Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
Guess what though, mans inate nature leads us to violence, murder war and jealousy, thats in our genes and its probably something that we will never over come
|
You make a lot of great points, but unfortunately, any appeal to what is 'man's innate nature' immediately invalidates your argument.
There is no such thing as 'human nature'. To be human is to have the ability to make conscious choices and to reason. Every single person has this ability, however much it seems they don't. To claim that human nature is the cause of any behavior is to create an excuse for that behavior.
Secondly, any attempt to lump all human behavior together into what is and is not 'human nature' is bound to fail simply because you can always find myriad exceptions to every situation. It's the same thing as claiming that 'all men are competitive' or 'all asians are in gangs'. They're ridiculous statements to make, so claiming that people are innately violent, jealous or anything else is as ridiculous because there are millions and millions of people who
aren't violent, who don't base their decisions on jealous impulses etc. etc.
Yes, you are correct that there is perhaps unfounded animosity towards religions on this board. However, if you're going to make a point about it, you have to refrain from referencing "human nature" if you want your point to stick.