Friday, January 23, 2015
Is it in our Nature?
In class we were discussing the soul and justice. "T"'s view on justice is that it is instrumentally and "S"'s view is that justice is good for itself. Then we proceeded into speaking on the soul and the ring of invisibility. Our souls are kind of what sets us apart from other living things in this world. To add onto that, I also think a lot of our actions play into our nature. We have appetite, spirit, reason, and then nature. Our human nature tends to make us do things that please ourselves. We are genuinely a prideful bunch. So with most of our action, our thoughts will typically lean to how it will benefits us personally. It is just how we are as humans. Prideful. Envious. Needy. Although, just because we want these things, it doesn't mean we have to act on. Which is where the reason comes into play. For some, our reason trumps our nature. For others it is vice versa? Which is more common? Is following our nature necessarily bad? I don't think always is if it isn't going to be harming or selfish. Sometimes are nature can be to open the door for the person beside you. It become instinct or impulse. Which leads to the question, can our "nature" be good and "bad"?
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I thoroughly enjoyed your post, I can see where your argument for nature is coming from. I believe there no good or bad nature, it is hardwired into our DNA to do certain things. Our "nature" is a series of impulse we do without thinking about. Our conscious is what separates us from animals.
ReplyDeleteTori:
ReplyDeleteI believe that your definition of nature falls under Socrates's aspect of appetite. In response to your question of whether or not nature can be two sides of the same coin, I would say that it can be. On one hand, one's appetite has the capacity to satisfy basic needs, as well as our more luxury-based desires in order to live a fulfilling life. As you've stated though, in some people the appetite can be disproportionately powerful in comparison to their sense of reason, which causes people to perform unjust acts to the detriment of others, and sometimes even one's self.
Giovanti:
Your position on this topic brings up the Nature versus Nurture debate. The advocates of nature for this argument would agree with you that DNA is the deciding factor, but the advocates of nurture would claim that there is only so much that our biological makeup has to do with our interactions. For instance, in the movie GATTACA, there is a utopian society in which humanity has structured itself around support for nurture; physiological tests have been developed in order to determine a child's competency in the areas of education, technical skill, and even specific career competency- to the point that parents are able to manipulate their children's genes before they are born to give them the maximum advantage in the field that they intend to groom them. The movie follows a child who was not born this way, and how he becomes an astronaut against the odds of genetic discrimination.
I bring this up to say that I support the nurture side of the debate; if not for receiving behavioral instructions at a young age, human beings would probably end up like Genie, the feral child, during her isolation and initial assessments. People who perform unjust acts most likely have had some sort of contact with someone or media that could put the thought into their minds long enough for them to consider it and decide that they could benefit from these actions, and that the benefits could potentially outweigh the costs.
I feel like our nature is bad and has to be trained good for the most part because as children grow no one has to teach them to steal a piece of gum or lie or cheat in a game. It isn't until someone says no that's wrong that they learn the difference between good or bad.
ReplyDeleteI think that nature is combination of good and bad. It's something that's happening off of instinct. You do things out of nature because of the way your raised. It's like its something embedded in you.
ReplyDeleteDear Tori,
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question: can our nature be good or bad? I'd have to say that it can. With every choice we make and every situation we're put in there is always a good and bad. In some instances we may choose good but in others we may choose bad. Overall I believe that one will always triumph the other. For centuries there has been a war of good vs. bad not just out in the world but also within ourselves. Everyday we struggle with a push and pull against good and bad. Some days the push and pulls are easy but at some point we will be thrusted into a situation where our true nature comes out and then there is just one question which will it be; good or bad?
I also believe we are born with certain impulses. I think that as humans we can be greedy and do things to gratify our own needs, rather that what is always good for everyone else. However, I believe that our behavior can be shaped through our upbringing and through observations of others.
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