A blupete Essay

Conclusions, Part 10 to blupete's Essay
"On The Nature Of Man"

Men are fixed with instincts that have come about through the long process of evolution. These instincts are impulses which stimulate us to certain types of action, action taken without prior experience, or prior thought. These instincts, down through the generations, have served us well: we have survived, and we have survived with many of these instincts, necessarily, still intact. For man to be better than the beasts it is necessary for him to conduct his life on something other than just on a strictly instinctual basis. Man, in order to advance beyond the state of being animals, -- to be civilized -- must take control of himself, note I say of himself, not of others, or of nature. When it comes to others, we can set an example, we can lead the way, we can honour tradition and custom; we cannot, and must not, however, let anyone have the power to control the acts of others, it leads inevitably to disaster. The depths and horrors of human behaviour where certain individuals are allowed to take control over others can best be appreciated by reading history; consider, for example, in this century, the history of the Nazi extermination camps, and of the Communist purges. We must constitutionally restrict those who we allow to be near the levers of power; everyone must be allowed the freedom of choice. We must learn -- all over again -- to respect tradition and custom.

"First follow nature and your judgment frame
By her just standard, which is still the same.
Unerring Nature, still divinely bright,
One clear, unchanged and universal light,
Life, force, and beauty must all impart,
At once the source, and end, the test of Art. ...
Those rules of old discovered, not devised,
Are nature still, but nature methodized; ...
'Tis Nature's voice, and Nature we obey.
"
Pope.

GO TO
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Found this material Helpful?


[Essays, First Series]
[Essays, Second Series]
[Essays, Third Series]
[Essays, Fourth Series]
[Subject Index]
[Home]
Peter Landry

2011 (2019)