Chapter 2: Human Nature

Freud

claimed humans are cruel, aggressive, and selfish.

traditional-rationalistic

view saying reason, appetite, and aggression are the three main parts of human nature.

Judeo-Christian

view says humans are made in the image of God because they have will and intellect; the purpose of humans is to love and serve God

Darwinian

challenge said that some creatures have random variations that can be inherited by offspring, and those with advantageous variations survive and pass them on.

existentialist

challenge says there is no God to determine our nature, so humans have no purpose or nature except the one they make themselves

feminist

challenge claims that the Traditional view of human nature is sexist

dualist

view says the self must be a thinking, immaterial mind with a material body

Hobbes

supporter of materialism

materialist

view said the mind could be reduced to the physical actions of a material body

behaviourist

view says mental activities and states can be explained and defined in terms of our observable behaviours

functionalist

view says mental states can be explained in terms of sense inputs and behaviour outputs

computer

view says the mind is a computer following a program that generates certain outputs when given certain inputs

Turing Test

method that says that if the outputs a computer gives to certain inputs cannot be distinguished from the outputs a human would make to the same inputs, the computer is equivalent to the human mind

Chinese Room

example in which a person in a room who follows a program that outputs the right Chinese characters when given certain Chinese inputs. This passes the Turing Test, yet the person is not conscious of knowing Chinese.

Atomistic Self

view said the self exists and can be known independently of others and that only the self can judge the truth about what it is

Rational Self

view says that that we depend on others for our very self because we need others to define for us who our real self is