Hey guys, I haven't been here for very long, maybe about four months or so, but I still am a part of the dollars, and I want to hear everyone's opinions on the issue of human nature. First off, I just wanted to put it out there that we all have opinions. It's part of human nature. I'm no different. In my very human and imperfect opinion, people all start out the same way, with the same selfish desires inside them. That's right, I believe that humans all start out as naive but very selfish beings. I don't think there's such a thing as a truly selfless act. Now, if you don't like what I just said, then I'd ask you to stop here and kindly hit the back button on your browser. I don't mind if you disagree, but I really don't like it when people hate just for the sake of hating.
If you're reading this then I assume you won't be ranting at me without explaining why. Back at the topic at hand. Humans are selfish creatures. I'm not giving that up, in fact I doubt I could even if I wanted to. But I am giving up any right to judge you on what you say, for now. With that in mind, I'm going to tell you some of my own opinions without any expectations. Humans are selfish. That never changes. We do things for our own benefit, while helping people is something we learn to do over time. Because our primary reason for being is not to help others. It is survival. That instinct runs deep in our veins. I don't think that is a bad thing. I think kindness all comes down to making ourselves feel good about ourselves, to feel fulfilled. It's okay to me that we are selfish, as long as we control it in a way that helps one another. Why try to change something you can't? Instead, why not focus on using those selfish instincts for good? Help people to feel fulfilled, make friends to feel entertained, and love for the sake of being loved back. Maybe you will even die for the sake of a loved one so they can live on because our possessiveness makes them more important then our own well being. Everything is selfish in some way or another, we just have to learn to make our own lives better by making the lives of others better. Feel free to disagree. Heck, I even disagree with myself sometimes. All the time. I'm just in this sort of mood right now. The mood to be selfish.
So, what do you think? Do you have your own opinions on the issue? Do you think humans are selfish? C'mon, don't just agree with me. Tell me your opinions. I don't want to hear a restatement of my own words. What do you think human nature is?

>>1 "C'mon, don't just agree with me. Tell me your opinions."

Sorry but you said it all (are you reading my mind). I think it will be hard to find someone who disagries.

I want to give you a rebuttal for the sake of you wanting an argument over this but there is just nothing much to debate on because you are actually stating hard facts.

Why do I say those are hard facts?

Because if we are talking about the selfishness of humans, it is our hard-wiring and that is how nature designed us in order to survive during our primal times where people are hunter gatherers and the world was just harsh to live in. During those times selfishness means the difference between survival and extinction and that psychological design stayed within us even if we have already developed a social system where we try to cooperate with each other and overcome selfishness, which we call the community.

I don't think humans are like that by nature, its more to subject of the culture they're brought up in. You can't compare a person from America, China, Nepal, Japan, and Germany.
The amazing thing about people is that they're kinda like blank slates when they're young. They grow into their tendencies. However you could make an exception to think that someone would be selfish if they're given hardships and not shown some sort of assistance.
The base of it all is, to say that is underestimating humans all together. If that's true, why are we here as Dollars?

I agree, humans are selfish in nature, but as we grow up we learn to share with those who are close to us. Who we love, our friends etc. Humans need other humans, so we aren't that selfish. We learn to share our feelings, toughts, experiences and we listen to others when they're sharing their feelings,... So yes, you were right that we are naturally selfish, but we also learn. We also change, and that's because we're surrounded by other humans. Your personality changes.

Human nature is a myth.

Ah, the question of human nature, a question that has many answers, though none precise enough to put in a single sentence. Do we view human nature from a moral standpoint? Survival? Coexistence with others?

Some say humans are hard wired to be self centred, for survival purposes. Others argue that human nature stems from whatever cultural influences you grow up around. Others say that humans are sinful because of a mistake the first humans made long ago, the story of Adam and Eve, and salvation can only be found in God.

All of these things are probable, whichever you believe is up to you. May reason guide you

Flamemaster1

bump

Well, I got some interesting replies. I do believe that personality changes, just not the instinct to survive, which I call selfishness. I'm glad to hear everyone's opinions.

>>5 I expected better grammer and less violations against the English language from my doppelganger. I am severely disappointed.

