CHAPTER 2 HUMAN NATURE From Philosophy: Questions and Theories

 What makes humans different from animals and machines?  This has been debated upon by philosophers for centuries

 Do people desire to know?  Aristotle thought people desired to know and this is what made humans human  Aristotle also believed that people wanted to achieve happiness  The ancient Greeks thought that happiness and knowledge were mutually supportive Happiness was attained through knowledge

 Jeremy Bentham thought that people sought physical pleasure rather than intellectual satisfaction

Are People Altruistic or Egoist?  Hobbes  Saw people as aggressive, greedy and competitive People want to dominate others The state must control people because of this egoist nature

Are People Good or Evil?  Moore said that good was beyond definition  Nonetheless good can be said to be something that contributes to the well-being of some or many without the infliction of pain or suffering  Most say that humans can recognize the difference between good and evil

 Do people consciously do evil?  Socrates thought no “To know the good is to do the good.”  Butler thought that when people do evil they violate human nature  Some think that people chose to do evil

 Some cultures think that evil is an inevitable compliment to good Yin and yang Negative and positive aspects of nature and humanity

 Mengzi Man is good with an innate sense of right and wrong Li Evil exists because people don’t cultivate their innate goodness through education

 Xun Zi Education is important because it is needed to control the dark nature of humanity People desire what they do not possess and this leads to acts of evil

Essentialist Views of Human Nature  essentialist believe that reason and not desire is the distinguishing feature of humanity

 Plato  Reason and not the senses provides true knowledge  Proposed the tripartite theory of the soul Reason, spirit, and appetite Thought that all three was present in all individuals and the kind of person someone was was dependant on the balance between them

 Freud proposed something similar to this theory  Id, ego and superego

Essence and Existence  Plato thought reasoning takes place in the soul  The soul is distinct from the body and exists before and after the body  What is the difference between existence and essence?  Essence is the thing that makes up the universal nature of a being or entity  For Plato essence precedes existence

Life After Death  Notion of essence presupposes some sort of “life after death”

Challenges to the Essentialist Views of Human Nature The Buddhist Challenge  Self is an illusion  Thus the discussion of the nature of the self is pointless  Doctrine of impermanence All things are changing including humans If humans are constantly changing then there can be no identifiable characteristics over time Clinging to the illusion of self only causes pain and suffering

The Scientific Challenge  Scientists challenge essentialism by reducing human nature to matter and mechanical processes  Hobbes thought something like this – people were like machines

 Thinking and reasoning are nothing more than the firing of chemicals in the brain  This materialistic view of human nature denies that thinking and reasoning are proof of the mind at work

 Watson  Evil is a biological reality  We also see evil in chimpanzees and we are from the same evolutionary tree  Wrangham  Monkeys fight attackers (chimps) to protect the group Some die in the struggle but it allows others to survive  Freud  Thought sex and aggression were the most prevalent drives Relief can be achieved only through satisfaction of these desires

 Rogers  Impulse for goodness is basic in human nature When conditions are favorable they are good and only act evil when they are somehow alienated from our nature  Skinner  People are controlled by their environment – behaviourism  Behaviourists ignore the state of mind People are simply organic machines that are the product of stimulus and response

The Feminist Challenge  Feminists question essentialists’ emphasis on reason  Plato thought that men and women reasoned equally but Aristotle believed that men had a better faculty for reason  This became an entrenched view in Western thought for centuries afterwards

The Existentialist Challenge  Existentialism is a philosophical movement that became prominent in the 20 th century  Concerned with human existence  The problems faced by humans and humanity’s place in the universe

 Kierkegaard  Roots of existentialist writing (19 th century)  Writing is filled with themes of meaningless, depression and anxiety

 Sartre  Influential 20 th century existentialist  Did not agree with the gloomy perspective of existentialism Thought that this anxiety came from a fear of the responsibility of choice

 Was an atheist  “Existence precedes essence” Only after birth does man define himself through action and existence Man creates himself and thus is responsible for this creation There is no essence of man before or after one is born since there is no God to create this essence

 “Man is nothing else but what he makes of himself. Such is the first principle of existentialism.” This is true for people and not for inanimate objects like desks or chairs as their essence is determined before they come into existence  Thus, human nature cannot be an excuse for evil or poor choices as there is no human nature People are free and alone