Thinking about human nature merely for the sake of thinking about it can seem a bit pointless. But in social and political contexts, questions of “how people are” matter: Organizing a life together, and doing this well, requires us to know what people are like. Or as Daniel Dennett once put it: “Engineers, like politicians, are concerned with the art of the possible, and this requires us, above all, to think realistically about what people actually are, and how they got that way. Exercises in ethical theorizing that refuse to bow to the empirical facts about the human predicament are bound to generate fantasies that may have some aesthetic interest but ought not to be taken seriously as practical recommendations. Like everything else evolution has created, we’re a somewhat opportunistically contrived bag of tricks, and our morality should be based on that realization.” (Freedom Evolves, 2003, p. 280)
This way of speaking suggests that there is a way that people – humans – essentially are. What might this (anthropological? genetic? cultural?) “essence” look like, and how much wriggle room does it leave for human choice?
In the light of a long history of human violence, one answer is looming: That despite all our brilliance and wonderful creations, we are a bit farther on the dark side. In his book The Brighter Side of Human Nature. Altruism and Empathy in Everyday Life (1990), Alfie Kohn paints a more optimistic picture of our species. Heavily informed by the social sciences, his account focuses on the conditions and socialization practices that not only foster caring, empathic and altruistic behavior, but also shape caring, empathic and altruistic persons. But how exactly does empathy work? Is it simply perspective-taking? Are empathic people automatically altruistic? What forms of altruism are there?
In the last block, we are going to explore the practical boundaries of altruism. In particular, we will take critical look at demands to expand our altruism in ways that are not common practice. This concerns, for instance, an extended consideration of future generations in today’s (political) decision-making (also called “longtermism”). Linked with longtermism is an entire social movement that demands to expand altruism by determining how to benefit others as much as possible. This rather recent and influential movement is referred to as “effective altruism”.
Parts of this course do connect well with some of the topics covered in the seminar “Alien Landscapes” that took place in the winter semester 2023/24, and in particular with the chapters on “antisocial personality disorder”. However, it is not required, of course, to have attended this seminar.