I believe there is a difference between selfishness and looking out/respecting yourself. Truth is, there is no one out there who can take care of you better than you can. Basically, everything a person does has some degree of selfishness (for example: being kind to the kid that gets bullied in school so that you can feel better about yourself, pat yourself on the back for being a good person OR helping an old lady cross the street so that the pretty girls walking by can see what a respectful gentleman you are). But if you think about it, what's so wrong with having your own best interests at heart? Nothing I think, especially if someone else can benefit from it. Why would we do something if we had ABSOLUTELY nothing to gain from it? That's just looking out for yourself, nothing wrong with that. Selfishness becomes "wrong" when your own interests and actions deliberately harm or threaten someone else and/or their own interests.

Seriously? Just. Go fuck yourself.

If you're not going to bother to use paragraphs in your posts, just die.

You fucktard.

^ seriously?

I don't think the Dollars is your kind of group man. go find some other hole in the street to wallow in your curses.

Can I laugh.....HAHAHAAHAAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA......okay then...

I honestly see life as a game and most people are just stupid NPCs, they're there to stand in your way, converse with you, you can friend them, they can hurt you, etc. so if you're a "main character" then do what you feel is the right choice in your "game of life."
In mine I ignore almost all NPCs to me, they're simply just there, however I do make the occasional friend but I am far from trusting just anyone, if learned this from being constantly hurt by NPCs until one day I realized I'm far from them, a different kind of existence per say.

I do agree that humans can be largely selfish, which I think stems from survival needs: food, water, shelter, air, etc. (basically, Maslow's hierarchy of needs). Following that hierarchy, when baser needs are met, you can then devote more time and energy to focus on needs higher up the ladder, such as social needs or self-esteem. If you keep this up, eventually your selfish needs will be met and then you may choose to do more selfless things. Despite my simplistic explanation, which is just the general concept of Maslow's hierarchy, I don't think it's that black-and-white, and I also don't think there's necessarily a specific order to that kind of hierarchy, with the exception of survival needs being the first rung.

I disagree that everything we do ultimately boils down to selfishness. In many cases, that is the case. But I think there are plenty of exceptions. I'm not going to use people like Mother Teresa as an example because I think that's too far removed from the lives of the people on here. When I hold the door for someone, or when I push a shopping cart that someone left in the middle of a parking lot back into the store it came from, it's entirely selfless. I don't care if someone thanks me or feels obligated to hold the door for me next time. It doesn't make me feel particularly good about myself (it doesn't make me feel bad, either; I'm indifferent). In the shopping cart example, it doesn't affect me. I've already parked my car. The cart is in someone else's way.

Another example, which is even simpler, is turning off a light you're not using because it wastes electricity, which costs money (essentially, because it wastes money). I do this at home (I live with my parents; I don't pay the bills), at work (I work as a secretary for an attorney), at friends' houses, and even in restaurants' restrooms when no one else is in there. I'm not saving any money in any of those cases; someone else is. I don't do it for myself.

These examples I've given are very small acts. They're not grand gestures of selflessness. Because they're such small acts, I would be incredibly surprised if there were not many other people who also do those things for the same reasons.

There is more I wanted to say on this topic (which I think is very interesting and is something I've put a fair bit of thought into), but I don't have the time right now. I'll post more later. Thanks for making this thread, OP!

If you choose to look at things that way, humans really do everything for themselves. But is this selfish already? I am not troubled by your thought but by your terminology, even if you did say you do not see selfishness as necessarily evil. Isn't it possible that a human being can only be called selfish if, in pursuing his interests be it only for himself or for a group he belongs in, he drags other people down? I think there should be another word for what you are saying, although this is hardly your fault.

I also question the scope of human nature. Is human nature what makes a human a human, what distinguishes him from other animals? If this is so, other questions other than this should be asked. Is living in a state natural to humans? Are we made to be governed by a set of rules? Can we not live without a higher being (e.g. god, a ruler) controling us? Are we fundamentally good or evil? Are we fundumentally anything in the first place?

