Human Nature

Question 1

John Locke

Answer 1

Human Beings are rational, guided by the pursuit of self-interest, but mindful of others’ concerns.

Question 2

Mary Wollstonecraft

Answer 2

Rationalism Define both genders: intellectually, men and women are not very different.

Question 3

John Stuart Mill

Answer 3

Though Fundamentally rational, human nature is not fixed: it is forever progressing to a higher level.

Question 4

John Rawls

Answer 4

Mankind is selfish yet empathetic, valuing both individual liberty and the plight of those around them.

Question 5

Betty Friedan

Answer 5

Human nature has evolved in a way that discourages self-advancement among woman.

Question 6

Thomas Hobbes

Answer 6

Cynical: individuals are selfish, driven by restless and ruthless desire for supremacy and security.

Question 7

Edmund Burke

Answer 7

Sceptical: the ‘crooked timber of humanity’ is marked by a gap between aspiration and achievement. we may conceive of perfection but we are unable to achieve it.

Question 8

Michael Oakeshott

Answer 8

Modest: humanity is at its best when free from grand designs and when focused on routines of everyday life.

Question 9

Ayn Rand

Answer 9

‘Objectivist’: we are-and ought to be-guided by rational self-interest and the pursuit of self-fulfilment.

Question 10

Robert Nozick

Answer 10

Egotistical: individuals are driven by a quest for ‘self-ownership’ allowing them to realise their full potential.

Question 11

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

Answer 11

Human nature, originally fraternal and altruistic, has been contaminated by capitalism, instilling the ‘false consciousness’ of bourgeois values. Revolutionary socialism, however will repair this.

Question 12

Rosa Luxemburg

Answer 12

Human nature has not been damaged to the extent Marx alleged. Fraternity and altruism still flourish in working-class communities punished by capitalist economics.

Question 13

Beatrice Webb

Answer 13

The damage inflicted by capitalism upon the human psyche will be compounded only by violent revolution. Humanity needs to be guided back, gradually, to its original, cooperative condition.

Question 14

Anthony Crosland

Answer 14

Human nature has powerful sense of ‘fairness’ and innate objection to huge inequalities of outcome.

Question 15

Anthony Giddens

Answer 15

Human nature has been shaped by changing socio-economic conditions. the pro-fairness instinct is still present, but it nw competes with sharpened sense of individual aspiration.

Question 16

Johann Von Herder

Answer 16

People see their own identity in terms of collective identity of a cultural group with common language and history.

Question 17

jean-jacque Rousseau

Answer 17

People are rational beings who desire their own freedom.

Question 18

Giuseppe Mazzini

Answer 18

people have romantic vision of their origins. They seek liberty, but it is contained in the people to which they belong.

Question 19

Charles Maurras

Answer 19

Ethnic identity is a key aspect of our consciousness.

Question 20

Marcus Garvey

Answer 20

All people are part of either a white race or a black race. Though the white race has dominated the black race, the latter can claim a superior history and culture.