Dual Nature Of Mankind

In attempting to reveal insight upon the first part of this two-fold question, one must first discern the meaning of human nature. According to the authoritative opinion of The Random House College Dictionary human nature is defined as; "the psychological and social qualities that characterize mankind." In assessing the psychological and social qualities of mankind, it was easy to find oneself consumed within the vastness of characteristical qualities for which humanity has been endowed. These qualities range from ignorance to knowledge; grief to joy; from incontinence to self-restraint; lust to perseverance; injustice to

What causes people’s behaviors to change over time? Is it the society shifting as a whole or it is the little things that gradually affects humans? Each generation has its own special traits, and these traits are depending on the surrounding environment-immediate context. The immediate context is words or behaviors that people are using present day have their meanings, which connects to the surrounding environment. There is a time period that everyone believes that he or she is the best, which brings up the idea of self-centered. In An Army of One: Me, the author Jean Twenge, compares situations under the idea of ‘self-esteem” and the society is over-popularized the idea of “me”. This social problem causes the unbalanced understanding of normal tasks and over trended to individualism and self-centered. However, this social phenomenon does not appear suddenly; instead, it depends on people’s living conditions and the surrounding environment, in other words, which it the immediate context. In The Power of Context, the author Malcolm Gladwell, introduces people were living in a negative environment that full of crime and bad behaviors, which results people’s actions are also changing with the surrounding context. However, there are also little things that exist in the surrounding environment that influences human behaviors; as a result, people are gradually changing the environment into a positive way. During this process, people become more selfless and serve to the society.

According to Durkheim’s work The Dualism of Human Nature and Its Social Conditions (DHN), a man has a dual nature which is made up of the body (individual) and the soul (social). He sheds light on this by citing post-Durkheim theories which he does not agree with and which do not solve the problem of this dual nature. Durkheim also uses The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life (EFRL) to discuss the religious aspect of the body and soul. Upon reading, it is discovered that as society evolves, so does this “dual nature.”

What is it that truly shapes people today? Where do our behaviors, beliefs, characteristics, and attitudes come from? The great psychological debate of nature versus nurture has been brought upon many ways of being for many years. One of the most contradicting arguments is whether or not depression is caused by genetics or if it is completely based on our environment, how we grow up, and what we are exposed to as a child. Is it really in our blood, or is it from social media and the people around us? The growth and development of children has been a topic of confusion and debate for a long time, especially with the major issue of depression defeating many young people nowadays.

In Genesis the word of God leads humanity in the direction of self preservation, urging them to procreate, to ”Be fruitful and multiply” (Genesis 9:1), and to minimize hostility and violence among people. As Freud asserted, “Besides the instinct to preserve living substance and join it into ever larger units, there must exist another, contrary instinct seeking to dissolve those units and bring them back to their primeval, inorganic state” (Freud 77). Genesis exemplifies the struggle between the two opposing human instincts, with God acting as a moderator between them. Forms of justice are put into place in an attempt to control these drives, one example being the proclamation that “Whoever sheds the blood of a human, by a human shall that person’s blood be shed” (Genesis 9:6). The ethics and laws that develop throughout Genesis seek to “prevent the crudest excesses of brutal violence” but are unable to control “the more cautious and refined manifestations of human aggressiveness” (Freud 70). Since they cannot be completely eradicated, the scriptures instead play into the more negative aspects of human nature, especially narcissism, and manipulate them into a force for conservation rather than annihilation.

