Human Nature, Reality, and Truth: A Philosophical Inquiry
1. Human Nature and Culture
When we speak of human nature, we refer to the specific mode of being or essence of being human. This essence is considered universal, eternal, and unchanging, regardless of geographical, social, cultural, historical, or temporal contexts. Human nature, if it exists, would be congenital, innate, not acquired. This establishes the fundamental opposition of nature and culture.
Culture is a system of traditions and lifestyles socially acquired by members of a society, including its regulated and repetitive ways of thinking, feeling, and acting (behavior).
1.2 The Moral and Legal Basis of Human Life
The moral basis of human life cannot be considered separate from the legal constitution of the state: the dignity and absolute value of the human person. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
1.3 Marx’s Critique of Human Nature
Marx argued that the belief in an eternal, unchanging human nature obscures the actual conditions and relations of domination within the capitalist state. He challenged the idea of man as inherently rational and free, asserting that rationality and freedom cannot be confined to an abstract definition. Marx viewed human nature as a product of social relations, specifically productive relations.
The concept of alienation is key to understanding Marx’s thought and capitalist society. Three relationships determine the degradation of the worker:
- Alienation of the worker from the product of their labor, and consequently, from nature.
- Alienation of the worker from their own productive activity (self-alienation).
- Alienation of the worker from other human beings.
2. Defining Reality
Reality encompasses the things that exist as manifested and displayed, which are diverse and specific. These things not only exist in various forms but also change and transform into one another.
The definition of reality implies what’s been called naive realism: the belief that things exist and are what they are, independent of our notions of them. This includes the self, conceived as real and determined independently of the idea of self. This reality, independent of meanings, is called objective reality, as opposed to subjective reality.
Critique of Naive Realism
Things are not what they are without ideas; it is the idea that makes them what they are. Something may exist as smelly, palpable, etc., but its specific qualities (e.g., being pink) are determined by ideas. Ideas don’t create things out of nothing, but there must be something in addition to ideas and quantification.
Two conditions define things:
- That there is something.
- That this something is what it is, as determined by an idea.
Definition is linked to quantification. To count things, we need an idea of the things we count. But simultaneously, the idea must become distinct from the things. With these two conditions, reality becomes contradictory: a thing is something (undefined) defined by an idea, yet it’s not entirely determined by that idea. Thus, every real thing, and reality in general, is a contradictory synthesis of the indefinite and the ideas that define it.
Declared Contradiction
A declared contradiction occurs when two mutually exclusive predicates are simultaneously applied to the same subject.
3. The Problem of Truth and Knowledge
The problem of truth is the same as the problem of knowledge because knowledge that is not considered true is not considered proper knowledge.
3.1 Reality and Truth
Reality is often considered equivalent to truth, a belief based on naive realism. This leads to confusion between reality and truth, as when we say things are what they are. This implies that truth is predetermined.
We use language to speak of reality (things, events) and to refer to language itself (sentences, words), which is called metalanguage.
Empirical truth is often confused with logical truth. The truth of facts (empirical) is treated as logical truth, meaning that because something is a certain way, it is considered that it must be that way. This fails to distinguish between the notions of empirical truth and logical truth.