NEW YORK INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SCIENCE
Designed summer 2009
Ekelly@nyit.edu
http://iris.nyit.edu/~ekelly
Core Seminar
The Philosophy of Human Nature
I.
CONTENT
Since Darwin shook humankind’s belief in our divine provenance, philosophers and
scientists have sought a new theory of human nature – or have denied that such a thing is
possible. This interdisciplinary course based in philosophy is first a study of classic
sources of ideas on the nature of humankind as found in Western religion, in the ancient
world, and in modern philosophy. Then the course will take up contemporary theories of
human nature that reflect upon the human being as a psychological or as a genetic
mechanism, as a maker of tools, a speaker of language, as dominated by its animal nature,
and as a being abandoned in a godless world. The text and handouts will contain
reflections on human nature as proposed in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic religions, in the
economics of Marx, the biology of Darwin, the psychology of Freud, the theories of mind
of Chomsky and Dennett, on neurophysiologic theories of brain activity, and on the
existentialism of Sartre. A few surprises will perhaps be added.
II.
PROCEDURES:
The first seven weeks of the course will have a lecture-discussion format, in which seven
theories of human nature, represented in the primary text and in the anthology, will be
discussed. This phase of the semester will culminate
In a written midterm exam, in which students will be asked to utilize their powers
of description and analysis in answering twelve questions about the nature and
significance of the seven theories;
In a three-page paper on one of the seven theories discussed. This paper, which
will respond synthetically and succinctly to several questions about the content of
that theory, will serve as a foundation for the second part of the course.
On the seventh week of the semester, when papers have been critiqued, graded,
and returned to the students, the class will be broken into six action-groups, one
for each of the theories of human nature. Each group will have as members those
students whose three-page papers concerned that particular theory.
Each group will contribute, under the guidance of the instructor, to the creation of
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a website called AThe Philosophy of the Human Being.@ The site will contain
seven tabs, each containing the work on one of the seven theories studied by the
corresponding action-group.
During the first week of action-group meetings, members of the individual
groups will meet to read each other=s three-page paper. The task of each
group will be to synthesize the papers. This means
organizing the material;
choosing to put some materials in the foreground, others in the
background, and dropping others entirely;
Checking for the correctness of English and clarity of thought.
The product will be a paper of one and a half to two pages that
presents its theory under the rubrics of its essential insights; its
supporting evidence; and its continuing significance for an account
of the human being.
In later weeks, members of each action-group will make decisions
regarding what supplementary material may be added to the presentation
to increase its communicative value. Students should observe how
communication takes place among them, and how it could be improved,
for excellence in communication tends to increase the value of the
intended product. There will be a question on the final examination about
your experience with this communicative process. The final tab should
contain at least some of the following
links to material closely related to the presentation of the theory;
charts, diagrams, or tables, where relevant;
pictures of relevant persons or things;
illustrative quotations from experts;
literary or other artistic expressions of any of the ideas contained in
the presentation.
When the product is almost ready, the members of each action-group will
present to the whole class, via a projection screen, their contribution to the
website. Based on the knowledge of the whole, representative members of
each action-group will meet with representatives of the other committees
to make decisions regarding uniformity of format. The other members of
the class will meet to create a home page for the website, with a link to a
general bibliography of relevant print and electronic materials.
Students may, if they wish, add a separate concluding tab containing any
of the following: (a) a statement of the relative importance of the
philosophy of the human being for college students today; (b) a list of the
names, e-mail addresses, and photos of the class.
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A final examination will test for the outcomes of the content-study. Students
should be able to state the founding insights, supporting evidence and continuing
relevance of any of the six theories of human nature.
III. OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE
A.
CONTENT:
1.
Students will learn the significance, aims, and methods of the
philosophical study of the nature of the human being;
2.
Students will demonstrate college-level knowledge, on essays and
examinations of the nature and content of the theories of human nature;
3.
Students will evince skills in finding and evaluating print and electronic
sources of information, and integrate that material with their own
presentations of the assigned tasks;
4.
Students will be able to compare theories developed by different cultures
at different historical moments, and to evaluate them with reference to
their own experience.
5.
Students will learn to appreciate the worldwide significance of reflection
concerning our own human nature.
B.
ANALYTICAL SKILLS:
1.
