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The Question:Do people come into the world good and are ruined by Society or are people generally bad from the beginning but are kept in line by society and the threat of consequences?Speak you Romans!
I'm with Locke; we are a blank slate and get filled in by our experiences.Our individual culture is said to consist of our background (ethnicity / DNA), circumstances (socio-economic situation), and experiences (what happens to us day to day). We have no control over the first, some control as we get older over the second, and a great deal of control over the latter (if we choose).MHO
You are asking the age-old nature versus nurture question. I come down in the nurture camp with qualifications. I believe that we are the kind of people we are brought up to be by our parents with a leavening of nature thrown in. Everyboby is essentially taught the difference between right and wrong but as the old saying goes
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink
Some folks just turn out bad because they do the wrong thing consciously.
I think the question is a good one and can be answered with a religious response which explains the fall of man. I think that this Christian explanation is a good one as it colors political attitudes among right and left. I saw a lecture by a guy who explained this interesting issue and I only vaguely remember it, but I can expound on what I think this theory holds. People on the left think that man, left to his own devices, is "good". Take away the guns from society, and you lack a means of killing and there will be harmony. Remove divisions of class and make things "equal" and justice/peace will prevail. Note this approach requires large governmental intervention in society to be realized.Conservatives, though, are different. In a Christian worldview, they believe that man is "fallen" and prone to sin. There will always be divisions among us on earth, regardless of whether one takes away the guns or the classes in society. I think that under this idea, maximizing man's freedom to make his own way in the world is key; government aids man's ability to do this by protecting his basic liberties and thereby enabling him to reach his potential (rather than guaranteeing it). So the leftist view finds that man's end is realized by/through the state, whereas the rightist view says that man's end is realized by/through himself/his family/community and the choices he makes. Although the view on the right has origins in a basic Christian worldview, I don't think that one has to hold to the Christian worldview in order to subscribe to it. Likewise, I think that some people who hold the Christian worldview also subscribe to the leftist position.
Man is inherently sinful by nature (out of the hearts of man come….fill in the blank here). We must learn to be good since evil is our nature (self preservation, lust, greed, sloth, etc…). The flesh rules us unless we tame it with reason, and reason is not something we are born with, it is something taught to us by experiences and by our teachers. As the Apostle Paul says, “Though I wish to do a good thing I find myself doing that which I do not wish to do, but it is not me that does it, but the sin that lives within me.” We are slaves to our sin nature unless we are shown the light of reason (why it is good to care for others, being selfless, calm, sympathetic, cheerful, giving, loving, wise etc…). Good parenting is a start, but good government is also helpful (namely a government that promotes family values and non interference in our daily lives). Also a religious network (traditional religion) is important because it buttresses the social fabric of society with sacred moral institutions. Surrounding oneself with people of character is another way to ensure proper moral development. Finally, being content with one's station in life (i.e. what gifts and blessings one is granted in life) will stave off jealousy and envy which lead to more depraved behavior.
Don,Your post begs the question of who chooses which and what family values to promote and who gets to define proper moral development. My own response assumes that everyone shares my values of what is right and wrong. That is the problem with the left, they assume that they are the arbiters of what is fair and just and they look to postmodernism and poststructuralism to define morals and reject what we would call traditional values as being irrelevant in the modern society in which we find ourselves.The conservatives adhere to traditional christian moral values and reject the moral relativism of the modern left. That is the root of current societal divisions. Conservatives have an idea of what they mean by right and wrong. To the left, right and wrong are a moving target and are best left to the individual to be decided snce what I think is wrong others may not and therefore essentially, anything goes morally.If you notice, the left does a lot of talking about fairness but forcefully avoids ever actually defining what is fair. They continually propound nebulous goals, but I digress.In the end, I think that the individual is shaped by parenting. Parents help define right and wrong and help an individual develop their own moral compass in line with the faith and society in which the individual develops. As a Catholic, I adhere to traditional values as taught by my parents and the Nuns where I went to school and which have been demonstrated to me all my life. My wife and I try to do the same for our son. All we can do is hope we are successful. Thankfully, based on his current behavior I think we are, and we have son we can be proud of.
