scholarly journals Rationality, Animality, and Human Nature: Reconsidering Kant’s View of the Human/Animal Relation

Konturen ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
David Craig
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

Kant is often criticized for his strict separation of humans and animals as categorically distinct entities. This separation hinges on the fact that, for Kant, humans are rational, while non-human animals are wholly irrational. This essay argues that a strict separation of rational humanity and irrational animality, prominent in many areas of Kant’s thinking, does not characterize his view of the human/animal relation overall. For, within Kant’s theory of human nature, rationality and animality are in fact entwined, with both contributing to the goodness and full realization of human life. Through engagement with a range of Kant’s writings on human nature, it is suggested that Kant’s view of the human/animal relation merits reconsideration by Kant scholars and animal-oriented philosophers alike.

scholarly journals Making Sense of What We Are: A Mythological Approach to Human Nature

Philosophy ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 84 (1) ◽  
pp. 95-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Hauskeller
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Moral Status ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Human Animal

AbstractThe question what makes us human is often treated as a question of fact. However, the term ‘human’ is not primarily used to refer to a particular kind of entity, but as a ‘nomen dignitatis’ – a dignity-conferring name. It implies a particular moral status. That is what spawns endless debates about such issues as when human life begins and ends and whether human-animal chimeras are “partly human”. Definitions of the human are inevitably “persuasive”. They tell us about what is important and how we should live our lives as humans, and thus help us to make sense of what we are.

Herder and the Jewish Question

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederick C. Beiser
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Jewish Question ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
Human Being ◽  
Language History ◽  
Human Animal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Philosophical Understanding

Herder brings the entire human being into focus by tracing its connections with the natural, cultural, and historical world. The first part of the volume examines the various dimensions of Herder’s philosophical understanding of human nature through which he sought methodologically to delineate a genuinely anthropological philosophy. This includes his critique of traditional metaphysics and its revision along anthropological lines; the metaphysical, epistemological, and physiological dimensions of his theory of the soul-body relationship; his conception of aesthetics as the study of the sensuous basis of knowledge; and the relationship between the human and natural sciences. The second part then examines further aspects of this understanding of human nature and what emerges from it: the human-animal distinction; how human life evolves over space and time on the basis of a natural order; the fundamentally hermeneutic dimension to human existence; and the interrelatedness of language, history, religion, and culture.

HUMAN NATURE THROUGH THE PERSPECTIVE OF EVOLUTIONARY THEORY OF STEVEN PINKER

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
James Farlow Mendrofa ◽  
Chaidir Ashari
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Critical Analysis ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Life Itself ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Blank Slate ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

The theory of human nature plays an important role in life. It acts as a trigger as well as a purpose for human life itself. Theories of human nature presented by Religion and Empirical Theory are widely believed to date. Nonetheless, it seems like they have reach an absolute point, thus closed the possibility for new questioners to find novelty in their explanation. This research is made by conducting critical analysis on two classical notions that explained human nature, namely religious explanation and the empirical (the blank slate theory) explanation. Through critical analysis, it is found that new explanations are needed in the conception of the theory of human nature, with the research questions: What kind of human nature theory can embrace human being as of today? Therefore, through the alternative explanation method, the author offers an alternative conception of the human nature. Human Nature is a combination of the innate mechanism and the environment. This conception was born through a critical analysis towards some works with the evolutionary theory perspective, primarily the work of Steven Pinker, who believed that there were innate mechanisms in human beings, as a result of evolution so far.

scholarly journals The Enduring Greatness: The Mahāpuruşha Paradigm—An Indian Perspective

2021 ◽  
pp. 002216782110008
Author(s):  
Maharaj K. Raina
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Spirit ◽  
Positive Direction ◽  
Indian Tradition ◽  
Indian Perspective ◽  
Relative Concept ◽  
The Way

Greatness, a relative concept, has been historically approached in different ways. Considering greatness of character as different from greatness of talents, some cultures have conceptualized greatness as an expression of human spirit leading to transcending existing patterns and awakening inner selves to new levels of consciousness, rising above times and circumstances, and to change the direction of human tide. Individuals characterized by such greatness working with higher selves, guided by moral and ethical imperatives, and possessing noble impulses of human nature are considered to be manifesting spiritual greatness. Examining such greatness is the goal of this article. Keeping Indian tradition in focus, this article has studied how greatness has been conceptualized in that particular tradition and the way in which life and times have shaped great individuals called Mahāpuruşha who exhibited extraordinary moral responsibility relentlessly in pursuit of their visions of addressing contemporary major issues and changing the direction of human life. Four Mahāpuruşha, who possessed such enduring greatness and excelled in their thoughts and actions to give a new positive direction to human life, have been profiled in this article. Suggestions have also been made for studies on moral and spiritual excellence to help realize our true human path and purpose.

scholarly journals Thorstein Veblen on economic man: toward a new method of describing human nature, society, and history

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Noriko Ishida
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Traditional Theory ◽  
Characteristic Method ◽  
Classical Concept ◽  
Qualitative Aspect ◽  
Thorstein Veblen ◽  
Economic Action ◽  
Economic Man ◽  
Logical Connection ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

AbstractThe fact that Veblen was a keen critic of the neo-classical concept of “economic man” is well known. However, the following issues have not been discussed in enough depth: how he rebuilt the traditional theory of human nature through his new methodology of economics, how much his methodological revision broadened the scope of economics, and what kind of phenomena Veblen’s economic theory elucidates. This article examines these issues and aims to show the logical connection between Veblen’s controversial proposal on the methodology of economics and his analysis of economic phenomena. Specifically, it reconsiders Veblen’s analysis of economic action using a unique concept of instincts, his logic of explaining the relation between society and human nature, his way of drawing history from the relativistic worldview, and his characteristic method of grasping the cause and effect of economic phenomena. Finally, it highlights the importance of modifying the concept of “economic man” by focusing on the qualitative aspect. Particular reference is made to the economic concepts of utility, efficiency, and intangibility.

scholarly journals Bacon's Philosophical Theory of Human-nature Relations

2015 ◽  
Vol 166 ◽  
pp. 655-659
Author(s):  
Elena Rubanova ◽  
Vitalij Rubanov ◽  
Yuliya Zeremskaya
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Philosophical Theory ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature

What Is Mencius' Theory of Human Nature?

1979 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 201 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip Ho Hwang
Keyword(s):  
Human Nature ◽  
Theory Of Human Nature
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