The Nature of Humanity

[Cirion Spellbinder]

Throughout history, people and philosophers alike have tried to understand the nature of humanity. The Chinese philosophers Mencius and Xunzi have defined the nature of humanity in completely different ways. The former determined humans to be inherently good natured (pointing to the Confucian concept of Ren) and the latter finding humans to be selfish and inherently bad (possibly a justification for oppressive nature of government).

Can a general human nature be defined and be true? Can a nature that is applicable to all humans be defined and true? Can humanity not be defined in such broad ways as nature and are these men's observations merely results of their personal experience and environmental circumstances?

[Mateo3112]

What is a man, a miserable little pile of secrets!... But seriously, i dare you to find a human that does not have any secrets. I can try and formulate a list of things that all humans have in common, but i don't really think that'd define human nature. We all commit lust, both in the original term (Lust is loving anybody more than God) and in the newer one (The wish or desire for mantaining sexual relationships with a woman), we are all, to some extent, greedy, we all envy each other in some aspect, we all have curiosity and desire for learning, we all exist (Ba dum tss xD). But i'm a misanthrope, so i only think of bad stuff, i guess curiosity could be considered a plus, but the way i see it; it's a double edged sword.

[Cirion Spellbinder]

Asexuals don't experience lust. Greed and envy seem to consistent throughout all of humanity, but I can't say if there isn't a counter example.

[Mateo3112]

Asexuals don't experience lust. Greed and envy seem to consistent throughout all of humanity, but I can't say if there isn't a counter example.

Yeah, maybe it IS impossible to define human nature, there will always be a person or two who differ from the others. The only other thing i can come up with is that we think differently than other animals and that we comunicate through symbols.

[thetruemasterofgames]

Just thought I would share my thoughts (witch will have diffrent views from first glance pplease think these over)
Humanity is that of balence as a whole humanity is the good and bad in one being but as time goes on we find ourselves being dragged into the side of darkness sturggling back to our light to stay neutral or to make to the other side

Man is the manipulator changing and twisting things for their own needs and desires

We hate yet love We laugh yet cry We smile yet frown We ignore yet lust over What are we? answer:humanity

basically humanity shows the that there is good and bad in everything and is the biggest expression of such

[Mateo3112]

Man is the manipulator changing and twisting things for their own needs and desires

Indeed, if one were to define human nature i believe that would be the most suitable definition. Humans are greedy, hypocritical, oprtunists, manipulators, tricky. There's also good in them, but seeing how only the evil and powerful rule the world, i see no need in taking them into account. And call me a cynical or pessimistic, but thruth is, as long as the evil corrupts are in charge, it doesn't matter how good people there is, they'll never achieve succsess and change the world.
Anyway, to wrap things up: We are basically a pile of sh*t xD