Students will demonstrate a capacity to distinguish between science,
religion and philosophical speculation, and to describe methods
appropriate to each;
2.
They will criticize intelligently sophisticated intellectual material and
make judgments concerning the reliability of information found in a
variety of sources for its relevance to their writing;
3.
Students will learn to create organized and clear accounts of theories, and
present them to others for their evaluation, and evaluate the accounts of
others.
C.
GROUPSMANSHIP:
1.
Students will communicate the content of their written work to members
of other groups;
2.
They will incorporate the individual contributions of each member into a
single document acceptable to all members of the group;
3.
Students will present orally the content of group outcomes to the entire
class;
4.
Students, working in groups, will make decisions regarding the product of
their common efforts;
5.
Students will learn to criticize each other=s work effectively while
working on a common project, thus reflecting the responsibilities of
citizenship in the broader community.
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III.
PRIMARY TEXTS:
A.
Pojman, Louis P. Who Are We? Theories of Human Nature (New York: Oxford
University Press, 2006). (=LPP)
B.
Stevenson, Leslie. The Study of Human Nature (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2000). (=SHN); and Handouts.
IV.
READING ASSIGNMENTS AND TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION DURING THE FIRST
SIX WEEKS; SCHEDULE OF MEETINGS OF THE ACTION-GROUPS:
A.
Week 1: Religion. Nature: Humans as Creatures/Children, of God.
1.
Read: LPP, Chapter 1; SHN, Old Testament, New Testament, Koran
(Groups that would prefer to work with the picture of the human being that
emerges from other religious traditions may do so after consulting with the
instructor.)
2.
Outcomes: Students will be able to identify Jewish and Christian visions of
the human being, and distinguish them with regard to their content. What
does Scripture take to be rules for successful living? What were the
messages of the Jewish prophets? What concept of human nature appears
in the teaching of Christ?
B.
Week 2. Reason. Plato: Humans as Prisoners in a Cave. Aristotle: Humans as
Rational Social Animals.
1.
Read: LPP, Chapter 4; SHN Plato; Aristotle.
2.
Outcomes: Students will be able to describe Plato=s theory of the Forms
and his theory of recollection; to describe, analyze and criticize his
Allegory of the Cave; to describe Aristotle=s theory of the political person
and to compare it with contemporary concepts; to criticize his theory of
the Good Life.
C.
Week 3. Economics. The Early Modern World: Hobbes, Rousseau, and Marx.
Man the Tradesman, Producer, Citizen, and Wage Slave.
1.
Read: LPP, Chapter 7 and Chapter 10; SHN, Hobbes, Rousseau, Marx;
Handout by Kelly.
2.
Outcomes: Students will understand the significance of the basic theses of
Marxist philosophy; analyze the difference between secularity and
religion; evaluate the Manifesto of Marx and Engels.
D.
Week 4. Biology. Darwin, Men, and Apes.
1.
Read: LPP, Chapter 13; SHN, Darwin.
2.
Outcomes: Students will be able to state the postulates of Darwin=s theory
of evolution and the principles of natural selection, and analyze the moral
and social consequences of Darwinism.
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E.
Week 5. Psychology. Freud: The Unconscious and Its Works.
1.
Read: LPP, Chapter 11; SHN, Freud.
2.
Outcomes: Students will be able to describe Freud=s theory of the psyche,
his views on human sexuality, and the function of dreams; to express
criticism of the social and moral implications of Freudianism.
F.
Week 6. Neurophysiology. Thoughts on Thinking: The Nature of the Human
Mind.
1.
Read: LPP, Chapter 14; SHN, Chomsky; handout by Lem.
2.
Outcomes: Students will distinguish between materialism, dualism and
epiphenomenalism; will be able to define and criticize functionalism; will
be able to speculate intelligently on the origin and uniqueness of speech in
humankind.
G.
Week 7. Existentialism. Humankind in an Absurd Universe.
1.
Read: LPP, Chapter 12; SHN, Sartre; handout by Kelly.
2.
Outcomes: Students will be able to state three theses of existentialism; will
recognize the existential situation depicted in Sartre=s short story, AThe
Wall;@ be able to assess and criticize existentialism as a theory of human
nature; will be able to describe and defend their own sense that human life
is absurd, or, conversely, that it is pregnant with meaning.
Midterm Examination. Three-page papers due.
