Comments on: on life and human nature

by: COLLEEN

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 23:28:21 +0000

I don’t ordinarily reply to posts but I liked this and wanted you to know it.

by: : : : birty : : :

Thu, 24 Feb 2005 15:27:51 +0000

Remember That Warm Fuzzy Feeling?

It wasn’t that long ago that I was writing about everything falling into place. In the last week or so, that feeling has crumbled. I guess I spoke too soon; I got too cocky. Life has a tendency to balance…

by: brad

Thu, 03 Feb 2005 00:49:34 +0000

I’ve been reading Derrick Jensen’s book, “A Language Older than Words,” which I highly recommend. He talks about this very point quite extensively. A lot of male anthropologists have used their research to, if not justify patriarchy, war and dominance of women, then to at least justify being apologists for those things.

But, as Jensen points out, to reach the conclusion that violence and male power are “human nature,” scientists have to ignore evidence of a large number of pre-civilization cultures that rely on cooperation, gender equality and nonviolence.

Jensen quotes 17th Century Jesuit priest Paul Le Jeune, who “upbraided an Indian man for the sexual freedom his wife enjoyed. … The Indian responded, ‘Thou hast no sense. You French people love only your own children, but we love all the children of our tribe.’”

As a culture it is easier for us to interpret history as a justifiqation for our actions and our state of conflict with the world than it is to acknowledge the need to change if we are to survive.

by: Jeremy

Tue, 01 Feb 2005 22:03:34 +0000

God is everything and everyone and not some dude with a long beard sitting on a throne; modern religion is largely about getting people to do what they are told by the local ruler.

by: Cleis

Tue, 01 Feb 2005 21:38:11 +0000

I read this post last week and got all worked up about the “it’s in our nature to rape” bullshit. I couldn’t even comment. I tell my students that whenever someone claims that something is human nature, they should be very suspicious. Especially if that claim is used to justify oppression and domination and to get the oppressors off the hook.

I know a little bit about your spiritual influences but would always like to hear more.

by: birty

Sun, 30 Jan 2005 20:59:29 +0000

I think you’re right, Emily. Our nature is to cooperate.

That doesn’t mean we won’t naturally resort to violence when we must, but without all of these fucked up cultures and institutions that warp our nature, I think we’re mostly a peaceful species.

I’ve always likened us to the animals in their rituals of territory protection. Think of mountain goats. They have devices built in their culture to settle disputes, but they don’t destroy one another through those devices. “We’re just going to batter each other with our gigantic horns for a while,” they say. But they can walk away when the dispute has been settled. One of them isn’t left dead in a heap of blood and bile.

Somehow, we’ve co-opted those same sorts of devices in our culture.