more from this thinker
|
more from this text
Single Idea 23154
[filed under theme 22. Metaethics / A. Ethics Foundations / 2. Source of Ethics / e. Human nature
]
Full Idea
Instinctively we divide mankind into friends and foes - friends, towards whom we have a morality of co-operation; foes, towards whom we have that of competition.
Gist of Idea
We divide mankind into friend and foe, and cooperate with one and compete with the other
Source
Bertrand Russell (Authority and the Individual [1949], 1)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'Authority and the Individual' [Unwin 1977], p.16
A Reaction
Interesting, because I have though of cooperation and competition as intrinsic features of people, internal to their nature, but this idea observes that it is more external, as two responses to two sharply distinct aspects of experience.
The
58 ideas
with the same theme
[human nature as source of good and bad]:
7362
|
Humans are similar, but social conventions drive us apart (sages and idiots being the exceptions)
[Kongzi (Confucius)]
|
7991
|
Hate and lust have their roots in man's lower nature
[Anon (Bhag)]
|
143
|
The two ruling human principles are the natural desire for pleasure, and an acquired love of virtue
[Plato]
|
1763
|
Diogenes said a plucked chicken fits Plato's definition of man
[Diogenes of Sin., by Diog. Laertius]
|
23398
|
Human nature is naturally compassionate and good (as a 'sprout'), but people may not be good
[Mengzi (Mencius), by Norden]
|
5134
|
Perhaps we get a better account of happiness as the good for man if we know his function
[Aristotle]
|
31
|
If bodily organs have functions, presumably the whole person has one
[Aristotle]
|
5231
|
To eat vast amounts is unnatural, since natural desire is to replenish the deficiency
[Aristotle]
|
22509
|
What is natural for us is either there at birth, or appears by normal processes
[Aristotle]
|
5858
|
Men are physically prime at thirty-five, and mentally prime at forty-nine
[Aristotle]
|
6559
|
Aristotle never actually says that man is a rational animal
[Aristotle, by Fogelin]
|
20813
|
Human purpose is to contemplate and imitate the cosmos
[Chrysippus]
|
5730
|
Our bodies weren't created to be used; on the contrary, their creation makes a use possible
[Lucretius]
|
23340
|
We consist of animal bodies and god-like reason
[Epictetus]
|
23366
|
We see nature's will in the ways all people are the same
[Epictetus]
|
18464
|
Justice is each person fulfilling his function
[Porphyry]
|
5764
|
When people fall into wickedness they lose their human nature
[Boethius]
|
8019
|
Along with his pantheism, Spinoza equates ethics with the study of human nature
[Spinoza, by MacIntyre]
|
17189
|
The essence of man is modifications of the nature of God
[Spinoza]
|
17207
|
By 'good' I mean what brings us ever closer to our model of human nature
[Spinoza]
|
17229
|
If infancy in humans was very rare, we would consider it a pitiful natural defect
[Spinoza]
|
7667
|
There are two sides to men - the pleasantly social, and the violent and creative
[Diderot, by Berlin]
|
22390
|
Kant thought human nature was pure hedonism, so virtue is only possible via the categorical imperative
[Foot on Kant]
|
23234
|
I cannot change the nature which has been determined for me
[Fichte]
|
21796
|
Man is God if he raises himself, by denying his nature and finitude
[Hegel]
|
21379
|
Man's three basic ethical incentives are egoism, malice and compassion
[Schopenhauer]
|
21483
|
Man is essentially a dreadful wild animal
[Schopenhauer]
|
5281
|
Consciousness is a social product
[Marx/Engels]
|
5276
|
The nature of an individual coincides with what they produce and how they produce it
[Marx/Engels]
|
22086
|
The most important aspect of a human being is not reason, but passion
[Kierkegaard, by Carlisle]
|
5298
|
The human essence is not found in individuals but in social relations
[Marx]
|
23032
|
What is distinctive of human life is the desire for self-improvement
[Green,TH, by Muirhead]
|
24093
|
We can aspire to greatness by creating new functions for ourselves
[Nietzsche]
|
24121
|
Greeks might see modern analysis of what is human as impious
[Nietzsche]
|
24107
|
Once a drive controls the intellect, it rules, and sets the goals
[Nietzsche]
|
20128
|
Each person has a fixed constitution, which makes them a particular type of person
[Nietzsche, by Leiter]
|
22503
|
Nietzsche could only revalue human values for a different species
[Nietzsche, by Foot]
|
22344
|
Freud is pessimistic about human nature; it is ambivalent motive and fantasy, rather than reason
[Freud, by Murdoch]
|
23060
|
The good is not relative, but is rooted in facts about human needs
[Santayana]
|
23154
|
We divide mankind into friend and foe, and cooperate with one and compete with the other
[Russell]
|
7517
|
I could take a healthy infant and train it up to be any type of specialist I choose
[Watson,JB]
|
20756
|
Instead of having a nature, man only has a history
[Ortega y Gassett]
|
23824
|
Where human needs are satisfied we find happiness, friendship and beauty
[Weil]
|
7074
|
Man is a useless passion
[Sartre]
|
6687
|
Man is the desire to be God
[Sartre]
|
3843
|
There is no human nature
[Sartre]
|
23687
|
Moral virtues arise from human nature, as part of what makes us good human beings
[Foot, by Hacker-Wright]
|
5313
|
The rules of human decision-making converge and overlap in a 'human nature'
[Wilson,EO]
|
5490
|
Essentialism fits in with Darwinism, but not with extreme politics of left or right
[Ellis]
|
4132
|
The category of person is a weak basis for ethics, because it is not fixed but comes in degrees
[Williams,B]
|
23110
|
Human injustice is not a permanent feature of communities
[Rawls]
|
4366
|
We can't accept Aristotle's naturalism about persons, because it is normative and unscientific
[Williams,B, by Hursthouse]
|
8048
|
When 'man' is thought of individually, apart from all roles, it ceases to be a functional concept
[MacIntyre]
|
23090
|
Liberals assume people are naturally free, equal, rational, and morally good
[Kekes]
|
5452
|
'Essentialism' is opposed to existentialism, and claims there is a human nature
[Mautner]
|
7505
|
Many think that accepting human nature is to accept innumerable evils
[Pinker]
|
6586
|
Cynics are committed to morality, but disappointed or disgusted by human failings
[Fogelin]
|
20655
|
Humans have been hunter-gatherers for 99.5% of their existence
[Watson]
|