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Philosophy 152	Philosophy of Human Nature	Darwall
	Fall 1996

INTRODUCTION

I.  Human beings seem to be very interested in human beings.  
literature, films, drama, the human sciences:  anthropology, much 
of psychology, sociology, economics, etc.

II.  Why are we human being so intensely interested in our own 
species?  Do you agree that this is an interesting question?  Note:  
if you do, then you must be interested in our own species, since you 
are interested in why your species is this way.  Anyway, why?
	a.  self-consciousness? (explains how we can be aware but 
	not why)
	b.  desire to understand ourselves?  why?
	c.  desire to see where we fit in the world?  meaning of life?
	d.  desire  understand our relation to God?  to Nature?  to 
	nature?  to other species?
	e.  important for questions of ethics?  What has value?  What 
	are our obligations?  A human ideal?  (Aristotle, Marx)
	f.  Other reasons?

III.  We might broadly distinguish two kinds of interests:
	a.  cognitive--the desire to know and understand our species 
	and its relations to other things.
	b.  ethical--the desire to live a good life.

IV.  Philosophers and thoughtful practitioners of other disciplines 
have speculated about humanity from a variety of philosophical 
perspectives (metaphysical, ethical, epistemological, religious) for 
centuries.  In the western tradition, at least since Socrates turned 
the attention of Greek thought from questions about the nature of 
the universe to philosophical questions about human life.  What 
are we?  What can we know?  What is a good human life?

V.  We will be reading, thinking about, discussing, and writing 
about a number of these ranging from Plato in 4th/5thC BC Athens 
to the contemporary biologist E. O. Wilson.
	They can be roughly characterized as follows:

	A.  Metaphysical/Religious Theories of Humanity as part of 
	a Cosmic Order.
		Plato, Aristotle, Mencius, Aquinas.

	B.  Secular Theories of Humanity as an Object of the 
	Empirical Sciences
		Hume, Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Wilson
	
	C.  Theories of Human Freedom
		Sartre, De Beauvoir

VI.  There are, of course, many interesting differences within these 
categories.
	A.  Aristotle/Mencius vs. Plato:  Immanence vs. 
Transcendence
	B.  Aristotle/Mencius/Plato vs. Aquinas:  Not-explicitly-
religious vs. Religious
	C.  Hume vs. Marx/Nietzsche:  Conservative vs. Radical
	
VII.  And also fascinating themes and parallels.
	A.  Marx, Nietzsche, Freud, Sartre:  the subconscious and 
	self-consciousness
	B.  Sartre, De Beauvoir:  Nonfeminist and Feminist 
	Existentialism
	C.  Hume, Wilson:  "Invisible Hand" explanations of 
	apparently transcendental phenomena, e.g. freedom, moral 
	judgment.

VIII.  Syllabus

IX.  Requirements

X.  If time:  Evaluating Arguments
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