Views of Human Nature
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Transcript of Views of Human Nature
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Views of Human Nature
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The Selfishness View Sigmund Freud, Thomas Hobbes
and Morritz Schlick believed that humans are basically self-interested
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Sigmund Freud 1856-1939 “Men are not gentile, friendly creatures
wishing for love, who simply defend themselves if they are attacked, but …. A powerful measure of desire for aggressiveness has to be reckoned of their instinctual endowment”
Freud’s view was based on his theory of EGO, ID and SUPEREGO
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Freud’s Model ID – the drive to fulfill all desires of a
physical nature ; exists in the unconscious Superego – the conscience ; the opposition
to the Id. Also exists on the unconscious level
Ego – the balance between id and superego ; the conscious component of the individual
Conclusion : we are not free …. We are bound by the decisions that our desires decide to throw into our consciousness
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Thomas Hobbes 1588-1679 , a materialist “Leviathan” his greatest work Humans are motivated by the anti-
social desire for power over others “… I put for a general inclination of
all mankind, a perpetual and restless desire of power after power that ceasest only in death.”
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Morritz Schlick 1882-1936, founder of Logical
Positivism Argued for psychological egoism …
human beings are so constituted that they always act out of self interest
Even a seemingly heroic act is performed on the basis of personal gratification
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The Rationalist View The Rationalist View claims :1. Humans have a self, the “I” that
exists in the physical body2. The self is spiritual and exists
after the death of the body3. The self is conscious and rational Sometimes referred to as Dualism
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Plato 427-347 BC Claimed that the human is made up of distinct
parts …. Rational “reason,” and non-rational “appetites” and “emotions”
Reason = the human capacity for thinking and reflecting
Appetites = physical desire Emotion- can be controlled by reason or
uncontrolled, depending on habit It is the battle between reason and appetite that
constitutes the life of the individual … when reason wins happiness is achieved
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Rene Descartes 1596-1650 “I think therefore I am.” … I cannot
conceive of myself without thinking Thinking is part of the essence of
the soul In the rationalist view we see
ourselves as reasoning, free, moral beings that have an immaterial soul
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Western Religious View
According to the Judeo-Christian tradition humans are made in the image and likeness of God
Humans are animated bodies … they have a spark of the divine in them
Their life goal is to love and serve God Ancient Jews did not subscribe to body : soul
dualism of Plato View shapes the development of Western
Civilization …both positively & negatively
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Creation Narratives Two Creation Narratives in Genesis :1. Genesis 1:1-2:3
Made in God’s image ; Dominion over creation
2. Genesis 2:4-2:25 Made from dust ; lonely
Creation is essentially good ! ; humans introduce evil through free choice
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St. Augustine 354-430 CE
Adopted a lot of Plato’s teachings Believed the immaterial self could
control it’s desires (spirit > flesh) Humans are composed of reason and
will which allow us to know the truth about God and choose to love God
Humans are free and responsible for our moral choices
Evil is the product of human refusal to love and serve God
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The Scientific View The scientific view claims that human
beings and the physical world can be explained through observable physical and chemical phenomina
Charles Darwin (1809-1882) rejects notion that there are qualities that are uniquely human …we have evolved from apes
Associated with “Determinism” … causal laws govern everything in the universe …humans are essentially not free
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Reductionism Complex processes like life and
thought can be explained completely in terms of simpler physical & chemical processes
….Thomas Hobbes …“For what is the heart but a spring, and the nerves, but so many strings, and the joints but so many wheels”
There is no immaterial mind or soul
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Behavioralism A school of psychology associated with
B.F. Skinner (1904-1990) that restricts the study of human nature to what can be observed
Human beings are “an assembled organic machine ready to run”
He believed that all human behavior could be predicted based on contingencies of re-inforcement
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Functionalism
D.M. Armstrong 1926- Holds that mental activities are to be
explained in terms of inputs and outputs Related to the Computer View of Alan
Turing (1912-1954) …father of artificial intelligence … if a computer can recreate human consciousness we are essentially computers
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Existentialism A 20th century philosophy that denies
any essential human nature Each of us creates our own essence
through free action Key Figures : Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-
1980), Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855), Victor Frankl (1905-1997)
“We are our choices” … we are free to make ourselves whatever we want …rejects determinism !
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The Feminist View Western Philosophy inherently “sexist”
dating back to Plato For Plato …. Soul/Reason >
Desires/Emotions Aristotle associates Soul/ Reason with
the male and Desires/Emotions with the female
This distinction influences Judeo-Christian tradition
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The No-Self View 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
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Siddhartha Gautama a.k.a. “The Buddha” 563-483 B.C. Did not believe in the self or the existence of a
soul 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 … that stubbornly insists in thinking “me” and mine
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David Hume 1711-1776 We are a bundle of perceptions with our
inner experience being one of flux and change
Genuine knowledge depends on sensory experience
Since we cannot perceive a “self” it is not real