Theories Of Human Nature

In this paper I will contrast the five theories of human nature, and explain why I believe one to be more superior to the other four. To begin, the five theories of human nature are, rationality, divinity, man-machine, existentialism, and cultural.

The first of the five theories is rationality, and simply states that one uses knowledge with the process of thought to draw a conclusion. If a dog’s bowl full of food in the morning, but later in the afternoon it has become empty. One could rationally draw the conclusion that the dog could have eaten all the food out of the bowl.

The second is the theory of the five is divinity, and states that humans have all the qualities that the god of the Hebrews has. This would mean that all humans are immortal and infinite. Also this means that humans would be all loving, all knowing, and perfect.

Man-machine is the third, and states that everything works like a system much like a robot. This means that one is the way he or she is because he was set up that way. This means that the only reason one acts the way he or she does is because that is the way he or she is “wired”.

The fourth, existentialism, which states that one, must find or create his or her existence outside uniformity. One must get away from all the vices, problems, and routines of life, and must find his or her purpose in life.

Finally the fifth, which is the cultural theory of human nature, and it states that there is not only one to define human nature. But, rather a mixture of the first four is the correct answer to the theory of human nature.

I believe rationality is superior, and the other four fall short, because reason was used to conjure all other theories. Let’s consider a divine human nature. If we all had a divine human nature we would have no need to debate this, because we would be all knowing, and would know what our nature is. Man-machine falls short simply because it states that there is no rationality; however, it was probably thought up by a man who was searching for a reason why people act the way they do. Next, existentialism, where one must get away from everything and find out for him or her self what his or her purpose is. I really don’t mean to make a joke but this seems like Amish rationality. Then we are left with the cultural theory of human nature. This one just seems like someone wanted to end an argument between the other four. Also it just creates a circle, and does not help us determine which theory of human nature