After reading Lord Of The Flys over summer break, and reading about Legalism in class, I became extremely invested in the “The Nature of Man’,and whether it is genuinely good or evil. Is their original nature evil, and do they only become good through “acquired training”?If given the opportunity to be evil, would it be taken advantage of?
In Legalism, they say man strives to be good because they desire to live with Li, so he must work hard and do good. But they say that if they did feel the need for Li and justice within their lives, they would not show the goodness of their nature. They would feel no need to be good.
It is said that men are born with the love of gain, and if they follow this tendency they become contentious and greedy, lacking in courtesy and consideration for others. If they are filled with hatred and envy of others at birth, they become violent and villainous. If they are born with desires from the eye or ear, they are licentious and disorderly. And if they allowed themselves to listen to their instincts, humanity would be in a state of violence.
That is why Legalism believes that all men must be “transformed” by teachers and laws, and guided by Li and justice. And that is how they become courteous and cooperative, and good order is possible.
In the story Lord Of The Flys, the boys are stranded on an island with no way home. When they are free from things such as legal enforcement, their true colors come out. They become hungry for power, and do whatever it takes to get it. And that includes, risking and ending the lives of their own friends. Of course, that story was made up and took place a long time ago, but one of the main points that the author tries to convey through the book is that, man is truly evil, and is only circumstantially good because that’s what they are told to do. It is their “training”. If something like Lord Of The Flys occurred in today’s age, you wonder if it would if the actions of the people stranded would be similar to the boys in the book.
It is hard to give a personal opinion on a matter like this because you want to believe that we are all genuinely good people, and those who do bad things aren’t doing them because it’s their nature and it’s who they are. We all want to believe that society as a whole is good, and only some mistakes are made, but if you really look at all the bad things that happen in the world, it makes you think that maybe deep down we all have bad intentions and we only refrain ourselves from doing them because we feel like we have to, not because we genuinely don’t want to do it. ‘
Personally, I believe everyone, no matter who you are and what you’ve done, has good in them. Some people struggle to find the good in themselves but I believe it’s always there, and no matter the life you’ve lived, it’s never too late to use it.