The myth of our evil nature

I once heard an American saying “nature is evil”.  Now this was eavesdropped out of context.  But I can’t help seeing this as a symptom of just how out of touch with the natural world too many Americans have become.  I suspect it to be the same with Britons.  I don’t know how it is with Australians or Irelanders.  But it is probably less common in Canadians and rare in New Zealanders.

The natural world is not out to harm humanity.  It just does not care about human survival.  Yet with the right habits and equipment humans can live everywhere.  But if you lack opportunity for those you may not realise the possibility exist.

Something similar could be said about human nature.  It just exists independently of our attitude to it.  I think much of human nature’s bad reputation actually comes from societies very badly adopted to it.  In these societies some of our inborn characteristics are allowed to run riot while others are barely developed.  This often result in behaviours which would be abnormal in the original human society.  But if you are unaware of the conditions of any other society you may mistake them for natural.

We can never entirely get rid of our inborn mental characteristics.  Their limitations can certainly cause us trouble.  However, constantly struggling against our inborn characteristics just makes people unhappy.  Instead, we should adopt our habits so as to compensate for our shortcomings.  With the right institutions and cultural practices, we can reduce problems to a manageable level.  This as opposed to condemnation which don’t solve any problems in society.

Uploaded on the 31st of January 2023.