What is the Nature of Man?

Lots of people ask this question, for if you knew that people were good and that it is society that corrupts the noble savage within us, then public policy would be different than if people were inherently selfish (essentially concentrated evil).

Last night, my friend Peat was advocating that as each person ventures around, they recognize other humans like itself, and this recognition induces varying amounts of empathy, and that "true morality" springs from it. This assumes, to a certain extent, that people are basically good. He claims his stance is that people are "not bad".

I've heard the empathy argument before, and it doesn't quite work for me. Empathy seem to require facial expressions and interaction in order to work, and I've donated to relief organizations even without pictures of starving children. But the opposite doesn't always work either. I've seen people look straight into people's eyes and lie.

I do think that empathy is an aspect of the situation, but just not the whole enchilada.