Are Humans Naturally Good Or Evil Philosophy Essay Example

If you ask me, I would say people are naturally evil. There are so many things that happen in the world that break people down. Only a few can manage to stay good after going through what everyone goes through. Let’s dig deeper into that.

To start off, the United States holds about 5% of the world's population and 3 of the 5% has been to prison or jail. This shows that more than half of the people in America are filled with a little evil. It doesn’t end there. The world currently has 7.8 billion people and more than 20% of the population is currently in prison. With this evidence it can conclude that most people are filled with evil or have evil inside of them.

Furthermore, humans are naturally selfish. In a BBC article it states”We're apparently ruthless, with strong impulses to compete against each other for resources and to accumulate power and possessions. If we are kind to one another, it's usually because we have ulterior motives. This shows that most people believe that if someone is helping us, they have a secret reason for doing it. 

Finally, in an AEON article it also talks about the physiological part of the theory. It states,”We experience Schadenfreude (pleasure at another person’s distress) by the age of four, according to a study from 2013. That sense is heightened if the child perceives that the person deserves the distress. A more recent study found that, by age six, children will pay to watch an antisocial puppet being hit, rather than spending the money on stickers.” This shows that even six year olds are paying to watch a puppet being hit. Even though it is just a puppet, just imagine if it were a living organism of some sort.

To conclude, all this sums up my idea of why people are naturally evil. I don’t mean evil as something super horrible, but something that could be as small as stealing a dollar bill. Everyone is filled with some type of a sinful mindset.