Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Human After All?
After our class argument the other day regarding War and Human Nature I couldn't help but question myself as to what exactly human nature was. When I was sided with the Yes part of class dealing with the question as to whether or not war was a part of human nature I was content. I absolutely thought it was a part of human nature, but after Mr. Crotty's final statements I find myself wondering what it was that I was thinking. My idea about human nature and whether or not war is an inherent part of it is a little confusing, at least to myself (ignore that). First when I think about human nature I like to think in very simple ways to start off. I think tribal style groups fighting each other, why would they do this? Food, resource, land, survival, fear are there right off the bat and I feel like it's even easier to group them up into envy and fear. Now putting that aside for the moment, what does a war usually consist of? 2 large groups attacking each other is a simple way to put it. Now that we have those two for reference, this is what my thought process was. When humans envy something greatly or fear for their survival enough they will attack back, and if you can gather enough of these people together then you will have the group you're looking for. The thing I can't seem to piece together is what would constitute war being apart of our nature. I feel as though we're willing to fight something if it pushes us to a certain extent and if there are a number of these people then they will fight together against it. I know that those are situations where people are pushed to an extreme but couldn't their human nature just be to react in such a way to these circumstances? I could be wrong (oh so wrong) but I think about wars on drugs and how people feel that their lifestyles are being threatened so they "fight" on, how tribes feel threatened by one another so they wage war to protect their people. Perhaps war on a large scale isn't part of human nature but don't humans instinctively fight back against something they fear? Maybe I'm thinking about this in some weird way or I'm making this too complicated for myself (Or I might just be really tired) or just plain wrong.
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6 comments:
i think you've elaborated on one of the most important ideas we discussed in class: war is an extreme. War happens when people are pushed too far and don't have other options, not something that we automatically do or even yearn for.
Like I was talking with you in class, if there is something to argue (or disagree) about, there is something to go to war about. This may seem like a generalization but thats what I am aiming for. I like how you make the point that war basically comes down to envy and fear. To me, this seems like a very logical point and can be used to categorize almost any of the wars that people have been involved in. Finally, I think that a group chooses to go to war, it is because they can no longer tolerate their situation regarding another group.
Tess, your point embodies exactly what I've been trying to say. Humans are inherently violent, aggressive and hostile, as I've said before, and war is just the extreme form of those things. Obviously humans don't yearn for war, outside the warmongers I have mentioned in response to other people's blogs, but far too often they resort to it.
I like the last question you pose. I believe that war is not part of human nature. But your question helps define what I do believe is inherent in humans. I think instinctively humans fight back against things they fear. And it seems that that anything could cause humans to go to war. I think this is why some of us believe that warring is an inherent part of human nature, when it really just seems to be instinct, fear, and extreme reaction that are innate human qualities that lead to war.
I agree that war is often times a defense against an attack or an action of fear. War is perceived to be a signal of strength and power where the bravest fight and the strongest survive, but I feel war has a lot to do with fear. People feel the need to exert their power whenever they are attacked or feel threatened. War is a type of defense mechanism that portrays strength and garners respect from others. I don’t know if human nature drives this force of retaliation in the form of war, but war is as much a psychological battle as it is a physical battle. The ideas and mind sets of people influence their actions and their decisions. War is sometimes a consequnce of these thoughts.
I think you're "just plain wrong" no i'm jk. I agree that humans will war when pushed to an extreme. Some people break and become shells, and some fight with all they've got to keep from breaking. In that, you've got your war: survival.
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