Conception Of Human Nature Research Articles

ROUSSEAU HEIR OF HOBBES? ANALYZING HUMAN NATURE AND POLITICAL ORDER IN THE INTERWOVEN PHILOSOPHIES OF HOBBES AND ROUSSEAU

The article addresses the contributions of Hobbes and Rousseau in the construction of models of human sociability, highlighting how both have marked the history of political philosophy with distinct and, in certain aspects, mutually exclusive visions. Hobbes is recognized for his negative view of man and for introducing the modern concept of the State, while Rousseau criticizes Hobbes's anthropological pessimism, emphasizing passive egoism in the state of nature. Traditional political theories fail to fully understand the relationship between Hobbes and Rousseau, especially concerning their views on human nature and the origin of society. This article seeks to clarify these differences and complementarities. The objective of the article is to examine how the ideas of Hobbes and Rousseau intertwine and contrast, providing a deeper understanding of the formation of modern political thought. The methodology used includes a comparative analysis of the works of Hobbes and Rousseau, focusing on their conceptions of human nature, the state of nature, and the formation of the State and society. It is concluded that although Rousseau criticizes Hobbes for his negative view of the state of nature, he also recognizes the importance of the social contract as a means of establishing political order. Rousseau seeks to overcome the arbitrariness present in Hobbes's theory, proposing active participation of the people in lawmaking, emphasizing popular sovereignty and civil liberty. Thus, the article highlights how both philosophers contributed to constructing a political theory that balances authority and freedom.

Studying the Place of Transcendental Ideals and Human Instincts in Modern Psychology: An Insight into the Alternative Discourse of Mohammad Rafi-ud-Din

The integration of psychological and natural sciences is an ongoing process that aims to understand the human mind in the context of the natural world. Rafi-ud-Din has made significant contributions to this field with his concept of human nature and psychology. He argues that the urge for ideals is the real, ultimate, and sole dynamic power of human actions, and that it finds its roots not in instincts but in something transcendental and metaphysical. He describes man as a spiritual and moral self that has innate knowledge of good and evil, and builds his own discourse to describe human nature in the light of the Qur’ān. He also addresses the influential theories of Marx, Freud, Adler, and MacDougall at length and critiques the ideas that view human nature as primarily driven by instincts, arguing that this view reduces man to the status of a social animal and ignores the spiritual and moral dimension of human existence. His alternative discourse on the role of instincts in human psychology and the place of transcendent ideals in understanding man offers a unique perspective on this topic, and his work is an important contribution to the ongoing debate on the integration of psychological and natural sciences. This paper aims to study the ideas and approaches of Rafi-ud-Din about Human Nature and his efforts to refute the thoughts of modern thinkers.

KOMUNITARIANISME: Konsep Tentang Bermasyarakat

Communitarianism is the idea that human identities are largely shaped by different kinds of constitutive communities (or social relations) and that this conception of human nature should inform our moral and political judgments as well as policies and institutions. We live most of our lives in communities, similar to lions who live in social groups rather than individualistic tigers who live alone most of the time. Those communities shape, and ought to shape, our moral and political judgments and we have a strong obligation to support and nourish the particular communities that provide meaning for our lives, without which we’d be disoriented, deeply lonely, and incapable of informed moral and political judgment.

Deploying Kronfeldner’s concept of human nature in archaeology

This essay represents a reflection on the role and relevance of the concept of human nature in archaeology, inspired by the ideas about human nature presented and elaborated by Maria Kronfeldner in the book What?s Left of Human Nature?. It is a comment from an archaeologist?s perspective. Kronfeldner formulated three ways in which human nature can be conceptualized: classificatory, descriptive and explanatory human nature. In the text, I review the archaeological and anthropological topics for which the three aspects of human nature are relevant. In the first part, I address the problems related to the concepts of classificatory and descriptive human nature in the late Pleistocene, when Homo sapiens was not the only species of the genus Homo on the planet. In the second part, I discuss the role of human nature from the epistemological position when it comes to the theoretical basis of reconstructing human behavior in the past and the more general anthropological issue of establishing cross-cultural regularities and laws. This is by no means a comprehensive and detailed survey of the potentially relevant topics, but it should illustrate the usefulness and relevance of Kronfeldner?s concepts for the fields of archaeology and anthropology.

