by Ginger Betzer

Created on: January 23, 2008

My view point is being expressed on the "good" side of this debate simply because I have faith in mankind. Simply because I believe, if given the opportunity, people chose good. That someone is born inherently good or bad is starting with the presupposition that "good" and "bad" are definable by something outside of oneself. To have these terms in a judeo-Christian society implies that we are resorting back to the mores and morals of these religions. Judaism teaches that each persons is created with both a Yetzer Tov and a Yetzer Hora. The Yetzer tov, the good inclination, must stand in balance against the yetzer hora, the evil inclination. So in reality the yetzer hora is not an evil thing, but a tool for creating a greater good than blind obedience. Without the Yetzer Hora man would not have free will. I remember a quote from college, but unable to remember it's source, "We are all touched by the wholeness of the human condition". In other words, we are all alike. We have both good and bad, selfish and selfless, virtues and evil, as a part of our being.

Judaism does not believe that "original sin" marred the soul of mankind and we are now all doomed to be evil. Yes, we do believe that Adam sinned. But Adam could not have "sinned" if he had not had free will. Sequentially, he could not have had free will without both the evil and the good inclination. And each person after Adam is created exactly as Adam was created. Adam did make it harder to embrace the yetzer tov because he was cast out of The Garden and further away from the source of all good. We are not hopeless because of his sin, we actually have the potential for more good and well as more evil.

So back to the original question: Is man born inherently good? Life is good. The very instinct of motherhood is to have an emotional attachment with a child even before its' birth. Anyone watching the birth of an infant knows that there is something innate in the birthing process that drives the child to survive, to kick, to scream, to cry for nourishment and nurturing. This is good. This is very good. So yes, I would say a child starts out in life "good", with the Yetzer Tov driving him to LIFE, with the Yetzer Tov driving mother to give and nurture and care. The child experiences good. The very innocence of the child looks for good. But anyone evolved in the rearing of children sees the selfish aspect of survival kicking in, both inclinations struggling against each other, and it is the role of the adult,

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