>>18 Like what Lord W said, those things you mentioned can be seen from a self-serving perspective. If you turn off the light so that you can save energy and therefore the earth, you may be doing that because you don't want earth - the planet you live in - to self-destruct and bring you or the people you care about with it. Even Mother Teresa, who can be seen as the most selfless person ever, may be doing the stuff she's doing because she cannot not do it. She was probably born with a powerful concsience or raised that way, so that not helping the people she knew she could makes her extremely uncomfortable.

But, as I said above, "selfish" might be too strong a word for it.

the code has been set the natural order is on

I don't think like you.
Humans are not selfish all their lives. Maybe never. It depends the life they have led. You think that when a person is helping an other one, this is selfishness because he wants something in return and I can understand this point of view. But there are peaple who do that by nature, without wanting something in return, even unconsciously.
Anyway, I found Tsuki's point of view interesting, but it's maybe thanks to her nickname ^_^
And sorry if my English Language is not good... I'm french >_<

Humans are what they are taught from birth. The reason they are so selfish is because they are taught this at a young age. Even now all my teachers in high school stress that life is a competition and to get ahead or into college you have to be the best of the bunch, meaning that either I have to do better than everyone or I have to cheat to win. You see if you are raised to be kind and see only kindness in your life then you will be kind. If you are raised to be malevolent or evil, then more often than not you will be inherently evil or malevolent to others. For example say I was raised to be the servant of a king from birth, I am told that his life is more important than mine, that the highest honor I could receive would be to save their life even if it means losing my own, then that is what I would do, I would protect them to the point of death.(But again, this is coming form someone who from birth was trained and told they would be a servant no matter what.)Now if you take someone who was raised under normal conditions and was hired to protect someone, they are far less likely to protect and serve their master (for lack of a better word) especially to the point of death. Another good example would be a single child about three years old (we will call him L) playing with a child that is also three but has 2 other siblings close to three,(we will call him M) if child L takes a toy that belongs to child M, he does not take it because he is evil or bad he takes it because he does not know yet what it is to share. Child M on the other hand has 2 siblings that often take his toys and play with them so he knows to share and was taught by his parents to take turns, so although he no longer has his toy he is okay with it because he has dealt with this before and will probably continue to play with child L, where as another single child would not respond well to having their toys taken by another child.I guess my point is that humans are not inherently selfish, they can be raised to be kind and loving to everyone. However the standards of society dictate that in order to achieve success in life you must be willing to beat others seeking the same or similar goals as your own, this is what truly makes humans so selfish. We are what we learn and nothing else. If all we see is selfishness in the world then we will be selfish because that is the norm for the world. In-summation, you are who you were raised to be and although sometimes certain circumstances in life may influence you to be either good or bad you usually stick to how you were raised. So fellow citizens of the inter-webs, start thinking of what you want your children to be like, start adjusting yourself to be that way so then it will be easier to raise them that way.

my nature is to fuck bitches get nigga keep it 3hunna free my nigga chief keef we all luv ya, sosa! #GBE #OBlock

get money not nigga unless yo goal is to get a lot of friends but dat's ok just dont be too trusting dem boyz snitches out there and be careful!
have a good day

Human nature is all but simply what a person is. Henry David Thoreau spoke about the importance of being one with nature.(Ones true nature) When a person is at their job it's typical for them to be fake or show an absence of their true nature. I think people are lacking true human nature on a grand scale because they're confined to peer pressure or professionalism. How you see people act on the news or at work or just anywhere is an inaccurate denomination of how people truly are.

You humans have no clue. It's so sad. Look inward not outward. Inward! not outward!. Be silent and still like a true introvert and you shall find yourself.

Ignore all outside influences because it's just noise trying hard to alter who you are.

I do agree with you that it's probably in our nature to be selfish in order to survive; that it's in our instinct. If you're stressed, you're more likely to act selfish than when you're relaxed.
According to Wikipedia, "Stress is a body's method of reacting to a challenge. According to the stressful event, the body's way to respond to stress is by sympathetic nervous system activation which results in the fight-or-flight response."
So if you 'fear' talking to a person, you either run away or make a total fool out of yourself because you can't think straight anymore because you're that stressed. Just like giving a presentation might be very difficult for some of us, for example because they fear being judged by lots of people.

