Science
Related: About this forumScientists Probe Human Nature—and Discover We are Good, after All
When it really comes down to itwhen the chips are down and the lights are offare we naturally good? That is, are we predisposed to act cooperatively, to help others even when it costs us? Or are we, in our hearts, selfish creatures?
This fundamental question about human nature has long provided fodder for discussion. Augustines doctrine of original sin proclaimed that all people were born broken and selfish, saved only through the power of divine intervention. Hobbes, too, argued that humans were savagely self-centered; however, he held that salvation came not through the divine, but through the social contract of civil law. On the other hand, philosophers such as Rousseau argued that people were born good, instinctively concerned with the welfare of others. More recently, these questions about human natureselfishness and cooperation, defection and collaborationhave been brought to the public eye by game shows such as Survivor and the UKs Golden Balls, which test the balance between selfishness and cooperation by pitting the strength of interpersonal bonds against the desire for large sums of money.
But even the most compelling televised collisions between selfishness and cooperation provide nothing but anecdotal evidence. And even the most eloquent philosophical arguments mean noting without empirical data.
A new set of studies provides compelling data allowing us to analyze human nature not through a philosophers kaleidoscope or a TV producers camera, but through the clear lens of science. These studies were carried out by a diverse group of researchers from Harvard and Yalea developmental psychologist with a background in evolutionary game theory, a moral philosopher-turned-psychologist, and a biologist-cum-mathematicianinterested in the same essential question: whether our automatic impulseour first instinctis to act selfishly or cooperatively.
6502
(249 posts)This sums it up in a really enlightening video.
I have come to believe this as well.
The "7 Deadly Sins" is not about original sin.
It is really a description of the traits associated with a sickness of the mind, features that makes up the pathologies of selfishness -- a best attempt at describing both the learned forms (learning to ignore the poor or the hungry, etc...) as well as the innate forms (sociopathy, narcissim, etc.).
Enjoy the video.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)Jungian psychology and the "collective unconscious" a bit, and am fascinated by the notion of "homo empathicus" discussed in the video.
We're at an incredible moment in human evolution. Will we be able to turn our new technologies to empathetic ends?
bhikkhu
(10,718 posts)(link to Amazon, but our little library has it, so its probably pretty easy to find). One of the best books I've read this year.
Surya Gayatri
(15,445 posts)posting.
You turned me on to scientificamerican.com as well, where I've been immersed for several hours.
Who knew that "opsin", the sight protein, evolved 700 million years ago? Astonishing...
rocktivity
(44,576 posts)We would have long since rendered ourselves extinct otherwise.
rocktivity
roguevalley
(40,656 posts)joshcryer
(62,276 posts)Fantastic Anarchist
(7,309 posts)RainDog
(28,784 posts)and happy thanksgiving, brother!
Overseas
(12,121 posts)They have to try hard to inculcate selfishness and pretend we don't want our tax dollars to go for Medicare for All, stronger social safety nets, environmental clean up and greener energy improvements.
Big oil has had a lot of success in pushing our citizenry to think we are mostly selfish creatures out for ourselves and that's the way it has got to be.
nolabels
(13,133 posts)that when you go looking for something you eventually find it. Actually quite the crazy idea they had here, maybe next time they should try to study why man survives in spite of his stupidity. Now that would be study with a real oxymoronic impetus
Also i don't think these people doing the study have ever met some of the people i have known
Tutonic
(2,522 posts)n/t
TheAmbivalante
(114 posts)I could listen to Jeremy Rifkin all freaking day.
Shankapotomus
(4,840 posts)So good to see so many fellow Jeremy Rifkin (the anti-dote to Ayn Rand) fans on DU!
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)Get. Out.
ehrnst
(32,640 posts)She was WRONG.
Or as Rodgers and Hammerstein put it:
"You've got to be taught before it's too late,
Before you are six or seven or eight,
To hate all the people your relatives hate,
You've got to be carefully taught!"
CanSocDem
(3,286 posts)All these years. And what have they been up to? Aside from making us into Weak Dependants, that is...
.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)We're all here talking about the evil people (a third to a half of the US pop.) who are trying to destroy democracy.
How good (on average) could humans really be?
joshcryer
(62,276 posts)A site like DU facilitates reflective responses, that is, responses where people can sit down and think about their actions. In that vein, because everyone must be "right" on the internet, people descend into rhetoric, and it can get heated and cruel at times.
This is more a nature of the hierarchical HTTP environment than anything else.