Human Nature
human nature = what it essentially means to be a human being; what makes us different from anything else
Importance of Studying Human Nature:
Your views about human nature will shape:
Your relationship with other people:
people unselfish? → you will tend to respond to people with trust and openness
people essentially selfish? → you will tend to respond with mistrust and “looking for angles”
Your relationship to the universe:
Humans are only physical creatures?
Highly developed brain but not fundamentally different from other animals
Death is the end of existence
This material universe is all there is
Humans are both spiritual as well as material?
More open to religious experience
Spiritual aspect makes us different from the purely material and biological universe
Humans are both spiritual as well as material
Life in this world a preparation for a spiritual life in another world 3.
How you think we should set up society.
Humans are self-interested?
allow every individual to keep whatever benefit he/she produces and not support those who don’t work
Capitalism—free enterprise system and ideas about individualism
Spend more on police, prisons, military—those institutions we use to protect people from one another
Are humans basically cooperative and unselfish?
Work for one another’s good and share whatever each produces
Welfare programs, redistributive taxes suggest that humans can and should share
Large sums of money spent on police etc. a waste—better spent on helping human needs
Your philosophical journey now begins by examining how several philosophers have tried to answer the question “What is a human being?”
However, the purpose of this examination is to help you decide for yourself what it means to be a human being?!
2.1 Why Does Your View of Human Nature Matter?
most basic question in philosophy = What kind of being am I?
answer to this question regarding human nature tells how you see yourself, others, and how you live
Psychologists have argued whether human nature is self-interested or if there can be unselfish considerations.
Some believe that humans are essentially cruel and selfish
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
“Civilizations and Its Discontents”
implies that humans are essentially cruel and solely motivated by self interest, wishing pain on others to satisfy one’s own aggression (examples include crusades and world wars)
Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679)
Hobbes was a materialist, believing that the universe and humans were entirely physical and material as opposed to spiritual
Hobbes believed that all human activity could be explained similarly to biological mechanisms, being influenced by mechanical desire and satisfaction
Moritz Schlick (1882-1936), another materialist, suggested that self interest works in all instances, not just in extreme cases of aggression. Schlick argued for the view psychological egoism
psychological egoism = the theory that humans are only able to act out of self interest in the pursuit of pleasure
Desmond Morris
a contemporary biologist who argued that selfless human behaviour is an attempt to protect one’s own genome, developing protective behaviours to protect their own gene pool, ensuring survival
Your views surrounding human nature impact your relationships with others, with the universe itself. Someone’s openness, trust, and even religious beliefs are influenced by their views about human nature. Our views on how society should be arranged are also influenced by our views on human nature.
The question “What is a human being?” is a very important question regarding human nature
What is Human Nature?
belief in life after death assumes that the self is conscience, has a purpose, and is distinct from it’s material body
traditional western view = the view that the body is a physical, material entity, whereas the self is spiritual and immaterial. it is also believed that the self or “soul” can survive after death
the traditional rationalist view is the view that the human is primarily a thinker capable of reasoning, and that reason is a key tenet of human nature
Plato held the traditional rationalist view, believing that reason was the most superior part of human nature
Plato assumes that appetite or desire and reason are two distinct parts of a human. He also claimed that our desires could also conflict with our aggressiveness, or the “spirit” or “spirited element”
For Plato, forms are eternal and perfect ideas that exist in an unchanging, perfect heaven
Plato views that reason, appetite, and aggression are the three main parts of human nature, and that reason should rule over appetite and aggression.
According to Plato, one who gives in to their desires or aggressions becomes enslaved by them, losing autonomy
Aristotle’s view differed from Plato’s, believing that reason was humans’ highest power. He also believed that the truth of human nature solely required knowledge of our own world.
For Aristotle, all living things have purpose, and the purpose of humans is to use their reason to think and control aggression and desire.
Plato emphasizes the spiritual aspect of human nature.
