Unkind/Kind nature: Hereditary or Acquired

CAKCy

CAKCy

Member
Location
Cyprus, East Mediterranean
In my thread of yesterday:

Why do some people find pleasure in hurting other people's feelings?

there was one (I'm not sure if there were more) claim that a person's nature is not acquired but it is, instead, hereditary.

(I find the opportunity here, to thank everyone who participated in the discussion, either by posting their opinion, or by reacting to other people's and my posts as well as those who just read it - I hope it was an interesting reading. The winner will be announced in due time! :p)

So... Are people being born kind or evil?

My belief is that all people are born kind and life "teaches" them evilness, selfishness, unkindness...

(For those who wonder: One of my "hobbies" is studying people and human behavior. Being a strong empath gets me unwillingly involved in other people's problems or pain and, in more rare cases, in their joy, which affects my psyche. Understanding people and their behavior give me the "tools" to cope with a situation personally and to help wherever and whenever I can.)
 

Whether humans are born good or evil has been debated by philosophers for centuries. Aristotle argued that morality is learned, and that we’re born as “amoral creatures” while Sigmund Freud considered new-borns are a moral blank slate (tabula rasa) that can be written on.
I agree with both!
 
Shero said:
Whether humans are born good or evil has been debated by philosophers for centuries. Aristotle argued that morality is learned, and that we’re born as “amoral creatures” while Sigmund Freud considered new-borns are a moral blank slate (tabula rasa) that can be written on.
I agree with both!
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply and knowledge added.
I'm not Aristotle or Freud but I would think that humans (as animals) tend to see (and instinctually) have feelings for, other similar beings on birth. Belongingness to the species makes a newborn "kind ready" for other members of the species. Of course those events happen after birth which could support your (and their) amoral creature theory. I wonder what kind of emotions (if any) are developed while the baby is still a fetus. The mother's psychological state as well as her chemical state (hormones etc.) must surely affect the fetus' brain.
 

Shero said:
Whether humans are born good or evil has been debated by philosophers for centuries. Aristotle argued that morality is learned, and that we’re born as “amoral creatures” while Sigmund Freud considered new-borns are a moral blank slate (tabula rasa) that can be written on.
I agree with both!
Click to expand...

I add to the discussion Yale Professor's Paul Bloom opinion on the subject:

The Moral Life of Babies - Scientific American
 
CAKCy said:
Evil/Kind nature: Hereditary or Acquired
So... Are people being born kind or evil?
My belief is that all people are born kind and life "teaches" them evilness, selfishness, unkindness...
Click to expand...

Both heredity and environmental influences play a part in the formation of a persons nature(eg:evil or kind).

CAKCy said:
(For those who wonder: One of my "hobbies" is studying people and human behavior. Being a strong empath gets me unwillingly involved in other people's problems or pain and, in more rare cases, in their joy, which affects my psyche. Understanding people and their behavior give me the "tools" to cope with a situation personally and to help wherever and whenever I can.)
Click to expand...
@CAKCy , Being an empath is a thankless 'job', some call it a gift...:unsure:
 
Nathan said:
Both heredity and environmental influences play a part in the formation of a persons nature(eg:evil or kind).


@CAKCy , Being an empath is a thankless 'job', some call it a gift...:unsure:
Click to expand...

So, you think that a pair of evil parents will pass their evilness onto their baby (before birth)? (or a pair of kind parents with affect their baby's kindness (before birth)?)

Being an empath is a curse, in my opinion. I have spent a good part of my life feeling down because of other people's problems/pain. Yet... I have those few times that I was actually able to offer a helping hand and that gave me joy!
 
Has anyone here been described as "evil"? :alien::eek:

I have,.........., well "ill or evil" to be precise, by one of my elder sisters.

In response I'd suggest her actions have been "evil" for want of a better word, though she is not, (this relates to what happened to our father towards the end of his life, but no need to bore you with more details and take the thread down a cul de sac !).

I'm prepared to believe some babies may be born evil, (we'd have to define evil adequately wouldn't we, and an inability to feel any kind of empathy would be one aspect of a person's character you'd include in the definition perhaps, as others have suggested). However it seems more likely that those who do evil things, must have both character flaws passed in their DNA and the negative effects of the way they have been treated as children, to answer the OP question as best I can.
 
grahamg said:
Has anyone here been described as "evil"? :alien::eek:

I have,.........., well "ill or evil" to be precise, by one of my elder sisters.

In response I'd suggest her actions have been "evil" for want of a better word, though she is not, (this relates to what happened to our father towards the end of his life, but no need to bore you with more details and take the thread down a cul de sac !).

I'm prepared to believe some babies may be born evil, (we'd have to define evil adequately wouldn't we, and an inability to feel any kind of empathy would be one aspect of a person's character you'd include in the definition perhaps, as others have suggested). However it seems more likely that those who do evil things, must have both character flaws passed in their DNA and the negative effects of the way they have been treated as children, to answer the OP question as best I can.
Click to expand...

Good point! I have edited the title of the thread to change "Evil" to "Unkind".

