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Cover

The Study of Human Nature

A Reader

Second Edition

Edited by Leslie Stevenson

Publication Date - 11 November 1999

ISBN: 9780195127157

336 pages
Paperback
5-1/2 x 8-1/4 inches

In Stock

Contains readings from ancient, modern, and contemporary sources -- from the Hebrew Bible to Virtue Ethics.

Description

Now in a new edition, this exceptional anthology provides an introduction to a wide variety of views on human nature. Drawing from diverse cultures over three millennia, Leslie Stevenson has chosen selections ranging from ancient religious texts to contemporary theories based on evolutionary science. An ideal companion to the editor's recent book, Ten Theories of Human Nature, 3/e (OUP, 1998), this interdisciplinary reader can also be used independently.
The Study of Human Nature, 2/e offers substantial selections illustrating the ten perspectives discussed in Ten Theories of Human Nature, 4/e--The Bible, Hinduism, Confucianism, Plato, Kant, Marx, Freud, Sartre, B.F. Skinner's behaviorism, and Konrad Lorenz's ethological diagnosis of human aggression. The Islamic tradition is represented by a selection from the 20th-century Iranian philosopher Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari. The 17th- and 18th-century philosophers Descartes, Hobbes, Hume, Rousseau, and Kant are also represented. Selections from Rousseau, J.S. Mill, and Nancy Holmstrom discuss alleged differences between women and men, and a paper by Henry Bracken deals with racial issues. Examples from E.O. Wilson's sociobiology and his critics are also included, together with material from Chomsky and from recent evolutionary psychology.
This new edition includes more substantial selections from the Hindu, Confucian, and Christian traditions and provides more accessible extracts from Marx, Sartre, and Lorenz. An excellent reader for introductory courses in philosophy, religious studies, human nature, and intellectual history, The Study of Human Nature, 2/e, is also an essential resource for anyone interested in ancient, modern, and contemporary perspectives on human nature.

Previous Publication Date(s)

January 1981

Table of Contents

    Preface
    THE HEBREW BIBLE (the Old Testament)
    Genesis 1-3
    Psalms
    HINDUISM
    Brihad Aranyaka Upanishad
    Katha Upanishad
    CONFUCIANISM
    Mencius, "Human Nature is Good"
    Hsun-tzu, "Human Nature is Evil"
    PLATO
    Republic
    CHRISTIANITY (the New Testament)
    St. Paul, Letter to the Romans
    St. Paul, First Letter to the Corinthians
    ISLAM
    Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari, "Man and Faith"
    RENÉ DESCARTES
    Discourse on Method
    THOMAS HOBBES
    Leviathan
    DAVID HUME
    Treatise of Human Nature
    JEAN-JACQUES ROUSSEAU
    Emile
    IMMANUEL KANT
    Anthropology from a Pragmatic Point of View
    Religion within the Boundaries of Mere Reason
    KARL MARX
    The Materialist Theory of History
    Consciousness and the Division of Labour
    JOHN STUART MILL
    The Subjection of Women
    CHARLES DARWIN
    The Descent of Man
    SIGMUND FREUD
    B.A. Farrell, "A Reconstruction of Freud's Mature Theory"
    JEAN-PAUL SARTRE
    Existentialism and Humanism
    B.F. SKINNER
    About Behaviorism
    KONRAD LORENZ
    On Aggression
    NOAM CHOMSKY
    "Language and the Human Mind"
    HENRY M. BRACKEN
    "Essence, Accident and Race"
    EDWARD D. WILSON
    On Human Nature
    NANCY HOLMSTROM
    "Do Women Have a Distinct Nature?"
    STEVEN ROSE, RICHARD LEWONTIN, AND LEON J. KAMIN
    Not in our Genes: Biology, Ideology and Human Nature
    MATT RIDLEY
    The Origins of Virtue

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