Ford Campbell

Mrs. Webster

English 2

24 May 2021

Write an argument for a debate about whether

people are inherently good or evil. This is meant to
be in an actual debate so first person is used.
Are You Born Good or Evil?

Ladies and gentlemen, I would like you to think through a scenario with me. It is Sunday

at 3pm, you are leaving the grocery store and right in front of you there is a mother pushing a

cart full of groceries. Because the cart was so full, she had to hold her baby in one arm. Then, a

bag of groceries falls out of the bottom of the cart and spills right at your feet. She is holding her

baby, trying to keep the cart from rolling away, and picking up all of the spilled groceries. Even

though you only have one bag in your hand she doesn’t ask you for help, but instead she

apologizes because you could have slipped. What do you do? Do you help her or do you just

storm off in a fit. I asked several people and they all said exactly what you are probably thinking.

They decided to help her without a second thought, because people are inherently good. The

long lasting debate of whether people are good or evil has many different sides to it. Through

science, philosophy, and life I will prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that people are inherently

good.

Science shows us that people are born inherently good. Scientists did a study with one

year old kids where they showed a clip of three shapes climbing a mountain. Shape A was

trying to climb the mountain and shape B was trying to help shape A climb the mountain. Then,

shape C came along and tried to stop shape A from climbing the mountain. After seeing this

clip, the kids were asked to choose between shape B and shape C. Almost all of the kids

choose shape B. To make sure that it wasn’t the shape, or its color, the scientists changed the
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colors and shapes around. They still found that the majority of the kids choose shape B

(Razzetti). This shows how even though the kids were only 1 year old they still knew what was

right and wrong. While it is true that people can do terrible things, when we were born, most of

us would have picked shape B.This is because people are inherently good. Later in life, parents

and experiences can erase that inherent good inside of you, but the fact is that people are born

inherently good.

Philosophy can also show us that people are not born as evil individuals. Sigmund Freud

considered new-borns “a moral blank slate” (Razzetti). By this definition, when people are born

they don’t know anything about good or evil. Experiences in life are what make people good or

evil. The concept that people are blank slates would mean that people are not born evil or good.

But then why do babies smile at their parents? If you have held your child in your arms then you

know that they are not a blank slate. They are a bundle of happiness and good. Philosophers

and scientists can study and learn as much as they want. But the truth is that your kids, or

nephews and nieces, or younger brothers and sisters are born with good in their hearts. You

know that a baby would never do something bad on purpose, and if they wouldn’t be evil, aren't

they good.

People will tell you that humans are born evil and selfish creatures. Thomas Hobbes, an

enlightenment thinker, argued that people need the government to prevent them from destroying

the world. He said that people are selfish and evil in nature. People will also argue that war,

raism, slavery, the holocaust, and more prove that we are evil. Studies comparing identical and

non-identical twins “suggest a relatively large genetic component for both narcissism and

psychopathy,” but that doesn’t make people evil. That same study proved that

“[m]achiavellianism seems to be more due to the environment” that people grow up in (Robson).

This means that people can be born differently, but not evil. The opposing side might try to tell

you that narcissism and psychopathy lead to evil, but that doesn’t make a person evil, it makes

them unique. We need to understand that while nobody is perfect, nobody is inherently evil.
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I will not deny that people can be ruthless and cruel, but people are not inherently bad.

Our experiences change who we are and make us different from everyone else. At every

person's core is the power to be kind. This power is the inherent good that is inside of all people.

This is why people are inherently good.

Works cited
Razzetti, Gustavo. “Is the Human Nature Good or Evil?” RSS, 26 June 2019,
www.fearlessculture.design/blog-posts/is-the-human-nature-good-or-evil.

Robson, David. “Psychology: the Man Who Studies Everyday Evil.” BBC Future, BBC,
30 Jan. 2015, www.bbc.com/future/article/20150130-the-man-who-studies-evil.