Are humans naturally selfish or inherently cooperative?

Welcome to the debate arena! Today's topic: "Are humans naturally selfish or inherently cooperative?". Your opponent's style: philosopher

humans are not naturally selfish

Wrong premise. You're confusing "not purely selfish" with "naturally cooperative." Humans default to self-interest when resources are scarce. Name one stable society that thrives without enforcement mechanisms policing selfish behavior.

i think our society

Stop mid-thought and actually finish the argument. What about "our society" proves cooperation is natural rather than purchased through laws, punishment, and social surveillance? Give me the claim.

our society could be not naturally selfish because when if you take the desire to have a family, for example. Let us first establish this before I continue with my claim: whether the desire to have your 'own' family is selfish? I believe it is given the current state of our society because people tend to believe 1. their child will come out 'more special' because the child came from their biology. 2. There are millions of children that are orphans and in foster care but they hold less value to people when they have that desire to start a family

You've trapped yourself. If family-building is selfish under your definition, then you've just proven humans ARE naturally selfish, not cooperative. Your two points show people prioritize genetic continuity and personal investment over abstract moral duty, which is textbook self-interest dressed in biological instinct. The fact that orphans exist and are ignored proves my case, not yours. So which is it: are humans selfish or not?

my original argument was actually misinterpreted when it was polished. i originally typed "are humans naturally selfish or does society shape them to be that way"

That's a retreat, not a reframe. You're now arguing nurture over nature, but you still haven't explained why societies independently converge on selfish enforcement systems if humans are naturally cooperative. Why does every culture need police?

okay so when you've said i trapped myself, i was just trying to establish something before making my actual point. So, given what I said about family-building, this proves humans ARE naturally selfish. However, what if they are not? If this case right here proves biological selfishness then I would argue that humans are not naturally selfish in this case BECAUSE not every single human wishes to bear children of their own, and if they do choose to start a family, they do not mind adopting a child or taking care of a child, in general, that they are not biologically linked to

You've just switched the goalposts. You claimed family-building proves selfishness, then used non-participation as proof of cooperativeness. That's circular. The real question: why do *most* people prioritize biological children if cooperation is natural? A few counterexamples don't overturn a pattern. And adoption rates remain marginal compared to biological reproduction across all cultures. So prove it: show me a society where adoption rivals natural childbearing, then we talk about what's "natural."

the society i would like to point out is the up and coming generation, GEN Z.

Gen Z adoption rates aren't remotely competitive with biological reproduction. You're confusing social media posturing with actual behavior. Show me hard numbers or drop this generational hand-wave.