I agree that humans have opinions, but that we are all selfish. When it comes down to it, we're nothing but another animal to our very core striving for survival.

Humans make me sick sometimes, sick to the core on how utterly rotten this race is. A race that does more bad than good. Bad, greedy, selfish people especially, who make it difficult for everyone else. When I look in the mirror I can say that I'm human but I'm not proud of it. Everyone's selfish yes but I wouldn't call it that in terms of survival. Most everyone is afraid of death and is it really wrong to want to judge them for wanting to live? For wanting a better life?
It's the people who don't help anyone, that make life harder for others, that already have enough yet still continue to collect their greed at the expense of others. Those people are the ones who are truly selfish.
Every selfless act is selfish as well. Being a yandere I'd gladly give my life up to protect the one that I love just so that I could protect them. My reason for doing so would be because I'm too selfish to live without them. But is that really wrong? To want the benefits of others at your own expense?

Basically all I'm saying is although I agree with you, I just don't agree as selflessness being called selfishness although it is, it just shouldn't be grouped with greedy acts.

I also think that humans are selfish. I'll even go as far as to say there is no saving us. Every single person I've met or heard about is twisted and selfish. Like half the people here said, it's in our nature. Personally I hate humans even if I am one. I admit it, I'm also selfish. Take the nature for example. We are part of it and what are we doing? Ruining it. And we also go around hurting and killing each other. Heck it's the same as cannibalism. But, I won't go as far as to say that the world is all black. Neither would I say that it's black and white. It's more like the sky. Black, with little white dots. Those dots being the rare kind hearts that aren't selfish and don't do stuff just so they can feel better. But those people are disappearing because no matter how much good you do you will always be re payed with bad. I hope no one is offended by this. All I'm saying is that humans are selfish bastards and get more selfish with every minute. The more you give us the more we want. BUt, to say this all with one sentence the human race cannot be saved.

yo estoy deacuerdo lo que decis.. la verdad que ai algunas personas que son egoista , asquerosos !! sin palabra algunaaa son todos asiii yo conoci muchas persona malvados .. que piensa entre ellos mismo odio esooo!!!!!!!!!!!

I disagree the world is bad but we can be saved don't let the small crappy people in your lives ruin your view on the world. I like to believe the majority of our population is good and our decent people.

hhhmmmm...... human nature?
well, there's many explanation of it,

well all i can say is that no one can really predicts each persons human nature

This is a very interesting post. I've never encountered something involving the human nature. I too believe humans start out selfish, I mean, look at children. They're born knowing nothing. People believe they're pure, but to be completely honest, they're pretty selfish. It's wrong to judge a baby, i know, but like you said, no human being is perfect and we all have our own opinions to stick to. he world isn't bad, it's just tipped the wrong way and needs to be pushed back into place. Not by force, but by will. I'm a passive-agressive person, but I believe the world has to establish to what's happening and it'll all be over soon.

True. Very true. But, I wouldn't go around to people saying that, because I am selfish in some ways, and would like to keep my thoughts to myself sometimes. But, Lego is cool. You should know.

Everyone's got their sins and burdens. Just remember that nobody is perfect.

Mmm~ I agree with you~ People are selfish, in their own way. But hey~ That's what makes them interesting....isn't it~?

People are selfish, in the same sense that no human is 100% good nor 100% evil.

Therefore there are really no 'good' people out there, only people who are more pleasant to be in the company of than others.

I have yet to witness anybody doing anything that wouldn't somehow benefit them. Even if their gain is something as small of the smug feeling they get knowing others saw them preform their good deed.

I agree that humans are selfish but that is more of a fact than insight into what makes people act the way they do - I believe that the majority of people will always act in a manner that suits the status quo of the area in which they live - of course there will be outliers as in any large data set.

Every kindness is selfish, for the person only does it to feel good that they made another person feel good. No one is good, no one is evil. Nothing is right, nothing is wrong. Everything we believe in and live by are just spun webs that we have constructed to try to stabilize this mad world.

