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Human Nature : What Makes A Human Person?

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Human nature, the essence of what makes a human person what they are, is something that everybody has. Every person is innately a person, but how they put their personhood into action is the biggest indicator of their character, or the projection of a person’s human nature. At their core there is human nature, but their actions are what direct this source of humanity. The quality of someone’s actions is shaped by their environment and sometimes their biological makeup as well. Human nature does not have good or evil characteristics. It is how a person thinks and acts that is the true factor in the shaping of their character. The Essential Mengzi provides a simile for the shaping of human nature. Gaozi says that “Human nature is like a willow tree; righteousness is like cups and bowls. To make human nature benevolent and righteous is like making a willow tree into cups and bowls” (Mengzi, 69). Gaozi states that the quality of human nature is shaped by the person in which it resides and the social influences they encounter throughout their life. The destruction and change one must make to human nature—or the willow tree—in order to create something beneficial that he also mentions is not necessary. Human nature is dependent on each person who has it—every single human. A better simile for human nature is that it is like bread. One person could mix the ingredients well, knead the dough the properly, and put it into the oven to bake for the right amount of time that it needs

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