Human nature is really an ancient topic, and it is also a topic with many answers. Confucius said that human nature is similar and acknowledged, but did not say what human nature is; Mencius said that human nature is good, Xunzi said that human nature is evil, Gao Zi said that there is no distinction between good and evil, and he also said that it is erotic, and so on. Most of the sages in China expounded human nature from the perspective of social ethics. After the Renaissance, the European bourgeoisie regarded human nature as perceptual desire, rationality, freedom, equality, fraternity and so on. Most of them explain human nature from the perspective of human's essential existence and natural rights, because they oppose the feudal system's bondage to personality.
My attitude towards this is: so many scholars have failed to give a recognized answer to human nature, and our ability is of course far behind; But since there are so many answers, what's the harm of trying again?
The purpose of my discussion on human nature is: how to better explain, inspire, guide and organize human behavior, and how to better realize human existence. So I don't care how others understand human nature, but define human nature according to the following meanings:
Human nature is a fixed human nature, which fundamentally determines and explains human behavior.
Obviously, this kind of humanity has universal applicability to human beings and restricts human behavior in depth. This kind of humanity is not so much called humanity as "the natural law of human beings".
1. Does human nature exist?
(a) whether the same kind has the same nature? Is this nature abstract and universal?
People may never reach a consensus on this, but my understanding is that the same kind does have its commonness, universality but not abstraction. It is this universality that restricts them from "choosing" their own way of life.
From a big perspective, every specific individual, group, class, nation, country, etc. in history, reality and even in the future has its own characteristics. In that case, how can there be a universal humanity to restrain their behavior? It seems ridiculous.
However, if you only pay attention to the leaves of towering trees, you won't find them growing on branches; If you only see a branch, you won't find the big branch behind it. Only by looking for branches along the leaves and drying them along the branches can you finally find that they all originated from the trunk. By extension, they all come from the roots, from the earth, from the Milky Way and from the universe. ...
It is really ridiculous to study leaves with the method of studying the universe and the knowledge gained from it; However, it is equally ridiculous to see only the leaves but deny that they all come from the trunk. It is impossible for people who study philosophy to develop high-performance computers with their own philosophical knowledge; But people who study computers should not deny the necessity of philosophical research. The purpose and angle of the cover make it.
Different observation angles and research purposes are not only necessary, but also necessary; However, it is absurd to use this angle and purpose to deny another angle and purpose, and to use the conclusion drawn from this angle and purpose to deny the conclusion drawn from another angle and purpose.
The key to the problem is to choose appropriate research methods and perspectives for different and necessary purposes.
(2) Does human beings have the universal humanity as mentioned above? Yes
Although Marxism recognizes the existence of human nature, it denies the existence of universal abstract human nature: only from the perspective of human sociality and class nature can we get a correct explanation of human nature, thus asserting that there is no super-class human nature in class society.
I think different classes do have different behavior characteristics, values and even beliefs. If we only examine human nature from this level, human nature must be due to its class nature. Therefore, abstract humanity at this level does not exist. However, a few more steps forward, we will look for it from a more primitive place: don't these human natures with different classes have some * * *? A simple truth is that any existence, as long as it exists as a class, there will always be something * * *. Since human beings exist as a class, they must have the characteristics of * * *. And in these * * * characteristics, there are always some or some main aspects that fundamentally determine human behavior, thus forming a kind of human nature. From this, I think human nature does exist in the universe.
Everything in the world has its original foundation, and vivid social consciousness is ultimately subordinate to social existence. As people of the same kind, is there no * * * humanity?
Second, what is human nature?
Let's discuss it along the following lines:
Let's first examine whether things (including low-level animals except people) are sexual. I think there is: although there is no spirit, things have their nature, and the nature of things (physical properties) lies in "seeking my existence." A simple logic is: if the essence of existence is not to exist, then how does this existence "exist"? Why don't flowers grow in the desert? Why do flies have those eyes? Why don't rabbits eat grass near their nests? Why do foxes eat chickens and tigers eat people? Why ... in a word, it's all because they want to live. The nature of all things "seeking my survival" is thus contained in all kinds of creatures. It is the fixed nature of things and fundamentally determines and explains their "behavior". Therefore, physical attributes are for my survival.
The simple fact that man evolved from the hierarchy of things determines that human nature must have something in common with physical properties, so human nature should be related to "seeking my survival" And "begging for my survival", which represents the whole content of physical properties, is far from enough for people, because people and things are fundamentally different.
As I discussed before, from the point of view of essential existence, man is a dynamic thing (this "thing" takes the form of physical organization); The essential difference between people and things lies in people's initiative (people's innate, unique and purposeful creative spirit). Therefore, it is decided that human beings should not only pursue survival to realize the existence of their body tissues, but also pursue the realization of their spirit to realize their positive existence. Moreover, with the continuous evolution of human beings, relative to material existence, it will become more and more important to realize and possess human dynamic instinct, and even become the main aspect of "completely possessing human existence". In this case, simply "begging for my survival" (only meeting human material needs) is not enough to explain the whole of human nature, but with the development of human beings and the gradual improvement of their living conditions, its weight in human nature will inevitably decrease. For example, if you feed a pig, it will sleep. Where is he? Eat and drink enough and let people sleep "honestly"?
Then, what are the specific requirements of "the essential existence of complete owners"? It is that people's power instinct and material organization can be realized harmoniously at the same time, or even simply that "material and spiritual products are extremely rich."
First of all, the realization of body organization is relatively simple, as long as there are enough conditions for survival and continuation (attachment: Mencius can't even refute the "food habit" of Gao Zi, but I can tell him that food habit is indeed human nature, but it is not the whole of human nature).
Secondly, it is relatively complicated to fully realize spiritual initiative, because it requires two conditions: first, initiative is a spirit to be satisfied and a product to be enjoyed by it. For example, a music lover will not be satisfied unless you provide him with wonderful music. Secondly, initiative is a kind of creative spirit, which needs an environment where creativity can be displayed. For example, if you set a lot of rules for the creator, he will not be satisfied.
The above two aspects and the two aspects of dynamic realization are interrelated: without survival and its continuation, there is no activity, and active games create better conditions for survival and its continuation; Without a good dynamic environment, there will be no rich spiritual products, and the richness of spiritual products can create conditions for dynamic play. Only by creating them in a coordinated way can human beings develop themselves healthily.
If we use the word "happiness" to express the dual needs that people are born with, then we can say:
What is human nature? Answer: Ask me to be happy.
Is it that simple? It's that simple. Such a simple "seeking my pleasure" is precisely the unchangeable nature of human beings, which fundamentally determines and explains human behavior. So we say that this is human nature. It can even be said that the law of human "seeking my happiness" not only dominates human history so far, but will also be so in the future.
Perhaps, in the eyes of many people, this answer is too simple. But in detail, it actually contains a very rich content. Let's see.