Guest post: Our core isn’t a flawless gem
Originally a comment by Nullius in Verba on A pause for extra sass.
I think that bit about the brutishness of human existence is critical—not Critical. This metaphysics of history and humanity in Critical Theory-flavored views, which they inherit from Marx, is that if not for [insert favored villain], life would be utopian. At the core of existence is pure gold, and it will be revealed by removing all the base substances through the hermetic alchemy of Critique and Dialectic. Humanity is already perfected, and all we have to do is deal with the colonialists, racists, sexists, cisheteronormativists, capitalists. Once we do, the Perfect will be revealed, and Social Man will be finally recognize himself as his own creator and realize the End of History.
In really real reality, however, we see no reason to presume this sort of antediluvian perfection. There’s no Fall, no expulsion from Eden as punishment for crimes committed by Europeans. Humans are but mammals, products of evolution and therefore intrinsically imperfect. Our core isn’t a flawless gem to be found be casting off the impurities that sully us. Our core is stupid and selfish, to be accounted for and mitigated by the systems and technologies that we’ve developed over painful, bloody millennia.
This is such an important insight. The notion of the flawless gem waiting to be liberated has been around for a while now and seems to be everywhere these days, from self-help pop psychology to the political view Nullius describes.
I wouldn’t go quite this far. It’s too close to ideas about Original Sin and the inherent Badness of animals, children, savages…all Uncivilized, lesser beings who need to be Corrected.
I’d argue a more accurate view would be that our core, as social animals, is a complex mix of evolved impulses and behaviors that are both smart and stupid, selfish and cooperative. Our systems and technologies can help to mitigate our “baser” instincts, but we aren’t necessarily lost to unrepentant brutality without them.
For the evolution of the better side of our nature I recommend Fran’s de Waal’s book, Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals. Don’t let the title mislead: de Waal is not a believer in the Flawless Gem (see his book Chimpanzee Politics for observations about primate power struggles and how murderous they can get.) He offers a balanced view of primate behavior.
Nullius, I’ve been meaning to mention that I’m a fan. I always look forward to reading your comments. FWIW.
Our systems and technologies have smoothed the pathway for ourselves somewhat, but they have magnified our power, taking our evolved “chimpanzee politics” to a more dangerous level.
Lady M: A fan? I have a fan? I think you just shattered my entire worldview. Especially since I think the same of you. In other words, “Aw, shucks!”
But! I’d like to note that I didn’t mean to say that we are completely stupid and selfish at bottom, just that those are undeniable aspects of what it is to be human.