People are the worst things they have ever done... People are too quick too judge and too slow to correct themselves

Without this nature, humans wouldn't be humans and the society wouldn't have worked. It isn't accurate to say that all humanbeings are selfish, neither it is to consider all humans as well-beings, on the other hand, it is accurate to call our race perfect ... humans are perfect at being humans.

They are completely self-fulfilling, but that isn't a bad thing. If you are brought up with the belief that helping others grants you a passage to a happy afterlife, then you will help others for the sake of fulfilling your own desires. People are being helped, so that isn't really a bad thing. We need to learn to first accept this trait and then control it. You can really convince yourself doing anything is good for you, from doing dishes to helping the elderly with their bags. To me, it might even be a good thing. To me, this 'survival first' instinct can be used as the ultimate motivation.

I actually think that human selfishness is caused by instinct, but having humans becoming overly selfish creatures is taught by their life experiences. I've heard that psychologically, humans actually have barley any natural instincts compared to most animals, but what we do have are the things like basic survival.However, I believe humans very often will gain a dependence on things that are good that they have had their entire lives, which can sometimes be very good overall treatment. This just causes them to gain that dependence for the better things and thus become selfish whenever there are situations that threaten their ability to have those certain things. This is just my opinion though. Anyways really nice topic

To me it seems that selfishness and selflessness are two sides of the same coin. I don't think people are inherently selfish, not always at least, but I think humans are virtually all a mix of the two, leaning towards one or the other. It comes from each needing the other to exist- without one there would be no standard for which to judge the other.

The best way for me to explain my view on human nature is with an analogy. *skip if you can't be bothered

Humans start out as a blank slate. Not like a white canvas(that itself is a color), but more like a transparent glass, clear(unintended pun) of any influence or color. Gradually as you grow older, you become influenced whether you want to or not. Throughout your life, the slate gradually gains colors. Your childhood itself slowly brushed in, while your experiences throughout show as streaks and blobs. You yourself add your own artistic touch through the choices you make. Sometimes things are painted over, but occasionally bleed through and show their color once again.

This painting reflects you and everything you are. It influences you and all of your decisions, no matter how little or how small it may be. How many times, after all, have you gained inspiration after seeing a work of art?

People may critique your work, even down to the most minute details. They may mock it, laugh at it, even paint in their own marks. How you deal with these blemishes is up to you, yet your actions once again brush in a new line into the painting.

In the end your will be left with a master piece of your own creation, having spent a lifetime creating it. You may like it, you may not. But in the end, it is your creation, and what you will leave behind. Some may treasure it, some may curse it, or it may even be forgotten in the forever forward march of time. However, which is more entertaining, staring at your finished product, or the act of painting it itself.

With that done, here is me getting straight to the point. There is no such thing as doing good without some sort of benefit. While it may not be obvious, there is still a benefit of doing something for someone else. You may not mentally think that "I'm only doing this to feel good about myself", but you still get the satisfaction from doing it. It may be your reasoning, it may not be. The result is still the same.

To sum it up, you still get some sort of reward from doing something selfless, but it's not always the reason you do good things. That depends on what you yourself think.

Selfish eh? Regardless of whether we have ourselves at heart when we do things, the outcome is sometimes positive to those around us. But at the end of the day we still only did it for ourselves right? So we must be simply selfish. Ironically I don't believe that at all, frankly its self explanatory that individuals will do things because it benefits themselves, but that's because we have no choice but to do those things. Think about it, do you choose to benefit from caring for another? Of course not, we naturally seek things from other people it is our nature, we cannot deny it. HOWEVER, that is completely different from being selfish, being selfish implies you have the choice to be selfish or not; for example: the choice whether or not to share some sweets with your best friend who has none. You can argue that if you don't share some you have committed a selfish act. Bringing this back to my original point, when you care for someone its true that you care because they can give something in return, but at no point to we DECIDE to care because we wan't something in return, if we had a choice in the matter I'd call it selfish but frankly we don't. Being selfish is something you must choose to be.

HUMANITY- Such a weird species, only one to drastically evolve .... based on each other in such short time-periods too

lol im not super active its been a while XD

If you think about the sum total of all the theories of human nature (at least, simplified versions from casual observations made - I don't consider myself well-acquainted with sociology or philosophy), humans are selfish, well-intentioned, destructive, altruistic... it's too broad to say for sure what our "nature" is under such broad contexts.

