Human Nature and Physiological Predisposition

I hear a lot of talk, as a philosophy student who occasionally deals with ethics (especially Hobbes vs. Locke questions), about human nature and this question of what is innate in human beings, behavioral speaking.

Are we naturally rebellious?

Are we naturally predisposed to order?

What is the innate state of human nature?

In dealing with Locke and Hobbes, and ethics in general, I think this is a terribly important question. I think it's important not simply because Locke and Hobbes want to make use of (Locke) or circumvent (Hobbes) what they see as pieces of human nature, behavioral tendencies in individuals.

"What is human nature?" though, seems like the wrong way of phrasing the question, and here's why:

"Human Nature" is not an individual, isolated function within the body. "Human nature" is not like the kidneys, an individual organ performing a singular specific function. Rather, it is the collection of functions in the body that define what human beings do in an uninhibited state, when not restricted by social laws or manipulation.

It is important to acknowledge that these functions can be understand, that certain innate characteristics are present in human beings, not in an abstract, ethereal sense, but in a physiological, concrete way.

There are two definite patterns in human beings:

1. The human being, because of the way that the brain is organized, has a tendency to pursue that which is pleasurable. We see this in the pursuit of sex and sweet things. Of course, there are certain cases where it may seem as though the human being is indulging in pain (sadomasochism), but they are doing it to serve a function that offers them some degree of pleasure, though perhaps not immediately physical.

2. The human being has an aversion to pain. We spend a good deal of our time avoiding things which are painful, and we create ethical concepts like "white lies" and euthanasia as ways of averting pain in a way which we can perceive as ethical (whether those two things are ethical is not in question at this point).

These patterns, its important to recognize, are built on neurological processes.

The pleasure centers of the brain emerge out of some degree of evolutionary beneficiality (as do the emotional centers). The pain centers emerge out of a need to avoid that which could cause physical harm (we are in pain when we put our hand in fire because we have evolved the feeling of displeasure with that action).

I hesitate to assert that there is more to human nature than that. We search for food when we are hungry because we like the pleasure of eating and want to avert the pain of starvation. This is the source of natural drives among animals, similarly.

The real question that Locke and Hobbes pose is whether the devices created by this desire need to be repressed or released for the continued success of the species and civilization as a whole.

Basically, "Is it good that we are driven by pleasure and pain?" and the corollary "Should it be socially permissible?"

Societies are built on social contracts (whether Rousseau was the one who introduced the concept is beside the point; the system of law had existed before, whether people accepted the social contract by passive participation in society or tried to alter it through revolution). The question is whether or not it should be a part of our society to acknowledge and accept human nature.

Like a Justice trying to slip onto the Supreme Court, I generally answer the question without answering the question.

The answer is: Sometimes.

There are some moments where the visceral, natural response is the right one. When we are pursuing our own happiness by finding chocolate cake and indulging our sweet tooth, that should absolutely be acceptable within the modern social contract. No one questions that there should be a taboo laid out on chocolate cage for those who want it.

Still, there are moments when it is not acceptable. It is not acceptable to kill someone because they are standing on your toe. It may cause you pain and the anger that you feel may be a natural reaction as a result of the human "fight or flight" response, but we can agree that such an act is not permissible in the social contract.

Human nature is relevant to the discussion, as it acts as a perpetual motive for human behavior.

Pascal was right when he made note that "All men seek happiness." It is the cornerstone of any study of human behavior, and needs to be well understood if any practical sociological or governmental system is going to go anywhere.

That aside, we cannot build a social contract on an absolutist understanding of human nature. Absolute freedom with blind trust of the common man will lead to chaos, and the presence of a dictator enforcing policies which bind that same common man are both unacceptable ways of living. There is a happy medium which can and must be understood.

The conversation then evolves into case studies and the circumstantial debate over ethics, and while that does not seem as glamorous or as glorious as an absolute understanding of ethical principle, it's good that we allow moderation to win out over absolutism in this case, as the acceptance of moral absolutes, we learn from Godel, leads to far more problems (and paradoxes) than it can ever solve.