Kidding:
Maybe your elder sister knows you too well! :p

It would be interesting to know what you consider as "evil" actions if you feel like sharing. If you don't want to do it in public you can start a conversation with me.

My understanding, then, is that kindness/unkindness can be hereditary and it can be either/or.
 
I think children will be the type of people their parents are, but not from genetics; from their upbringing.
After children become adults, they choose to be the type of people they are.

My situation: My mother was an abusive raging witch who should have never had children. She only became pregnant to make sure our father would stay with her. And, of course, he had to marry her when he got her pregnant before they married. Back in 1950, you just had to marry a woman if you got her pregnant.
She had 4 kids. Her first child was from her first marriage that only lasted a few months. She abandoned that child in another country when she was 4 months old. I didn't know I had a half sister until I was 17. My mom was forced to explain who she was only because she would be staying with us for a week. Of course, her daughter hated her mother for dumping her on another family.
Coincidentally, my brother had a child with his 4th wife & he also abandoned her when she was 3 months old. He chose to take on the selfish, inconsiderate traits of our mother because he didn't want to bother being involved with his child's life, especially after he married again for the 5th time.
My sister chose to take on some of our mother's negative traits - Greed, Rage, Selfishness, Ungratefulness, Racism & Man Hating. She has 2 kids. One of them is a lot like her. Her other child wants nothing to do with her & hasn't spoken to her or seen her for 15 years.

At around age 24, I chose not to take on any of my mother's negative traits. People who knew her often tell me, "I can't believe you're really her son; you're so nice." I always say, "That's because I made a point of not being like her. She taught me what type of person not to be by her example.
 
win231 said:
I think children will be the type of people their parents are, but not from genetics; from their upbringing.
After children become adults, they choose to be the type of people they are.

My situation: My mother was an abusive raging witch who should have never had children. She only became pregnant to make sure our father would stay with her. And, of course, he had to marry her when he got her pregnant before they married. Back in 1950, you just had to marry a woman if you got her pregnant.
She had 4 kids. Her first child was from her first marriage that only lasted a few months. She abandoned that child in another country when she was 4 months old. I didn't know I had a half sister until I was 17. My mom was forced to explain who she was only because she would be staying with us for a week. Of course, her daughter hated her mother for dumping her on another family.
Coincidentally, my brother had a child with his 4th wife & he also abandoned her when she was 3 months old. He chose to take on the selfish, inconsiderate traits of our mother because he didn't want to bother being involved with his child's life, especially after he married again for the 5th time.
My sister chose to take on some of our mother's negative traits - Greed, Rage, Selfishness, Ungratefulness, Racism & Man Hating. She has 2 kids. One of them is a lot like her. Her other child wants nothing to do with her & hasn't spoken to her or seen her for 15 years.

At around age 24, I chose not to take on any of my mother's negative traits. People who knew her often tell me, "I can't believe you're really her son; you're so nice." I always say, "That's because I made a point of not being like her. She taught me what type of person not to be by her example.
Click to expand...

Wow! Thanks for your reply and sharing your life story!

My understanding is that you consider the traits of someone to be completely acquired and not inherited in any way. Do you not find anything on yourself that makes you similar, somehow to your mother?

(BTW you gave me insight for one of my future (boring) threads!)
 
CAKCy said:
Wow! Thanks for your reply and sharing your life story!

My understanding is that you consider the traits of someone to be completely acquired and not inherited in any way. Do you not find anything on yourself that makes you similar, somehow to your mother?

(BTW you gave me insight for one of my future (boring) threads!)
Click to expand...
I can't think of any trait of mine that makes me similar in any way to my mother. She was everything I couldn't stand in other people.
If I somehow became like her, I'd seriously consider suicide.
 
CAKCy said:
In my thread of yesterday:

Why do some people find pleasure in hurting other people's feelings?

there was one (I'm not sure if there were more) claim that a person's nature is not acquired but it is, instead, hereditary.

(I find the opportunity here, to thank everyone who participated in the discussion, either by posting their opinion, or by reacting to other people's and my posts as well as those who just read it - I hope it was an interesting reading. The winner will be announced in due time! :p)

So... Are people being born kind or evil?

My belief is that all people are born kind and life "teaches" them evilness, selfishness, unkindness...

(For those who wonder: One of my "hobbies" is studying people and human behavior. Being a strong empath gets me unwillingly involved in other people's problems or pain and, in more rare cases, in their joy, which affects my psyche. Understanding people and their behavior give me the "tools" to cope with a situation personally and to help wherever and whenever I can.)
Click to expand...
@CAKCy if you are told often enough that you are stupid and everything you do is wrong you will believe it
 
peramangkelder said:
@CAKCy if you are told often enough that you are stupid and everything you do is wrong you will believe it
Click to expand...

My understanding is that you believe that the traits are acquired and not hereditary.

With all due respect, I won't agree with your words. Giving you a glimpse of my "Whole person" theory, (a theory that I have developed for myself and believe in it firmly), you won't ever believe that your skin color is XXXX if your skin color is YYYY. That's because deep inside you, you have enough knowledge of yourself to be absolutely sure that your skin color is YYYY. To be vulnerable to external input about who one is, one must have low or no knowledge of oneself (low self-esteem). If one is absolutely certain that one is smart no external feedback about one's smartness will affect one's belief in oneself.
 
