Western Philosophy And Human Nature

I have heard it stated that Western philosophy is contradictory. There is a good reason for that. It comes from different sources, that all championed different things.

Probably the biggest philosophical issue has been what is the true human nature. Some say it’s reason. Some say it’s feelings. Some say it’s will. Some say it’s spirit. Some say it’s work. Some say it’s language. All of the above are right. The human nature is all of the preceding.

We see the exact same thing with psychology. We have had people in psychology championing completely different things. They range from instinctual drives to conscious mind to personality to brain chemistry to childhood conditioning to creativity and self-actualization. They are all right. They all have a part of the picture. But none have the picture whole.

So we have Romantics championing man’s natural aspect and saying that man’s true nature is being at one with nature. And we have Ayn Rand saying that man’s true nature is as an intelligent creator working to advance the civilization. Both are right. We are both beings of nature and intelligent creators. Both nature and civilization are necessary, both contain amazing accomplishments, and both deserve to be treated with care and respect. It is important to contribute to the civilization and to take care of nature.

What is the true human nature? We have had people championing all of its aspects, and all of the above are right. Similarly in economics we have had different people championing business, labor and engineers, and they were all correct also. All of the above have a part of the picture, but none has the full picture. The full picture is achieved by studying all of the preceding and figuring out who was right and about what.