In Phaedo, Plato argues through a dialogue between Socrates and Cebes that the soul is immaterial and immortal because it can perceive non-material ideals that do not exist in the material world
An implication of the traditional rationalist view according to Aristotle is that it implies that if someone is less rational, they are less human, and can therefore be mistreated.
This ideology leaves room for the rationalization of mistreatment and injustice such as racism or sexism under the guise of a group being less rational or reasonable.
Many psychologists have concluded that humans do not behave rationally. An example is Max Bazerman, who wrote Judgement in Managerial Decision Making, cites numerous studies showing that humans rely on irrational belief and “rules of thumb” when making important decision.
Selfish View - the believe that humans are basically self interested
Selfish View Philosophers - Sigmund Freud, Thomas Hobbes, Moritz Schlick
Freud’s view is based on his theory of the EGO, ID and SUPEREGO.
ID – the drive to fulfill all desires of a physical nature; exists in the unconscious.
SUPEREGO – the conscience; in opposition to the id. Also exists on the unconscious level.
EGO – the balance between id and superego; the conscious component of the individual.
According to Freud, all human nature is predictable, the superego, ego, and id result in the mental causes of behaviour. Implies that we are not free and are bound by decisions made by our desires.
The Traditional Rational View - humans have a self / the ego / the "I" that exists in the physical body, the self is spiritual and exists after the death of the body, the self is conscious and rational
Traditionalist Philosophers - Plato, Aristotle
Aristotle believed that reason was humans greatest strength, as well as the truth solely requiring knowledge of our world
Plato - The Republic
-claimed that the human is made up of two distinct parts - rational "reason" and nonrational "appetites."
→ reason = the human capacity for thinking and reflecting
→ appetites = human desire; of a physical nature
It is the battle between reason and the appetites that constitute the life of the individual. When reason wins, happiness is achieved. In the rationalist view, we see ourselves as reasoning, free, moral beings who have an immaterial soul.
^^The Dualist View of Human Nature ^^- Humans have minds and bodies. Each has its own concerns, qualities and features.
Rene Descartes****: "I think therefore I am."
I cannot think of myself without thinking essence - that which makes an entity what it is; that defining characteristic in whose absence a thing would not be itself.
thinking is part of the essence of the soul.
The Body:
Concerns itself with health, weight and muscle
Can be decorated, accentuated, augmented, styled
Has colour, size, shape and takes up space
Is a material organism, perceived and experienced via the senses
Humans have minds and bodies. Each has its own concerns, qualities and features.
The Mind:
Can take us anywhere, amuse us, challenge us
Can increase its knowledge, expand its perceived limits
Is a source of creativity and deep feelings
Feels hope, fear, love, disgust, shame, pride, humour, etc.
Seems to have no observable colour, shape, size
Is consciousness; subjective awareness of yourself and outside
Seems to be an immaterial substance
Our bodies and minds seem to be connected with each other. One needs the other. Philosophers are challenged by this apparent duality to our nature. If we are both, then what is the connection? Who are we really? Without clear answers, some have taken the scientific view that we are of one nature only – material or body. Hence the mind is not immaterial, but a property of the body.
^^The Traditional Judeo-Christian View of Human Nature ^^- According to the Judeo-Christian tradition, humans are made in the image and likeness of God.
Humans have a spark of the divine in them
their life goal is to love and serve God
St. Augustine of Hippo adopted a lot of Plato's teachings. He believed that the immaterial self can control its desires and could reason its way to an understanding of God's existence.
Humans are also composed of both reason and will which gives them the ability to know the truth about God and the ability to choose and love that God.
Therefore, humans must strive to do what is right, so that they might know and love God.
Evil = refusing to serve and love God.
Subsequently, humans bear full responsibility for their moral choices.
Humans are free.
**St. Thomas Aquinas **Believed humans and everything in nature has a purpose. The purpose of humans, however, is to achieve happiness by using their reason to know God.
^^The Materialist View of Human Nature ^^- Only the material body exists
Hobbes - Human beings are motivated by the antisocial desire for power over others.
