Is the Human Nature Good or Evil?

What babies and lost wallets can teach us about the never-ending moral debate

What babies and lost wallets can teach us about the never-ending moral debate

Photo by Jim Strasma on Unsplash

“Non-cooperation with evil is as much a duty as is cooperation with good.” — Mahatma Gandhi

Are we inherently good or bad?

The world has historically been divided into two camps on the morality debate. Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau represent the most famous, opposing views.

Hobbes described humans as nasty and brutish. He believed society and rules improve our bad nature. Rousseau argued instead that we are gentle and pure. He blamed society for corrupting our innate good nature.

So, are we born with a moral compass? Or do we develop it as we grow?

Aristotle argued that morality is something we learn. And that we are born as ‘amoral’ creatures. Sigmund Freud considered new-borns a moral blank slate.

Scientists also believed that babies don’t have any moral standing — until recently.

The Morality We Are Born With

Babies have innate goodness.

Research by Yale University shows th…