H.
Week 8: Students in groups read and criticize each paper on their topic.
I.
Week 9: Organization of papers; rewriting.
J.
Week 10: Groups will search the Web for books, ideas, diagrams, pictures
relevant to the topics.
K.
Week 11: Evaluation of materials, development and organization of
bibliographies; collation of material for the final tab.
L.
Week 12: Each group names one participant to form a supergroup to discuss a
common format for the tabs.
M.
Week 13: Meeting of the entire class with presentations of completed tabs.
N.
Week 14: Final product is published on the Web.
O.
Week 15: Final Examination.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
GENERAL
For websites in philosophy, the best single starting point is
http://researchwiki.lndlibrary.org/index.php/Philosophy
This site will enable students to reach sources in all of the topics of this course.
Herschel, Abraham J. Who Is Man? (Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1965).
Nielsen, Harry A., Ed. The Visages of Adam. Philosophical Readings on the Nature of Man
(Notre Dame, IN: Notre Dame University Press, 1968).
Kelly, Eugene. The Basics of Western Philosophy (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Press, 2004),
Chapter 6, AScience and Human Nature.@ I did my best.
Langan, Thomas, and. Antonio Calcagno. Human Being: A Philosophical Anthropology
( University of Missouri Press, 2009).
Margolis, Joseph. The Arts and the Definition of the Human: Toward a Philosophical
Anthropology (Stanford University Press, 2009).
Scheler, Max. The Human Place in Nature (Frings, trans., Kelly, intro. Chicago, Northwestern,
2008).
Skinner, B.F. Science and Human Nature (New York: The Free Press, 1965).
Stevenson, Leslie. Seven Theories of Human Nature (New York: Oxford University Press, 1979).
Very basic and useful.
RELIGIOUS VIEWS
The New English Bible with the Apocrypha (Oxford University Press, Cambridge University
Press, 1970).
http://etext.virginia.edu/toc/modeng/public/HolKora.html This website belongs to the University
of Virginia, and contains an electronic version of the Koran in English.
PLATO AND ARISTOTLE
Aristotle. The Complete Works of Aristotle. Jonathan Barnes, ed. (Princeton: Princeton
University Press, 1984)
Guthrie, W.K.C. A History of Greek Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1963). The best.
Plato. E. Hamilton and H. Cairns, Eds. The Collected Dialogues of Plato (Princeton, NJ:
Princeton University Press, 1961). Also: Cooper, John, ed. Plato: Complete Works (Indianapolis,
IN: Hackett, 1997).
EARLY MODERN EUROPE
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques. Basic Political Writings (Indianapolis, IN: Hackett, 1987).
Strauss, Leo. The Political Philosophy of Hobbes: Its Basis and Its Genesis (Oxford, Eng.:
Clarendon, 1936). Best general introduction to Hobbes.
Thornton, Helen. State of Nature or Eden? Thomas Hobbes and His Contemporaries on the
Natural Condition of Human Beings (Oxford, Eng.: Clarendon, 2005).
Marx, Karl. Selected Writing, D. McLellan, ed. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).
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DARWIN
Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene (New York: Oxford University Press, 1976).
FREUD
Freud, Sigmund. New Introductory Lectures on Psychoanalysis (New York: Norton, 1964).
Dilman, Ilham, and Gilham Dilman. Freud and Human Nature (Oxford, Eng.: Blackwell, 1985).
Gay, Peter. The Freud Reader (New York: Norton, 1995).
May, Rollo. Existence: Studies in Existentialist Psychoanalysis (New York: Basic Books, 1958).
Storr, Anthony. Freud: A Very Short Introduction (New York: Oxford UP, 2001).
NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
Blackmore, Susan. Conversations on Consciousness: What the Best Minds Think about the
Brain, Free Will, and What It Means to Be Human (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006).
Churchland, Paul M. Matter and Consciousness: A Contemporary Introduction to the Philosophy
of Mind (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1988).
Fodor, Jerry A. The Modularity of Mind (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1983).
Gregory, R.I. The Oxford Companion to the Mind (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983).
Lakoff, George, and Mark Johnson. Philosophy in the Flesh : The Embodied Mind and Its
Challenge to Western Thought (New York: Basic Books, 1999).
Searle, John. Mind, Brains, and Science (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1984).
