human nature

Xunzi expresses how “People’s nature is bad. Their goodness is a matter of deliberate effort. They are born with feelings of hate and dislike in them. If they follow along with these then cruelty and villainy will arise, and loyalty and trust worthiness will perish therein.” (Xunzi Cp. 23) To me that depends on what you consider what’s good and what’s bad? Human nature is something we are born with. I think the way we see what’s good and bad can be viewed very differently. Others might argue if you’re born a hateful person you will turn out to be hateful your whole life. But I disagree with that because you can change. You can change to be a good person. Humans might think that their doing is good but others might see it as bad. What I think about this is Human nature is neither good nor bad, it is often dependent on the environment. In life, humans have free will and the ability to make their own decisions. We have the ability to either make good or bad decisions. But then when I see it as that, I think that our outcomes can often determine our good or bad decisions. Believing in human nature is like believing in karma. Assuming that humans deserve their fate.

Going back to human nature being neither good nor bad, I think in life you have the ability to be good. You can choose to be a nice person, to love, to be kind, or to even help others. Believing human nature is bad is believing that people can’t change. That they will be a bad person their whole life. It can be very difficult on how we view what’s good or bad. That’s why I believe it’s neither only because of how different people view different morals.