Saturday, October 20, 2012

Three Terms, Do I believe?


According to the text, “most Americans hold three basic beliefs about human nature: that humans are, at heart, rational; that humans are perfectible; and that human nature is highly susceptible to social and cultural influence.” (page 334)

Do I believe in this? To an extent, I can honestly say that I relate to rationality and mutability premises. The one about perfectible kind of threw me off with the definition in the book that humans can be born into sin, but are capable of achieving goodness through effort and control. I don’t exactly believe humans are born into sin when they don’t sin. Unless, they mean start of doing bad things, but have the chance to change and shape up their future.

An example I can think of mutability premises, is when people who hang out with certain people at school can gain their habits and social skills. In high school I had a good friend who would always use her hands with talking and I remember I would go home and use those same social skills. My mom would not understand where I got it from. It’s my human behavior shaped by my environment and the people I hung out with.  

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