Member-only story
On Human Nature
Philosophical perspectives
Many modern philosophers do not believe that there is human nature.
Most of these philosophers come from the postmodern wing of philosophy. For example, Jacques Derrida’s The Animal That Therefore I Am reminds humankind that it is not separate from the rest of the animal world. This denies human nature because if there were such a thing, then humans could not be separate from the animals.
In contrast to these modern philosophers, Aristotle believed that the proper function of humankind was to reason. From this belief, Aristotle deduced that the best life available to humankind was one of contemplation. Aristotle’s conception of the good was one of “human flourishing” (eudaemonia).
Like Aristotle, the Epicureans also believed that there was human nature. For them, the highest good was the experience of pleasure and the avoidance of pain.
Later, the English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, believed that humankind needed a strong central government to keep it in line because human nature was essentially evil and would lead us into a life that was “nasty, brutish, and short.”
In contrast to Hobbes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau believed that human nature was embedded in his idea of “the noble savage.” Even the Eastern philosophers conceived of a “human nature”…
