Introduction
This website is a place to discuss our shared human heritage, our human nature. What can science, history, and the humanities teach us about human nature? This website is a hub that engages a variety of perspectives on human nature. It is a place to add your own thoughts to the discussion. It is our hope that when we have a more conscious awareness of the constructive and destructive tendencies that we all share that we will have a greater ability to choose behaviors and utilize social structures that will allow us to live together in a more healthy way. Below you will find “featured content” that is intended to support study and dialog around the topic of human nature. Use the “join the discussion” buttons to add your thoughts and ideas.
Featured Content
Human Nature Questions
Here are a few of our foundational questions:
- Can we identify a set of shared tendencies/behaviors/traits that all/most humans share across time and culture?
- How do our shared human qualities affect the way that we interact with each other?
- How does the concept of human nature apply to who we are as individuals?
- How can human nature be distinguished from animal nature?
- To what degree can we attribute our behavior to inherent biological or external cultural factors?
Click “Join Discussion” to add your thoughts to the discussion board. Kindly include a reference to the question you are addressing or add a question of your own.
Human Nature Bytes What is Human Nature and Why is it important?
This sponsored project engages a series of authors and professors who have thought deeply about human nature and it’s importance in our world today. Each contributor responds to the question “What is Human Nature and Why is it important”. The video to the right is the most recent addition to the series. Click “more Human Nature Bytes” to access previous contributions. If you would like to contribute to this project send a message to humannatureforum@gmail.com
Edouard Machery Ph.D.
Featured Web Links
Featured Video Links
Robert Sapolsky
Robert Sapolsky is a professor of Biology and Neuroscience at Stanford University. Sapolsky is able to detail many of the biological structures and processes that influence/determine our behavior.
Does Evolution Explain Human Nature?
A Panel Discussion on the topic of Human Nature in the context of evolution, including discussion of natural selection, altruism and other issues.
Corey S. Powell, Editor and Chief of Discover Magazine, Kenneth Miller, Professor of Biology at Brown University, Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology Yale University, and David Sloan Wilson, SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology at Binghampton University, discuss how we got to be the way we are.
Contemporary Issues and Human Nature
Crime and Human Nature?
Interview with Steven Pinker on Human Nature, Crime and Violence
A discussion of crime in contemporary society. Puts forward statistics on crime rates and relationship to human development. Promotes Pinker’s Book “The Better Angels of our Nature”
Featured Books and Articles
Featured
Can we get human nature right?
by
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6424-7702
Edited by Steven Pinker, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, and approved August 19, 2021 (received for review May 5, 2021)
“Here, I demonstrate that reasoning about innateness is biased by the basic workings of the human mind.” Iris Berent
Featured Academic Programs
You Can Earn a Degree in Human Nature!
Contributors and Partners
We are looking for contributors and partners in the search for more understanding of our human nature and it’s implications for addressing the most pressing issues of our time. Dr. David Livingstone Smith and Dr. Subrena Smith are our first two contributors. If you would like to contribute your perspective to this site please contact humannatureforum@gmail.com
Founders Files
David B. Spaulding Thoughts on Human Nature