Human Nature and Culture: An In-Depth Analysis

Nature and Culture

Introduction

Throughout the history of philosophy, the terms nature and culture have been used as totally different. Homo sapiens has not changed for thousands of years in nature. However, culture has had changes (new inventions, new ideas, etc.). But the development of culture cannot be understood without man undergoing changes that allow nature to think and use language. In the process of humanization, it is important to consider the nature of man and culture, as both go hand in hand and complement each other. That is, you cannot understand the natural man separated from the cultural man.

The Confusion Between Nature and Culture

There is confusion in people thinking that everything that comes from nature is good, while everything that is related to culture is bad. Rousseau's noble savage myth falls into this confusion. We say that man is by nature good and that it is civilization that corrupts it. Man has had to resort to civilization to protect itself from external threats.

The truth is that a person can suffer from cataracts by nature, and science, a product of culture, is able to fix it. So, is culture good and nature evil?

Another way to classify people is by gender. Thus, we have male and female. By gender, we are expected to act in one way or another. The differences between men and women are influenced not only by nature but also by culture, through learning behavior "right" for men and other behaviors "right" for women, which marks the real difference.

Nature

Definition

Throughout history, there have been many definitions. One of them tells us that human beings are natural minerals, plants, and animals. Then the Greeks defined nature as physis, understood as the essence of things, by which that thing is as it is and makes it differ from the rest. That is, the human essence is human nature, that which makes us men and makes us differ from other animal species. Biology tells us that nature is all the genetic information that parents transmit at birth, which in turn will be transferred to another being.

Human Nature

There are different theories that define human nature:

• Evolutionism

  Darwin said that our nature is the result of biological evolution, but evolution also influences the species in the way we act because our nature tells us how to act.

• Ethology

  Ethology leaves aside culture and tells us that an important part of our behavior is determined by our genes. What we do is follow our own instincts.

• Behaviorism

  Behaviorism surges in contrast with ethology and tells us that all our actions are given by what we learn. All being born equal, and then, through contact with our culture, we learn to act a certain way.

• Philosophy

  In the nineteenth century, Dilthey and Ortega y Gasset said that man has no nature and that his actions are the result of the experiences he has lived. Existentialism also argues that man has no nature and that this means something negative for us because we are condemned to be free.

• Sociobiology

  Sociobiology states that men are born predisposed to act in a certain way to different situations. For example, in human behavior, we are predisposed to protect and love our family.

• Evolutionary Psychology

  Evolutionary psychology says that our brain is the result of natural evolution, and therefore, our behavior is also a consequence of the natural evolution of the brain.

• Behavioral Genetics

  In 2001, the entire human genome was mapped, and it could be studied if our behavior is determined by genes, that is, genetics. Studies done say that many of our behaviors undergo genetic inheritance but are also influenced by the environment. In previous centuries, there had been many studies in which they came to similar conclusions: behavior is largely inherited, family education has minimal influence, and half of our behavior has no response either in the genes or in education.