the logical and Psychological points of view on matters, i strive to use the most common sense i have available to discern everything, and in Human Nature i agree with Philosopher Sigmund Freud. I have read many of his excerpts, and on his "Essence of Human Nature" he states that " the deepest essence of human nature, which are similar in all men and which aim at the satisfaction of certain needs..."
In which i strongly agree, Humans are that of Creatures of habit. [or for many of us habits*.] I believe These impulses in themselves are neither good nor bad. We classify them and their expressions in that way, according to their relation to the needs and demands of the person.
Or you could take the biblical response and say human nature is doomed due to women and their poor decisions, maybe that's why its so hard to get my girl friend to choose a place to eat because the last time a woman in history decided what she wanted to eat (the apple) she doomed the entire human race.

Aaron Ponce

9/10/2017 07:22:46 pm

That is interesting. I have never thought of it in the way that things aren't good or bad. They are just classified as such because someone said so. I agree with we have needs, and those needs differ from person to person.

Jackie Duong

9/9/2017 08:52:11 pm

I personally think that human nature is neither good or bad. No one starts of being bad or good but we can be influenced into being bad or good. When we are born, we tend to listen to what our parents say since we do not know what is “right” and what is considered “wrong”. We would repeat what they say and tend to copy their actions. For example, if a child were to be born in a "negative" household that contains violent and abuse, then it is more likely that that child would grow up to be a “bad” person because their environment could influence the child’s thoughts.

In my opinion, I think a person is not born with this nature and it is developed. But I would like to think that you could be born with this nature and it could be developed further. You are usually influenced by your parents, classmates, friends, and your surroundings but for most people, they are born with it.

Tommy Trang

9/10/2017 10:29:08 pm

Yes I agree that we are highly influenced by our parents. For example in Asian cultures people are very filial which means that children care for their parents way more than that of individualist societies. This includes the children living with their parents and caring for them as they get older. This causes the children to inhibit a sense of obedience to always do as the parents say which is used to control their bad instincts.

Scott Pham

9/10/2017 11:54:48 pm

I like your idea about parent's influence on their children. It is true that parents and friends hold the most influence over an individual and it determines whether this individual would turn out to be good or bad. I do believe that there are several factors that determines the role of an individual. To add on, I believe that environment is a large factor in determining whether an individual will be good or bad.

Jacob Rubio

9/9/2017 10:16:26 pm

I think human nature is neither good nor bad, it's something that is taught to you and it's your actions that determine human nature. I believe nurture is the result of human nature, and those predetermined teachings that can shape your human nature. This can be developed by your surroundings, teachings, and passed on from generation to generation. I would have to disagree with Wolfred, as I am not particularly religious,but we don't inherent anything from the past except biologically. Human nature, ideals, and principles can be changed throughout generations. I also don't believe that human nature is bad, I believe that it is good and can be coaxed, deceived, and fooled into being evil. I believe it starts joyful, innocent,, and happy, then though life and goring older and having experiences it can bend and be molded into something else.

Jazmin Ibarra

9/10/2017 03:23:29 pm

I agree that humans can be coaxed to do bad things because of bad experiences but I also believe that the same bad experiences can coax good from humans instead. They can have something good come out of something bad.

Tamryn Spinner

9/10/2017 07:30:13 pm

I enjoyed reading your theory, i found we shared a similar response that people can only be taught to be good or bad or be told that they are either good or bad, it is what we choose to do with that information that shapes us into either of those categories.

Aliyah Garcia

9/9/2017 10:26:52 pm

In my opinion, I think any behavior whether it is good or bad is taught. No one is born knowing what is right or wrong. As humans we're easily influenced by everything such as our family, friends, and social media. I don't think anyone really wants to be "bad", but it's also about perspective. People usually don't think their behavior is toxic or bad or they think they're doing the right thing, but to someone else it could be seen as wrong.

Edison Pavon

9/10/2017 08:59:17 am

I agree with Aliyah, nobody is born knowing the good and bad they tend to get influenced by friends and family nobody is perfect but they tend to use excuses to get out of bad situations

Jack Nguyen

9/10/2017 08:48:17 pm

I agree with the statement that that who we are as people is partially influenced by the people around us. This can be seen throughout the world via the existence of cultures and different societies which are built off of the ideas of continuing a tradition within the family.