Hobbes was a materialist who believed that humans are governed by their biology, which is dominated by desire.
Schlick - Argued for psychological egoism – the belief that human beings are so constituted that they must always act out of self-interest.
Schlick claimed that even a seemingly heroic act – ex. saving the life of another is performed on the basis of the gratification it gives the individual.
Ninian Smart****: Identity theory – mental states, thinking is identical with states of brain a material organ
These scientific views claim that human beings and the physical world can be explained through observation, empirical research and data.
Functionalism – Armstrong holds that mental activities and mental states are to be explained in terms of inputs and outputs, with inputs being the stimulation that affect the nervous system and outputs the behaviours that result.
Determinism - the theory that everything in the universe is governed by causal laws. In other words, every event has a prior condition that allows it to occur in a predictable manner.
Therefore, human behaviour can be determined if the conditions for a certain behaviour are present. Furthermore, humans are essentially not free because behaviour is governed by existing conditions within the realm of causal law.
^^Computer View ^^– According to Turing the mind is a computer following a program that generates certain outputs when given certain inputs.
^^The Behaviourist View of Human Nature ^^- A school of psychology that restricts the study of human nature to what can be observed rather than states of consciousness.
B.F.Skinner: human beings are "an assembled organic machine ready to run."
He believed that all human behaviour could be predicted based on the contingencies of reinforcement:
the occasion of which a response occurs
the response itself
the reinforcing consequences
No Self View of Human Nature - The no-self view is based on the notion that the individual self does not exist and that the delusion that it does is the source of all pain and suffering.
The Buddha - The no-self view is based on the philosophy of Buddhism that emerged after Siddhartha Gautama reached enlightenment 2500 years ago.
Siddhartha, who became the Buddha, did not believe in the existence of a self or soul.
According to the Buddha, there is no self because:
All things are aggregates composed of elements that inevitably change over time.
The universe is in a constant state of flux – since nothing is permanent, a “self” cannot be permanent.
The idea of a self is evidence of the “mind clouded over by impure desires and impervious to wisdom, that obstinately insists in thinking of ‘me’ and ‘mine’.”
David Hume also rejected the idea of ‘self’.
He claimed that:
Genuine knowledge is dependent on prior sensory experience.
Anything outside of sensory experience is not genuine.
Since we cannot perceive a ‘self’ it is not real.
According to Hume, we are simply a bundle of perceptions, with our inner experience being one of pervasive flux and change without permanence.
What is the human reason? Hume believed that humans employ reason to satisfy desires or ‘passions.’ Reason can be used to satisfy basic physical desires or to satisfy unselfish or ‘benevolent’ desires (ie. sympathy).
Finally, Hume was a soft determinist. Soft determinists believe that people are determined in the sense that they cannot choose to act against their individual characters or desires. However, people are free to do what they choose unless they are prevented from doing so by external restraints like ropes and chains. Thus, voluntary action is free and unrestrained.
