On Human Nature Hardcover – February 28, 2017

This little book by Roger Scruton is a revised version of the Test memorial lectures delivered at Princeton in 2013. Since postmodernism regularly disputes the very existence of ‘human nature’ and since common sense testifies to its existence universally, this is an important subject. Some have come at it by compiling long lists of common traits and behaviors shared by humans. Scruton notes the tendency to identify singular activities that characterize human beings, e.g. the use of language (Chomsky, Bennett), freedom (Kant, Sartre), self-consciousness (Kant, Fichte, Hegel), the capacity for cultural learning (Tomasello), and so on (p. 44).Scruton himself is at pains to counter the arguments of reductionist Darwinism (Dennett, Dawkins) or consequentialism (Singer, et al.). While acknowledging that we are biological animals, he argues that we are much more than that. We are ‘incarnate persons’ who are defined in part by a set of duties and obligations which bind us one to the other. His position is ‘deontic’, as the philosophers say and it finds its roots in Aristotle and Kant and its metaphoric representation in Buber’s ‘I and thou’.The argument is generally lucid as we travel from Plato to Wittgentstein, but he notes that some of the issues mentioned in passing deserve entire books for their full exposition. In other words, he feels the pressures of the lecture format. Since he is unfailingly interesting the book is well worth reading, though he himself notes that some of the material with which he is concerned has been explored in other full-length volumes, volumes which would supplement the argument here (e.g. his SHORT HISTORY OF MODERN PHILOSOPHY, SEXUAL DESIRE, and THE SOUL OF THE WORLD).He is also not afraid to include articles of religious faith, though he is characteristically reticent to impose his own beliefs on his readers. The bottom line is that this is a solid digest of Scrutonian thinking on an important subject, an alternative to contemporary materialist thought that is anchored in vast erudition which is carried lightly and utilized lucidly.

As I am not a professional philosopher, I appreciated the author's warning that the book is a summary of his views and thus lacks the difficulties that will occur to an attentive reader. Frankly, I could have used more explanations. Be that as it may, the book is worthwhile. Contemporary academics generally ignore that there is a nature common to all humans in every place and in every time. That concept is vital to understanding that natural law, that is, morality, is based on human nature. Goodness knows that the clergy needs to grasp that. Scruton offers many characteristics of human nature, which serve as solid examples that between man and the highest primate there is an ontological disconnect. The final chapter is a brief but outstanding treatise on evil, something else that is ignored at society's peril.

I have thought at length on several points that Sir Roger raises. Adaptability, openness to change is something to consider. Society ha reduced the individual extinction threat due to type I error to virtually 0.0; so why are we still scared by noises at night? The noise was made by a human artifact, not a leopard predating primates. Our biology has not caught up with our culture, our culture has not kept pace with our technology, so if the ancients had achieved eudaimonia, we should be circumspect to abandon their lessons.

A very challenging book whose basic premise is that you must first assess completely human nature before you can identify a polity that will satisfy it, and that contemporary theorists have not done this assessment or their work is incomplete.

The best.

Scruton at his best...truthfully, anyone needing to read this review might not either need nor understand Roger Scruton

wonderful copy and book

Good.