One day my mother was watching the news and there was a story about some people who tried to steal petroleum from a pipeline in Mexico and the petroleum gushed out and flowed through a village, catching fire, burning everything, including people (they were asleep, it was nighttime). (the piece of news)
My mother said: "those oil thieves (and people like them) should be shot".
I asked her: "why do you think they did it?"
She didn't know what to answer so I told her that they probably wanted to sell the oil. They wanted the money to buy things (that's what money is for). So, actually, they wanted or needed some things and they found this solution, to steal oil. Maybe they didn't have a job, maybe their families were in poverty. Are they evil people? I don't think so.
Of course, good and evil are just labels we put on people and their actions. There is no such thing as good and evil, it's all about perception. A muslim killing jews is seen as an evil thing by jews and as a good thing by muslims. It's just an example, but it shows us that our beliefs influence what we perceive as good and evil.
Of course, yet again, evolution has a word to say on this subject. To kill someone (of the same species) is generally seen as an evil thing to do. This is because humans are social animals and most part of human evolution people lived in small tribes, where they were closely related to each other, so they were more likely to share a lot of genes. From the perspective of the selfish gene, it is better not to kill other humans and even to be altruistic towards people with whom you share a lot of genes. From this perspective, you should be more altruistic to closer relatives, for example, you should be more altruistic towards your children than towards your cousins, because you share more genes with your children (not in adoption, evolution can be tricked, but not for long).
Stealing is also seen as evil by most cultures. I believe that's natural. Think about a lion who catches a gazelle, would he be happy if hyenas came to steal his prey? He would definitely not be happy about it. Usually, what creates anger or sadness is seen as bad or evil. Stealing makes us angry, so we consider it evil.
Just imagine that lions were happy when other animals (like hyenas) stole their prey. They would surely have less chances of survival. If you say "yeah, take my food, I'm so happy that I'll starve to death", this would not be good for your survival and evolution would not encourage it.
Adultery is also seen as evil. The evolutionary reason is that it's bad for your genes if you raise the child of another person, if you invest energy and time in genes other than your own. This is why jealousy exists.
Humans also have a high capacity for empathy, which is to put yourself in another one's place, be it a human or any other animal. This is why a lot of us feel that it is evil to provoke unnecessary pain and suffering to other beings, we would not like it if we were in their place.
Having children is usually considered as being a good thing, it's very easy to see the evolutionary reason for this.
I believe that people are the way they are because of heredity and environment. We have certain natural tendencies but the environment really sculptures us. Human cultures are very diverse, they have a lot of differences but they also have a lot of similarities. I believe that the similarities are influenced (or caused) by heredity and the differences are influenced (or caused) by the environment.
If people are the products of their heredity and environment, can they be good or evil? I don't think so. I don't believe that humans are good or evil, they are the way they are mostly because of what life has made them into. This society, this system creates evil and those who oppose evil are seen as good. I'm pretty sure that if Hitler had lived in a peaceful, prosperous society, he would have been much different.
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The only person who reads this blog does not agree with my conclusion and she told me that some people are just evil. She gave me the example of two brothers living in the same conditions, one being good, the other one being evil. This is true, I've seen it too, but there are situations where good people do evil things and evil people do good things. I believe that in a healthy society, evil people and violence would be almost nonexistent.
There are violent societies and peaceful societies. The Tibetans seem to have a very peaceful society, so do the Amish and many others. I think that a very violent civilization was that of the Aztecs. Also, the Arabs seem to have a violent society.
Violent societies don't have a genetic predisposition towards violence, those people are not born evil, their culture makes them evil, this is what I believe.
In fact, I don't think that anyone is born evil. Some people are born with a predisposition towards violence. The same is true for other animals. For example, a wild wolf would not make a good pet, even if you raised it since it was a cub. A dog is much better, because dogs were selected for their docility.
I think that people who have a predisposition towards violence can behave very well if you educate them properly. An angry person can use his anger for constructive purposes or destructive ones. If you take up boxing lessons to relieve your anger, I see this as constructive, if you go and beat someone up, I see this as destructive.
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