Anger as Human Nature – Sharī‘ah (Islamic Law), Shakespearean Perspective: A Way towards Effective Islamic Criminal Law and Legal Ethics (A Realistic Jurisprudential Approach)

Abstract William Golding once said: “Look out; the evil is in us all” (Lambert, 1993). Deeply scarred by wars, feuds, oppressions, discriminations and murders, in short, the entire history of mankind gives a sharp impression that man by nature is devoid of any good. Every single act of his signifies that, besides others, man is mainly driven by the evils, especially of wrath. Owing to the negative human nature, the state of affairs of this world has been gloomy since year dot – a notion, despite their radical conceptual and methodological differences, is fast held by scriptures like the Holy Qurān, by the literati like William Shakespeare and psychology alike. Notwithstanding its concept of fitrāh, the Sharī‘ah refers to human nature as weak. William Shakespeare, redoing the Qurānic concept of human nature, illustrates the notion in his tragedies that man is more evil by nature. A close scrutiny of the works of the renowned psychologists reveals that psychology, more or less, mirrors the same concept of human nature, compelling researchers to further probe the issue. Critical analysis and in-depth scrutiny of all the three domains affirm that human nature is negative in many aspects. Underpinning the evils of anger, the three works concurrently recommend feasible cures to this evils – though requiring, at some levels, conscious efforts. Such cures create strong ethical values both at social and legal levels, creating a society where commission of crimes becomes less. While keeping the reliability of the findings, the present work opts for the content analysis approach – a familiar tool of qualitative research - to examine the secondary data, conscientiously collected from the Holy Qurān, work of William Shakespeare and the works of prominent psychologists.

New “Inspirations” in Philosophical Anthropology

This paper aims to endow the contamination of ecological wisdom with human and political ecology by outlining the basic features of a renewed philosophical anthropology. With this purpose, the concept of human nature is investigated here, using an ecological, eco-critical and integral framework, known as “inspiratory.” The key concept of this framework is to be found in the seemingly antiquated notion of temperament, which will be archeologically recovered and philosophically enhanced.

Rousseau and the Development of Identity

Scholars from very different interpretive traditions agree that Rousseau’s conception of human nature and the self constitutes a pivotal point in the history of philosophy. I focus on one important aspect of his investigation into human nature and the self: the development of identity. I reconstruct his understanding of the development of identity as articulated in the Discourse on Inequality and Emile, focusing on the psychological interplay of identity and identification involved in the formation of the self. Finally, I turn to a discussion of how his theory of the development of identity informs his specifically political theory, and especially the extralegal institutions and practices he suggests for forming a strong political identity.

Higher Expectations of Artificial Intelligence in Terms of Morality and Humanity

This article delves into the critical question of whether Artificial Intelligence (AI) should adhere to higher standards of morality and humanity. As AI systems infiltrate our everyday lives, their influence surfaces profound ethical and moral conundrums, primarily due to their intrinsic limitation in exercising moral judgments. The ethically sound deployment of AI requires a comprehensive understanding of these moral challenges and the construction of suitable safeguards. The article further scrutinizes the repercussions of AI on our conception of human nature, highlighting potential modifications in human relationships and the essence of our humanity. It contends that AI systems, given their decision-making prowess, should be governed by robust moral principles and human values to curtail harm and endorse fairness and justice. The piece accentuates the pivotal role of human guidance in AI development and application, asserting that these technologies should align with our values. It concludes with an emphasis on the need for continuous surveillance to ensure that AI technologies benefit society, underlining the importance of aligning AI with our moral and human expectations for sustainable societal progression.

