What is Human Nature?
“If we will disbelieve everything, because we cannot certainly know all things, we shall do much what as wisely as he who would not use his legs, but sit still and perish, because he had no wings to fly.”
– Anonymous
What is Human Nature? There is a vast amount of perspectives on the subject. From just a general classification in the Oxford’s English Dictionary defines Human Nature as “The general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.” Or a list of natures that humans specifically have that are different from animals. There are also the two psychological and philosophical theories that show the basis on how human nature can be set on. To each religion that designates a different definition of Human Nature. This question is desperately trying to be deciphered in an endless race towards the right answer.
Below are Some Characteristics, Feelings and Behavior traits of Human Nature:
-Social Standards
-Fear of Death
-Fight or Flight / Survival
-Compassion toward peers
-Pursue of Happiness
-Rational Thinking
-Epicurean
-Legislative
*Those in italic represent components exclusive only to humans.
In philosophy, there is a theory called Empiricism. It’s a theory which believes that everything we know and can do, comes from experience. 'Experience' is then transferred as 'sense data' . The sense data is then stored into knowledge both physically and mentally.
In psychology, nativism is a theory that the most basic skills that human’s possess are innately existing and the opposite of the theory would be the Blank Slate Theory. Blank Slate or sometimes known as tabula rasa defines that humans almost have no abilities or personalities at birth. All the basic and extra skills are learnt throughout a person’s life and the personalities alter according to the events they encounter. However there are also people who believe in nativism (However, only to a certain extent) , they include Jerry Fodor, Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker. They are phycologists who believe that indeed a human does not have any basic skills however does have a ability that will help the subject to learn others.
Empiricism, Nativism or Blank Slate. They all attempt to grasp a clarification on how the Human beings learn abilities and skills as well as most importantly their personality and identity. Nativism supports the general acknowledgment Human’s all share a same basis of traits. However, according to Empiricism and Blank slate, human nature can not actually be something we are all born with but more so something that is coincidently building up to a set or characteristics. Having said that, we we look back to some of the traits stated above such as Rational Thinking, Legislative and Social Standards. They are blatantly obvious traits that a newborn infant lacks. Though they are acquired rather slowly in a development of the brain that alters and eventually cast into those components of ‘Human Nature’. Anyhow, this only acts as an introduction to what how human nature is formed. There is still an extensive quantity of notions which endeavor to find an answer.
Society defines the values and morals for its people to live by, common values. These values affect human nature and affect the way an even slightly self-conscious person behaves. An example of one of these societal values is table manners.” Without civilization Human nature is the same as the instinctual behavior of any human, eat drink, and sleep. Human nature is what separates humans from monkeys. Human nature as a balance of good and evil. Furthermore, in a discussion you might hear “You can't blame Wall Street brokers and bankers for being greedy; greed is just human nature.” or “You can't criticize gun manufacturers for violence; violence is human nature.”
Even though society defines the human nature as a general viewpoint. However, every religion and philosophy contains a different outlook to it.
The Ancient Greek and Roman philosopher’s viewpoint on human nature and Plato’s Republic provides information that states: People are made of body and soul, the body is material and the soul is immaterial. People are fundamentally social and need others for physical and mental needs. Good should be reflected in people’s actions.
In Confucianism they view human nature as so : Human’s are innately social and this leads to maintain a stable and organized social life. Confucianism clearly the levels in society and obey and respect. In family, wives should obey their husbands, children should always obey parents, everyone should honor ancestors and all people should obey the Emperor as he is known as the father of the empire. People should be kind and helpful to others.
In Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism their perspective is that : Brahman the supreme unity and eternal oneness of the universe which all humans are apart of as well as the universe. Each individual is believed to perform the task that the Brahman has set for him or her and only on completion will the person be able to reincarnate into a higher state of life.
Religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islamic look upon human nature as so: All living things are God’s creation. God created humans in his image and has set a specific destiny for each and every one of us. The book of “Genesis” of the Hebrew Old Testament includes a passage when the humans were created “God said, “Let me make humankind in my image and likeness and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, over all the wild animals and every creature that crawls on the earth.” God has given every single human a free will however they are meant to be assisted and guided with morals. When a human commits a sins or wrongdoing, it is the action of evilness which is the acts of the devil.
In conclusion, with all the different concepts and approaches on Human Nature, not only defining what is it but how and when it forms. They are all immensely diversified, as just a religion will affect what people define as “Human Nature”. The teachings a child is subjected to in the starts of their lives can tremendously alter the path and beliefs they possess. Just as, the child of a family that are Christians would be significantly different than one from a tradition Chinese family that implements the teaching of Confucianism. There also some small religions that indoctrinate their believers into thinking extremist actions are correct. This leads us to think to back to the beginning, of the question. There may very well be no explanation for Human Nature. A set of certain characteristics, behavioral traits and personalities shared between the entire of humanity may just be impossible. There will always be exceptions that fall out of the category and in this situation, many substantial groups of individuals which share different “Natures”. In essence, there just some things that are simpler than they look. People think for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple or wrong. That is an misconception, sometimes there may be no solution and it is humans who devised these unsolvable problems.