Luis Salazar

9/10/2017 01:51:18 pm

In my opinion, people developed the sense of doing good or bad. It's influenced by our parents, friends, and school, but there is a moment in our life when we have to decide to behave good or bad. All we know that each decision we take in life have good and bad consequences. So the choice to do good or bad belongs us.

Esmeralda Chavez

9/10/2017 04:57:08 pm

I agree that our surroundings and how we are raised have an impact on who we are. It may not be completely responsible for our actions, but it can have a huge influence over our nature.

Tommy Trang

9/10/2017 10:25:48 pm

I believe that we are also naturally born with some bad characteristics. But that is only because it is used to survive. I agree with you that our characteristics are molded by our parents, friends, school, etc. They definitely do help it to make sure that we are obedient and that we are not committing illegal acts

Julia Sanchez

9/10/2017 03:58:40 pm

I believe human nature is innate and is neither good or bad. We inherit most ourselves from our parents and carry certain characteristics from them like our hair, eye color, skin tone, but we carry more than just their appearance, we have their will to survive. Like, as babies, all we know is to cry when we need to be fed or changed or carried. Crying is inherited in us and it is our survival instinct. We can not develop that kind of human nature through our livable surroundings we have it already indebted in us. In a sense we can not be born as "blank slates" because our human nature is in our parents and they made us, they developed us for months and inserted themselves in us.Though i also believe that at least some of our thoughts are developed through nurture because of things out on media or the internet we can come up with our own opinions with experience and research. Furthermore, I don't believe that human nature is either bad or good, there has to be a balance between the two. Such as, there is no light with out darkness, there is no good with out bad, because one can not exist with out the other.

Aaron Ponce

9/10/2017 07:17:36 pm

Well said. I can see where you are coming from with, "there is no light without dark". So with that there is no good without evil. We do learn what is shown and preached to us, but choose to keep with it or change.

Yang Dong

9/10/2017 09:32:09 pm

Good one, I like your idea "human nature is either bad or good, there has to be a balance between the two" especially the "there is no light without dark" part. Like you said, there are hard to find a pure saint or pure evil in the world, we are all just people, the mortal. That means we can't do every thing perfect, we will make mistake, but also we will not ruin every thing, we will have the time success. So, like you said, either good or bad, but something between these two.

Scott Pham

9/11/2017 12:01:31 am

I like your idea about nature vs nurture and personally, I feel like nurture play more of a role than nature but they both have an important role to play in. We are taught by experience (nurture) in order to survive and reproduce (nature). I do agree that we are what our parents made us.

Esmeralda Chavez

9/10/2017 04:51:06 pm

I believe human nature is always to do what’s bad first; like that saying, “It’s so wrong but it feels so right.” We are born as sinners we develop good and bad characteristic but as sinners the tendency to do bad is always there. We were given common sense to make good and bad choices in life.

Adam and Eve were the first people on earth created by God, according to the bible Genesis 1:26 “God said: let us make man in our image, according to our likeness…” Adam and Eve only knew what was good until they disobeyed God. Quoting Genesis 3:22 “God then said: here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad…” For example, when you tell a baby not to touch something because he might get hurt his tendency is to try to touch it regardless of the consequences. If the parent doesn’t teach the baby boundaries, within time he will want to do whatever he wants.
Since we are decedents of Adan and Eve we are born with this nature, we lean towards doing what is bad, but we have a choice to what is good.

Aaron Ponce

9/10/2017 07:12:16 pm

I do not believe human nature is bad. By saying that, I also don't nessessary think we are completely good. As much as it sounds like a cop out, I agree with the two students that said "we are a blank slate". When we are born we don't know better until we are shown. Wether it's with love, or pain, we learn through our parents. Now even if our parents or guardians might have learned one way. Doesn't mean that is passed to us and is permanent. We can learn to change and better ourselves if we are willing to.

Tamryn Spinner

9/10/2017 07:20:57 pm

My impression on humankind it that our nature can only be learned by those who reared us, I think the way we view life and react to its lessons is based on how we watched others react first to it. Therefore, we cannot say someone is either good nor bad, we can possibly say that humans become what they have learned to be. We can also add that our experiences have provided us with choices and certain outlooks on life. Thus molding us to become either bitter towards it or conquerors and positive viewers of it.

Louis Robles-Rodriguez

9/10/2017 07:31:09 pm

I don't think human nature can be explained in a broad stroke question like this. I do n't think that morality is universal, so what good or bad for one person, is not for another. However, I believe that in the context of the persons time or place, their nature is learned from an outside force, parents, teachers, peers, instead of being innate within them.

