Do you think people are naturally moral or immoral?

[Anonymous]

Do you think people act in their own self-interest or act for the benefit of other people? Interesting question I got from my philosophy class. There's a story about a man with the ability to turn invisible, and he uses it for greed and power. The lesson is people would do bad things if they're certain they won't be caught. Do you agree?

[Guy13]

Naturally driven towards immoral. Morality, either Good or Bad, does not evolve. Morality is intelligently designed with an innate knowing and legally defined Description.
—There is no possibility of an Utopian or Great Society evolving from an immoral human designed on this earth …This is nonsensical as demonstrated when on TV or Internet. I guess Putin is the only Outlier.
—The fact the question is posed confirms the predominance of immorality simply from man/woman-to-man/woman interaction. It’s so obvious that it hurts sometimes. 95% plus of the questions here focus on one or the other person (s) being treated as immoral or badly….
—We are a fallen people seeking satisfaction of Self in some form of covertness whether it be Thing or Habit.
-There is no Good in us. The Good I want to do, I choose not to do. The things I swore that I would never do, I choose to do. And, in not doing the Good and doing the Bad, I gain pleasure.
—That being said, every once and awhile I do what is Good.-But, it takes focused intent to do. And, I hold onto tightly as It does NOT come naturally to me or anyone else.

[Soteris]

I think there is fundamentally two ways to truly look at this question. First is the fact that we have a society at all today which indicates that people have an inherent morality that allows us to cooperate in large groups which would be impossible without it.

But that is just at a human level. We can go one step deeper, why do we have an inherent morality? Is it because we believe in morality or something? No. It is because it is evolutionary beneficial for the individual to act in a certain way that encourages cooperation in groups. Our inherent morality is evolutionary selfish.

So basically life started out selfish and then because of purely selfish reasons we developed unselfish traits like morality because that had a higher personal benefit than the alternative.

[ibodi]

I think Buddhism is like Immanuel Kant so they said he is western creator of Buddhism. I think depends on his concept not surprised that people in difference place think the same but I am not sure when Nietzsche know Zarathustra and I saw the same beard with hitler in Iran and that symbol. self interest and benefit of other people, I think that are their goals but self interest may be taken as sin benefit of other is virtue. no matter what people seek for perfect but I found people often regret when he got his goal by inappropriate way. So there is process way are included his considerations. so his concept is interesting. His books are many but I think his concept repeat what should I have been knowing so don't keep it but really? or like Nietzsche moral tree?

[HighlyVolatile]

I think humans are naturally quite moral in their most primitive environments cooperating as in a small group (tribe, i. e.) whose mutual survival depends on each other against the harshest conditions.

There's no rational temptation to do things like lie, cheat, steal, or kill in those cases. Stealing the best hunter's spear would just deprive the whole clan of food. It's in even the thief's best self-interest not to steal.

Expand the scale and density of the population to one where people are constantly surrounded by new faces they don't even recognize and that's when I think we need more in the ways of values and ideals and codified ethics.

[HighlyVolatile]

As for the man turning invisible, if he was a member of a small tribe above, I don't think he'd use it to the detriment of his tribe. If he was in a large population filled with strangers, then I think there's a greater temptation to harm people he doesn't know and care about through such an ability.

[HighlyVolatile]

For example, I think far more people might pirate software like films or music than people who might steal from their little neighborhood grocery store whose owner they know well. And I don't think the difference is so much that it's easier to get away with software piracy; I think it's because the pirates don't know and care about the people they're stealing from.

[Stupidsigninpage]

I would say immoral.

Most humans have killed at least one insect in their life. Killing helpless little beings is pretty immoral in my book.

Next!

[DeeRocc]

People are people.
Also, everyone is a product of their environment.

[Hispanic-Cool-Guy]

100% immoral. People evil thoughts exposes their inner core nature.