Beliefs,_Values,_Morals_Paper

Beliefs, Values, and Morals: Is man inherently good or inherently evil' Our Definitions of Beliefs, Values, and Morals Beliefs: Jennifer says that a belief is a conviction of her own, what she sees as truth, not judged to be good or bad. Joanne agrees that it is her unquestionable acknowledgment of something even though she may not be able to establish proof and also her faith or trust in God. Elisaba considers a belief either comes from an examination of evidence, or it comes from a basis of faith that something is true. This is defined as trust or confidence in some person or thing. Values: Elisaba believes that values are the ideals, customs, and institutions taught by society in which people have a mutual regard and Jennifer believs that values are taught by the immediate family, a sign of emotional investment in her beliefs, and they can change either by necessity or self-examination. Joanne contends that values are sincere usefulness or impact of high quality standards to everyone she connects with. Morals: Joanne understands this term as her capacity to deal with or make the distinction between right and wrong and her bases is on conduct rather than the legal rules and regulations provided. This means that sometimes she bases her moral opinion on each individual circumstance. Elisaba also believes that morals are the rules that help man decide between right and wrong. She also considers that morals are taught to us by society. Jennifer says that morals are a system of social values and show in society through religion, taboos, and even laws. Is Man Inherently Good or Evil' Our paper will support the belief that man is inherently good. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines evil as morally reprehensible, sinful and wicked; and arising from bad character. The dictionary defines good as of favorable character; virtuous and right; of benefit. These definitions can be construed as something environmental or as something genetically imbued. Many schools of thought are available on people and their innate nature of evil that we are naturally good but corruptible, and those that believe evil and good are too imprecise to define. The words used for describing good and evil seem to be as socially constructed. For instance, a good person is usually defined as someone with integrity or using ‘correct behavior’. Integrity and behavior are actions that we see as depictions of one’s values, whether personal or social. To see good as a benefit cannot be explained when relating to a person who may benefit from an ‘evil’ act, such as stealing or lying. Evil actions against someone else are seen as morally wrong but have values and morals changed and evolved as need changes' Furthermore, we are familiar with words like sociopath, those without a conscience; or psychopath, those with no empathy or with antisocial tendencies. We cannot find an adequate explanation for these personality aspects. Many believe that we are born with a clean slate and choose to perform works of good or evil. Evidence of this can be seen in the Christian religion. According to Genesis 1:31 “God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (NIV). This principle says that we are good but corruptible; by the environment, family’s standards, genetically, or psychologically. In the case individuals with antisocial personality disorders, they may not be able to control their behavior, and though they are not evil at heart may do things which can be considered “evil”. A personality disorder is a persistent pattern of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors which may appear significantly different from what can be “normal” within the person’s own culture. Research on the possible biologic risk factors for developing an antisocial personality disorder indicates in those with antisocial personality disorder, the part of the brain primarily responsible for learning from one's mistakes and for responding to sad and fearful facial expressions (the amygdala) tends to be smaller. It also responds less robustly to the happy, sad, or fearful facial expressions of others. That lack of response may have something to do with the lack of empathy that antisocial individuals tend to have with the feelings, rights, and suffering of others. One type of personality disorder, schizophrenia can cause psychotic symptoms such as delusions, hallucinations, and thought disorganization. Their behavior can also become extremely disorganized resulting in difficulty caring for themselves or acting appropriately in public. If left untreated, someone with this condition could become a danger to him or herself or others. Are they evil' No, they are a product of his or her illness. These disorders are treated with medication resulting in a cessation of the behaviors and the person behaving “good.” Situations that an individual is in can also cause him or her to do “evil” things, even though they themselves may not be. The novel “Lord of the Flies” by William Golding, paints a picture of what can happen when a group of children are in an extenuating circumstance that causes them to lose their “innocence.” In the book a group of boys from a private school survive an airplane crash that leaves them stranded on a deserted island. The children slowly lose all semblance of humanity and the novel culminates in the death of a boy named “Piggy” at the hands of some of the children. At the very end of the novel the children get saved but the main character “Ralph” realizes that they are forever different and the “inherent good” within all of them may be lost forever. Although as man, we are inherently good there are many things that can sway us to doing dark things. Historically an example of this can be seen in the Andes accident of 1972. On Friday the 13th October, a Uruguayan plane, which was carrying 45 passengers to Chile, most of whom were students and rugby players, crashed in the Andes Mountains. Twelve of the people died in the crash. The survivors not only had to withstand the hunger and the fearful Mountains but also 30 degree-below-zero temperatures during the night. They tried to survive with the scarce food reserves they had until the rescue, but they lost their hope when they heard that the search had ceased on the radio. They were desperate because of the lack of food and physically exhausted and forced to feed themselves on their dead partners to keep on living. Finally fed up with the extremely low temperatures and the avalanche threats as well as anguished by the continual deaths of the other survivors, two of them decided to cross the huge mountains to reach Chile. After 72 days the last 16 survivors became rescued from the mountains. In our western culture cannibalism is seen as depraved and “evil.” Due to extenuating circumstances these people had to participate in this act or face their own extinction. T. Hunt explained in his article that people “aside from a minimum of intelligence as a basis for learning, all morality, character, and conduct conformities are the product of experience, environment, or training” (Hunt, 1936). In other words man is good initially but life influences what kind of person one may become. We are taught with the adult’s beliefs, values, and morals. In addition, the issue may be what pride, jealousy, selfishness, and greed do to human nature. Immanuel Kant asserted that as rational beings, we are evil, but we can be morally good. Kant called it “radical evil and good will.” He said that as a species we are evil and there are three levels of evil: 1) weakness, 2) impurity, 3) depravity and that even though evil was human nature, we remain morally obliged to cultivate and strengthen our moral progress (McCarty, 2009, p. 201). Kant used this concept to respond to Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics (Aristotle, trans. 1953) Aristotle believed that it was our emotions explained as one’s perceptions of good and evil (Korsgaard, 2008). Kant also disagreed with others, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who believed that we are good but corrupted by society. Many times the belief in good and evil is a mode of conduct that we are taught. This may happen in the family, rules of the community, or concepts integral to religious education. This introduces the comparison of taboos or ‘evil acts’ that are acceptable in one society but not in another. The differences in the characterizations of right or wrong; good or bad, sin or virtue could cause belief that men are essentially neither good nor evil. We remain firm that humans are born as clean slates with personality differences that may sway their behavior patterns. References Genesis 1:31, New International Version Hunt, T. (1936). The Measurement of Character and the Moral Sense. In T. Hunt (Ed.) , Measurement in psychology (pp. 372-389). Prentice-Hall, Inc. “I believe []. (2002, April 13) Message posted to http://find.galegroup.com/gtx/start.do'prodId=ITOF&userGroupName=apollo Korsgaard, Christine M. (2008). The Constitution of Agency. Essays on Practical Reason and Moral Psychology. Oxford Scholarship Online: January 2009, 174-210 McCarty, Richard (2009). Evil Nature, Good Will. Oxford Scholarship Online SparkNotes Editors. (2007). SparkNote on Lord of the Flies. Retrieved January 13, 2011, from http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/flies/ "Schizophrenia." Encyclopedia of Women's Health. Dordrecht: Springer Science Business Media, 2004. Credo Reference. Retrieved January 13, 2011 from http://www.credoreference.com/entry/sprwh/schizophrenia. Viven. (2011). Alive: The Andes Accident of 1972. Retrieved January 15, 2011, from http://www.viven.com.uy/571/Eng/default.asp