“If we will disbelieve everything, because we cannot certainly know all things, we shall do much what as wisely as he who would not use his legs, but sit still and perish, because he had no wings to fly.”
– Anonymous
What is Human Nature? There is a vast amount of perspectives on the subject. From just a general classification in the Oxford’s English Dictionary defines Human Nature as “The general psychological characteristics, feelings, and behavioral traits of humankind, regarded as shared by all humans.” Or a list of natures that humans specifically have that are different from animals. There are also the two psychological and philosophical theories that show the basis on how human nature can be set on. To each religion that designates a different definition of Human Nature. This question is desperately trying to be deciphered in an endless race towards the right answer.
Below are Some Characteristics, Feelings and Behavior traits of Human Nature:
-Social Standards
-Fear of Death
-Fight or Flight / Survival
-Compassion toward peers
-Pursue of Happiness
-Rational Thinking
-Epicurean
-Legislative
*Those in italic represent components exclusive only to humans.
In philosophy, there is a theory called Empiricism. It’s a theory which believes that everything we know and can do, comes from experience. 'Experience' is then transferred as 'sense data' . The sense data is then stored into knowledge both physically and mentally.
In psychology, nativism is a theory that the most basic skills that human’s possess are innately existing and the opposite of the theory would be the Blank Slate Theory. Blank Slate or sometimes known as tabula rasa defines that humans almost have no abilities or personalities at birth. All the basic and extra skills are learnt throughout a person’s life and the personalities alter according to the events they encounter. However there are also people who believe in nativism (However, only to a certain extent) , they include Jerry Fodor, Noam Chomsky and Steven Pinker. They are phycologists who believe that indeed a human does not have any basic skills however does have a ability that will help the subject to learn others.
Empiricism, Nativism or Blank Slate. They all attempt to grasp a clarification on how the Human beings learn abilities and skills as well as most importantly their personality and identity. Nativism supports the general acknowledgment Human’s all share a same basis of traits. However, according to Empiricism and Blank slate, human nature can not actually be something we are all born with but more so something that is coincidently building up to a set or characteristics. Having said that, we we look back to some of the traits stated above such as Rational Thinking, Legislative and Social Standards. They are blatantly obvious traits that a newborn infant lacks. Though they are acquired rather slowly in a development of the brain that alters and eventually cast into those components of ‘Human Nature’. Anyhow, this only acts as an introduction to what how human nature is formed. There is still an extensive quantity of notions which endeavor to find an answer.
Society defines the values and morals for its people to live by, common values. These values affect human nature and affect the way an even slightly self-conscious person behaves. An example of one of these societal values is table manners.” Without civilization Human nature is the same as the instinctual behavior of any human, eat drink, and sleep. Human nature is what separates humans from monkeys. Human nature as a balance of good and evil. Furthermore, in a discussion you might hear “You can't blame Wall Street brokers and bankers for being greedy; greed is just human nature.” or “You can't criticize gun manufacturers for violence; violence is human nature.”
Even though society defines the human nature as a general viewpoint. However, every religion and philosophy contains a different outlook to it.
The Ancient Greek and Roman philosopher’s viewpoint on human nature and Plato’s Republic provides information that states: People are made of body and soul, the body is material and the soul is immaterial. People are fundamentally social and need others for physical and mental needs. Good should be reflected in people’s actions.
In Confucianism they view human nature as so : Human’s are innately social and this leads to maintain a stable and organized social life. Confucianism clearly the levels in society and obey and respect. In family, wives should obey their husbands, children should always obey parents, everyone should honor ancestors and all people should obey the Emperor as he is known as the father of the empire. People should be kind and helpful to others.
In Hinduism, Sikhism and Buddhism their perspective is that : Brahman the supreme unity and eternal oneness of the universe which all humans are apart of as well as the universe. Each individual is believed to perform the task that the Brahman has set for him or her and only on completion will the person be able to reincarnate into a higher state of life.
Religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islamic look upon human nature as so: All living things are God’s creation. God created humans in his image and has set a specific destiny for each and every one of us. The book of “Genesis” of the Hebrew Old Testament includes a passage when the humans were created “God said, “Let me make humankind in my image and likeness and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the cattle, over all the wild animals and every creature that crawls on the earth.” God has given every single human a free will however they are meant to be assisted and guided with morals. When a human commits a sins or wrongdoing, it is the action of evilness which is the acts of the devil.
In conclusion, with all the different concepts and approaches on Human Nature, not only defining what is it but how and when it forms. They are all immensely diversified, as just a religion will affect what people define as “Human Nature”. The teachings a child is subjected to in the starts of their lives can tremendously alter the path and beliefs they possess. Just as, the child of a family that are Christians would be significantly different than one from a tradition Chinese family that implements the teaching of Confucianism. There also some small religions that indoctrinate their believers into thinking extremist actions are correct. This leads us to think to back to the beginning, of the question. There may very well be no explanation for Human Nature. A set of certain characteristics, behavioral traits and personalities shared between the entire of humanity may just be impossible. There will always be exceptions that fall out of the category and in this situation, many substantial groups of individuals which share different “Natures”. In essence, there just some things that are simpler than they look. People think for every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple or wrong. That is an misconception, sometimes there may be no solution and it is humans who devised these unsolvable problems.