Do you think that human nature is good, or evil, or both good and evil, or neither good nor evil?

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Human nature can be defined as the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting that humans tend to have naturally. According to the lecture note on Week ten, Confucianism had stated that the most important aspect of human nature is the moral aspect. For thousands of years, the moral aspect of human nature was always discussed by many philosophers. They had different points of view on this topic. Mencius thought that human nature is good but Xunzi believed that human nature is evil. In another points of view, YangHsiung believed that Human nature is mixture of good and evil. In the principle of Yin-yang, human nature was considered to be neither good nor evil. Since people were born with good and evil human nature and human nature is influenced by our surroundings, therefore human nature is both good and evil. In this essay, evidences and some examples are going to be provided to justify human nature have both good and evil components naturally and human nature are affected by our surroundings.

First, good and evil human nature are existed since people were born. Mencius had mentioned that humanity, self-righteousness and wisdom are originally with us. In the society, humanity and wisdom are considered as good concepts while self-righteousness is considered as bad concept. These show that there are the good and the bad with human when they are babies. For instance, a research study by a team of psychologists in the Infant Cognition Centre found that babies will prefer the good when they have comparison between good and bad (Lin,2010). From this experiment, we can find that people have the feeling of respect and reverence and the feeling of right and wrong. These two feelings are referring to h...

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...onships and Motivation in Middle School: The Role of Parents, Teachers, and Peers. Journal of Educational Psychology. 90(2). 202-209
3. Lauren Hilgers. 2008. Giving in China. Retrieved from http://balkin.blogspot.hk/2008/08/giving-in-china_11.html
4. Lin Edwards. 2010. Psychologists say babies know right from wrong even at six months. Retrieved from http://phys.org/news192693376.html
5. Patrick F. Fagan and Robert Rector.2000. The Effects of Divorce on America. Retrieved from http://www.peacemaker.net/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=aqKFLTOBIpH&b=1043497&ct=5077343
6. Sam Masters.2013. Starbucks joins scheme to help homeless: Buy a 'suspended coffee' and it's banked for someone who needs it. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/starbucks-joins-scheme-to-help-homeless-buy-a-suspended-coffee-and-its-banked-for-someone-who-needs-it-8560778.html

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