La fotografía de difuntos del siglo XIX como reflejo psicosocial e intelectual de una época

The photography of the deceased, especially those taken during their years of public splendor, became a highly demanded product, not only for its emotional value as a reminder of the deceased, or as an aid to the psychological transition of mourning for close relatives, but also for its value as a sociocultural artifice. The post-mortem photography has been subject of profuse sociological, anthropological, artistic and even semiological studies, as a symbolic manifestation, but neither its value nor its meaning end there. Neither, by the way, were the familiar dead the only ones to be immortalized photographically, although they are the ones that have aroused the most interest and imagination in the present. After the nineteenth-century images of corpses, although their heyday continued until the 1920s, the long and controversial relationship that human beings have traditionally maintained with death and the "afterlife" survives. It is not surprising, in this sense, that the stellar moment of this photographic practice coincided temporarily with the birth of spiritualism. Nor that it crossed in time with the mentality and aesthetics of Romanticism, a cultural moment that maintained a peculiar connection to all intents and purposes with death, the dead, the new sociopolitical concepts when managing funeral practices, or the birth of the contemporary Thanatology. The 19th century, especially its second half, was an intellectual and cultural crossroads in which many ideas and approaches to death coming from the past had to merge with the rise of scientific positivism and an entirely new conception of human nature. This work tries to explore, through the photography of the deceased, this historical changes.

Philosophical Anthropology and The Concept of Human Nature in The Contemporary Society

The problem is that, in contemporary society in which we live, there seems to be a negligence in identifying what is in conformity with human nature than the contrary. The over-riding issue is “workability” whether good or bad, to the detriment of goodness (virtue). Analytically, this work sets out to underscore the fact that prior to the contemporary society, virtuous living thrived so much. It was observed that there was a shift from the ocentricism to secularism. Cultural infiltrations balked the long existing primordial cultures, diverting man’s attention to what is in vogue without any consideration to its incongruity to human nature. Therefore, for man to re-determine himself, there must be a counter-shift to virtuous living in tandem with his nature.

The AI Effect: People rate distinctively human attributes as more essential to being human after learning about artificial intelligence advances

As news reports describing Artificial Intelligence (AI) proliferate, will people's perceptions of human nature change such that they rate distinctively human attributes as more essential? Five studies (N = 5111) demonstrate this “AI Effect.” Study 1 first establishes a two-part classification of human attributes used in subsequent studies, distinguishing human attributes that AI are perceived as capable of (“shared” attributes such as using logic or language) from ones that humans are seen as uniquely capable of (“distinctive” attributes such as having a personality or beliefs). Study 2 demonstrates the AI Effect: compared to reading an article about the attributes of trees, reading an article describing AI advances leads participants to rate distinctive attributes as more essential to being human. Study 3 tests whether this effect is due to anthropomorphizing a non-human entity. Study 4 considers the alternative that this effect is solely driven by demand. Study 5 shows that it is enough to simply mention AI advances to observe this effect. This research suggests that as people learn about increasingly sophisticated AI, conceptions of human nature may shift in reaction to regard what makes humans unique as more essential.

Преемственность поколений, магия и институт власти в истории раннего Китая

It is foreseen that the emergence of culture has been a key factor in human evo­lutionary success. However, the richness of cultural forms and significant differ­ences between national cultures complicates the demarcation of cultural prac­tices and natural behavior. This leads to a blurring of the concept of culture and makes possible speculations on the concept of human nature under the slogans of returning to the natural state of human beings and canceling artificial restric­tions. Therefore, a clear understanding of the evolutionary continuity of the hu­man species along with the demarcation of human consciousness and self-iden­tity from their evolutionary predecessors is needed. The authors of this article continue the interdisciplinary study of consciousness and combine it with data from anthropology, history, and philosophy of the Chinese culture, which has been able to maintain uninterrupted continuity for more than three millennia. The most ancient magical practices of the Shang dynasty demonstrate a direct connection with some forms of prehistoric behavior, in which one should look for the foundations of the culture. Merging magic and state institutions under the leadership of the Shang clan caused the transformation of a mystical worldview into a system of more abstract philosophical concepts. The consequent develop­ment of this system in classical canons of the Zhou dynasty became the basis for the formation of the philosophy of the Changes, which reflects the most fun­damental principles of the Chinese culture. This research allows us to con­sider the historical development of culture on a concrete example and question the essence and future of human development.

