Human Nature and Culture: From Perception to Action
Theme 5: Nature and Culture
Natural is a polysemous term. Its meaning is specified according to what it is contrasted with. We can say that “natural” is the entire cosmos as opposed to the supernatural or divine; or what is a human product compared to what is artificial; or the characteristics of things, or a set of traits that things may have that do not necessarily make them something. Genetically encoded traits are what we are born with. Culture, in the broadest sense, is the set of knowledge or social skills that grant status or cultivate. An educated person possesses the totality of knowledge and behavioral patterns that a community develops over time.
Human Evolution and Development
- Bipedalism: Walking upright on two legs implies displacement and distancing from solar radiation, allowing greater resistance. The liberation of hands implies some disadvantages: a narrower birth canal and leaving vital organs exposed to external aggressions.
- Opposable thumb: Providing an enormous capacity for prehension.
- Neoteny: We are born prematurely; the newborn brain weighs no more than 400g.
- Biological plasticity: We lack instinctive behaviors that determine our actions. Humans are naturally cultural beings; we need culture to survive.
In the evolutionary process, key elements developed for human life:
- Language: Essential for conceptual understanding of the world.
- Fire: Provides protection against cold and predators, enabling the emergence of metallurgy.
- Housing and clothing: Shelter and protection.
- Domestication of animals and agriculture: Food sources.
Sedentary populations led to specialization in labor, cultivating the earth, and defending territory. Human societies developed in a complex process with three main functions:
- Political: Social distribution and organization of activities.
- Economic: Production, distribution, and consumption of goods.
- Symbolic codes: Culture, elaboration, compression, and interpersonal communication.
The Human Mode of Perception
Every living organism needs its environment and develops adaptive behaviors. The human mode of perception closely matches reality and implications, intelligent and conscious. The fundamental human nature is the perception of reality. Our senses present reality to us. The senses inform us of our body’s needs (e.g., lack of fluids) and suggest a response, but they do not determine what we do. The senses include:
- Exteroceptors: Senses that perceive stimuli from outside the organism: sight (visible), hearing (audible), smell (fragrant), taste (sweet-flavored), touch (texture and temperature).
- Interoceptors: Senses that perceive stimuli from inside the organism: kinesthetic (position of limbs in space), proprioceptive and cenesthetic (general state of viscera), vestibular (balance, from the inner ear).
The data provided by perception is processed by our intelligence in two dimensions: theoretical and practical.
Theoretical Dimension
The theoretical dimension develops and integrates the following acts:
- Abstract: Focusing attention on an object or aspect of reality.
- Discern: Establishing how abstracted realities differ.
- Define: Stating what something is and comparing it with others; understanding things.
- Analyze: Examining how things interact with each other and contextualizing them.
- Symbolize: Representing analyzed realities with symbols, overcoming barriers imposed by reality, leading to knowledge and empowerment.
- Linguistic Analysis: Listing available possibilities.
- Create: Inventing new possibilities.
- Evaluate: Assessing available possibilities.
Practical Dimension
The practical dimension involves resolving four problems:
- Skills: Behavior always requires some skill or learning.
- Behavior Modification: Frequently required.
- Instrumental Adequacy: Deciding effective means to achieve goals.
- Moral Sufficiency: Ensuring effective behavior.
The Mode of Action: Freedom and Responsibility
Humans have freedom in their behavior, thanks to two dimensions: fundamentals (what a human being is) and formalities (liberation from the tyranny of stimuli, allowing us to decide our behavior). We act because we enjoy it and because we must update the possibilities at our disposal. Freedom is a power, a force, an energy that feeds our needs and desires, allowing us to complete projects. This power is limited and conditional:
- Available possibilities vary according to natural and cultural conditions, ensuring social and economic inclusion.
- Decisions can endanger freedom.
Freedom allows us to create different needs, beyond survival, becoming something more than sleeping or eating. We can constantly create new needs, being eternally unsatisfied. This power allows us to invent instruments to satisfy these needs, leading to technological advancements. This makes us responsible for our actions; we can do one thing or another, and we must take responsibility for our choices. Everything influences our decisions, including our own responsibilities, past experiences, and the environment. We generate habits in response to our environment and others.
Human Feelings: The Affective Realm
Being perceived affects humans, eliciting sentiments within a universal structure. Feelings include three dimensions:
- Cognitive-Affective: A response to a perceived situation.
- Evaluative-Affective: Assessing whether the perceived situation favors or hinders self-realization.
- Behavioral: Expressing sentiments, which tend to be universal.
When sentiments stabilize, they become sentimental habits or a person’s disposition. Short, sudden sentiments accompanied by physiological changes are emotions. Intense, excessive sentiments that move us are passions or whims.