Human nature is a concept that has been debated by philosophers for centuries. It refers to the fundamental dispositions and characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting, that humans are said to have naturally. However, there are serious disagreements concerning the concepts content and explanatory significance, and some philosophers do not believe that there is such a thing as human nature.
The traditional package of claims made using the expression "human nature" can be usefully distinguished into four types. These claims are associated with five different uses of the expression, and they include:
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Essentialist notion of human nature: This is the idea that human nature is the set of properties that are separately necessary and jointly sufficient for being human. These properties are intrinsic to humans and inherent to their essence.
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Platonic notion of human nature: This is the idea that human nature is a set of abstract, eternal, and unchanging forms that exist independently of the physical world.
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Aristotelian notion of human nature: This is the idea that human nature is a set of capacities and potentials that are realized through the development of virtues and the cultivation of practical wisdom.
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Modern notion of human nature: This is the idea that human nature is a product of evolution and is shaped by both biological and cultural factors.
In Chinese philosophy, the theory of potential or innate goodness of human beings became dominant in Confucianism, while Xunzi advocated for the theory of innate evil. Mencius argued that human nature is good and that humans have the capacity to be good, even though they are not all good.
In contemporary philosophy, the concept of human nature is a source of ongoing debate, specifically within the philosophy of biology. Some critics argue that human nature is incompatible with modern evolutionary biology, while defenders of the concept argue that when defined in certain ways, human nature is both scientifically respectable and meaningful.
