Is violence an intrinsic part of human nature? If one was to have a child in an enviroment without any violence would that child develop violent tendancies? Is violence only stimulated in us due to society and exposure to it?
Considering that all actions depend on some previous learning, I’d guess that a child who’d never been exposed to violence wouldn’t be violent…unless he’d developed that violence by himself for no reason.
And yes, violence is only existing because of exposure that was memorized by the brain.
If that is so what about creative original actions? Say in art? Is anything even creative or is it all a manipulation of what we have learned to be possible?
I think that violence is a way of defending yourself when you feel there is no other way to do so. That is all.
In the wild, both killing your food and fighting off that which
would make you its food are necessary staples for survival.
Of course, we aren’t in the wild. So it becomes a matter of
nature vs nurture.
Are we taught to be violent or is it just in us to be?
Personally I don’t think nature gets enough credit.
Perhaps in some cases but this is definitly not the reason. For example explain the violence of a man killing or abusing his wife or child.
I think violence is a reaction, justified or un-justified. When justified, there is usually no other way to settle the issue and so you can’t avoid it. When un-justified, usually there is another peaceful way to resolve the issue but it is overlooked. It may be overlooked because you are busy, careless, ignorant, un-wise, not intelligent enough, because of heredity or you could have environmentally learned to respond like that. Whatever, that’s what I believe.
You know I don’t think Humans are instinctivly violent but to dwell on Theology the answer might be simply that Satan makes violence seem like a good solution. Sure it becomes pleasurable to hit someone who upsets you but its the same pleasure when you curse at someone your upset with and the same pleasure when you do something bad and get away with it. Sure its easier to give in to our desires but these desires corrupt the soul. Once corruption takes place it becomes more and more corrupt until the person is consumed. Hilter said essentially that you cannot make someone murder another human being but once you put them in a uniform you can march them straight to hell.
violence is inherent in the human soul/muscle memory/dna/collective unsconscious/etc what ever you want to call it.
Sure violence is intrinsic in human nature, but we’re constantly overcoming human nature on the path to something better. It’s against human nature to wear shoes, but we do it. It’s against human nature to choose our mates based on anything more than physical attraction and percieved child rearing ability. Hell, computers can be considered as “against human nature” but we love 'em.
Don’t let human nature get in the way of being human.