Marx and Engels on Human Nature
Writing nearly 130 years ago, Marx and Engels totally reject all these arguments. They argue, quite compellingly that capitalism itself is responsible for all these so-flaws of human nature. Mainly by contrasting the harmonious human relationships typical in primitive cultures in Africa, Asia and North and South American with the aberrant behavior found in capitalistic societies. Social anthropology (the study of primitive cultures) was a new and exciting discipline in 1884 when Engels first published The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, which quotes extensively from several contemporary researchers.
The Agricultural Revolution and Creation of Class Society
The Origin of the Family begins by describing the "primitive communism" that characterizes all hunter gatherer cultures, which rely exclusively on hunting and naturally growing berries and roots for food. Engels goes on to describe the dramatic social transformation that occurred in all cultures, even those remotely isolated from one another, around 10,000 BC with the agricultural revolution. The latter enabled primitive peoples to domesticate animals and crops, instead of relying on hunting and scavenging for berries, nuts and roots. This technological change led to the regular production of a food surplus, which could be stored to cover future shortages and to the rise of a priest/king/nobility class (in all cultures) responsible for looking after this surplus.
For 10,000 years the division of society into classes took the form of feudalism, where most of the population were landless peasants performing agricultural labor for feudal lords and priests, who were the landholders. Class divisions persisted after the industrial revolution, which caused capitalism to replace feudalism in the mid-1800s. The priest/king/nobility class was replaced by the capitalist class -- the owners of the "capital" -- the land, factories, machines and other raw materials (other than human labor) required for industrial production. While the lower classes left the land in increasing numbers to work in their factories.
The Need for Class Divisions to Protect the Agricultural Surplus
Marx and Engels acknowledge that the creation and maintenance of a priest/king/nobility class was essential for human survival during feudal times, owing to economic scarcity. However they also argue that this need for class divisions ceased with advances in agricultural technology that have enabled humankind to produce more than enough food to feed the entire planet. Marxists argue that current economic scarcity is artificially produced by produced by the capitalist class to enhance profits.
Marx and Engels also give numerous examples of how the brutal nature of capitalistic oppression gives rise to the so-called "character defects" that, according to the ruling elite, make a privileged ruling class essential. They show, for example, how poverty, alienation, exploitation and oppression make it very difficult for the poor and disadvantaged to raise children in an environment that enables them to become fully productive adults. In particular they make the point that capitalism forces people to be competitive and greedy and demand financial rewards for their work -- under a capitalistic economic system, these traits are essential for survival.
The Biology of Human Behavior
At present eight main fields of study inform our scientific understanding of "human nature":
1. Social anthropology -- the study of human behavior in primitive groups, both from archeological evidence of prehistoric societies and from contemporary study of indigenous cultures.
2. Primate ethology -- the study of group and social behavior of our closest living relatives (chimpanzees, gorillas and other great apes and monkeys).
3. Psychology -- observational and controlled research of personality development as influenced by early childhood events and other formative experiences.
4. Social psychology -- the study of human behavior in groups.
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