We care about our reputation, as well as our material wellbeing, and our desire for social standing drives us into conflict as much as competition over scarce resources. Rousseau saw societies divided by inequality and prophesised their downfall. If we want to live together peacefully, Hobbes argued, we must submit ourselves to an authoritative body with the power to enforce laws and resolve conflicts.
Politics is characterised by disagreement and if we think that our own political or religious convictions are more important than peaceful coexistence then those convictions are the problem, not the answer. Hobbes had seen the horrors of the English Civil War up close and civil war remains the most compelling illustration of his state of nature.
Today, readers are often inclined to dismiss his ideas as overly bleak — but that probably says more about us than him. Hobbes saw lasting peace as a rare and fragile achievement, something that those of us lucky enough never to have experienced war are worryingly liable to forget.
But much of human history has been war-torn, and unhappily there are still many people who live in states ravaged by conflict and war — in such cases, Hobbes speaks through the ages. Rousseau thought not, and accused Hobbes of mistaking the characteristics of his own society for timeless insights into our nature. On the Hobbesian analysis, an authoritative political state is the answer to the problem of our naturally self-interested and competitive nature.
Rousseau viewed things differently and instead argued that we are only self-interested and competitive now because of the way that modern societies have developed.
For Rousseau, everything started to go wrong once humans perfected the arts of agriculture and industry, which eventually led to unprecedented levels of private property, economic interdependence, and inequality. Inequality breeds social division. Where societies had once been united by strong social bonds, the escalation of inequality soon turned us into ruthless competitors for status and domination.
In his secularised retelling of the Fall, the advent of economic inequality takes the place of our ejection from the Garden of Eden. As Boom explains, their sense of justice is limited.
Parents and society must further develop the innate moral beliefs. Most people say they would return it to the original owner. They believe people are not as honest as them. To put this assumption to test, a team of scientists conducted a large scale experiment. They planted 17, lost wallets in 40 countries. The results of the study published in Science busted long-standing economic model.
Experts expected people to keep the wallets with money. They were all caught by surprise. Regardless of country, the majority of people returned the wallets.
And they were more likely to do so when the wallets had more money. In reality, their self-image as an honest person is more important to them than a short-term monetary gain. Researchers posed as people who had found wallets, dropping them in public places.
Some wallets were empty. The wallet experiment confirms our instinct to do good. And that we care about our image too. The primary motivation to return the wallet was the aversion to be seen as a thief. To act selfishly or to cooperate? To answer this question, a group of scientists conducted a series of ten studies. They were all based on economic games. The experts explored the basis of cooperative decision-making.
They wanted to see if we control our instincts to act selfishly. Or if we use rational thinking to override our natural impulse to cooperate. Participants made financial decisions to maximize their gain at the group expense.
Or the other way around. Consider the rhetoric of white supremacy. I think some cruelty is born of dehumanization. I think some cruelty is born out of a loss of control.
I think some cruelty is born out of an instrumental desire to get something you want — sex, money, power, whatever. I think a lot of cruelty is born out of a normal and natural appreciation of the humanity of others, which then connects with certain important psychological appetites we have, like an appetite to punish those we think have done wrong. I think that, for the most part, people who do terrible things are just like us.
Under the right conditions, is anyone capable of almost anything? I sort of believe that. I think, under the right conditions, most of us are capable of doing terrible things. There may be exceptions. There are powerful individual differences that matter, though. I ask because I used to study totalitarian ideologies as a political theorist, and I spent a lot of time thinking about Nazi Germany and how an entire society could be led into a moral abyss like that.
I think you're right. We have this horrible tendency to overestimate the extent to which we're the moral standouts, we're the brave ones. This has some nasty social consequences. This attitude is oftentimes scorn towards people who get harassed. Then they did it. They did fake interviews where people thought they were being interviewed, and people asked the sexist, ugly questions, and all of the women were just silent. When food is scarce and in selfish hands, it can lead to troublesome situations such as physical fighting.
Through the articles by Coskren, Baker, and Niemeyer,. It can be clarified with an example. Mankind has a dual nature, two sides that are nurtured through observations, experiences, religion, and social influences.
Throughout childhood development, the young mind-set adapts to their environment and begins to form habits which causes oneself to behave differently in some situations then in others. Causes that explain why children grow up and begin acting different and unusual are societal pressures that influences people to change in numerous ways.
Influences impact mankind by generating. Also man started out at nothing so greed came into play when we became the countries we are today. L Menckens From the moment they are born, humans have a naturally evil predisposition. The most commonly referenced one, Moral Objectivism, holds that moral standards are universally transcendent, and that certain acts are right or wrong independent of human subjectivity.
Pelagius taught that because God commanded men to live good and morally perfect lives, it can be assumed he also gave man the ability to do so. He rejected the idea of original sin causing man to be in a state of depravity.
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