more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
The rules followed in human decision-making are tight enough to produce a broad overlap in the decisions taken by all individuals, and hence a convergence powerful enough to be labelled 'human nature'.
Gist of Idea
The rules of human decision-making converge and overlap in a 'human nature'
Source
Edmund O. Wilson (On Human Nature [1978], Ch.3)
Book Ref
Wilson,Edward O.: 'On Human Nature' [Penguin 1995], p.67
A Reaction
This is a nice empirical criterion for asserting the existence of human nature, and it seems right to examine decisions, rather than more thoughtless or conformist behaviour. Existentialists dream of new possibilities, but the old ways always seem best…