Is humankind inherently good or evil?
Based off of personal experiences and encounters with all types of people I can confidently say that humankind is good. When I look at society as a whole I think it can be said that what we do is inherently good. The reason why people often cite humankind as being evil is because of specific individuals. When we focus on one person like Hitler then it is easy to classify all humans as being evil but we must look at the good that humankind brings about also. Overall I would say that the good humankind does out performs the evils that occasionally take place.
My independent study book over the summer was The Tempest by William Shakespeare. In relation to my big question I think it still showed that humans are inherently good. The main character was vindictive but by the end of the book all the characters got along. It showed that people that are at one point enemies can come together and unite. The mere fact that they did this shows the good that humans bring about; despite all the differences that characters had they still managed to get along.
In relation to my big question I think that Oedipus does not give a good answer in relation to the question. Oedipus is a good leader and realizes that he must make up for what he has done in the past. In Playboy of the Western World we see that humans are inherently bad not necessarily evil. The reader must take into account that this is a satire and many of the characterizations are greatly over exaggerated.