De-Westernisasi Konsep Manusia: Menelaah Konsep Syed Naquib Al-Attas tentang Hakikat Manusia

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, the renowned scholar of Islamization of Knowledge, has recognized the defect of the western worldview concerning man, which eventually brought havoc to humanity. Al-Attas' concept of the nature of man is encountered as a critique of the Western conception of man that causes epistemological-conceptual problems severely in the Islamic world. This article aims to conceptualize al-Attas' concept of human nature. This qualitative research employs the content analysis method of al-Attas works. It uses a descriptive-philosophical approach. The result shows that al-Attas conceptualized the concept of human nature based on the concept of insan, which is defined as a living being that speaks. The concept becomes the antithesis of the western worldview's concept of man. Man is a new creation associated with the duality of the soul in the human self. The reality of man is his articulate soul (nafs al-nathiqah), the soul that took Covenant (mitsaq) with God. This soul can overcome the animal's desire in his body through the purification of the soul to achieve a state of soul of tranquility (nafs al-muthmainnah). This state of the soul is marked by the tranquility of the soul and settled happiness (sa'adah). Keywords: Syed Naquib Al-Attas, Islamization of science, humanity, western,eastern

De-Westernisasi Konsep Manusia: Menelaah Konsep Syed Naquib Al-Attas tentang Hakikat Manusia

Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas, the renowned scholar of Islamization of Knowledge, has recognized the defect of the western worldview concerning man, which eventually brought havoc to humanity. Al-Attas' concept of the nature of man is encountered as a critique of the Western conception of man that causes epistemological-conceptual problems severely in the Islamic world. This article aims to conceptualize al-Attas' concept of human nature. This qualitative research employs the content analysis method of al-Attas works. It uses a descriptive-philosophical approach. The result shows that al-Attas conceptualized the concept of human nature based on the concept of insan, which is defined as a living being that speaks. The concept becomes the antithesis of the western worldview's concept of man. Man is a new creation associated with the duality of the soul in the human self. The reality of man is his articulate soul (nafs al-nathiqah), the soul that took Covenant (mitsaq) with God. This soul can overcome the animal's desire in his body through the purification of the soul to achieve a state of soul of tranquility (nafs al-muthmainnah). This state of the soul is marked by the tranquility of the soul and settled happiness (sa'adah). Keywords: Syed Naquib Al-Attas, Islamization of science, humanity, western,eastern

Philosophical Anthropology and the Concept of Human Nature in the Contemporary Society

The problem is that, in contemporary society in which we live, there seems to be a negligence in identifying what is in conformity with human nature than the contrary. The over-riding issue is “workability” whether good or bad, to the detriment of goodness (virtue). Analytically, this work sets out to underscore the fact that prior to the contemporary society, virtuous living thrived so much. It was observed that there was a shift from the ocentricism to secularism. Cultural infiltrations balked the long existing primordial cultures, diverting man’s attention to what is in vogue without any consideration to its incongruity to human nature. Therefore, for man to re-determine himself, there must be a counter-shift to virtuous living in tandem with his nature.

Obraz člověka a výchovy v Esejích Michela de Montaigne

The study deals with the question of the relationships among the conception of human nature, its cognition and education in Michel de Montaigne’s Essays. In the series of essays, Montaigne repeatedly rejects attempts to base his conception of human nature on antic- scholastic traditions operating with the general concepts of man. Montaigne’s specific Christian scepticism (“new pyrrhonism”) is the starting point and the argumentative method for rejecting the reliability of general concepts and definitions. Whereas scholastic (as well as predominantly entire ancient) philosophy assumed the existence of an ideal species to be the essence that determines each individual’s essential characteristics, Montaigne sees, on the contrary, man in the state of constant transformation, transition as crucial to understanding the human situation. This fundamentally transforms the traditional understanding of the relationship between a pattern and its imitation, into a relationship that has not only epistemological but also pedagogical and moral implications. Montaigne argues that subjectivity cannot be understood against the background of a general pattern, but only from itself, from ambiguities and paradoxes that, on the contrary, exclude, elude any generalization. Human nature cannot be captured in a general concept, it can only be exemplified from a specific experience. Thus, man is much more a transition (from one form to another) than a substance. The aim of this study is to show Michel de Montaigne as a modern and up-to-date thinker who, through his rhetoric and his way of grasping pedagogical issues, has opened up a number of educational questions that are relevant today: for example, how to understand the educational goal in a practical and informal way, how to work in education with the unique and the non-generalizable, and how to consider the relationship between knowledge and action.