The Darwinian Challenge: Darwin’s position on Human Nature
proposed two key ideas:
Animals and plants are sometimes born with features that are different from parents but they can pass these new features on to their offspring. Darwin called these “variations”
All animals are caught in a struggle for existence; competing with each other to stay alive (Survival of the Fittest) – happened to be humans; could have been another species)
variations can give an animal an advantage in its struggle for existence
the struggle for existence “selects” those animals with advantageous variations and they survive and multiply “Natural Selection”
some species evolve into a whole new species
world is continually changing, therefore, humans are constantly changing and evolving; all human abilities, including ability to reason, are merely more developed variations of the same kinds of abilities that animals have – no fundamental difference
contradicts the idea that humans have a special purpose
Darwinists****: humans have no purpose; product of chance variations
“theistic” understanding of evolution: there was divine direction at each stage; humans are part of a divine plan
The EXISTENTIAL VIEW of Human Nature - denies any essential human nature; any fixed purpose each of us creates our own essence through free action (we are what we make of ourselves)
Jean-Paul Sartre – 1905 – 1980
chief exponent of atheistic existentialism
humans are “condemned to be free”; the only universal statement that can be made about the human condition
we are free because we can rely neither on a God nor on society to tell us what we essentially are but we are condemned because we must suffer the pain of our own decision-making and the consequences that result
bottom line: we are our choices (we must take full responsibility for our actions, beliefs, feelings, attitudes
we tend to want to blame others (e.g., heredity or environment or preceding events) for what we are to escape the anguish of our reality
when we pretend that someone/something else is the cause, we are acting in “bad faith”
emphasizes the free and conscious individual (not necessarily rational, or mechanical, or a creature of God)
to be human means to create oneself
existence is prior to essence; humans exist first and then they make something of themselves (define themselves)
we are responsible for our own nature and purpose; no universal nature or purpose exists
FEMINIST VIEW/Challenge
Traditional view of human nature is that it is fundamentally sexist
Traditional view (Plato): humans are rational beings whose reason should rule over the body and its desires and emotions.
“nature orders the soul to rule and govern, and the body to obey and serve… the soul resembles the divine and the body the mortal….”
Plato associates the soul with reason and opposes these two to the body and its earthly desires
If the soul turns away from desires and dominates the body it will rise to join the gods
Feminist assumption inserted into the rationalist view: the soul and reason are superior and should rule
Aristotle gave this rationalist view a sexist bias
He associated men with reason and women with the body, consequently, men should rule over women
The reason that characterizes the essential nature of the essential nature of humans is fully operational only in males
Reason is male and must rule, feelings are female and must be ruled
This transferred to the Religious View (St. Augustine)
Feminist view: the rationalist and Judeo-Christian views are sexist (biased against women)
Justifies the oppression of women
Implies reason is good; emotions and desires are bad
Genevieve Lloyd – suggests ways of opposing the rationalist view
Carol Gilligan:Proposes a stage theory of moral development for women to go against male based psychological development
human nature = what it essentially means to be a human being; what makes us different from anything else
Importance of Studying Human Nature:
Your views about human nature will shape:
Your relationship with other people:
people unselfish? → you will tend to respond to people with trust and openness
people essentially selfish? → you will tend to respond with mistrust and “looking for angles”
Your relationship to the universe:
Humans are only physical creatures?
Highly developed brain but not fundamentally different from other animals
Death is the end of existence
This material universe is all there is
Humans are both spiritual as well as material?
More open to religious experience
Spiritual aspect makes us different from the purely material and biological universe
Humans are both spiritual as well as material
Life in this world a preparation for a spiritual life in another world 3.
How you think we should set up society.
Humans are self-interested?
allow every individual to keep whatever benefit he/she produces and not support those who don’t work
Capitalism—free enterprise system and ideas about individualism
Spend more on police, prisons, military—those institutions we use to protect people from one another
Are humans basically cooperative and unselfish?
Work for one another’s good and share whatever each produces
Welfare programs, redistributive taxes suggest that humans can and should share
Large sums of money spent on police etc. a waste—better spent on helping human needs
Your philosophical journey now begins by examining how several philosophers have tried to answer the question “What is a human being?”
However, the purpose of this examination is to help you decide for yourself what it means to be a human being?!
2.1 Why Does Your View of Human Nature Matter?
most basic question in philosophy = What kind of being am I?
answer to this question regarding human nature tells how you see yourself, others, and how you live
Psychologists have argued whether human nature is self-interested or if there can be unselfish considerations.