Paulo Vazquez

9/10/2017 07:31:39 pm

Although people will say that humans are naturally bad or naturally selfish, I do not agree. It would be like saying that all humans are born racists, which is not true. Behaviors like racism, or being selfish and bad are taught as we grow. Having said that, I also don't believe humans are entirely good. I believe that we have a choice as to who we want to become, a good person or a bad person. Which we choose always depends on the type of people we surround ourselves with, the principles that our parents teach us, and even life experiences.

Jack Nguyen

9/10/2017 08:44:00 pm

I agree with the point that was said in the presentation that human nature is evil and innate but with that in mind also doesn't leave room for absolutes leaving us also to choose our own futures. From a psychological standpoint that human personality is 70% genetic and 30% experience I can say that while alot of who we are is granted by our forefathers doesn't give us the excuse to give up on ourselves to wallow in evil and that the 30% is enough to allow us to choose to be good or evil in life. A good example of this is our past president Theodore Roosevelt whose father's life as a coward in the civil war haunted him but didn't stop him from choosing his own destiny to volunteer in the Spanish American and eventually rise to become one of the greatest presidents in American history.

Brian Tran

9/10/2017 09:06:21 pm

I think human nature is neither good or bad but we are influenced by our environment and the people around us. It is something natural in human beings because we have feelings but it is also developed as we get older and learn the difference from what's right and wrong.

Yang Dong

9/10/2017 09:10:57 pm

I believe that human nature is either good or bad, our nature is been set for a simple task, to survive. Our nature just makes us do the choices, the choice that helps us better living in the world, and that is either good or bad, just our world is now full of competition, sometimes those choices seem to be selfish or unpleasant. But normally, people only do the bad thing when they must do to survive, at other time, I believe there is kindness in human nature. Furthermore, I believe that our human nature is been developed to what they are nowadays, and it's been developed from our instinct. When we are born, we are just babies, we too young to understand anything, our instinct commands us to survive. At this stage, we observe all the world surrounding us and learn from them. For example, the people we are living with, the events happen to us and other stuff, together they build who we are. Normally those processes usually take decades. During that our human nature evolves to our human nature, and dominate our subconsciousness, to effect our way of life in future.

William Abraamyan

9/10/2017 10:12:03 pm

I believe that humans can naturally be bad or good. The best way to look at this is by looking at young children because they have had the least amount of influences in their life. Some kids are totally ok with sharing toys while others show signs of selfishness and greed by not wanting to share and wanting to have all the toys to themselves. Human nature can also be changed or developed because our surrounding environments and influences play a huge role in how we grow up.

Tommy Trang

9/10/2017 10:22:29 pm

I believe that human nature is bad and humans are born naturally bad because without any restrictions, inherently we would do all sorts of crimes that are considered illegal to do to survive such as cannibalism, rape, stealing, murder, etc. This is why us as humans have established government. What government does is ensure that we are restricted by law to never commit such unlawful acts or else we will be punished. Overall, A government is meant to control our bad side to make sure that we never ever express these natural desires that we all have as being a human

Scott Pham

9/10/2017 11:41:02 pm

I like your idea about government and it got me thinking about a different reality where law does not exist. I can picture that reality where every individuals are savages and because we do not have limitations, we kill, rape, and steal in order to survive.

Nicolas Moreno

9/10/2017 11:21:45 pm

I think human nature is good. The drive to stay alive by any means necessary is appealing because that is the type of determination you need to succeed in life. I think you are born with it but it is shaped in different way. A more modern way that isn't about killing for survival but using that drive to achieve what ever goals you have set for yourself.

Scott Pham

9/10/2017 11:29:32 pm

I believe that human nature is neither good or bad. From a psychological viewpoint, I believe more of nurture than nature but I do believe that both nature and nurture has a role to play in. Every individual are not born with a mindset of good or evil, good and evil are taught. By nurture, we are taught by parents to become something whether it is good or bad by nature. By nature, we have survival instincts and that survival instinct would take us into a narrow path which determines whether we are good or bad. To further explain about survival instincts and narrow paths, some individuals steal from other individuals in order to survive, it is a matter of morals. We develop three stages of morals, the three stages of morals are: preconventional, conventional, and post conventional. Kids often do what parents say to avoid yelling and scolding which is an example of preconventional morals. Conventional morals deals with right and wrong and doing things because it is the right thing to do. Lastly post conventional moral makes individuals think what is right for them and are guided by their own principles and ethics. Focusing on post conventional morals, this final stage of morality has led every individuals thinking for themselves for right and wrong and what is best for them no matter the consequences. Individuals who are bad, has done bad things like stealing in order to survive and it is how they thought of their "principles." Wrapping up the topic, the world is composed of good and evil. Nurture has taught individuals experience which leads them to become good or bad by nature. Both nature and nurture has a role to play in our society. Because I believe more of nurture than nature, it is a matter of experience that makes an individual.

