#257 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday January 25)
Good morning,
Few subjects have gotten as much response as the question of whether man is essentially good or evil. Since these perspectives are so good, I offer them up largely as received; they prove I hang out with really smart people:
THE FOUNDERS KNEW THAT MAN NEEDS CONTROL
“As I’m sure you know, our government of checks and balances is based on the belief that people have an inclination to do bad things. Madison’s Federalist 10 describes at length the problem with factions. “Among the numerous advantages promised by a well-constructed Union, none deserves to be more accurately developed than its tendency to break and control the violence of faction.” Madison defines factions as a number of citizens “who are united and actuated by some common impulse of passion, or of interest, adverse to the rights of other citizens, or to the permanent and aggregate interests of the community.” And Madison takes the Hobbesian view that “the latent causes of faction are thus sown in the nature of man… So strong is this propensity of mankind to fall into mutual animosities, that where no substantial occasion presents itself, the most frivolous and fanciful distinctions have been sufficient to kindle their unfriendly passions and excite their most violent conflicts.” Madison rightly finds that the causes of faction cannot be remedied, only controlled—hence the need for the checks and balances in our Constitution.” –Howard Kroll
IT'S NOT JUST INTENT BUT THE EMOTION OF ANGER
“I like your deployment of self-interest in the discussion of natural human inclination towards good and evil, for we certainly are inclined to do both. I would add what I think is a logical corollary to the self-interest perspective, and that is the role played by fear in catalyzing evil behavior. I have frequently shared my view that “…anger is the armor that fear wears…” in human history. And I think that fear and consequent anger fairly consistently stem from one’s anxiety that something (or someone) is going to act in a way that threatens one’s self-interest. This impulse is, of course, subject to cynical manipulation and has been throughout our history. The examples are too many and too obvious to list. But let’s just note the explicit rhetoric that (in my view) preyed upon the fears of many Americans of displacement, cultural irrelevance, and economic harm, that made January 6th not only possible, but arguably inevitable.
I’m pretty sure everyone knows the old story about the tribal elder telling his grandson that he has two wolves inside him always in conflict, one good and one evil. When asked by the grandson which wolf wins, the answer is “Whichever one you feed.” I would aspire to a world where we all acknowledge both wolves and do our best to feed the good and starve the evil. A good first step would be to temper our behavior so that we minimize the stoking of fear among ourselves. I suppose this puts me pretty firmly on Team Rousseau, but I also think we need to listen to Team Hobbes is preparing the game plan!” –Peter Bain
PERHAPS DARWINIAN ADAPTABILITY WILL SET US FREE
“We are aligned on the notion that self interest is the primary motivator that drives “evil” but that it also has the ability to land on peaceful coexistence. The hope is that there is validity in Darwin’s view of adaptability to an environment as a key to survival rather than the evil instinct to kill or abandon all but oneself…” --Tony Canzonerri
THE NEWS SKEWS THE FOCUS TOWARD THE WORST
“I believe that the news still reports on bad/evil/horrific/self interested stories because they are still “news.” We are in trouble when the bad is so commonplace that the news is filled with only good deeds!” --Mark Shpall
HOBBES WAS RIGHT ALL ALONG
“For what it's worth, I think that Hobbes' actual view is closer to yours. The Cliff Notes version is the idea that people are inherently evil, but at least in Leviathan Hobbes is closer to emphasizing that the State of Nature reflects tragedy rather than humans' malicious nature. For example, scarce resources force conflict and different ideological beliefs lead to conflicts in which all parties feel righteous.
In any case, all of this is sort of an 18th century way of talking about moral psychology. I think today we would mostly talk about moral psychology as a function of overlapping cognitive systems shaped by evolution. There is a good description of this near the end of Pinker's Better Angels of Our Nature, and it's also one of Jonathan Haidt's areas of research. In case it's interesting, he draws on this research in this video which describes the differences in moral psychology between liberals and conservatives. If you really want some fun, you can register for YourMorals.org and complete the “Moral Foundations Questionnaire.” You should probably do it before watching the video to get the most valid result, but it's sort of interesting to get a moral profile of yourself.” –Adam Torson
A THOUGHT ABOUT CHILDREN
I think children may offer us the best view of our natural instincts. They come into this world both filled with wonder for the world around them. And soon they crave toys and seem only self-motivated. And then when you turn around, they offer something beautiful—a piece of art or a flower—and they seem perfect and good. It’s a balance and it’s complicated.
Have a great day,
Glenn