rośliny-i-grzyby: Human nature

Evidence: 48 • authority: 72

Human nature comprises the fundamental dispositions and characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting—that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind; however, this usage has proven to be controversial in that there is dispute as to whether or not such an essence actually exists. Arguments about human nature have been a central focus of philosophy for centuries and the concept continues to provoke lively philosophical debate. While both concepts are distinct from one another, discussions regarding human nature are typically related to those regarding the comparative importance of genes and environment in human development (…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 88

Doubling Down on the Nomological Notion of Human Nature. This chapter defends the nomological notion of human nature according to which human nature is the set of properties that humans tend to possess as a result of the evolution of their species. In particular, I show why it is appropriate to single out the traits that are typical of human beings (the ‘universality proposal’) and the traits that have evolved (the ‘evolution proposal’). According to the former, traits that belong to human nature must be typical of human beings; according to the latter, they must have evolved. This proposal has been extensively criticized, and the goal of this chapter is to address these criticisms and to i…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 80

Human nature and the good life in Aristotle: The debate on human flourishing as an ethical notion

Evidence: 38 • authority: 88

Aristotle with and Against Kant on the Idea of Human Nature. This chapter considers the idea of human nature, an idea that lies at the very heart of Aristotelian thinking about politics and education, in order to gain a clearer understanding of its meaning. It argues that some of the tensions which permeate Aristotle's work, particularly in the area of politics and rhetoric, can be explained only in terms of a hesitation on the philosopher's part between the Sophists and Plato. Aristotle's decision to stand with the Sophists represented an attempt to guard against a danger inherent in Platonism that was felt to pose the more serious threat. That aside, the idea that antiquity could be disti…

Evidence: 38 • authority: 80

The Importance of early Religious Instruction argued from a more particular Consideration of the Principles of Human Nature

Evidence: 33 • authority: 72

Modernity, a topic in the humanities and social sciences, is both a historical period (the modern era) and the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes, and practices that arose in the wake of the Renaissance—in the Age of Reason of 17th-century thought and the 18th-century Enlightenment. Commentators variously consider the era of modernity to have ended by 1930, with World War II in 1945, or as late as the period falling between the 1980s and 1990s; the following era is often referred to as "postmodernity". The term "contemporary history" is also used to refer to the post-1945 timeframe, without assigning it to either the modern or postmodern era. (Thus "modern" may be used a…