The Philosophy Of Human Nature

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.

Human beings are part of the animal kingdom, and therefore part of nature. If that is true, then everything they create or destroy is by default "natural". I agree with the statement.

Human nature by essence has been the cause of many entrepreneurial paths, all follow to known the essence itself behind of what we conceive as life. Moreover it’s righteous description and abstract content, that many great man has humbly studied and that for centuries have made a path closely enough to the understanding of it, yet far from the light, it seems to be and unsolvable question that gives us a “Raison d'être” to our existence in this world.

Carosilva 1 Eric Carosilva Professor Pryba PHI 150 4 May 2015 Comparative Philosophy Essay How does the Akan view of human nature compare to the views of Mencius and Xunzi on human nature? Human nature is the characteristics of humans and is what makes us truly extinct. Human being have control of their nature.

There is no doubt that nature decides what our natural physical characteristics like eye color, hair color, height, and weight are. But when it comes to how we interact with one another and who we become, the nurture side comes into play and leads us. Human nature or our humanity means our behavioral traits. We develop these traits through the culture, social norms and social ethics in which we were born into. Through our interactions with others we learn how to behave, we learn what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in our society (What are the factors that affect human behavior, n.d.).

First, the examples that Mencius used to explain his arguments are problematic. He used an example of downward flow of water1 to describe the basic goodness of human nature (Mengzi & Norden, 2008), but this example is contradicted with another example of changing the water flow2 that was used to illustrate that external force is the source of badness which violates their basic nature. Water can move downward because of the external force such as wind, shape of land, gravitation etc., therefore if we adopted the approach of Mencius, downward flow of water would be like the effect of badness on human nature and basic goodness of human nature. This shows the contradiction between the examples provided by Mencius. Moreover, using downward flow of water as an analogy of basic goodness of human nature is problematic since Mencius did not explain the similarities between the direction of human nature and the direction of water in his argument.

What is human nature? It is very simple. Human nature refers to the patterns of behavior that are typical of our species or our kind. Human undergoes change as all humans grow up they nature seems to change; the environment someone grow up in effects that persons nature. To fully understand human nature Dr. Marvin Harris takes us on trip to time, which makes sense because if we better understand our past and our origin we will better understand our very existence and our nature. We will know more about who we are where we are from and such other questions that puzzle the human mind.

“It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake.”

Human Nature is defined by Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary as "the fundamental dispositions and traits of humans." Throughout the world, however, there are many different groups of people, all with varying personalities and characteristics. One recent article that brought up this issue was What's Really Human? The trouble with student guinea pigs. by Sharon Begley. Begley states that "given the difference in culture between the U.S. and East Asia, no one claims the American way is universal." This suggests that one's environment, not one's nature, shapes one's characteristics and features. This separation of cultures also leads to a different view of good and evil throughout the world; murder is generally bad and charity good, but not everyone may care about murder or think charity necessary. The only way to find human nature may be to look at the time before the first cultures developed. Thomas Hobbes referred to this time as the state of nature, where every man competes for resources, driven on by greed. This greed is considered to be a bad trait by today's society, making human nature apparently evil. I believe that humans are evil in nature and need parameters to be good because of the writings of twentieth century authors, Chinese philosophers between the Qin and Han dynasties, and pre-Enlightenment philosophers.

There is no pain, love, sadness, have morality and experience the truly important values that are associated with being human. There has also been an elimination of all races, and are placed into separate castes that are very distant from each other.

People today enjoy the many pleasures life provides, including entertainment and technology, all the while living longer than ever before. This would not be possible, if it were not for a government that protects it’s citizens from danger and promotes peace. Humans are evil by nature, and therefore require some form of power in a society that will protect each person. This evil is described in a interview with a U.S. soldier who after returning from Iraq, found his evil nature to control his emotions toward Muslims, until he was able to join their group, an become a member of their society.

John Locke and Karl Marx have one thing in common, they both believe in human reasoning. Humans, they suppose, have the ability to be both rational and intellectual beings; they not only learn from those around them but also from their surroundings. Niccolo Machiavelli, however, disagrees with Locke and Marx. He argues that human beings are not reasonable and are chaotic without any such order. Although these three men differ drastically in their views on life and society, as a whole each became radicals that changed the world around them for centuries to come. Locke, Marx, and Machiavelli all based their beliefs on the views of the time period in which they lived and the influences that came with those eras.

As the world began to evolve, people traveled and settled constantly trading ideas, beliefs, and thoughts. This led to the forming of religions, controversial topics, and debates about the sense of human nature. Nathaniel Hawthorne frequently incorporated the topic of human nature in his writing. Due to his curiosity and knowledge of his ancestral background, Hawthorne wrote books set in puritanical societies, as a way to incorporate his beliefs which contrast the way his ancestors lived. He believed that humans are not only capable of sin and hate, but also love. He trusted in the importance of repentance, as well as, redemption. Hawthorne’s opinions toward flaws in human nature are reflected through the development of his characters in The Scarlet Letter.

The theme of this course is theories of human nature, theories of human nature is an historical scope of philosophy. Theories of human nature provides a philosophical analysis into human nature through the investigation of issues, including the mind and body, perceptions and conception, freedom and determinism, death and immortality, the relation of the human to nature and the divine, and reason and emotion (Professor Galgan, Course Syllabus). The two articles written by Dr. Galgan, “Infinity and Cosmology: an Indirect Approach” and “The Compassionate Gods of Technology” directly conform and embody the theme of this course, theories of human nature.

The Laws of Human Nature applies to some kind of standard of behavior which is expected. It is a standard agreement as to what is right and wrong or “Law of Nature”. Other laws of nature include Gravitation, Heredity, and Chemistry. These other laws cannot be changed unlike the Law of Human Nature. With human nature, we have a choice to disobey. It was called the Law of Human Nature because it was assumed that it was obvious to all. Some might say that the Law of Human Nature is unsound because of the different civilizations throughout the years, moralities, or different ages. C.S. Lewis and Kathleen Norris point out that even though they have differences, the differences don’t amount to much.