We are all human, and in our daily lives, we seem to know what we mean when
we make that claim. However, when we start reflecting on what it is to be
human-whether all human beings in spite of individual and social differences,
share the same nature, whether that nature is unchangeable, whether it is animal,
or divine, or neither, and whether anything follows from the way we naturally
are about the ways we should lead our lives, treat others, and organize our
societies, we can see that the commonsensical assurance about there being an
easily identifiable human nature in all of us gives way to a myriad of questions
and problems. Conceptions of human nature-sometimes explicit, sometimes
implicit-have shaped many philosophical, scientific and religious views, in
addition to providing grounds for many human practices, such as Law, arts,
medicine and education. The aim of the course is to examine a variety of
accounts of human nature, and a variety of consequences different thinkers
derived from their accounts. We will read seminal writings of Western and
non-Western thinkers and we will try to articulate, in each reading, what the
favored conception of human nature consists in; what kind of evidence is
provided in its support; what are the consequences derived from it about human
happiness, the ways we should lead our lives, the manner in which we should
treat others, and the ways in which human societies should be organized; how
are such norms derived from a descriptive account of human nature, and can
such derivations be justified. Finally, we will confront and evaluate the two
central assumptions which all of the different accounts share: that there is a
universal human nature, an "essence of humanity," and that an understanding of
it is necessary for thinking about morality, Law, politics, human knowledge and
religion.
Format: tutorial, each pair of students meeting with the instructor for an hour
once a week. Requirements: bi-weekly tutorial papers (totaling 6 per student)
with responses to those papers by the tutorial partner.
Prerequisites: one course in Philosophy, or permission of instructor.