EDUCATION (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -Human nature is a concept that denotes the fundamental dispositions and characteristics-including ways of thinking, feeling, and acting-that humans are said to have naturally. The term is often used to denote the essence of humankind, or what it ‘means’ to be human.

Detailed explanation-2: -In The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, Steven Pinker maintains that at present there are three competing views of human nature-a Christian theory, a “blank slate” theory (what I call a social constructivist theory), and a Darwinian theory-and that the last of these will triumph in the end.

Detailed explanation-3: -A theory of human nature attempts to state what the most central features of human beings are, in contrast to other living things. A full-blown theory tells us who we really are, why we are here, where we come from, where we are going and what we should value in life.

Detailed explanation-4: -Human nature is seen as a set of drives and capacities, which play a key role in people’s actions in any social context. In the textbooks, a variety of arguments suggest the irrelevance of a concept of human nature to the discipline. Partly, this message is conveyed by opposing social to biological explanations.