Integrating historical and moral consciousness in history teaching

The aim of this study is to explore historical perspective-taking from a social psychological perspective and reflect on the role of social identities and conceptions of human nature in perspective-taking. The sample consisted of 160 Year 9 students in Finland who responded to a historical perspective-taking task based on an edited excerpt from the book Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland (Browning, 1999). Based on qualitative content analysis, four types of answers were identified: all groups have the potential for good and evil; in-group is morally superior; lessons learned from history; and in the future similar situation would be possible. Social identity as an in-group – out-group distinction was essential in the responses as well as moral and historical empathy. Our empirical data shows that many students are willing and able to reflect on complex ethical questions on history lessons, and therefore we suggest that open discussions and consideration of different perspectives should be encouraged in history teaching. In addition, connecting historical topics to current day issues would help students to recognize the patterns of thinking that may lead to intergroup conflicts and violence.

A Hobbesian Argument for World Government

The legitimacy of government is often linked to its ability to maintain order and secure peace. Thomas Hobbes’ political philosophy provides a clear description of why government is necessary, as human nature and the structures emerging out of human social interaction are such that order and peace will not naturally emerge to a sufficient degree. Hobbes’ general argument is often accepted at the national level, but in this article, I explore why a Hobbesian argument for the international level—an argument for world government—is deducible from his philosophy. Hobbes builds his philosophy on his conception of human nature and argues that individuals’ interests and preferences should be the determinant for evaluating the value of a political entity. By emphasising these aspects of Hobbes’ theory, I argue that several contemporary phenomena suggest that a world government could be preferable to the states system. The cases used are the outbreak of war in Europe in 2022 and the continuing and accelerating environmental crisis. Through this examination, the continued relevance of Hobbes’ political philosophy is demonstrated, and according to Hobbes’ own logic, those who accept the argument should also seek to implement such a solution.

Pushed Forward by Lifted Hearts: On Stanislaus Lo Kuang’s Sino-Christian Philosophy of History

This article presents an analysis of the Sino-Christian philosophy of history created by Archbishop Stanislaus Lo Kuang (1911–2004), whose comprehensive view of historiography and the historical process situates him amongst very few contemporary thinkers interested in developing a distinctively Christian yet strictly philosophical outlook of human history. It is shown that for Lo, an inquiry into the structure of historical facts leads to uncovering their meaning, which is identical with the meaning of human life, namely the search for happiness. Humans, driven by their nature and led by heroes, move freely towards what they consider greater happiness, realizing that this requires ever greater freedom and equality. God is introduced in this approach only as a guarantee of the fulfillment of the deepest desires and the One who inscribed them into human hearts. Importantly, in his discussion of God’s relation to history, Lo Kuang refers to the Confucian conceptions of human nature, Heaven, and destiny, offering a cross-cultural synthesis at the intersection of the theology and philosophy of history. It is argued that despite its inconsistencies, Lo Kuang’s contribution is original and could still be relevant for global society today.

Kantian ethics and African philosophy

African philosophers have long engaged with Kant’s practical philosophy. Since the 1980s, much of this engagement has been with Kant’s anthropology of race and its role in the theoretical foundations of racism and European colonization. Our paper departs from this latter orientation by examining Ghanaian philosophical reflections on the Categorical Imperative, which Kant sets out as the supreme principle of practical reason. We assess this critique, and conclude that while the Ghanaian philosophers accept several aspects of Kantian ethics, they depart from Kant’s idealist metaphysics and associated dualistic conception of human nature. More specifically, while the Ghanaian philosophers accept Kant’s universalizability demands in relation to moral judgement, they also make a sustained case, contra Kant, in favour of the role of the emotions in moral motivation. The paper thus contributes to broader efforts underway to enrich the discourse on the reception of Kant’s philosophy in the global south.