On Good And Evil

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As requested, here’s the essay I wrote for a philosophy class, discussing human nature and whether humans are born good or evil. I don’t have the assignment outline, but I believe the statement we had to discuss was, “Evil cannot live in the hearts of men,” and I had to mention four distinct philosophers or philosophical positions over the course of the paper. I chose to make reference to Eastern philosophers since the position I took was that of a Western religion, Islam.

The question of good and evil, as it pertains to human nature, has been a widely discussed topic in philosophy, with a wide range of viewpoints and theories to match the scope of the debate. There have been those who argued that man is a clean slate, whose heart is at the mercy of the world and context he is brought into, while some slightly differed by arguing that man is born good, though susceptible to that same corruption. Others had a more bleak vision of humanity, claiming that the individual is innately evil, her malicious desires inevitably creating chaos and strife in her short and brutish existence, while others still saw evil as an entity in itself, entirely independent of the human being, though consciously provoking and steering mankind towards evil. The reality is that the issue in itself is not as complex as the various attempts to deconstruct it have been, while the answer is simpler still. Because the soul is in essence the breath of God, it can be said without question that humans are innately good, though human faults as well as the influences of external forces make it difficult to remain in this natural state.

The Quran describes the creation of Adam, the first of mankind, in great detail. In one chapter, God describes His new creation to the angels and says “so when I have fashioned him (Adam) completely and breathed into him the soul which I have created for him, then fall down prostrating yourselves unto him” (38:72). This statement is not unlike views coming from the other Western religions, who equally believe that the soul is the breath of God. In Islam, this is the starting point for what is called the fitrah, or the original state of the human being, untainted and free from any outside influences. It is an innate consciousness of good and evil, giving the individual an inclination to do good acts, including a belief in God. Though the fitrah is the natural state of humans, it’s also described in the Quran as being easily corrupted, “Then He inspired to it (the ability to understand) what is good for it and what is evil for it. Successful is he who purifies it, and failure is he who corrupts it” (91:10). Though all human beings are born into this state, one which is naturally obedient to the laws and rules which God created for it, with adulthood and maturity it becomes a conscious decision to act accordingly. A person who chooses to continue in this path is known as a Muslim, meaning one who submits to God’s will, which is what this verse describes as the one who ‘purifies’ and essentially maintains their fitrah, as opposed to the one who corrupts their God given nature.

Perhaps closest in philosophy to the Islamic concept of the fitrah would be that of Confucius. He too had a positive view of human nature, as one that is born into goodness, and when raised properly and wisely, will continue to live virtuous lives where the individual loves the good and shuns what is bad. The question becomes whether or not each person will choose to follow the evils of society, in disharmony with nature, or chose to act in harmony and accordance with nature that man is essentially a part of. Mencius, whose philosophy was deeply influenced by Confucius’ ideas, held a nearly identical view in saying that human nature was good, though he suggested that this innate goodness was a gift from the heavens to humankind. Xunzi, on the other hand, criticized Mencius’ views with his argument that humans were born evil, and that only with the guidance of what he deemed a ‘proper teacher’ could one become moral. The flaws in his argument become apparent once he begins to describe the teachings of the Sage kings as being the rituals and regulations needed to straighten people in accordance with ‘the Way’. The obvious question is this: if human nature is innately evil, how is it that these human teachers have devised what is good and moral?

Philosophical arguments and perspectives aside, the issue of whether humans are born good or evil can be seen quite clearly in observing a baby or a young child. When a child does something ‘wrong’, he knows enough to feel bad about it, or even to lie or hide what he has done. It’s evident from a young age that humans have a strong inclination to do good, and possess an innate sense of right and wrong. When there is a disaster in the world, you can see the sympathy and support worldwide as people who may have anything personally invested in the tragedy still rush to help. Experience shows people to be naturally good – we can all agree that murder is wrong and that people should be treated with respect, among other things. These are some examples where the fitrah remains intact, while a baby is the definition of purity of this state. Like Confucius’ view that the goodness of human nature can be damaged by the evils of society, the fitrah too can corrupted by society, as well as one other factor – the influences of the devil, the epitome of evil itself. His essential function is to sway people from this natural state, one that would allow for correct guidance and obedience to God. Human beings alone cannot be evil; it is only the devil and those who have been led astray as a result who can change and corrupt the fitrah.

The soul, in Western religious tradition, is said to be the breath of God, His creation inevitably partaking in His goodness, His laws inscribed in their being. Islam takes the position of the existence of a fitrah, the original state man is born into as created by God, one which is conscious of His Creator and has an innate sense of right and wrong. The difficulty in preserving this state is created by outside forces, namely those of the devil, whose entire purpose is to turn people away from this correct path and on to a life of evil. While human nature can be easily corrupted, when the question is whether or not one is born into a state of goodness rather than evil, the answer is an unequivocal yes.

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