Morality: The Relation Between Good And Evil

Humans are given the freewill and freedom to decide their life. They know what is right and wrong, good and evil, just and unjust, and what is moral and immoral. However, there are instances when people are being deceived and do what is wrong, unjust and immoral in the eyes of God. But these do not mean that humans are created evil. Human morality can be traced back in the theological and philosophical perspective. Using the Bible, the teachings of the Church as well as the works of the philosophers, we can tell that indeed humans are intrinsically good and moral.

Morality is connected to theology. Through God – human relationship, the foundation of morality was created. The human dignity of a person is rooted in his/her being created in the

Philosophers and great thinkers had their own perception of the nature of man. In Eastern philosophy, one of the known schools of thought is Confucianism, which believes in the original goodness of man. Mencius, one of the greatest of Confucianism writer states: “The tendency of man’s nature to good is the tendency of water to flow downward… And, if men become evil, that is not the fault of their original endowment. The sense of mercy is found in all men; the sense of shame is found in all men; the sense of respect is found in all men; the sense of right and wrong is found in all men… Charity, righteousness, prosperity and moral consciousness are not something that is drilled into us; we have got them originally…” To support his theory, Mencius speaks of the four beginnings that belonged to man’s original nature and these are: the feeling of commiseration which is the beginning of human-heartedness (Jen); the feeling of shame and dislike which is the beginning of righteousness (Yi); the feeling of modesty and yielding towards the good which is the beginning of ritual or propriety (Li); and the sense of right and wrong (Chin). The possession of the four beginnings is what differentiate man from beast. Therefore, they must develop these to become a true man. Another is Plato, a Greek philosopher. He believed in goodness. For him, “the highest form is goodness. Therefore, goodness is absolute, permanent, and unchangeable.” Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a great French philosopher of the 18th century, claimed in his work Émile that “humans are basically good and, if proper development is fostered, the natural goodness of the individuals can be protected from the corrupting influences of the society.” He used the child Émile as a symbol of the innate goodness and morality of human beings. In his work “Discourse on the Origin of Inequality” Rousseau conceived man as a “noble savage” who lived