It’s Only Human Nature
Posted: 31 May 2011 Filed under: Government, Observations, Political Theory, Politics, Professor's Classroom, Society | Tags: Human Behavior, Human Nature, Political Philosophy, Postaday2011 12 Comments »College of Political Knowledge
Subject: Political Philosophy/Society/Government
I had promised one of Info Ink’s premiere readers, Quin of Quintessential Havoc (go to blogroll and visit a thoughtful blog) for some time that I would write a post on human nature…..holy CRAP! That was not as easy as one would think….there are so many aspects to the term ‘human nature’ that is was a daunting undertaking….but as I had promised……and it has been a long time in coming……so much thought…so little time…..
We hear this excuse used on oh so many levels…..it is an excuse for greed or voting results or a propensity for violence or electoral stupidity…..everything has been blamed on human nature….but what do we mean by the term? My attempt will be veiled in political philosophy or as it pertains to the endeavor of politics and governance…..there are many other ways to look at the concept…….
When I think of human nature I think of two separate definitions….they are philosophical and psychological….or a narrow and broader definition……..in the narrow sense I think of what we call desires, drives, instincts, etc…..and in the broader sense I feel is the character and nature of the human experience….now if I try to explain both in the same post my head will likely explode and neither will be defined…….
In the more narrow sense, I do not believe that there is a human nature because humans NO longer seem to possess strong instincts or drives….I cannot even see the need for self-preservation……I DO see that we humans have a great propensity to put all our decisions in the hands of others…therefore we have NO responsibility for the failure of any given idea….we can always blame the “other” guy…..
In the beginning…..human nature encompassed such things as thinking, acting and feeling….and it was said that we humans possessed these things….as an abstract theory, then these things are possible….but since we live in reality….all I can say is look at politics for an example…….thinking? Does the voting show that we actually spend any time thinking about our vote? Or acting? Does a voting rate of about 56% of a population sound like we take it seriously? Feeling? Now here is the one that we could say that we all have….a sense of feeling. And it depends on how one acts upon such feelings……
So, we are back to the original thought…..what is the concept of human nature? It is a highly subjective term…you can apply either logical to define or emotions….people today are told what their nature is by a wealth of institutions………I know that this may seem a bit incomplete but for the sake of insanity…….there are many so-called “definitions” of the term…..mine has been written and would like to hear what others have to say…….
You may be right on that how our natural human instincts no longer seen to react to immediate dangers. Our advanced civilization has made those dangers more hidden amongst a complex social, political and economic structure most us don’t fully understand. Threats form overt enemies and natural disasters are quelled by our inability to recognize such threats unless they have already consumed us.
We react to fear mongering but that is only a part of our initial human nature and when unaccompanied with good judgment and patience, it threatens us all as much as our inability to recognize those dangers more hidden amongst us in a complex social, political and economic structure.
Morning lb………I think that we today are conditioned by the media, for one, and that conditioning has lead to our lose of instincts or we hide our remaining instincts under a cloak of arrogance that whatever we do is right….regardless….
Well… a ood effort I think – B+ perhaps???
However, I don’t think there are many specifics involved from a practical point of view and that, to my mind, is the point. Whether we any longer need it or not, self preservation along with at least the desire to procreate are surely ingrained in almost every one of us, otherwise our species would be long gone. But there are other traits that are pretty common to most that are important too…
Not least of those are two particular ones – competitiveness and curiosity and, without those, our species would at best still amount to a number of groups of hunter-gatherers on the savana in Africa.
Somewhere along the line, probably as extensions of those instincts, many have a thirst for risk and danger. Then, of course, in our modern era, there are all the usual things we see – greed, spitefulness, jealousy, envy, hatred, apparently unselfish love and more also spring from those basic traits.
My belief has always been that it is a fool’s dream that lives in a place way divorced from reality to hope to deny, or even try to force humans to modify, their natural instincts. Some things can be held in check, if the individual can be persuaded that the best interests of society are also in his/her best interests as well, but it makes so much more sense to work WITH human nature rather than to attempt to bulldoze it into submission.
Political factions in love with legislation and bureaucracy (often termed megalomania???), along with other misguided souls such as religious groups who cling to the old “thou shalt not” methods that were born and worked for a time two thousand years ago, are living in a fool’s paradise. It can’t be done and, if it could , it would be the beginning of the end for humanity.
People ARE greedy, self-centred, lazy, sometimes foolish, and capable of disgusting evil as well as unbelievable generosity and kindness – all these things make up the human condition and trying to change that is like the UK’s King Canute who thought he could command the tide not to come in on the sea shore.
When we return to the application of common sense, education and encouraging our young to grow up into decent people and STOP interfering in people’s private lives in matters that are none of our f*cking business, THEN and ONLY THEN will there be a chance of humankind progressing to the next stage in our evolution, whatever that may be…
Although, sadly, you and I and probably both our cultures and indeed all our current civilisations on this insignificant little planet will all likely be long gone before that happens…
Hi Quin…..nice to hear from you after my long w/end it is good to hear from people who actually think……
You know I see where you are coming from but I do not think that we humans, at least us Americans are not as curious as we would like to think we are……we only believe what enforces our already decided upon as true…….I agree people will never change……they seldom embrace their flaws and relish in their perceived goodness…….yep….we shall NEVER see a return to common sense…..sadly…..
Well, I agree with 90% of that (thanx for all the props by the way). However, I can see why you feel like that about today’s spirit of adventure, but this from the nation that went to the Moon a few short decades ago – and then what happened?
Actually, I’ll tell you what happened – you stopped a being nation of big, bold adventurous people and became slaves to the Great God Dollar and you fell for all the bullshit that said you had to borrow more and more to keep up with Hewie next door (but was actually designed specifically to keep you buying the crap that your corporations sold and thus make you more and more subjugated).
Get out from under this shit and start being great and bold and exciting once again!!!
You are welcome and any time…….See I cannot disagree about this….. we have become a silly little people……and I think we will remain a small insignificant race as long as we do NOTHING about education…..there lies the key to just about everything…..and we have NO politicians that will embrace education, they would prefer to embrace the crank of the corporations in the hop[e that they will do the right thing…..they have not in the past and why would they today when their profits are at record levels?
Yes. I’m sure you’re right about the broad problems that face the US at least. Education is, as you say, key to having a nation that will maintain its place in the world and hopefully even grow in stature. You have undoubtedly allowed this to slide out of control. You CANNOT leave education to the vagaries of the economy. Yea savings will have to be made at times, but they should NEVER be allowed to detract from the quality of your educaton. On top of that and almost more important, so many of those who drop out and fall by the wayside COULD be your future, your new dawn, your bright tomorrow if you spent a tiny fraction of the energy, time and money on convincing them as you do on persuading them to buy junk they neither want nor can afford.
Quin, that sums it up brilliantly. And that is our major problem….education is at the mercy of the economy…..and thanx to our brilliant politicians we could be lost for a generation or more….we pay these dicks for this…how smart are we?
I can say is look at politics for an example…….thinking? Does the voting show that we actually spend any time thinking about our vote? Or acting? Does a voting rate of about 56% of a population sound like we take it seriously?
Sadly, that was spot on.
Thanx, Spinny…I do have my moments…LOL
Good point. But the voting rate is the REAL bit of important information there, though – is that because people don’t care, or is it because the choices are in fact no choice at all? As Lobo would I think say, one dick or another dick, what’s the REAL difference, except for the label on the packet?
Well said!