What's the Basis for Disbelief that there is a Human Nature?

Freep | 5/29/2015 | Charles O'Connell

[CharlesOConnell]

What if I decided I'm tired of paying $3.50 a gallon for gas, I'm just going to fill up with the garden hose? I'm perfectly free to do that, but somehow the car's designer might not think that's such a great idea. How do we decide if there is a plan on which we're based? Disbelief in a human nature is usually accompanied by belief that we can alter our wiring just by pretending or believing that it's so. What a poor god I am, with the world in such a mess, it must just be my fault for not fully realizing my divinity. Still, Einstein's definition of insanity might have some relevance here: Continuing to perform the same non-productive actions and being continually surprised that they produce adverse outcomes.

[bassmaner]

I think it was Mao, the world's gold medal mass murderer (Hitler was only a bronze) that said that there's no such thing as human nature.

Fitting.

[Durus]

This is pretty confusing. Who disbelieves in human nature? What does putting water in your gas tank have to do with it? What do you see as the interaction of Gods will and human nature?

[Scrambler Bob]

a) Humans having a distinct nature implies there is a God.

b) It’s the hose, not the water.

c) It is up to the human to follow God’s will.

[driftless2]

Many libs (especially rad-feminists) believe there is no such thing as human nature. They tried to foist the idea that men and women are exactly the same except for physical differences. Many other libs/leftists believed in the blank slate or tabula rasa theory which purported the same thing. Humans knew only what had been put into them by society. Nobody was hard-wired from birth.

That theory has long since been thoroughly debunked. While nature certainly plays a role in learning, people are hard-wired from birth. IQ is real. Men and women have hard-wired differences in their mental processes.

[Durus]

a) How so?

b) Go fill your car up with water and see how that works. If I used a garden hose to somehow fill my car with gasoline it would still work just fine.

c) Which demonstrates free will plus the concept and power of redemption through Christ, but I don’t see it supported by the article.

[SgtHooper]

Since there is animal nature, and humans are a subclass of animals, there is human nature. :-)

[driftless2]

Leftists have occupied two contradictory beliefs for about one hundred years. First, they maintained that humans are animals like all other animals. But while they maintain that other animals are governed by instincts i.e. natural impulses, humans were not. Why the contradictory position?

All politics. For leftists to admit that humans have different hard-wired abilities would be to knock out one of the pillars of leftism. Which is evil, greedy, (mostly male) capitalists got to the magic, money hill first and are depriving everybody else from getting there.

To admit that some people are just naturally smarter and have more drive-ambition than others would be to also admit that many people are natural failures. Those failures would be a large part of the leftist constituency.

To admit that some people are natural failures would undercut the leftist political stance i.e. many people fail due to their own deficiencies