Theories of Human Nature

Description

This book is about two related subjects. One concerns the variety and range of accounts of human nature that have emerged in the last three thousand years. Almost all of these accounts are philosophical, and it is striking how many philosophers have embedded such accounts in their work. The other subject is the very concept of "human nature," which is part of the basic set of ideas that most people have, including most people who have never studied philosophy. It provides an interesting case of common sense thinking that turns out to enter the same territory as philosophy.

Joel J. Kupperman is Professor of Philosophy, University of Connecticut. Among his many publications are Six Myths about the Good Life: Thinking about What Has Value, and Classic Asian Philosophy:?A Guide to the Essential Texts.

"A very fine book on human nature, both what it is and what philosophers have thought about it -- philosophers in an inclusive sense, from Plato and Aristotle to Mengzi and Xunzi, from Hume and Kant to Ibn al-Arabi to Marx and Rousseau and including many others. The writing is lively and accessible, the philosophy insightful, and the sense of human possibilities conveyed admirable. It will fit nicely into many different sorts of classes." -- John Perry, Stanford University