Well, monkeyman told me to do it…
…sort of.
So, we all know humans can be selfish, egotistic, poseurs, vain, cut-throat and that true alrutism doesn’t exist, and yet we’ve labelled these attributes, that essentially are intrinsic to us as an evolutionary tool of survival, as bad.
Our society has formed to go against our very natures.
yes.
It’s the same reason people can’t pass by a car accident without looking.
People are attracted to evil/bad things.
But why do people slow down at accidents? Why are we attracted to morbid things? Does it make us feel more alive?
Ask yourself, why do you look at an accident? (and don’t deny that you do!)
So what are we discussing again? Threads that start by coming to a conclusion don’t usually spawn many replies (unless the conclusion is really bad).
You’re probably right…I’m sure that it’s our instinct just because it’s like a self-validating kind of thing…it makes us feel better to know that we aren’t in that car…same way everyone secretly enjoys being better than someone, just in a slightly different way
I guess I was expecting people to discuss it a bit, or at least go against what I said… oh well.
Face it. You’re just too right.
I’d say human nature = striving to understand ourselves and the universe, hence the endless religion threads.
Cathy
Striving to understand ourselves, and then rejecting what we find, perhaps?
see, now I would go right against that.
Human nature is not about understanding ourselves. That’s a consequence of being smart and being able to think about it. And the reason we’re smart is because of evolution.
(I dread starting another religious debate here, so if you don’t believe in evolution, then I respect your views, unless you disrespect mine).
Society strives for understanding, but it’s not in our nature
I learn about myself through learning about other people. I’m not sure how to explain it.
We’re all living in the same place and we’re not all that different, I guess.
I would strongly suggest that the proliferation of books (especially pop psychology but really any books about people), films, reality shows, music, etc is all about trying to understand ‘ourselves’ (meaning humans not just oneself as an individual). Even this thread shows an interest in humans. So you’ve really disproved your own argument.
Cathy
I’m saying there’s a difference between our intellectual state, where we do strive to undertand ourselves, and a more intrinsic way of living, true human nature. And there in is the discussion: Why does our intellectual state go against our nature?
What’s ‘true human nature’ and what makes you think our ‘intellectual state’ (whatever that is) goes against it?
Cathy
your statement is a prime example of how semantics can be used to deprive a human being of their true nature.
first we shoehorn human behaviors into words such as “selfish” and “egotistic” then we attach negative connotations to those words.
what we’re doing is forgetting that there is an entire spectrum of human behavior, and that each behavior applies to a myriad of situations.
for example: a family is malnourished, starving nearly to death, and the son comes upon a scrap of bread. we would say it is selfish for him to eat all of that scrap. but is it the same selfish as if a wealthy man ate a steak dinner at the restaurant next door to the alleway where this family is foraging for food? surely it’s an acceptable trait that humans look to sustain themselves.
another: it’s most certainly ego that drives a man to buy a fancy car when a plain one will suffice. but others claim that simply naming one’s self implies ego… biologically, we’re 99.9% (+/- something or other) identical… we all have the same basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, etc. why separate ourselves at all?
when a person hears a strong word such as “egotistical”, he or she may have some tendency to attribute the strongest negative or positive connotation that comes with that word… forgetting all the shades of grey inbetween. in light of that tendency, we’re doing ourselves a great injustice attributing any of samia’s words (or similar strong words) to human nature.
we should simply live and let live, and if anything, strive not to compartmentalize any part of reality.
Well said.
human nature:
This has come from evolution of human behaviour to benefit oneself so their genes can propagate.
‘Intellectual state’ is my way of redressing the word society/culture, which is what you mean by
Society/culture has gone through it’s own evolution, to where we are today. And it seems to go against our nature.
Samia,
Human beings’ nature is that of a social animal. We evolved to be social (ie society) because living in groups has great benefits towards survival. It is our nature also to be intelligent, we evolved intelligent brains to make tools like hammers, language, and fire. It is our nature to live intelligently in societies.
It goes against human beings evolved nature to live like alone in the wilderness with no tools.
Samia, I’m generally very literate when it comes to reading English. I also know what all those big words you’re tossing around mean.
But I have no idea what you’re trying to say here.
Society changes people? Of course it does. “Human nature” is being disregarded in the internet and disposible razor age?
You seem to believe that everyone shares what you think human nature is. I dare you to come up with a simple label (as much as I hate having to label things*) that we can all agree on.
*I really dislike how people feel the need to put names to things. It’s like analysing paintings or poetry. I like observing for observing’s sake, not coming up with some name that doesn’t do stuff justice. I want to know how things feel.
meastro8, I completely agree with you.
Compartmentalising is as bad if not the same as stereotyping (which has bad connotaions of its own).
I agree that these labels I have applied are subject to situations and preconceptions.
Now, half of me wants to leave it there, because I’m no good at debating, I’d rather just have fun.
But the other half wants to say this:
That’s not my point.
It’s a beautiful thing to say ‘let’s live our own way and let others live theirs’ and to argue not to compartmentalise, but unfortunatly the reality is, we don’t let other live their lives, and we compartmentalise like insane squirrels.
By saying “we” I understand that I am not taking into consideration the people who do and don’t.
Humans do act selfishly.
But humans also act completely altruistically.
There have been and are some amazing people in this world. But they are in the minority.