I do think selfishness is a prevailing factor. However, this isn't necessarily bad - we're selfish to protect our interests; to survive; to preserve the longevity of not only ourselves but the communities that we rely on. Thus, altruistic... when it suits us.

People aren't afraid to condemn those outside their circle of support, and they are quick to jump to the defense of the ones they consider close: the people who support their interests or opinions, have helped them in the past and thus proven themselves objectively "useful", or are part of their family and gene pool. It all comes back to working for our own interests.

Of those, family is the one I most often see "dropped" from the list, because preserving genetics is probably the most primal trait there is, when there isn't another reason to back it. How one acts is also largely dependent on how everyone else acts - blending into a crowd is like social camouflage, an further ensures survival in a natural sense.

However, humans are also innovative and have higher cognition than other animals - it is also in their nature to take risks and deviate from the established norms. But at the heart of it, their nature remains the same. Despite straying from the crowd, people will complain about neglect or rejection from social circles all the same. In essence, if mutations in animals can be considered genetic "risks" taken that may result in either fruitful (evolution) or futile (extinction) outcomes, humans are the most prone of all to mental "mutations" in the form of higher independence and free will.

So my cumulative opinion of humans? Purposeful.

They need purpose of some kind to do anything. Everything they do, whether they consider it impulse or not, has a purpose. Every action can be explained, though it may be seemingly random at a glance. They aren't "inherently evil" or "inherently good" because good and evil themselves don't have any meaning without context. Usually when those are used, it means they're prone to helping people or scorning people - so extroverts and social butterflies are "inherently good," but also inherently dependent on and manipulative of others. Introverts and social recluses are thus "inherently evil," but also inherently efficient and self-driven. Hard to say which is morally just. They're both selfish after all.

>>49 Hey, I remember you. I also haven't been active. It is dead week and I'm just here to think about something other than microelectronics for a while :I

In short, mankind's ambition is a rapid spreading virus. It's poisonous and it destroys everything it touches.. Even good intentions are made evil when you plan too far ahead of yourself.

First to you. Believe in that what you think is right you wouldn't write this article when you wouldn't believe what you said, so don't say that you are criticize yourself one time because thats' mad my friend.

Didn't wanted only to say that you should belive in the things you think is right.

To you opinion when Humans are selffnishes creatures.

When you wanted to say something about human nature you have to know every human of this planet. Because there are too some guys why only do what they think is right without think of themselves. It give humans who are not like the other guys could know, you feel it when you meet that humans. That humans smell other than the other i wanted to say when you meet some of these guys you will understan because humans are selfniss (sry for bad grammar) i can't describe you what i feel how i think that's something everybody have to gone trough, everybody have to find a way out of the darkness of the pure darkness when you enter the pure darkness and come back alive than you will have the power to change the world to make your dreams become reality a power with which you will understand the world.

Good Luck on your way.

yeah, we are very selfish creatures.. :( its sad, but its life..and sometimes being a little possessive is a good thing,like, when you wanna protect a friend :3

its depends on how you view it lol.

Life is a very weird journy nomatter what you belive can you really say that is true i can for me so far and your right to some point we all our selfish but people may always be selfish but they are also selfless i can say that to some digree is true about every one not that i know every one but there has to be if people wernt selfish we wouldnt have most of the things we have now but if every one was selfless then we would all well be boring and not know the diffrents do you see what im trying to say

I don't believe that humans are innately evil or good. In fact, I think that the concept of evil and good is different for each of us. Some fight for what we believe is right, and others give in to what they think is wrong; whether you belong in one of these groups or the other is strictly your choice to make.

But if I see someone doing what I think is wrong, you can count on me to hunt them down and serve them my justice.