Watson, Gary, ed. Free Will (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982).
EXISTENTIALISM
Barnes, Hazel. An Existentialist Ethics (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1978).
Barrett, William C. Irrational Man (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1958). Delightful, by one of
my profs.
Camus, Albert. The Myth of Sisyphus (New York: Knopf, 1955).
Grene, Marjorie. Introduction to Existentialism (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).
Kaufmann, Water, ed. Existentialism from Dostoevsky to Sartre (New York: Penguin, 1988).
Olsen, Robert G. An Introduction to Existentialism (New York: Dover, 1962).
Solomon, Robert, ed. Existentialism (New York: Modern Library, 1974).
http://www.human-nature.com/ The Human Nature Review. Good source for a variety of
materials, print and electronic, on the topic of human nature.
http://plato.stanford.edu/ The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist The Existential Primer, a beginner=s guide to existentialism.
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Sample Final Examination Questions
GENERAL: Write an essay on the philosophy of human nature that you think best stands up to
criticism. Demonstrate that theory=s (a) comprehensiveness, (b) implications for further
research, and (c) falsifiability. Refer in your essay to those features of your experience of the
human situation that you believe gives evidentiary support to the theory you are maintaining.
[The point of this essay is to synthesize and put to use in understanding ourselves the best of the
reflections of human nature and to demonstrate your critical capacity in separating solid ideas
from those that are less solid.]
HOBBES: Hobbes’s philosophy is often called a form of egoism: that humans seek their own
benefit, and the natural moral law, as embodied in a social contract, arises out of this egoism.
Evaluate and criticize this picture of human nature and of our political and moral situation.
[The point of this question is to probe you for the philosophical grounding of a frequently hard
common-sense opinion, that all persons are egotistical. You should try to find examples of
Hobbes=s theory in your own experience.]
SARTRE: Write, based on your own experience of life, the perfect college essay on the
philosophy of Sartre. In presenting his philosophy, discuss the notions of fallenness and
absurdity; Aexistence precedes essence,@ of freedom, authenticity, and bad faith. Why does
Sartre think that Aman is a useless passion?@
[The point of this question is to find examples in our personal and social life of Sartre=s
categories. Understanding them is supposed to produce in us a kind of liberation. Do they?]
FREUD: Freud claims that most, if not all, of our motives to action (the explanations of why we
do what we do) lie beyond normal human consciousness, locked in the unconscious mind by a
watchful censor. What evidence is there in favor of such a view? Why did Freud think this
foundational notion had relevance for psychiatry, especially for the theory of and remedy for
human neuroses?
[The point of this question is to encourage us to look behind the usual explanations of action to
find deeper, universally human motivations that express themselves in veiled ways, and to find
ways to corroborate our theories about them. Can such an effort help us understand ourselves
better and become better persons? Happier persons?]
DARWIN: State and explain the postulates of Darwin=s theory of evolution, especially that of
natural selection. How has it been modified today? How did it transform our picture of human
nature? Are you able to accept the notion that you are descended from apes? If so, how does that
thought affect your picture of the value and meaning of your life?
[The point of this question is to challenge our conceit that we humans are fundamentally different
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from the animals. It also asks us to reflect upon whether an evolutionary process going on among
us in everyday life. If so, where?]
MARX: What is alienation, and why is it a pervasive condition of capitalism, according to Marx?
Why, further, is capitalism unjust, in his view? Why is capitalism doomed to failure and what
will replace it? Does his dream of a Aworkers= paradise@ have validity today?
[The point of this question is to find places where economic conflicts infect our social life. We
should reflect upon whether such conflicts can be eliminated. If not, can they perhaps be turned
to positive ends?]
NEUROPHYSIOLOGY: Discuss the conflict between those thinkers who argue that the sources
of human behavior must be sought in the permanent biological and neurophysiologic conditions
of life, and those who argue that it must be sought in changing environmental conditions. What
are the social and political implications of this conflict? Do you see the possibility of a resolution
of this issue? If so, what direction will it take, and if not, why not?
[The point of this question is to encourage speculation on a contemporary dialogue with very
large political and social implications concerning, for example, how children are educated and
whether social engineering can improve human life. To what extent is human nature fixed, and to
what extent it is flexible? How you answer this question has obvious relevance for your views on
the value of any efforts to improve the human race.]
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