Society has found a way to control the minds and bodies of mankind. Society has done this through stripping individuality, restricting knowledge, forbidding emotions, constricting mankind’s values, choosing everything for mankind, and not allowing any man to be

The unalterable human condition is one of the truths of human existence. Throughout the course of history, humans tend to act in the same ways, repeat the same mistakes, and end up little better than they were a century before. Although technology has changed, increasing the quality of life, behavior patterns have not changed, decreasing

One of the most vital concepts incorporated into The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde is the representation and depiction of the duality of mankind. Jekyll works to find a solution which will separate him into his reckless, immoral persona and his respectable, Victorian self. After consumption, this potion causes him to completely transform into a man who is known as Hyde. As Hyde, he can express himself in immoral, evil ways. This not only includes moral and immoral wants but rational and irrational wants. Not only does this transformation enable him to keep his good reputation even while he does horrid, unacceptable things, but it allows him to do things which he most likely would not even

People in general are complex individuals that live and act for a variety of different reasons. Many question the motives behind certain behaviors as well as try to understand why people act the way that they do. Some speculate that there is an internal battle and disconnect between human nature and societal ways. While some people believe humans act a certain way because of their environment, others believe they instinctively behave a certain way based upon their internal instincts. Our society contains important elements such as a centralized government, organized religion, culture, language, and technology, to name a few.

“What gets in our way is history and culture and religion and economic conditions. It is part of the hypnosis of our social conditioning” (Chopra). Chopra says that because of where and how a person grows up, it affects them and shapes who they eventually become. This is similar to the one of main plot ideas of the novel Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley. In this novel, the people are conditioned from birth to think the same general ideas about who they are and how they should act. In the real world, people are shaped by their environment, and those who are there to guide them. However, the people in Brave New World are conditioned by others before birth and on. The people must listen to hypnopaedic messages

The Evolution of Man In this day and age, humanity has continued to expand its knowledge in every dimension and these effects have been dramatically felt by society. The human race has evolved in this aggregate of people that we live in. Our values, beliefs and attitudes are all interictally connected. Take World War One for example, if Gavrilo Princip (the murderer) had not felt that the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand (the victim) was necessary, which then triggered a chain of events that resulted in WWI, then the war possibly would never have happened.

The human mind is manipulated, structured, and formed by our everyday routines. While humans are capable of agency, they still fall into the social structure of the world around them. In extreme situations, humans can be manipulated by autocratic leaders and cult organizations who strip the individual of their individuality. In other situations, the malleability of the human mind can be seen through experiments—such as Jane Elliot’s classroom superiority mentality, the “Pygmalion Effect”, conformity, and ethical/moral limitations people have within themselves. While people do have agency, much of what we do is influenced by society around us.

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a novel about a man named Henry Jekyll who

It is a belief that actions, thoughts and even emotions are all effected by what we have been designed to be as human beings and also a product of our environment so to speak. We can ask these questions about our characteristics or character defects. Most of the population underestimates the impact of other people, the social context, and the cultural rules on nearly everything we do (Carole Wade, 2015, 2012, 2008). When a house is on fire and a family is trapped inside, what drives that hero to take on a burning house? Knowing that there is little chance of survival for him and the ones he is striving to save in the burning house. What drives a person to complete years of education to have the knowledge to help others live longer with healthier lives? What drives criminals to become so violent? For example, the shooting that took place at sandy hook elementary school in Newton Connecticut was a shock heard around the world. Many teachers and staff like Victoria Soto. She was trying to hide the children in her class from the gunman in cabinets in the class room. When the gunman came into her class she told him her kids were in the gym and then shot her. If she had not hid the children they might all by dead (Cheng, 2012). What makes men and women of service risk their lives and the quality of life of their families to go to a danger zone and fight against others? All of these are a direct result of Socio-Cultural Perspective and are designed by what group of people that a

Why does a person behave the way they do? Why does each person have a distinct personality? Scientists believe that this has to do with nature and nurture. Meaning, a person's social activities, and personality are dictated by the traits they have inherited from their parents, but also from environmental influences. There are four agents of socialization that have been chosen as the most impacting on a person's life. These agents of socialization influence how a person will behave, influence, and think among society. Although the family has been categorized as the most influential agent of socialization, this is not the only agent that impacts a person life. In this essay, I will go over how family, peer groups, school, and mass media affect a person from an early age and the impacts it brings to society.