We live in an age where we have a day dedicated to giving thanks. However, the day after a large portion of us contradict everything that we celebrated the day before. Selfish or not? Most of the people in those crowds are raving over material objects in hopes to bring happiness to their loved ones. Not only is survival part of the human instinct, but surviving long enough to find something you can love more than yourself. People have been told their entire lives that giving material items is one of the best ways to express your affection. People tend to sacrifice themselves for the sake of bringing joy or protecting who they love like people in a store rioting over a toy. It's not that they are necessarily selfish, they just don't know any better. To truly love something more than yourself is the ultimate form of happiness. The system takes advantage of this and we end up turning on each other for the silliest reasons. Simply because everyone wants to love something.

Morality is nonexistant. Its an ideal, nothing more. Many people say there's no God yet cling to morals. If all men are equal, who is to command me? If there is no God, who is to judge me? The only way morality exists is if God exists. Theres no way to prove he does or doesnt. Therefore, believe in a God, believe in global morality and right and wrong. Believe in nothing and there is no tight or wrong. You can tell me the government and judicial system decides this but if a man does what he believes is right and is willing to die by it, he wouldnt hesistate to defy the law to do so.

Well it all depends ya know?

>>52 #AgentSmith #FunAtParties

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>>59
I was going to give a general reply to the human nature question, but instead I'll have to rebut your point about morality being derived from religion. I 100% disagree with this, because the implication is that if you do not believe in god, then you have no morals, which is entirely false. As someone who has spent a lot of time around atheists, I can say that those I know have excellent morals, they have strong ideas of right and wrong, of what it means to be a good person and how to live within that definition. I have also seen religious people who I would not hesitate to call the scum of the earth. It goes the other way too, with people who are religious being figurative saints, and atheists being horrible. My point is that religion doesn't provide morality, people justify their morals and preconceived notions using religion. People don't get their morals from the Bible, or the Quran, or the Torah, ideas like "Don't kill others", "Don't take what isn't yours", "Don't be a dick to other people" is just common sense to most people, religious or not.

Seems your right about that mawk just i wish they had more of that now a days the morals thing

>>64 Honestly those really arent morals though if you think about it. Not agreeing with face but i always thought of morality as something you face every day. Like choose to lie or to tell the truth, respond rudely or kindly, etc

Of course atheists can have morals though. Like, I guess I agree with face's logic that all religion does is establish a judge to enforce moral norms.. But just because you believe there is one doesnt mean you dont have to follow any moral norms.. Saying that as a christian btw

สมัครยังไงงงงงงงงงงงงงงง????????????

I GOT COMMENT NUMBER 69!!!! YAY!!!!..... sorry I saw the opportunity and just had to take it :P

asdf

Hey, I know this is a really late post , however I would like to state my comment. The thing is that human nature = nothing. Why do you ask ? Let say the seven deadly sins , if there was no greed , there would be no survival hence no one will survive nor be saved. If there was no argument no war , even at least politically ,there would be no result. Therefore the world stays empty or stagnant in a single era.

But let's talk about kindness could be a sin too, depending on what is the humans decision and reason to express kindness. Same goes with determination, what are you determined to do and why?

Altogether human nature = a balance between the reasons the mind is thinking to create sufficient amount of psychological push for a single act. Everything rounds up to 0 as everything is in a general ring of acts , bad or good. Human nature changes you say. I say is mentality. Therefore it is mentality that creates a humans feelings

Hey, I know this is a really late post , however I would like to state my comment. The thing is that human nature = nothing. Why do you ask ? Let say the seven deadly sins , if there was no greed , there would be no survival hence no one will survive nor be saved. If there was no argument no war , even at least politically ,there would be no result. Therefore the world stays empty or stagnant in a single era.

But let's talk about kindness could be a sin too, depending on what is the humans decision and reason to express kindness. Same goes with determination, what are you determined to do and why?