Some believe that humans are essentially cruel and selfish
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
“Civilizations and Its Discontents”
implies that humans are essentially cruel and solely motivated by self interest, wishing pain on others to satisfy one’s own aggression (examples include crusades and world wars)
Thomas Hobbes(1588-1679)
Hobbes was a materialist, believing that the universe and humans were entirely physical and material as opposed to spiritual
Hobbes believed that all human activity could be explained similarly to biological mechanisms, being influenced by mechanical desire and satisfaction
Moritz Schlick (1882-1936), another materialist, suggested that self interest works in all instances, not just in extreme cases of aggression. Schlick argued for the view psychological egoism
psychological egoism = the theory that humans are only able to act out of self interest in the pursuit of pleasure
Desmond Morris
a contemporary biologist who argued that selfless human behaviour is an attempt to protect one’s own genome, developing protective behaviours to protect their own gene pool, ensuring survival
Your views surrounding human nature impact your relationships with others, with the universe itself. Someone’s openness, trust, and even religious beliefs are influenced by their views about human nature. Our views on how society should be arranged are also influenced by our views on human nature.
The question “What is a human being?” is a very important question regarding human nature
What is Human Nature?
belief in life after death assumes that the self is conscience, has a purpose, and is distinct from it’s material body
traditional western view = the view that the body is a physical, material entity, whereas the self is spiritual and immaterial. it is also believed that the self or “soul” can survive after death
the traditional rationalist view is the view that the human is primarily a thinker capable of reasoning, and that reason is a key tenet of human nature
Plato held the traditional rationalist view, believing that reason was the most superior part of human nature
Plato assumes that appetite or desire and reason are two distinct parts of a human. He also claimed that our desires could also conflict with our aggressiveness, or the “spirit” or “spirited element”
For Plato, forms are eternal and perfect ideas that exist in an unchanging, perfect heaven
Plato views that reason, appetite, and aggression are the three main parts of human nature, and that reason should rule over appetite and aggression.
According to Plato, one who gives in to their desires or aggressions becomes enslaved by them, losing autonomy
Aristotle’s view differed from Plato’s, believing that reason was humans’ highest power. He also believed that the truth of human nature solely required knowledge of our own world.
For Aristotle, all living things have purpose, and the purpose of humans is to use their reason to think and control aggression and desire.
Plato emphasizes the spiritual aspect of human nature.
In Phaedo, Plato argues through a dialogue between Socrates and Cebes that the soul is immaterial and immortal because it can perceive non-material ideals that do not exist in the material world
An implication of the traditional rationalist view according to Aristotle is that it implies that if someone is less rational, they are less human, and can therefore be mistreated.
This ideology leaves room for the rationalization of mistreatment and injustice such as racism or sexism under the guise of a group being less rational or reasonable.
Many psychologists have concluded that humans do not behave rationally. An example is Max Bazerman, who wrote Judgement in Managerial Decision Making, cites numerous studies showing that humans rely on irrational belief and “rules of thumb” when making important decision.
Selfish View - the believe that humans are basically self interested
Selfish View Philosophers - Sigmund Freud, Thomas Hobbes, Moritz Schlick
Freud’s view is based on his theory of the EGO, ID and SUPEREGO.
ID – the drive to fulfill all desires of a physical nature; exists in the unconscious.
SUPEREGO – the conscience; in opposition to the id. Also exists on the unconscious level.
EGO – the balance between id and superego; the conscious component of the individual.
According to Freud, all human nature is predictable, the superego, ego, and id result in the mental causes of behaviour. Implies that we are not free and are bound by decisions made by our desires.
The Traditional Rational View - humans have a self / the ego / the "I" that exists in the physical body, the self is spiritual and exists after the death of the body, the self is conscious and rational
Traditionalist Philosophers - Plato, Aristotle
Aristotle believed that reason was humans greatest strength, as well as the truth solely requiring knowledge of our world
Plato - The Republic
-claimed that the human is made up of two distinct parts - rational "reason" and nonrational "appetites."
→ reason = the human capacity for thinking and reflecting
→ appetites = human desire; of a physical nature
It is the battle between reason and the appetites that constitute the life of the individual. When reason wins, happiness is achieved. In the rationalist view, we see ourselves as reasoning, free, moral beings who have an immaterial soul.
^^The Dualist View of Human Nature ^^- Humans have minds and bodies. Each has its own concerns, qualities and features.
