Human Nature

Human nature is frequently evoked to characterize our species and describe how it differs from others. But how should we understand this concept? What is the nature of a species? Some take our nature to be an essence and argue that because humans lack an essence, they also lack a nature. Others argue for non-essentialist ways of understanding human nature, which usually aim to provide criteria for sorting human traits into one of two bins, the one belonging to our nature and the other outside our nature. This Element argues that both the essentialist and trait bin approaches are misguided. Instead, the author develops a trait cluster account of human nature, which holds that human nature is based on the distribution of our traits over our (actual and possible) life histories. One benefit of this account is that it aligns human nature with the human sciences, rendering the central concern of the human sciences to be the study of human nature. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

List of contents

1. Introduction; 2. Against Human Nature; 3. Is Human Nature a Bin of Traits?; 4. The Trait Cluster Account of Human Nature; 5. Challenges to the LTC Account of Human Nature; 6. What Can We Do with the LTC Account of Human Nature?; 7. Conclusions; References.

Summary

This Element offers a novel concept of human nature, which avoids problematic essences and helps unite references to human nature across the sciences and popular media. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Foreword

A novel concept of human nature, avoiding problematic essences and helping to unite references across the sciences and popular media.

Product details

• Authors: Grant Ramsey, Grant (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven Ramsey
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.07.2023
• EAN: 9781009440646
• ISBN: 978-1-0-0944064-6
• No. of pages: 75
• Series: Elements in the Philosophy of Biology
• Subjects: Natural sciences, medicine, IT, technology > Natural sciences (general); Social sciences, law, business > Sociology > Sociological theories; PSYCHOLOGY / General, Anthropology, Psychology, SCIENCE / Philosophy & Social Aspects, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / Physical, Philosophy of Science, Early Man, Evolutionary anthropology / Human evolution