Understanding Human

Nature and Behavior

 What is Human Nature?

• The concept that there is a set of inherent distinguishing

characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and
acting that humans tend to have
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• It is a particular pattern of behavior and thinking
prevailing across time and situations which
differentiates one person from another
 Metaphysics and Ethics

• Meta-ethics is the study of where ethical notions came

from and what they mean; in particular, whether there
is an ethical system independent of our own opinions
that could be applied to any situation at any time or
place
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• There are a number of perspectives regarding the
fundamental nature and substance of humans:
 Metaphysics and Ethics
• The issue of free will and determinism underlies much of
the debate about human nature
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• Free Will Versus Determinism
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• Free will or agency refers to the ability of humans to make
genuinely free choices. The thesis of determinism implies
that human choices are fully caused by internal and
external forces
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• There are basically two views on free will versus
determinism: incompatibilism and compatibilism
 Metaphysics and Ethics
• Another often-discussed aspect of human nature is the
existence and relationship of the physical body with a
spirit or soul that transcends the human's physical
attributes, as well as the existence of any transcendent
purpose
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• Spiritual Versus Natural
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• In this area there are three dominant views: the
philosophical naturalists, the platonic position and
Thomism
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 Metaphysics and Ethics
• State of nature refers to philosophical assertions regarding
the condition of humans before social factors are
imposed, thus attempting to describe the "natural
essence" of human nature
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• Good Nature Versus Bad Nature
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• Philosophers such as John Locke and Pelagius support
good nature while Thomas Hobbes and Bertrand
believe that evil and sin is derived from instinct
 Metaphysics and Ethics
• Another concept of human nature is morality. There are a
number of views regarding the origin and nature of
human morality. Following are some concepts of
morality:
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• Moral realism or moral objectivism holds that moral codes
exist outside of human opinion
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• Moral subjectivism holds that moral codes depend on
human opinion
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• Moral relativism holds that moral codes are a function of
human values and social structures and hold no
meaning outside social convention
•
 Metaphysics and Ethics
• Moral absolutism is the view that certain acts are right or
wrong regardless of context
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• Moral universalism compromises between moral
relativism and moral absolutism and holds that there is
or should be a common universal core of morality
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• Moral nihilism is the view that no morality exists
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• Amoralism is the view that the concepts of moral right and
wrong do not have meaning
 Psychology and Biology
• A long standing question in philosophy and science is
whether there exists an invariant human nature. For
those who believe there is a human nature further
questions include:


1. What determines/constrains human nature?

2. To what extent is human nature malleable?
3. How does it vary between people and populations?
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 Psychology and Biology
• Tabula Rasa: Empiricism Versus Rationalism
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• Behavioral Genetics: Nature Versus Nurture
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• Human Genetic Variation
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Influential Views of Human Nature
• Plato: took a conception of reason and the examined life
that he learnt from Socrates and built both a
metaphysics and more to our point an anthropology
around it
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• Aristotle: Plato's most famous student made some of the
most famous and influential statements about human
nature
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• He believed in the fact that Man is a' conjugal animal
(Nicomachean Ethics), meaning an animal which is born
to couple when an adult, thus building a household
(oikos) and in more successful cases a clan or small
village still run upon patriarchal lines
Influential Views of Human Nature
• Rousseau: believed that humans had once been solitary
animals and have now learnt to be political. He believed
that Humans are political, rational and have language
now, but originally they had none of these things
•
• Karl Marx: conception of human nature has been quiet the
subject of misunderstanding. Initially Marx denied the
human nature (blank slate) but later on in one stage
had a very strong conception of human nature
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• He believed that under capitalism people are alienated
from the aspects of human nature. According to him the
society of human beings which could exercise human
nature and individuality was “communism”