Rene Descartes****: "I think therefore I am."
I cannot think of myself without thinking essence - that which makes an entity what it is; that defining characteristic in whose absence a thing would not be itself.
thinking is part of the essence of the soul.
The Body:
Concerns itself with health, weight and muscle
Can be decorated, accentuated, augmented, styled
Has colour, size, shape and takes up space
Is a material organism, perceived and experienced via the senses
Humans have minds and bodies. Each has its own concerns, qualities and features.
The Mind:
Can take us anywhere, amuse us, challenge us
Can increase its knowledge, expand its perceived limits
Is a source of creativity and deep feelings
Feels hope, fear, love, disgust, shame, pride, humour, etc.
Seems to have no observable colour, shape, size
Is consciousness; subjective awareness of yourself and outside
Seems to be an immaterial substance
Our bodies and minds seem to be connected with each other. One needs the other. Philosophers are challenged by this apparent duality to our nature. If we are both, then what is the connection? Who are we really? Without clear answers, some have taken the scientific view that we are of one nature only – material or body. Hence the mind is not immaterial, but a property of the body.
^^The Traditional Judeo-Christian View of Human Nature ^^- According to the Judeo-Christian tradition, humans are made in the image and likeness of God.
Humans have a spark of the divine in them
their life goal is to love and serve God
St. Augustine of Hippo adopted a lot of Plato's teachings. He believed that the immaterial self can control its desires and could reason its way to an understanding of God's existence.
Humans are also composed of both reason and will which gives them the ability to know the truth about God and the ability to choose and love that God.
Therefore, humans must strive to do what is right, so that they might know and love God.
Evil = refusing to serve and love God.
Subsequently, humans bear full responsibility for their moral choices.
Humans are free.
**St. Thomas Aquinas **Believed humans and everything in nature has a purpose. The purpose of humans, however, is to achieve happiness by using their reason to know God.
^^The Materialist View of Human Nature ^^- Only the material body exists
Hobbes - Human beings are motivated by the antisocial desire for power over others.
Hobbes was a materialist who believed that humans are governed by their biology, which is dominated by desire.
Schlick - Argued for psychological egoism – the belief that human beings are so constituted that they must always act out of self-interest.
Schlick claimed that even a seemingly heroic act – ex. saving the life of another is performed on the basis of the gratification it gives the individual.
Ninian Smart****: Identity theory – mental states, thinking is identical with states of brain a material organ
These scientific views claim that human beings and the physical world can be explained through observation, empirical research and data.
Functionalism – Armstrong holds that mental activities and mental states are to be explained in terms of inputs and outputs, with inputs being the stimulation that affect the nervous system and outputs the behaviours that result.
Determinism - the theory that everything in the universe is governed by causal laws. In other words, every event has a prior condition that allows it to occur in a predictable manner.
Therefore, human behaviour can be determined if the conditions for a certain behaviour are present. Furthermore, humans are essentially not free because behaviour is governed by existing conditions within the realm of causal law.
^^Computer View ^^– According to Turing the mind is a computer following a program that generates certain outputs when given certain inputs.
^^The Behaviourist View of Human Nature ^^- A school of psychology that restricts the study of human nature to what can be observed rather than states of consciousness.
B.F.Skinner: human beings are "an assembled organic machine ready to run."
He believed that all human behaviour could be predicted based on the contingencies of reinforcement:
the occasion of which a response occurs
the response itself
the reinforcing consequences
No Self View of Human Nature - The no-self view is based on the notion that the individual self does not exist and that the delusion that it does is the source of all pain and suffering.
The Buddha - The no-self view is based on the philosophy of Buddhism that emerged after Siddhartha Gautama reached enlightenment 2500 years ago.
Siddhartha, who became the Buddha, did not believe in the existence of a self or soul.
According to the Buddha, there is no self because:
All things are aggregates composed of elements that inevitably change over time.
The universe is in a constant state of flux – since nothing is permanent, a “self” cannot be permanent.
