There is no doubt that man is ineluctably social. That is not to say that man’s nature is essentially social, for it is possible to choose to be asocial, to live in isolation. The fact that man has freedom of choice renders any essential human nature impossible to define, since man is capable of choosing the opposite. The over-riding quality of human nature is freedom of choice. This accounts for the huge variety of types of human nature.
Some people actually choose to live in isolation – hermits. But prolonged periods of accidental or enforced solitude are hard to bear. Solitary confinement is a form of torture. Those people who choose to be alone - and most people need to escape from others from time to time - do so only, knowing full well that they can be with other people when they choose to be.
It is not true, therefore, to say that man’s nature is essentially social, since man has freedom to choose his own passion. He doesn’t choose his own existence. He doesn’t choose his own birth. He is not responsible for his being, but he is responsible for whatever choices he makes once he is born and consciously able to make a decision using his own individual freedom.
If he chooses to be a hermit, then he can be a hermit. If he chooses to live his life with others, then he is a social being. However, a hermit’s life is chosen by very few, and a hermit must come to grips with his own incompleteness on his own.
That is not to say that not everybody has this obligation to face their own incompleteness. On the contrary, everyone has to come to grips with his own incompleteness, since all men are born with a lack of completeness. From the moment he becomes conscious, he also becomes conscious of boundaries to his consciousness. He becomes conscious of what is not. He experiences a lack. This manifests itself in his desires and intentions. To desire something, he must first be conscious that it is not there. To intend to do something, that act cannot already have been performed. Thus desire and intent are two consequences of the lack.
The lack of totality is not transcendent; it is at the very heart of his being. It is not something that can be removed through thinking about it. This lack is not dependent on the presence or absence of other people. It is a fundamental part of our existence.
However, man is born into a social setting and that affects the way he experiences the lack. As a baby, his mother and family nurture and protect him. As his appreciation of his surroundings develops, he realizes that he is a part of society, which provides for his welfare, and which makes demands upon him. He receives the benefits that society has to offer, and he contributes to that society. He becomes a person in society and realizes himself as a social being. He realizes the lack of completeness as a lack of others.
If in spite of everything he chooses to live like Robinson Crusoe, then he shoulders all the burden of production himself, and retains all that is produced. He is self-sufficient, but he is diminished by being himself alone.
If on the other hand he chooses to live in society, then he shares in the production, and receives a share of what is produced. He is not self-sufficient, he feels part of a large whole, but he feels himself to be more complete.
Of course there is a biological need to live socially for the fulfillment of sex and procreation and the rearing of the young, but man can deny that if he chooses, and even those who are incapable of fulfilling their sexual role – for example, through, age, illness or sexual orientation – need society.
The vast majority of people choose to live within society, and they do so for the recognition of self that it affords. Since sight is the dominant sense, the gaze of others is important. We want to be looked at. We want to increase our self-esteem in the eyes of others. We want to look at others. We want to check other people out.
This is not sheer vanity or self-pride. Those people who become so puffed up with their own self-importance may feel that they score over others in comparison, but they become caricatures of their own self. They are making their need for others so obvious, that they appear inadequate in their incompleteness.
All people who live in society are searching for their missing complement which will allow their passion to expand and their feelings of lack to diminish. They need the judgment, approval, criticism, recognition, reinforcement that they get from others.
Some people actually choose to live in isolation – hermits. But prolonged periods of accidental or enforced solitude are hard to bear. Solitary confinement is a form of torture. Those people who choose to be alone - and most people need to escape from others from time to time - do so only, knowing full well that they can be with other people when they choose to be.
It is not true, therefore, to say that man’s nature is essentially social, since man has freedom to choose his own passion. He doesn’t choose his own existence. He doesn’t choose his own birth. He is not responsible for his being, but he is responsible for whatever choices he makes once he is born and consciously able to make a decision using his own individual freedom.
If he chooses to be a hermit, then he can be a hermit. If he chooses to live his life with others, then he is a social being. However, a hermit’s life is chosen by very few, and a hermit must come to grips with his own incompleteness on his own.
That is not to say that not everybody has this obligation to face their own incompleteness. On the contrary, everyone has to come to grips with his own incompleteness, since all men are born with a lack of completeness. From the moment he becomes conscious, he also becomes conscious of boundaries to his consciousness. He becomes conscious of what is not. He experiences a lack. This manifests itself in his desires and intentions. To desire something, he must first be conscious that it is not there. To intend to do something, that act cannot already have been performed. Thus desire and intent are two consequences of the lack.
The lack of totality is not transcendent; it is at the very heart of his being. It is not something that can be removed through thinking about it. This lack is not dependent on the presence or absence of other people. It is a fundamental part of our existence.
However, man is born into a social setting and that affects the way he experiences the lack. As a baby, his mother and family nurture and protect him. As his appreciation of his surroundings develops, he realizes that he is a part of society, which provides for his welfare, and which makes demands upon him. He receives the benefits that society has to offer, and he contributes to that society. He becomes a person in society and realizes himself as a social being. He realizes the lack of completeness as a lack of others.
If in spite of everything he chooses to live like Robinson Crusoe, then he shoulders all the burden of production himself, and retains all that is produced. He is self-sufficient, but he is diminished by being himself alone.
If on the other hand he chooses to live in society, then he shares in the production, and receives a share of what is produced. He is not self-sufficient, he feels part of a large whole, but he feels himself to be more complete.
Of course there is a biological need to live socially for the fulfillment of sex and procreation and the rearing of the young, but man can deny that if he chooses, and even those who are incapable of fulfilling their sexual role – for example, through, age, illness or sexual orientation – need society.
The vast majority of people choose to live within society, and they do so for the recognition of self that it affords. Since sight is the dominant sense, the gaze of others is important. We want to be looked at. We want to increase our self-esteem in the eyes of others. We want to look at others. We want to check other people out.
This is not sheer vanity or self-pride. Those people who become so puffed up with their own self-importance may feel that they score over others in comparison, but they become caricatures of their own self. They are making their need for others so obvious, that they appear inadequate in their incompleteness.
All people who live in society are searching for their missing complement which will allow their passion to expand and their feelings of lack to diminish. They need the judgment, approval, criticism, recognition, reinforcement that they get from others.
posted by johnboon at 1:47 AM
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