Unlike Mencius, Hsun Tzu believed that all humans were born evil. Hsun Tzu also believed man was born with the nature to want to be profitable. If man indulged in this they would never earn the chance to be good. Both men had very different perspectives, but I do not agree with either of them. Man is not born good or evil.
In pursuing his scientific experiments and validating his work, Jekyll claims, "man is not truly one, but truly two." Thus, in Jekyll's view, every soul contains elements of both good and evil, but one is always dominant. In Jekyll's case, his good side is dominant, but he knows there is evil inside of him. However, as a respectable member of society and an honorable Victorian gentleman, Jekyll cannot fulfill his evil desires. Thus, he works to develop a way to separate the two parts of his soul and free his evil characteristics.
Correspondingly, he implies that the people who continue to practice poverty only do so in an obsession to uphold subordinate religious morals. With this in mind, Undershaft takes it upon himself to maintain his wealth as a justifiable attempt to prevent poverty from casting a grim shadow upon society. His cause is achieved through means not only by the manipulation of the working class, but also through exploiting man’s inherent need to war over morality and religion. Undershaft’s complete faith in the creation and power of weaponry only proves the fallacy in believing that God
This, in his view, helps maintain a governing body of authority that will provide peace and security. When he talks about the nature of man from chapter 13 of Leviathan, he positions that there are three principle causes of argument or differences of man which are competition, hesitancy and splendor in a state of nature which he professes to be ultimately the worst situation to be in in society. He speaks of how man will invade to achieve gain, safety and reputation. He concludes that man will use violence to be on top of the social ladder having power over other men’s property (land, wives and children) and in doing so, will defend to keep that power all the while making a name for himself for self-interests. Hobbes and his social contract may be ideal where order is necessary but how he approaches this grand scheme of absolute monarchy is not achievable to keep people in check because of the abuse of power being granted to one person.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morality” includes his theory on man’s development of “bad conscience.” Nietzsche believes that when transitioning from a free-roaming individual to a member of a community, man had to suppress his “will to power,” his natural “instinct of freedom”(59). The governing community threatened its members with punishment for violation of its laws, its “morality of customs,” thereby creating a uniform and predictable man (36). With fear of punishment curtailing his behavior, man was no longer allowed the freedom to indulge his every instinct. He turned his aggressive focus inward, became ashamed of his natural animal instincts, judged himself as inherently evil, and developed a bad conscience (46). Throughout the work, Nietzsche uses decidedly negative terms to describe “bad conscience,” calling it ugly (59), a sickness (60), or an illness (56); leading some to assume that he views “bad conscience” as a bad thing.
Locke stated that people were naturally good but Thomas Hobbes had a negative view towards human nature. Hobbes sees man as being evil. In his principal work, ‘Leviathan’ Hobbes believes that, “people are innately selfish and grasping.” Hobbes believes that ethical concepts such as good or bad or ideas of good or evil doesn’t exist in the state of nature. He thinks that mankind can use any power essential to protect him and his surrounding for good. Hobbes named this condition as ‘war’ which also meant that every man is enemy to every man.
Hobbes says that the life of man is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short. Hobbes also believed that men are all selfish and men are supposed to be evil to survive. Hobbes didn’t believe man can be good but men are born to be evil. In the other hand Locke believed that the life of man is solitary and poor. Locke believed that men are governed by reason.
Unlike Ralph's peaceful, democratic leadership, Jack believes in violence as a way to rule. Jack uses anarchism, the absence of government, as his method of winning over the boys and convincing them to leave Ralph. When Jack is originally unsuccessful as convincing the boys to convert over to his own methods, he resorts to savagery in order to become successful in gaining power and sovereignty over the boys. Jack's disrespect, desire to hunt, and violent tendencies are all ways in which he gains and maintains power over the converted boys. Most importantly, Jack's disrespect towards the other boys makes him fearful to the others, and therefore the boys feel obligated to follow his orders if they want to avoid consequences.
Hobbes’ unorthodox thinking sparked debates with many intellectual adversaries, particularly John Locke, who argued that men were innately social creatures who could cooperate and coexist peacefully. Ultimately the works of Hobbes set the stage for a new topic of thought amongst philosophers of his era – man’s innate state of nature and its relevance to the governing of society. In Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, He argued that in the natural state of nature, without society or a governing body, man is innately evil. Hobbes believes that without the constraints of order or a common authority, men are driven into a state of chaos, conflict, and war against each other. Hobbes states that there are three principals in the innate state of nature which can cause such chaos and conflict; “…competition, diffidence, and glory.” Furthermore, Hobbes argues that this chaos and conflict is further motivated by man’s moral obligations, religious positions, and their respective rights to property.
War is a state of conflict that two forces find themselves in – a competition with selfish endeavors. The definition of the “original condition of mankind” that Hobbes explains is “that during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man. For war consistent not in battle only, or the act of fighting, but in a tract of time, wherein the will to contend by battle is sufficiently known.” (Hobbes Ch. XII) Men are born equal and they have the right to take as much as they please, in order to keep their original condition. He proposes to solve the problem of war by creating laws, because of their need of survival above all.