The idea of a self is evidence of the “mind clouded over by impure desires and impervious to wisdom, that obstinately insists in thinking of ‘me’ and ‘mine’.”
David Hume also rejected the idea of ‘self’.
He claimed that:
Genuine knowledge is dependent on prior sensory experience.
Anything outside of sensory experience is not genuine.
Since we cannot perceive a ‘self’ it is not real.
According to Hume, we are simply a bundle of perceptions, with our inner experience being one of pervasive flux and change without permanence.
What is the human reason? Hume believed that humans employ reason to satisfy desires or ‘passions.’ Reason can be used to satisfy basic physical desires or to satisfy unselfish or ‘benevolent’ desires (ie. sympathy).
Finally, Hume was a soft determinist. Soft determinists believe that people are determined in the sense that they cannot choose to act against their individual characters or desires. However, people are free to do what they choose unless they are prevented from doing so by external restraints like ropes and chains. Thus, voluntary action is free and unrestrained.
The Darwinian Challenge: Darwin’s position on Human Nature
proposed two key ideas:
Animals and plants are sometimes born with features that are different from parents but they can pass these new features on to their offspring. Darwin called these “variations”
All animals are caught in a struggle for existence; competing with each other to stay alive (Survival of the Fittest) – happened to be humans; could have been another species)
variations can give an animal an advantage in its struggle for existence
the struggle for existence “selects” those animals with advantageous variations and they survive and multiply “Natural Selection”
some species evolve into a whole new species
world is continually changing, therefore, humans are constantly changing and evolving; all human abilities, including ability to reason, are merely more developed variations of the same kinds of abilities that animals have – no fundamental difference
contradicts the idea that humans have a special purpose
Darwinists****: humans have no purpose; product of chance variations
“theistic” understanding of evolution: there was divine direction at each stage; humans are part of a divine plan
The EXISTENTIAL VIEW of Human Nature - denies any essential human nature; any fixed purpose each of us creates our own essence through free action (we are what we make of ourselves)
Jean-Paul Sartre – 1905 – 1980
chief exponent of atheistic existentialism
humans are “condemned to be free”; the only universal statement that can be made about the human condition
we are free because we can rely neither on a God nor on society to tell us what we essentially are but we are condemned because we must suffer the pain of our own decision-making and the consequences that result
bottom line: we are our choices (we must take full responsibility for our actions, beliefs, feelings, attitudes
we tend to want to blame others (e.g., heredity or environment or preceding events) for what we are to escape the anguish of our reality
when we pretend that someone/something else is the cause, we are acting in “bad faith”
emphasizes the free and conscious individual (not necessarily rational, or mechanical, or a creature of God)
to be human means to create oneself
existence is prior to essence; humans exist first and then they make something of themselves (define themselves)
we are responsible for our own nature and purpose; no universal nature or purpose exists
FEMINIST VIEW/Challenge
Traditional view of human nature is that it is fundamentally sexist
Traditional view (Plato): humans are rational beings whose reason should rule over the body and its desires and emotions.
“nature orders the soul to rule and govern, and the body to obey and serve… the soul resembles the divine and the body the mortal….”
Plato associates the soul with reason and opposes these two to the body and its earthly desires
If the soul turns away from desires and dominates the body it will rise to join the gods
Feminist assumption inserted into the rationalist view: the soul and reason are superior and should rule
Aristotle gave this rationalist view a sexist bias
He associated men with reason and women with the body, consequently, men should rule over women
The reason that characterizes the essential nature of the essential nature of humans is fully operational only in males
Reason is male and must rule, feelings are female and must be ruled
This transferred to the Religious View (St. Augustine)
Feminist view: the rationalist and Judeo-Christian views are sexist (biased against women)
Justifies the oppression of women
Implies reason is good; emotions and desires are bad
Genevieve Lloyd – suggests ways of opposing the rationalist view
Carol Gilligan:Proposes a stage theory of moral development for women to go against male based psychological development