Altogether human nature = a balance between the reasons the mind is thinking to create sufficient amount of psychological push for a single act. Everything rounds up to 0 as everything is in a general ring of acts , bad or good. Human nature changes you say. I say is mentality. Therefore it is mentality that creates a humans feelings

62756D70

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Bump

In my own observations I have found that Humans are weak, easily mislead and truly only concerned for themselves. Now this may sound mean and you are probably thinking "How could you say something like that about people you don't know and are saying horrible things about yourself?" Well, It's simple I have accepted these faults and now fully embrace them and use them to my advantage~ Humans claim that if something happens they would do the most bravest and note worthy action... however that is inaccurate as the many people I have observed have done the complete opposite of what they claimed they would do. I find it quite amusing that humans will act all high and mighty claiming to be so intelligent when in truth they are the most frightened and stupidest of creatures. Yet the human race is so interesting that each individual will do something that is note worthy allowing them to continue to be acknowledged by others and myself. I hope that humans can continue to do as they do and then some for it is one of the reasons I live. All in all humans are interesting but... will always be weak and controllable creatures who are all the same~

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62756D70

Hmmm. I think that humans are a blank slate that seeks company and nourishment in the form of love. From an abstract way of explaining this (pardon me XD), we humans want to define objects and meaning into this context of 'love' for a sense of acceptance and belonging. I truly feel that humans in nature are ones that define things instead of 'making' things.

And by making things, I mean concepts and laws that are already in place before our presence and understanding. And it is simply in human nature to understand, define, and seek out these things and apply them to the objects that they make.

So then, people will grow as a community. I don't think people are weak at all. Nor do I think that they are selfish in nature (I used to believe that humans are naturally selfish).

Now I believe that humans are just tempted by their objects of desire that they henceforth created. So we aren't selfish; I like to think that we conditioned ourselves to be that.

Hence why, I have faith in humanity XD

...Due to human nature being selfish and only wanting please ourselves, does that mean that humans will never be happy with what they have? No matter what we do, is it against our nature to try and stop fighting? Should we just... give up...?

Well if you want to look at a human and figure them out and human nature, I would look at humans at the Point of View of an Alien being. From an Aliens POV humans would look like Greedy, Violent, Stupid beings. We have been killing each other for centuries for a variety of reasons: for food, for religion, for land, for power, for money etc. And have not stopped fighting since the begging of our existence, conflicts big or small. We have created enough weapons of mass destruction to blow up the world 5 times over. My point is that were violent, greedy and some amount of stupid.

I agree with AnInfoBroker from a distance we look like mindless apes constantly destroying each other to get ahead just to be torn down by those we mow over but in closer inspection there are humans like Gandhi and martin Luther king who defy this " human nature" by extreme amounts. showing in my opinion that anyone can show true kindness no matter there up bringing just as even the kindest up bringing can come a tyrant the likes of Hitler, or are more modern corrupt leaders.

bamp

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Alguien que hable español?

62756D70

as you say, it is in our nature to be selfish, but I don't think that's the right word here. Being selfish means satisfying your own desires over that of another. As you say there are good sides to it as well, but in that case there has to be a distinction between the "good" and the "bad" selfishness, because those two different forms cannot be the same word, because it has a different meaning. What you called selfishness might actually be something we haven't even named yet. But still, Ithink you have an interesting perspective.

I like ponies

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Ok, I have not read many of the above replies, but I will answer your question on human nature.
Personally, I think that we are selfish.
However, that is not all.
We are also forgiving, kind, hateful, vengeful, courageous, amazing, weird, intelligent, ignorant, and the list goes on.
What I'm trying to say right now is that human nature is not a single aspect of people. Human nature is a concept that we believe to summarise the aspects we consist of whether they are apparent or not.
That is what I think human nature is.

Kombawa... ^^

=_=

It's too long for me to read everybody opinions, but i think selfish is okay.

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No you actually may be right according to my opinion. I can't disagree in the slightest with that kind of logic. We all do things for ourselves its just natural I guess.

I've always thought of being selfish as something we can't really fight. I don't fight it, though I don't always like it. But yeah, I agree to your logic too. How we use our selfishness (and anything really) is what makes things right or wrong - not so much the feelings behind them, as we won't be able to expect everyone to understand. There would always be someone who will never think the same as you, after all.

I have to say i do agree with you. There is no selfless act. Everybody acts selfish in a personal way. But this should not stop us from being nice to others. In fact i think one should try to understand how someone else feels and treat him like he wants to be treated himself. In that way your selfishness could help someone other than yourself.

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this could be a fun question for human nature. What is everyone's favorite piece of philological advice?

if you want to ignore this, go for it. I am not going to stop you.

asdf

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