Tommy Trang

9/10/2017 11:45:00 pm

I agree with your comment because survival instincts can equal to either good or bad. For example, you can team up with someone to ensure that you guys can both hunt for double the food, or you can betray that partner when they get the food, and take it all by yourself. Either way, these both play a factor in which that a human is nurtured in a good way or a bad way. You can be taught to betray a partner or team with them but it can also be determined by nature in the same way as "fight or flight"

Jackie Duong

9/10/2017 11:54:37 pm

I agree with Scott's comment, not every individual are born with a good/ bad mindset and they are taught instead. Usually when a child is born, children during the early years are like sponges so they take in everything. I also agree with Tommy's argument and his example about survival instinct because you want to stay alive and make sure you are the last one standing. I would like to connect his comment to the book Lord of the Flies and how everyone tried their best to stay alive.

Isabel Grigoryan

9/13/2017 01:14:31 pm

I completely agree with this statement; I believe you can't exactly pin point if human nature is good or bad. It's not a black and white concept. Our nurture from our parents is intended to create good, but then again it depends on the family situation and unit. By nature, we are a blank slate and we take in what our surroundings and voices that we allow. In the end, humans do what benefits them. Even if someone has liberal views and equality it still benefits them because they want to live in a society where everyone is treated fairly, equally, and won't have to suffer.

Kimberly Reyes

9/10/2017 11:51:52 pm

I believe that human nature is good and bad but they can choose to be either good or bad throughout their life.Life shapes people into who they become later on, lets say a person as only shone negative vibes and was not nurtured or cared for, the person will not have good feel intentions with other people. But if the person grew up with positive feelings and was nurtured the they can be good to others.

Jonathan Martinez

9/11/2017 04:52:28 pm

I think that we are innocent at birth and become corrupted by society. We can choose to let external forces (T.V., books, movies, role models, etc.) influence our thoughts and feelings but sometimes their power is too strong and we become brainwashed/shadows of our former selves. We take a look in the mirror and recoil with disgust because the person we see is unrecognizable.

I believe everyone's personality is different and a kid with a good upbringing and supportive is going to be open-minded, kind and good natured then say, Tarzan.

Isabel Grigoryan

9/13/2017 01:11:51 pm

By this statement do you believe media is naturally evil and causes corruption? When I read, "...brainwashed/shadows of our former selves," I interpreted as we are made to feel self conscious and insecure by unrealistic standards just to fit in with society.

Isabel Grigoryan

9/13/2017 01:09:12 pm

Human nature is naturally good; from birth we are a blank slate. Our parents begin our lives with teaching us little habits we can grow and learn from. For example, as toddlers we learn basic manners, how to treat other children our age with respect and kindness, and how to associate goodness with kindness. I believe when we get older, more political/social issues that are associated with bigotry or hatred, are learned outside our immediate unit. Human nature in general doesn't teach to hate one another; our overall goal is to respect each other and our fellow human beings. We are born with goodness in our souls, but as we get older the goodness is developed by our own moral choices and how we would like to lead our lives.

Svetlana Bosnoyan

9/16/2017 11:59:53 pm

In my opinion human's nature is such an complicated structure with so many visible and invisible layers that it can't be described as simple as just good or bad. Every good person can take some horrible steps because of circumstances and vice versa.
The nature of person is being developed during life by impact of surrounding events and people. According an old saying, there are two wolfs fighting in us , one is evil, the other is good. The winner is the one that we feed.

Serigne Athj

9/17/2017 11:41:32 pm

In my personal opinion, I believe that human nature is neither good nor bad. However, as we grow older and experience certain situations either firsthand or from the outside looking in, we develop generalizations about how we should react for future reference, in the event that we become faced with a similar situation later on. Essentially, we become accustomed to something which will later on reflect on us when making certain choices. So I strongly believe that either good or bad ethics are developed, simultaneously as we humans develop.

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