The Nature of Man: Is Man by Nature Good, or Basically Bad?

The world divides into two camps on this question.

The "goodies" turn to all that is beautiful, intelligent, creative, progressive, kind, decent and loving in human beings—and there really is an enormous presence of these wonderful characteristics. "Darker" types turn to the adage that man is born to sin and go on to cite the endless evils and destruction we indeed wreak on one another, disastrously and shamefully, in almost all areas of life.

Man Is Good

If you go to read a standard psychology book to answer the question, you're unlikely to suffer an upsetting experience. The politically correct psychology of our time generally tells us, or at least implies, that, if free of abnormality, human beings are humane and constructive, fun, and safe to be with.

If dark thoughts and doubts nonetheless intrude on you and you have questions about the pain and misery you see all around you, our happy and optimistic psychologists are likely to say that aside from bad fate which we largely can’t control, many people succumb unnecessarily to stress—so go read about psychopathology to understand the bad errors in living to which people succumb, and then go read about “positive psychology” that will make you better equipped to deal with stress and make you feel good.

Standard psychology texts imply that to be normal is to feel happy and to lead an untroubled good life—until uncontrollable lightning may strike, but this is unlikely. In their essence, life and people are good.

To which we say: Hah! That is not what we see all around us.

Man Is Fundamentally Both Very Good and Very Bad

The obviously correct answer to the question "Is man good or bad?" is that both are very true. Man indeed is wonderfully good, caring, and creative: Our species is an incredible leap forward on the evolutionary scale. Yet simultaneously man is one rotten manipulator, exploiter, abuser, and killer.

A good psychology book should prepare one to face one’s own possible disasters, as well as how we ourselves may be the ones who bring harm and destroy either ourselves and/or others. We need to prepare to cope with assaults, injustice, natural disasters, serious health problems, terrifying turns in history, and all sorts of bad luck; and we need to confront our own potential destructiveness, to ourselves and to others.

Like it or not, we will be wiser and better prepared to cope in life if we prepare ourselves in advance for the possibility—and ultimately the likelihood—of a certain degree of hurt, injustice, betrayal, and destructive acts directed against us, even from people and organizations close to us like a spouse, a child, a friend, our employer, or a movement or organization in which we have invested our finest hopes and beliefs. The examples are endless.

I remember one very nice neighbor who was so proud of his long-term employment by a well-known national company that he happily displayed its logo on his shirt and as a flag on his home. The company then let him go, only months before his retirement package at age 65 would come into effect. Beyond the reality of his economic stress, he was distraught and broken by the betrayal itself. His health literally deteriorated in response.

Again, like it or not, we will be better prepared to cope with life if we prepare ourselves for the possibility—the likelihood—of a certain degree of harm and destructiveness that we will do to others in our lives, including people to whom we are genuinely close and in fact care for and love. Again the examples are endless—a husband or wife who in the understandable and delectable heat of excitement spurred by another beautiful person is unfaithful; a parent with teen children who simply can’t turn down the best job offer and moves their family to a new location, destroying the vulnerable child's social network beyond his or her ability to repair; a professional who achieves great success, becoming, say, a nationally-known writer or an admired TV personality, and then, in bursts of hubris, becomes patronizing and discards old friends who have become too "unimportant."

And the above do not cover our relationships to larger medical, environmental, economic and historical events that descend on us—a home whose value disappears because of flooding or because the land on which the house is built or sits near is sold or otherwise appropriated by a municipality; a stock market crash or a bank that goes bankrupt; serious illness or calamitous falls and/or incompetent treatment; nonsensical but deadly shootings in school or elsewhere; deadly transportation accidents or failures; riots, prejudice, and acts of hatred against defined groups, fascist government persecution, wars, ethnic cleansing, mass murder, genocide, and more.

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Is it better not to think of all of these and deal with them only if they occur, or is it better to prepare and plan how we can handle evils and disasters that may befall us? And if we move from the personal level to the larger picture of what can befall society as a whole, is it wise to make awareness of impending disasters a focus of creative research and political initiatives that may help us fight off those horrors?

I believe that the best therapy goes beyond knowing and understanding to taking corrective and constructive action. On an individual level, one might ask what are the things you can do to protect your health and enrich your life, or what you can do for others to protect their right to life and quality of life. There are endless variations: What do you do for others that gives them joy in their lives? Are you helping anyone personally to get along in life? Do you give a meaningful amount to people in need, charities, and community institutions? Do you belong to any group that seeks actively to improve human life and protect human rights?

In his book, The Psychology of Genocide [1], psychologist Steven Baum cites an old Cherokee tale that tells of a grandfather teaching life principles to his grandson:

“A fight is going on inside me,” he says to the boy. “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

"The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed."