: Human nature, what's that? I'd really like to see you try to define it outside of culture.Human nature is that which no human being can avoid, all being part of the same species. In short, it is the result of the desire and drive for for individual survival- which leads to the creation of certain insitutions, to be sure: families, communities, congregations, governments, and the like.
It also leads to what many have termed "the inherent selfishness of man." This, I believe, is what is universal among people: At the core of it, we are all innately self-absorbed and individualistic, and driven by depseration will act in ways that destroy other human beings, animals, and the environment in our press for survival or comfort.
The terms "savage," "hostile," and "despicable" are ones that I would describe as man's natural state, apart from cultural conditioning. This is the Hobbesian view of the state of nature, and I believe the only one that makes any real sense. I believe that cultural conditioning can suppress and gloss the tendency to behave in these self-absorbed and destructive ways, but that our worse-halves routinely surface to inflict damage on ourselves and all we come into contact with.
None.
