Human Nature – An Embodied Phenomenological Perspective

Abstract


 
 
 The paper attempts an analysis of the notion of “human nature” from a socio-historic perspective. Based on this analysis it shows how flawed is the concept of “reasonable man” that’s been upheld by the legal systems all over the world. In this effort, it points out how obsolete this conception is, and how unfair has this been to the existential reality of embodied human agency. After this, it ventures on to bringing to light a different scheme of such agency available in the existential phenomenological tradition that is capable of revolutionizing the notion of “reasonable man” and thereby enlightening criminal jurisprudence. And in view of such a re-orientation of the notion of human agency, the question that is addressed lastly in the paper is, what cause should the normative serve ultimately – retribution or reformation?