Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679): People are naturally selfish and evil; without a strong civilizing government to restrain humanity's violent impulses, the "state of nature" is a "war of all against all" and life is "nasty, brutish, and short."
John Locke (1632–1704): People are born blank slates, neither good nor bad. For that reason, each generation must take great care what environment they raise the next generation in, because everything they think will be based on what they are taught by people and circumstances.
John-Jacques Rousseau (1712–1778): People are born naturally good and civilization corrupts them. If people could just ignore the confusing influence of social conventions and follow their natural instincts the world would be much better.
For this assignment, you will need to follow the essay format as made famous by Michel de Montaigne. He is credited with creating the essay, which literally comes from the French word for "trial," as in a weighing of evidence—so you can blame Montaigne for the essay.

Step 1
Start by evaluating the three positions outlined above, one at a time. For each, consider evidence that supports it and evidence that raises a problem for it. This is your personal reflection, so you can do research but for your evidence you may also just use your personal observations: have you seen yourself and others demonstrate natural goodness, badness, or neutrality?

Step 2
Having considered each, identify which of the three positions makes the most sense to you and explain why. This should be based on more than what you would like it to be. What makes one position's evidence stronger to you than the others? You need to explain this.

Step 3
For your final paragraph, you need to address a specific problem with the position you picked in step 2, as follows:

If you chose humans are naturally bad, how can any government be trusted if it consists of humans?
If you chose humans are naturally neutral, does that mean no one is ultimately responsible for their actions because they are just a product of their environment—what about historical figures who stood up to their societies and said something was wrong?
If you chose humans are naturally good, why are laws of any kind necessary?
Your assignment here is to write out your thoughts on the question of human nature, not provide the final answer. So think deeply about these ideas, but don't stress if you're not satisfied with your response in the final step—there is a reason people have been debating these issues for a few centuries and counting!