Formilleza, Pearly Dawn L.

BsMA- III
Philo102-P
November 19, 2015

Human nature is the

Human nature is such a broad and fascinating concept. It may refer to those things inside
of you which are natural and instinctual. The unique characteristic that humans tend to exhibit;
and these characteristics include the manner of how we act, the emotions we feel and the
thinking we do which are said to be independent from cultural influences, because frankly we do
have our own way in the things in life. Human nature is also a controversial topic amongst
anthropologists and philosophers because they have their own distinctive understanding about it.
Some may believe that man is a blank slate, that all of its structure comes from socialization,
culture, parents and experience; and that Man has no nature according to Jose Ortega Gassett
and yet there are some contradictions referring to this belief, like how can a human has no nature
if we are born with innate talents and common sense? Putting all of these aside, we come to the
real question which is: What are the essential or distinctive characteristics of human nature?
And is there such a thing as a human nature shared by all humans? So, what are these really?
To answer these questions as accurate as I can, I want to incorporate the Socratic philosophy
about Human nature. So According to Aristotle using a similar scheme of a divided human
soul human nature is made up or describe as; Man is a conjugal animal; Man as a political
animal; and Man is a mimetic animal.

Man as a conjugal animal, from what Ive read, it talks about humans being brought here
to the world to multiply; to couple when an adult and have a family, building a household or a
clan that runs on a patriarchal line (man as being dominate in a household and other things). Man
as a political animal, just like the first one, but looking on a bigger picture. The innate propensity
to make more bigger or complex communities, such as creating a city or a town inclusive of law
and division of labor. It is different with that of the first because it requires special use of human
reason. By the use of this special reason of ours, we were able to build infrastructures and we
generally make the law which is inclusive of our deep understanding in morals, values, religion,
norm and etc. The third one is man as mimetic animal, talks about human imagination. As
Aristotle said it is the perfection and imitation of nature. We adapt to this imitation of nature; the
things we see around us that are in our liking, just like the trends today, we try to imitate them.
And from what Ive heard, we are indeed great imitators. Aristotle also emphasized important
insights, like reason is not only what makes us special compared to animals, but it is also what
we were meant to achieve at our best. We are meant for something greater and something more
meaningful. These descriptions of human nature according to Aristotle are still influential today,
but it is not popular to the generation today.
To err is human, this is what we would normally say if we make mistakes, because we believe
everyone makes mistakes too, and it is part of human nature. In some sources Ive read online,
we share some common natures (what we generally all do) such as humans are naturally playful,
because unlike other species we pursue such a wide variety of entertainment and spends so much
time enjoying ourselves; humans are naturally scientific in thinking that we tend to sort out
information about the world with the essence of science; humans are legislative in nature, we
stick to simple behavioral norms but with tour language skills and greater brainpower, we
developed much more elaborate systems of rules and etc; humans being epicurean in nature, we
love to eat and what makes us different from animals is our feeding behavior and choice of
meals; humans being clandestine in nature; and lastly, because of our language and the use of
words we humans are naturally great gossipers. These specified characteristics may be included
as of human nature and as that of the Socratic philosophy.

We are faced with different issues in life which compels our human nature; terrorism,
fraud, corruption and the like. Terrorists are people who conduct acts of terrorism just to
demonstrate that they have the power to command, control and logistical capability (i.e. ISIS). In
my opinion, they corrupting human nature, because they make people believe that they are the
purpose and they have good intentions to give but what they really do is murder people just for
these people to give in and to take whatever they want (these are innocent civilians) It corrupts
human nature in the way we act on things, and on what we believe is right (A person influenced
that killing is right). Aristotle said, We were meant to achieve at our best, but terrorism is like
a spoiled brat, having to get what you want in a forceful manner. This is not in our nature; we are
people capable to do things that are ethical; for the betterment for us and others.