homo homini lupus NON est?

Question

i have a school debat, on philosophy, the topic is Homo homini lupus est, and I have to be NEGATION, and say homo homini lupus NON est. does anyone know were I can find something that could help or some philosopher quotes that could be usefull, or if someone knows anything that could be a good argument on what I should stand for, please answer

Answer 1

Actually, try Freud. He was the original thinker behind that notion.

In any case, if your arguing that it is not human nature to be negative to each other, you could use the notion that to define human nature so 'negatively' is a truism. If you want to define humans by what they do to each other, you must broaden your definition to encompass all actions that humans do - including love, nuture and friendship.

Therefore, humans nature encompasses both the good and the bad, so we can (and have) done both.

Furthermore, you could use the argument against specism. Many people use 'wolf' to denote evil, wicked or violent. In reality, wolves are very family and nuture oriented. There has been no reported attacks of an unprovoked healthy wolf on a human. Such notions are the result of prejudice from fairytales. This leaves your opponents which no leg to stand on - if a wolf, the very focus of their metaphor, is actually a family-focused creature, then to say that a man is a human actually denotes no negativity. No creature (and by extention, man) is naturally ONLY evil or mean. All sides of human action must be considered.

Answer 2

Homo homini lupus non est - man is not a wolf to his fellow man.

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Homo sui iuris - man is his own judge. If man chooses to see himself as a wolf, so be it. Man can also choose to see himself as man. If man sees himself as a wolf, then he must judge himself as a wolf where they are just doing what nature tells them to do.

Homines quod volunt credunt - men believe what they want to believe. Men can choose to believe we are wolves or choose to believe we are men. If we believe we are wolves, we are not men acting as wolves, but wolves acting as the wolves we believe ourselves to be.

Boni pastoris est tondere pecus, non deglubere - a good shepard sheers his sheep, he doesn't flay them. (spoken in regard to excess taxation) A wise man knows that to be a wolf to other men is to bite the hand that feeds. Whether for selfish or selfless reasons, best not bite the hand.

Senatores boni viri, senatus autem mala bestia - Senators are good men, however the senate is a malicious animal. ie - an individual is a man, a group of men are a pack of wolves when given power. This is the situation itself as the wolf, not the men in said situation.

Therefore, there are cases where men are like wolves, but men can also act like men to their fellow man. Charity for instance - the red cross, good will, sierra club, habitat for humanity, peace corps... Its not about a generality implied by the stance you are arguing against, its about the individual, the choices they make and the actions they take.

Either way, if they act like wolves, they ARE wolves. If they act like men, they ARE men. Man cannot act like a wolf and maintain their humanity.

Answer 3

Look up websites Referat and Alexandre Kimenyi's (a man is a wolf to a man).