@joseph tinc,
from the point of view of a neophyte in such forum, i would like to believe that the human person is by its very essence good. if you have a bible out there, try to read through genesis. that's just my opinion on the matter. but, attempting it to be brought in the realm of reason, i suppose that evil is what we consider to be in the absence of good. the "evilness" of a certain thing is totally dependent on its goodness. evil can only be identified as such from the perspective of the good. thus, with that, prior to man being evil, he is good. then we can say that man is basically good in the first place.