There comes a time where the question is asked are human beings born morally good, bad, or neutral? Well, morally good is defined as a person who tends to choose the more beneficial choice. While morally bad is defined as a person who chooses the less beneficial choice. Beneficial choice meaning the decisions made throughout a lifetime lead a person on a track of being morally good or morally bad. People have to make hundreds of decisions every day, in which one is usually better than the other. When a human is born they are morally neutral due to the fact that they don’t have the ability or cognition to make decisions, in addition, newborn humans don’t know right from wrong. In this case, the only logical answer to the question is that human beings are born morally neutral.
Sartre would agree that humans are born morally neutral. Sartre talks about how a man doesn’t have an essence or purpose before their existence(“ existence precedes essence”)(Sartre, p.514). “ For we mean that man first exists, that is, that man, first of all, is the being who hurls himself toward a future.” (Sartre, p.514) Essentially, after a man exists his life is what he makes of it. That being said, when a man is born he is morally neutral because nothing exists before the man. A man creates his own morality through the decisions he makes in his life. So if a person chooses to be bad or make bad decisions then the person will end up being morally bad. On the other hand, if a person chooses to make good decisions then they will end up being morally good. Sartre does say “essence precedes existence,” when a person invents something because the person would have to have the idea of how to make what he wants before it exists. Humans created their purpose after they exist, but the ideas and inventions that they have while they exist have a purpose before they exist.
Augustine would disagree with saying humans are born morally neutral. He thinks that humans are born morally good, even though everyone sins at least once. He states that we have free will, which means that we have the option to choose whether to be morally good or bad but we are more inclined toward being morally good. Although all humans sin, Augustine believes we still have a good nature. “ What was the efficient cause of their evil will, there is none. For what is it which makes the will bad when it is the will itself which makes the action bad? But nothing is the efficient cause of bad will.” (Augustine, p.103) This is when Augustine says that there is no pre-assumed cause to a person being evil other than through his or her actions. That a person is evil because he chooses to be evil. A person isn’t morally bad by nature, the will of the person dictates whether he or she is morally bad.
John Locke believes that people are born morally neutral because of his “blank slate” theory. The “blank slate” is seen as one of the most popular philosophical theories.“Let us then suppose the mind to be, as we say, white paper, void of all characters, without any ideas:—How comes it to be furnished? Whence comes it by that vast store which the busy and boundless fancy of man has painted on it with an almost endless variety? Whence has it all the materials of reason and knowledge? To this I answer, in one word, from experience.” (John Locke) Our mind starts out as a “white paper,” that then obtains knowledge through our experiences. Our mind can then take simple ideas, build them up, and make them into complex ideas. From this knowledge, you are then able to make decisions and through those decisions, a person can choose whether to be morally good or morally bad.
John Stuart Mill believes humans are born morally neutral, but everyone desires happiness throughout their lifetime. The way people create/promote their happiness all come from the intrinsic values of pleasure. Now, there are different levels of enjoyment: “the pleasures of intellect, of the feelings and imagination, and of the moral sentiments” This list of enjoyments allows us to have a better mental capacity. He says education is a big part in obtaining such mental capacity. Learning is the only way you can get characteristics such as judgment and empathy. Judgment and empathy are Mill’s definition of the highest pleasure possible. Since he says everyone desires happiness, people will become morally good to strive and maintain their drive for the highest pleasures. When we are first born we don’t know the concept of happiness, but through our experiences in life, we learn to choose the more beneficial choice which will grant us a greater happiness.
The premise of Sartre’s argument is that he believes that one’s choices made in life will lead them to be morally good or bad, leading to his conclusion that he is morally neutral. The premise of Augustine’s argument is that even though we sin, we have free will to choose which we usually choose to be good. Therefore the conclusion of the argument is that Augustine believes humans are morally good. For John Locke, the premise is that everyone is born with a “blank slate,” but through learning and experiences, they imprint information on to the blank slate. Therefore the conclusion of John Locke’s argument is that humans are born morally neutral. For John Stuart Mill the premise is that when humans are born they don’t know the concept of happiness, but through life, we learn to choose the more pleasurable choices. Therefore the conclusion of Mill’s argument is that humans are born morally neutral.
You may ask why I believe that humans are born morally neutral? Well, the person who shot people at the synagogue in Pittsburgh was born morally neutral. I say this because the guy wasn’t born prejudice or anti-semitic, he wasn’t born with the knowledge of guns, and he wasn’t born with the thought of killing people one day. It’s all about his choices in-between then and now which led to him shooting in the synagogue. My second argument would be that babies don’t have the ability to think or choose what they want when they are first born. Babies don’t have the ability to clearly communicate with others when they are born, so how could you say they are bad or good when they haven’t said or done anything? You can’t. Through life, babies learn the ability to communicate and choose what they want. Basically, through life peoples choices lead them to be morally good or bad. My premise for the first argument would be that the guy wasn’t born prejudice, with the knowledge of guns, or even with the idea of shooting the synagogue. The conclusion for the first argument is that he was born morally neutral. The premise for the second argument would be that humans don’t have any communication skills or the knowledge to choose right from wrong. The conclusion would be that humans are born morally neutral.
Citations
Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism, excerpted in Images of the Human, ed. by Brown, Hunter et al. (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1995), pp. 512-513.
Mill, John Stuart, The Collected Works of John Stuart Mill. Gen. Ed. John M. Robson. 33 vols. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1963-91.
John Locke, The Works of John Locke in Nine Volumes, (London: Rivington, 1824 12th ed.). Vol. 1. [Online] available from https://oll.libertyfund.org/titles/761; accessed 11/13/2018; Internet.
Saint Augustine, Augustine on Free Will, excerpted in Images of the Human, ed. by Brown, Hunter, et al. (Chicago: Loyola Press, 1995), pp. 96-106.