CAKCy said:
Good point! I have edited the title of the thread to change "Evil" to "Unkind".
Kidding:
Maybe your elder sister knows you too well! :p
It would be interesting to know what you consider as "evil" actions if you feel like sharing. If you don't want to do it in public you can start a conversation with me. My understanding, then, is that kindness/unkindness can be hereditary and it can be either/or.
Click to expand...
You've thrown me now because kindness/unkindness doesn't compute in my brain as being the same thing as "evil" at all.

Here is the dictionary definition, (close enough to the way I understand the word too):

Evil = "profoundly immoral and wicked".

But when asked to say what an evil person might be the dictionary definition came up with something appropriate to the intention you seemed to set in your OP, (to my mind):

"If you describe someone as evil, you mean that they are very wicked by nature and take pleasure in doing things that harm other people."

(BTW not sure whether my sisters know me all too well, but my brother stated many years ago that I did not know my sister, nor what they were capable of, and this has been proven to be the case).
 
grahamg said:
You've thrown me now because kindness/unkindness doesn't compute in my brain as being the same thing as "evil" at all.

Here is the dictionary definition, (close enough to the way I understand the word too):

Evil = "profoundly immoral and wicked".

But when asked to say what an evil person might be the dictionary definition came up with something appropriate to the intention you seemed to set in your OP, (to my mind):

"If you describe someone as evil, you mean that they are very wicked by nature and take pleasure in doing things that harm other people."

(BTW not sure whether my sisters know me all too well, but my brother stated many years ago that I did not know my sister, nor what they were capable of, and this has been proven to be the case).
Click to expand...

Actually the title (and the traits) are not that important per se. I used "evil" as an antonym of "kind". "Unkind" could also be used.

The general question is whether you believe that traits (like being kind or not) are hereditary or acquired later in life. The type of trait is not what really matters.
 
CAKCy said:
Actually the title (and the traits) are not that important per se. I used "evil" as an antonym of "kind". "Unkind" could also be used.

The general question is whether you believe that traits (like being kind or not) are hereditary or acquired later in life. The type of trait is not what really matters.
Click to expand...
They are good questions, (whatever you decide they are?), and not easy to answer adequately because its too obvious and simple to say "both nature and nurture" that is bound to be true in every case ultimately.

However, my understanding is "modern thinking" questions whether there is right or wrong, good/bad, kind/unkind, in this world, (I think Germaine Greer said something like this forty years ago?):
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/26/germaine-greer-female-eunuch-feminists-influence
 
grahamg said:
They are good questions, (whatever you decide they are?), and not easy to answer adequately because its too obvious and simple to say "both nature and nurture" that is bound to be true in every case ultimately.

However, my understanding is "modern thinking" questions whether there is right or wrong, good/bad, kind/unkind, in this world, (I think Germaine Greer said something like this forty years ago?):
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/26/germaine-greer-female-eunuch-feminists-influence
Click to expand...

I never claimed the question to be easy to answer. I just wanted to see how people feel about this or even share knowledge on the subject with the rest of us.

Probably the answer lies somewhere in between nature and nurture as you put it. The question that arises is "if traits as these are hereditary then can an unkind (or bad, or evil etc.) person be blamed for them?"
 
CAKCy said:
I never claimed the question to be easy to answer. I just wanted to see how people feel about this or even share knowledge on the subject with the rest of us.
Probably the answer lies somewhere in between nature and nurture as you put it. The question that arises is "if traits as these are hereditary then can an unkind (or bad, or evil etc.) person be blamed for them?"
Click to expand...
You dont have to claim your question to be easy, for me to choose to remark it isn't easy to give a sensible answer.

Can people be blamed if the do something wrong, (lets say break the law), if the trait is mainly caused by inherited factors, or heredity, I'd suggest they can be held responsible for the action, though whether this makes any difference so far as "blame" goes I'm not sure. Lawyers often argue miscreants had poor childhood experiences in order to try to persuade judges to pass a more lenient sentence upon their clients, so this argument can successfully be made, (I wouldn't try the "heredity" angle though!). 👮‍♂️📉🔒
 
I believe you are born good or evil. You have a good child raised in a nurturing environment and good always prevails. That same child raised in an evil environment will mature as evil. But their genetic good trait will emerge eventually. I am 75 and that is what I have seen over my lifetime.
 
This is just my opinion as I feel human intellect is not a good judge of this.
The soul is pure and sweet.
Many elements affect the behavior as;
the evolution of the soul,
the nervous system,
the pre-arranged life path,
the clarity of useful, purposeful thought,
the development of the qualities of the heart, as manners, tolerance, kindness, compassion, etc.
Karma.
The soul rebounds from all creation and surroundings.
Harm any soul has done to others in all the past will return from all strata of nature for immeasurable time.
After considering all factors, "Is a kind or unkind nature acquired or hereditary?"
I would have to say BOTH.

as always: IMO
 

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