It’s a question as old as human civilization: are we inherently self-interested agents fighting for power and resources in the jungle of existence? Or, do we possess a deeper capacity for good—and an ability to act altruistically on behalf of others and society as a whole?
Never has this question been more on display than in today’s hyper-partisan political climate . . . and, while the conversation tends to revolve around race or religion or whether or not you approve of Donald Trump, I think that this fundamental question about human nature lies at the core of our division.
My take on the subject is that we are a mixture of both. We all have what I call an “inner reptile” that only acts on our own behalf – often at the expense of those around us. But I also believe that we have “higher human capacities” like trust, empathy, patience and care that we can cultivate and use to counteract our inner lizard.
I recently read a couple of articles about a man who believed staunchly that we are inherently self-interested—or as I would say, our inner reptiles are in full control. His name was James McGill Buchanan, a Nobel-Prize-Winning economist who some have called “the most influential conservative thinker you’ve never heard of” and whose distinctive mission in life was to make a case against government.
According to Buchanan’s way of looking at things, everyone should be understood as a self-interested actor seeking their own advantage. In a June 2017 NewCo Shift article called “The economist who hated democracy,” Scott Rosenberg calls Buchanan’s perspective a “…new grand vision of American society, a country in which government would be close to nonexistent, and would have no obligation to provide education—or health care, or old-age support, or food, or housing—to anyone.”
I think Buchanan’s view is an overly cynical and ultimately one-dimensional view of human nature. Buchanan’s “self-interested agent” is Full on Reptile. No care. No awareness of other. No capacity for empathy nor for the depth of relationships. Just taking care of self. Reptile.
I believe this way of assessing humanity is dangerous, because it ignores a large part of the human picture. And I think that this cynical view of human nature is at the core of the rising xenophobia in America today. According to Nancy MacLean, who’s biography of Buchanan was recently featured in a Slate article:
This is not just about power and money. I think it’s also much more about this psychology of threatened domination. People who believe it will harm their liberty for other people to have full citizenship and be able to work together to govern society. And that somehow that goes much deeper than money to me. It’s hard to find the right words for it, but it’s a whole way of being in the world and seeing others. Assuming one’s right to dominate.
THIS is SCARY. When we assume that humans are only driven by our reptilian nature, it’s every-man-for-himself, me-against- the-world survival.
But, when we feel safe enough to look beyond our survival-instincts, and we’re willing to look – to really look at what is happening. When our higher-level human capacities can come online, then we can start to pull ourselves out of the swamp.
Then we have the possibility for change—change that can lead to a better future for all of us…
