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Big_Mac22 t1_ivz4lg1 wrote

Reply to comment by ThyNynax in Nevada passes sweeping version of Equal Rights Amendment by [deleted]

Please don't perpetuate that it's human nature to want to dominate other people. It's not some pendulum of good vs evil because that's just how humans are.

Society began when we started co-operating together. That is our nature.

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Traditional-Meat-549 t1_ivz6icd wrote

Seems to me that SOME people cooperate and others strive to dominate. I don't see, looking back at history, that the worst in human nature has been curbed much with the exception of those places that hold them accountable to codified laws. Prove me wrong.

Society began when we agreed upon rules. We had to agree on rules because we needed to curb bad behavior.

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RebTilian t1_ivzeqbu wrote

its mostly that like 95% of people just want to do what they want to do, not be bothered doing it, and be comfortable in their day to day lives.

for the other 5%, that means, they either facilitate comfortableness or stand directly in the way, due to their particular want being of a greater importance.

100% Empathy is not an intrinsic trait through and through, it is at least half way learned.

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Big_Mac22 t1_ivz7pis wrote

I never denied that rules or laws are necessary. My point is that making it seem like it's just part of human nature to want to rob people of their rights in order to gain power only legitimises it.

That shit is learned behaviour. It doesn't help anyone to pretend it's just how some people always would have been, all that does is justify their position as natural.

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Traditional-Meat-549 t1_ivze41y wrote

do you have children?

I ask this because I watched the evolution of this stuff in the interactions with my own kids - the eldest routinely sought to dominate his younger siblings. I submit to you that its behavior that comes naturally to SOME people in SOME circumstances, and unless it is halted and retrained, becomes a way of life. Kids are not naturally "good" or "bad", but they are little scientists who will experiment with behavior until they achieve a desired outcome. Hence, boundaries.

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ArenSteele t1_ivzf8z8 wrote

It is human nature to want and need, then to seek to acquire. The method chosen to seek and acquire can vary from “do it alone” to “ask for help” to “force that person to help”

The cooperation/domination dynamic is just the reaction to the nature of wanting (safety, power, comfort, wealth etc)

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sweetpeapickle t1_ivzt3la wrote

Unfortunately there are some who are BORN that way. Yes, some evil is born. Just like you will have some who are born to be good in every way. It's the rest of us who end up learning one way or the other.

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ThyNynax t1_ivzipo1 wrote

As others have noted, “human nature” applies to an aggregate of all people in this context. It does not mean that each individual carries a will to dominate.

Fact is, though, psychopathy as a neurological condition does exist. Narcissistic Personality Disorder as a psychological condition does exist. Combined with all manner of forms of cognitive dissonance and willful blindness, there are people that very much have the will to dominate, the ability to find followers to help them, and the lack of empathy to care who gets crushed along the way. Not even including extreme mental disorders, though, there is still love, hate, fear, desire, jealousy….as long as emotions exist there will be cause for chaos among human civilizations and those that seek to take advantage for personal gain, to protect their families at the expense of others, or simply to act out of spite (which often comes from ideas of fairness).

Also, “human nature” as a term is not meant to associate a moral good or a moral evil. It is simply the biological “nature” part that makes up the behavior of Homo sapiens. What makes humans unique to other animals is our ability to cognitively recognize that nature, understand it, and choose to act differently. When that choice is made is influenced by lots of things, unique to each person, and is another battle that must always be fought (think of the person that wants to stay loyal to a spouse but has the opportunity for hot sex right now).

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x273 t1_ivzi562 wrote

Yes I believe in the end, cooperation is the solution to survival. I attribute religion as fueling this human condition to dominate, and not as a natural trait in us. Also why religion has no place in politics. It makes us forget we are the same species and pits us against each other.

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