Man is born evil. Our natural intentions are to disobey and rebel. Think of a young child, they are not taught to be little dick heads, they just are until they are guided by an adult to become better. We are evil by nature although we may become good people much like Mencius says, but I do not agree. I believe man’s nature is inherently bad, however man’s nature can be altered and wants to be altered. Hsun Tzu says man’s nature is evil, he states that man is very much influenced by his environment, to which I agree.
We are going to do what we are taught, and what we are led to believe by our influences in life. If you are born in a stable home with two loving parents who discipline you and teach you right from wrong, as well as manners with the access to good education. You will most likely end up being a well mannered kind obedient child, thus making you good defeating the evil nature. But on the other hand if you are raised in a crappy home with no education, where your siblings are the ones who raised you because your crack addicted mother is never there, and your father is abusive.
You are likely to end up living on the streets dealing drugs or becoming a prostitute because you were never taught anything else, Proving that when the evil nature of man is fed with evil, it will stay evil. Hsun Tzu states “A potter molds clay and makes a vessel, but the vessel is the product of the conscious activity of the potter, not essentially a product of his human nature. ” (3) He is saying that we do not do things because of human nature. We do them because that’s what we were taught.
People are a lot like clay, they are born like a clump that doesn’t know anything and as people grow up, or are molded they transform into what their sculptor, or surroundings want them to be. They go from a lifeless clump to a beautiful work of art, or if they get stuck with a crappy artist they may become a messed up ugly clump. The point of this analogy is that people are shaped by those around them, they do not get a choice in the way they are raised or who their parents are.
They just become and by the influences around them they either break the cycle of evil and become good, or they don’t. Hsun Tzu also states “every man who desires to do good does so precisely because his nature is evil. ”(9) He also says “what a man already possesses in himself he will not bother to look for outside. ” (9) Humans long to do good because we are evil. People are born with the need to do good to in a sense cover up their evil nature. People long to be good. They need a goal worth fighting for, something that they can strive to obtain.
Humans want to be good because it is what society says is the right thing to do. Humans are a lot like sheep, they follow the herd and do not question why they do what they do. They hear what society says is the right thing to do and they only see that as a option. They are born with evil intentions and good is only seen after a person is taught about their evil nature. Human nature is a confusing subject, there are many opinions on it. Some may say that man is good because he just is.
Others would argue man is evil because he is always showing wicked in his actions. There is also a small group of people who say man is neither good or evil but is born neutral and is influenced either way. Every person you meet in this world has the ability to make choices. The choices we make in our lives say a lot about us. They tell us if the person is good, or bad. Even if the choices we make are good choices I would say people only make those choices because they do not want to be perceived as a bad person.
Society pressures everyone into being a model citizen. You are born, you grow up, you go to school, you graduate, you go to college and get a degree, you get a job, you get a house, and you start a family, then the cycle of what people are held to repeats over and over again, and that’s life. There are so many pressures on us to do the right thing, that influence us every day. Humans are always being pushed to change our nature from evil to good so that the world around us can function. People are pressured to change and want to change because of it.
