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Why Study Human Nature?. The Most Basic Question In Philosophy?. Who and what am I? What makes human beings different from non-human animals? Machines? Are humans unique in some way? Why? The answer to these is the core of what we believe to be human nature .
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The Most Basic Question In Philosophy? • Who and what am I? • What makes human beings different from non-human animals? Machines? • Are humans unique in some way? Why? • The answer to these is the core of what we believe to be human nature. • What it essentially means to be a human being; what makes us different from anything else.
Why Help Others? • Imagine you are walking down the street and a homeless person says, “I’m hungry, could you please help me with some change?”. You give him a loonie and walk on, feeling good about your actions. Why did you help him? What are the reasons why someone would help another person?
Why Help Others? • Relieve his need – but why? • Self-interest – to make yourself feel good. • Self –interested desires? • Even those that rise out of love for others, ultimately motivated by a desire for self-gratification? • Selfish because of our genes?
Your answers to these questions profoundly affects how you see yourself, others, and how you live. • Unselfish – will we react with trust and openness? Socialism? • Self-interested– mistrust others? Capitalism? • Psychological Egoism– the belief that human beings are always motivated by self-interest , even in what seems to be acts of altruism. • Spiritual – open to religious experience? • Material – not different than other animals other than highly developed brain?
Prisoner’s Dilemma • Used by philosophers and social scientists to explore human nature. Two members of a criminal gang are arrested and imprisoned. Each prisoner is in solitary confinement with no means of speaking to or exchanging messages with the other. The police admit they don't have enough evidence to convict the pair on the principal charge. They plan to sentence both to a year in prison on a lesser charge. Simultaneously, the police offer each prisoner a sneaky bargain. If he testifies against his partner, he will go free while the partner will get three years in prison on the main charge. Oh, yes, there is a catch ... If both prisoners testify against each other, both will be sentenced to two years in jail.
What Would You Do in This Situation? • Betray your partner? • Eliminate the risk of a 1-2 yr sentence and maybe get off scot-free. • What does this say about human nature? • Would it matter who the other person was? • Family, long time friend, someone you don’t know? • Is placing self-interest ahead of society’s interest ultimately self-defeating? What if everyone cheated on their taxes, wouldn’t taxes go up? Jumped the subway gates, would fares go up?
What Is the Self? • Self: • The ego or “I” that exists in a physical body and that is conscious and rational; • The individual person; The knower; • That which persists through changes in a person. • The self that can think, reason, and perceive. • This is a common Western view – it has very deep and ancient roots in Western thought.
Of all created creatures man is the most detestable. Of the entire brood he is the only one that possesses malice. Also he is the only creature that has a nasty mind. Mark Twain
Homework • Page 84 questions # 1 – 3: irrantionality • Page 87 questions # 1 – 2: evidence of soul
