Exploring the Human Condition: Nature vs. Nurture

[heartless]

"Humans don't have a nature..."

I mailed Greg with this, but I assume he's being busy and is tired of reading tens of private messages everyday. That's why I decided to ask you guys.

So, what does it mean, "Humans don't have a nature, they have a history"?

Thanks,

Wait, I have a bonus question for you.
Religious discussions were used to allowed at PF with almost no rules. At least I see so in the archives. But now, there are very strict rules about the religious discussions, they're almost disallowed to be. Why is it? Why the rules about the religious discussions are so strict?

Thanks once again,

 

[-Job-]

Possibly because what defines a human's nature is his/her history.

 

[heartless]

Possibly because what defines a human's nature is his/her history.

I hardly understand this. Can you please explain this a little bit more?

 

[edward]

Possibly because what defines a human's nature is his/her history.

A human doesn't have a nature. Individual humans have a personality which is greatly influenced by his/her experiences and heredity. If human history is an accurate predictor of our nature, we haven't changed much in the last ten thousand years.

 

[edward]

Wait, I have a bonus question for you.
Religious discussions were used to allowed at PF with almost no rules. At least I see so in the archives. But now, there are very strict rules about the religious discussions, they're almost disallowed to be. Why is it? Why the rules about the religious discussions are so strict?

Thanks once again,

I think the religious part of your question is due greatly to the fact that many people are offended by the religious points of view of others. It can actually get worse than politics.

 

[-Job-]

A human doesn't have a nature. Individual humans have a personality which is greatly influenced by his/her experiences and heredity. If human history is an accurate predictor of our nature, we haven't changed much in the last ten thousand years.

I meant history as in "life" or "experience", was that not obvious?

 

[heartless]

A human doesn't have a nature. Individual humans have a personality which is greatly influenced by his/her experiences and heredity. If human history is an accurate predictor of our nature, we haven't changed much in the last ten thousand years.

so you also think that humans have a nature?

Personality for me, is rather a unique feature of human's behavior. But nature becomes a part of beings when the personal trait is very frequent in all humans. For example wanting things that are hard to get is a part of human nature since majority of people does it. I think that humans alone don't have a history but the world has one. In history indeed you talk about the great people in the past but then again for me that is, humans are part of history.
It may also be the history of evolutionary process, but is it a history we talk about everyday? It rather isn't.

I'm still confused and not knowing

 

[zoobyshoe]

I'm not sure what Greg's sig means or what his intentions are in posting it. He used to have a signature that said something like "I dreampt of a snail crawling on a razor's edge. That's my dream. That's my nightmare." Something like that. For some reason I always felt I understood that one perfectly.

 

[loseyourname]

He used to have a signature that said something like "I dreampt of a snail crawling on a razor's edge. That's my dream. That's my nightmare." Something like that. For some reason I always felt I understood that one perfectly.

It's from the last known recording of Colonel Kurtz played to Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now when he's given the mission to terminate Kurtz's command, "terminate with extreme prejudice."

 

[zoobyshoe]

It's from the last known recording of Colonel Kurtz played to Captain Willard in Apocalypse Now when he's given the mission to terminate Kurtz's command, "terminate with extreme prejudice."

I don't remember that at all. I only recall him saying "They're pigs. I hate them," and such like.

 

[heartless]

So, can anone explain the lack of nature in humans?

 

[Dawguard]

So, can anone explain the lack of nature in humans

Study psychology, you'll find that there is plenty of nature in humans. We have very definable characteristics, and these have been present and pretty much unchanged since recorded history. Read a critique of Greek, Egygtian, Norse, Mesopatamian, and Celtic myths and you'll see what I mean. I don't know what exactly was meant by the saying you quoted, but if it means that humans simply don't have a nature then I would strongly dissagree with it.

 

[VietDao29]

Aw, I still don't get it...
What is really meant by nature in this concept then? It's not the lanscape, or something that is arround us, right?

 

[heartless]

Greg, help...

 

[Dawguard]

Aw, I still don't get it...
What is really meant by nature in this concept then? It's not the lanscape, or something that is arround us, right?

Consider it in this context: it's a dog's nature to bark at strange things. Nature here is simply our continuing charicteristics. Example, it's in people's nature to be emotional about death, or in their nature to increase their own fortunes in life. Hopefully that clarifies it.