Thursday, January 8, 2009
Is it in you?
Earlier this week we had a debate on if war is human nature. War is not human nature. War is waged by individuals or a group of individuals, usually not a mass population. If ONE person in any nation does not support a war then it is not human nature. Human nature is something by which it is inherent. It is human nature to communicate and eat and drink. It is not human nature to wage war. Most of us are violent; now by violent I mean willing to protect what is sacred to him by resorting lastly to violence. One may be able to argue that it is human nature to fight or self-defend. The definition for war - a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation; warfare, as by land, sea, or air (Webster). Me and probably the rest of class doesn't plan on waging war, let along participating in one (maybe one or two of us want to fight for America). But my point is that even in our own class room we all do not want to (even most of the USA) do not want to be at war. It is not something we are born with or is human nature.
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10 comments:
Interesting point; you, unlike most of us, decided to approach it as what IS war, not by simply refuting the original proposition. Establishing a definition for war was also a good idea. i think it is important to say that war is not waged by everyone; it follows with the pacifist point.
I agree with your last point that war is ugly and therefore people hate it. Because of that, it seems war not part of our human nature. I agree with you that war is not an inherent part of human nature.
Your post made me think about something. If people, like you and I, were not affected by death, how would we see war. If we would not care as much about the deaths that accompany war, would it then be part of human nature? Ultimately, I think our emotional depth has forced us to look down at war when this form of combat helps us get something important to human nature; power.
Your point that if one person disagrees with a war then it must not be human nature seems a little close minded. Like we argued in class, war/conflict can be taught and supported by a culture, and therefore is something humans want to "inherently" do. This point can be argued the other way that humans that are brought up in a pacifistic community or culture (even their own family) can cause them to think that war is not inherent or part of human nature. Also, unfortunately, you stated that most of us don't want to fight for America. I however do, and am willing to defend most, if not all, or Americas decisions because I feel a certain responsibility to do so. My last point is a question for you Phil, what would make you fight for America?
To the question Michael's poses, I think if we didn't see death that accompanies war as terrible as we see it now, then it seems possible could be part of human nature. Referring to Phillip's 1st post about call of duty, I would certainly fight in a war willingly if death was not such a big deal. I would not fear dying as much. I think most people would feel similarly. I've always said that if I had nine lives, I would fight in a war in a heartbeat. But as I really don't have nine lives, I don't want to fight in war for the fear of dying. Thus, I don't think it is human nature to fight as Phillip argues.
"War is waged by individuals or a group of individuals, usually not a mass population."
"The definition for war - a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation"
I think that your argument is fairly contradictory. You say war is between individuals, but then you use a definition that says the opposite. Your point that even if one person in the world does not believe in war, then it is not human nature is valid, given you stick with the "war is between individuals" defintion.
I agree with your point that humans are violent. Even though your blog post is against war as an inherent part of human nature, I feel that the issue is not completely addressed. I am not arguing that war is a consistent part of one’s daily life, but inside every human lies the capabilities and force to fight to the death in war. You even state that humans are violent when they are fighting to protect something they believe in, and this passion inside of us is that element of war. Humans kill one another on a daily basis, but are that considered war? Does war have to involve thousands of deaths, military tanks and bombs? People killing one another for greed, revenge, or respect seems fairly similar to war.
I agree with your conclusion but I think there's a logical fallacy in your reasoning, phl. You say war is started by one person or group of people, not a whole lot, so it's not human nature. But then you say if only one person doesn't like war it's not human nature. That doesn't make a lot of sense. If one person is born with three eyes it doesn't mean humans in general are born with three eyes. But that's all I really disagree with
While I agree with your stance, when you say that "If ONE person in any nation does not support a war then it is not human nature." By saying that you significantly cut down what the inherent part of human nature can be. From reading that the only things that can be human nature are the things that humans must do in order to survive (and not even that because not everyone in the world does it). I am not sure if that is a correct depiction of human nature.
It seems like this is more or less where I'm headed. I've still been pretty confused about whether or not war is apart of human nature but your points make me think that it isn't. Anybody who has been involved in a war doesn't like it. That should mean that it isn't part of our nature. I guess it can be tough to see that when we live in a country that glorifies war.
Philly Cheeeese cut those sleeves. I guess the one thing i have to say is you say at the end that human beings do not want to go to war. This is not the issue. Many times human beings have some inherent qualities that they do not admire. The fact can still remain that war may be inherent whether we like it or not.
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