Understanding the Dark Side of Human Nature

People reserve the concept of the dark side for science fiction or psychopaths; the truth of human nature; how the dark side relates both to one's tendencies toward immorality and evil and to some of the human condition's most problematic aspects.

Answering the question of whether people are fundamentally good, fundamentally evil or neither; an ancient debate between great Confucian philosophers; contemplating theories of human nature; how they frame a person's view of the world.

In order to fully examine the dark side of human nature, one needs to go deeper; questioning whether evil actually exists, what it means to call an action evil; exploring the ontological and conceptual aspects of evil by referencing great thinkers.

The line between bad and evil; what it takes to label a person evil; developing one's own views of when an individual is or is not evil by considering four models of evil, which are the Evildoer, the Dispositional, the Affect and the Moral Monster.

The question of whether psychopaths responsible for their actions; considering how much responsibility evildoers can and should accept for their crimes, with the help of philosophers; ways by which they might not be so different from other people.

How one would know if they are committing a sin; what its consequences would be; exploring the Christian concepts of sin, from the words of Jesus to Thomas Aquinas, Augustine and modern theologians; how they relate to a secular notion of evil.

Whether dark thoughts and desires are a fundamental part of human nature; why one cannot seem to suppress or eradicate them; exploring answers to these questions with help from Tiantai Buddhist philosophers and modern-day evolutionary psychologists.

The Buddha addresses questions about suffering in his Four Noble Truths; learning about the Buddha's optimistic path forward; whether the Buddha's teachings carry truth in the 21st century; an evolutionary psychologist provides a fascinating answer.

Turning to the Bhagavad Gita to study the roles played by desires and expectations; why people are disappointed in their lives; how one could live without desire and expectations; one path provided by the Gita leads to the experience of "flow".

How to respond to the knowledge of death; why the Roman philosopher Lucretius believes that the fear of death drives people to act against their best interests; why the Daoist philosopher Zhuangzi wonders if a negative view of death even makes sense.

Wondering whether life has any meaning at all; why so many philosophers who have grappled with this question conclude that lives do have value; how one theologian finds meaning in the courage to face oneself in the world as it really is.

Questioning whether grief could ever have a good side; exploring the many ways in which philosophers and psychologists grapple with this issue for millennia; grief might be an important opportunity for self-knowledge and connection to community.

Whether there is something in human nature that drives people to kill others; whether a drive to kill is activated by nature or nurture; the genetic and situational points of view; the truth of how much people have in common with those who kill.

Why Freud believes dreams reveal important aspects of people; how Augustine copes when he dreams of actions that go against his beliefs; a disturbing dream becomes an opportunity for learning, even when one has no idea how to interpret it.

Considering what people become when they hold two contradictory thoughts in their minds at the same time; whether self-deception gives humans an evolutionary advantage; what one can do to try to avoid deceiving themselves about their own life.

Exploring the concept of ignorance through the writings of Shankara and Ramanuja; why some modern philosophers describe ignorance as a complex social phenomenon that can bring out the dark side of human nature; what can be done to counteract it.

Socrates does not think people can act against their best interest; exploring potential explanations for why one sometimes does what they say they never would do; whether it is a failure to follow through on intentions or it is ego depletion.

Judging two people who drive drunk from a party; many philosophers address the role of luck and its moral implications in people's lives; exploring their various perspectives, which may not give easy answers; thinking twice before placing blame.

An example from the Old Testament Book of Job; looking at the question of whether victims get what they deserve; exploring whether people can eliminate victim-blaming while maintaining that the world is, in the end, a fair and just place.

Taking the law into one's hands to exact revenge on a perpetrator; why people feel the need for vengeance; what can be learned from the Greek dramatist Aeschylus, as he struggles to reconcile the tension between retributive justice and revenge.

Looking at when members of the Charleston, S.C., church forgive Dylann Roof; the possibility and morality of forgiveness; how Christian and Buddhist philosophers explain forgiveness and the redemption of sinners; whether anyone is beyond redemption.

Anger and righteous anger; replacing anger with the motivation of compassion and loving-kindness; examining and broadening one's thoughts on this emotion by learning from philosophers like Shantideva, Seneca and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel.

How to remain peaceful in the midst of such a troubled world; brain science shows that people mirror the behavior of others; exploring Christian and Buddhist guidelines for confronting the dark side of human nature without spiraling into darkness.

Curiosity about death, violence or evil; how psychologists and philosophers describe the benefits of a fascination with the dark side; learning about oneself and what it means to be human by grappling with death, anger, fear and dark thoughts.