Take away television, internet, religion, science, government, culture, tradition, (put us all back in the rainforest and erase our minds from all these influences) and then how will we behave? We will return to innocence, be cooperative, loving and free of mental issues and live up to the title of the "most advanced" animal species that we are supposed to be?
If so, will we still each have our unique behaviours and "personalities" and expressions? Certainly even small animals exhibit their own unique ways of behaving, even very shortly after being born.
Could there be a natural "me" lying underneath all of the social "conditioning"?
2007-10-01 01:41:58 · 10 answers · asked by driving_blindly 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Social conditioning by itself came about because of the uniqueness of each and every individual who expressed themselves in a lot of ways that created all the "common inventions" that we now accept as beneficial. If we were to live back in the prehistoric times without all the conveniences that we grew up with, our behavioural patterns would still be a lot different owing to factors like: a) environment b)unique experiences of our parents c) genes. The environment is essentially the same since it's all trees and mountains and lakes, but different individuals "react" differently to the same stimuli, that in a sense creates a unique experience and is passed on to our offspring normally via our genes. Also, the parents themselves do some sort of "conditioning" by telling their children what’s right or not or what should be done or not, based on their unique experiences. So, even without social conditioning according to what you have mentioned, an individual will always instinctively express himself/herself totally different from other people. Wouldn't you feel bored if everybody has the same behavioural pattern or personality? Everybody was meant to be born different, one way or another, even twins cannot be essentially the same. It's what variation is all about. We were created that way and Nature has meant it to be so. Man also has a natural instinct of superiority based on what we have learned that we are practically on top of the food chain. It also means that we have learned to support this instinct because of the comparisons that we have made with other organisms. Based on this primitive knowledge, there will be inevitable changes in our behavioural patterns because of our tremendous ability to adapt to the changing environment that would inevitably make us advanced the way we are now.
2007-10-01 04:00:35 · answer #1 · answered by archangel 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You make it sound as though social conditioning et al is a problem rather than a solution. Posit: we grew up as intelligent apes who became social as a means of survival and that developed into a sophisticated method of social and psychological 'norms' that encourage us to be free of the 'animal' basic instincts that led animals to compete to the death. Read 'lord of the Flies' by Golding and see the truth, there was no golden age, it has yet to come. However, let me point out that given the awful mistakes human beings have made, this is a real message of hope! The 'natural' you is not a being you want to meet, the advancing, learning and 'higher' you, most definitely is.
2007-10-01 19:07:00 · answer #2 · answered by Samuel 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We each have our own essence and connection to the universe. While social conditioning can have an effect on our development as we grow up, our individual natures cause our reactions to be somewhat different. Return us to the rainforest as infants, and we still would develop into various personality types: Hitlers and Gandhis, Beethovens and Britneys. It is possible that a different overriding culture would again develop, since we are social creatures, and that culture could just as easily be peaceful as violent. This is my belief.
2007-10-01 09:33:40 · answer #3 · answered by Mary A 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Absolutely! It's important and rare to have good manners though. ( If that's what you meant by "social conditioning") You make an astute observation about animals as well. I don't think you're "Driving Blindly" at all. When life is pared down to survival, I believe people are more likely to cooperate, but that wouldn't necessarily make them more loving, or life less stressful. We are all unique, not many are willing to be true to that. People tend to hide their true selves behind all you've stated.
Brigid
2007-10-01 09:13:41 · answer #4 · answered by Brigid 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Certainly, but you would still be 'conditioned' by everything in your restricted world. Your individual perceptions and abiliities seperate you from all others even as gender, family, species, territories and other influences unite you. You can take away or add the components that influence but you retain the essential self of who and what you are.
2007-10-01 09:48:35 · answer #5 · answered by midnite rainbow 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Freud called it the id. And it's a good thing that the id is usually controlled by the ego and the superego, because the id consists of our most primal urges, and if we all lived according to our most primal urges, we wouldn't get very far.
2007-10-01 10:33:24 · answer #6 · answered by tangerine 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes I think that is possible - although I'm not sure the "natural" human will be any better than the "artificial" one.
2007-10-01 20:48:34 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Being politically right.
2007-10-01 11:47:17 · answer #8 · answered by Doctor Strange 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It is all the above that makes us human, all the above were invented, invention makes us human
2007-10-01 08:52:38 · answer #9 · answered by Scott B 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There could be, yes. I hope you can find him, I'm sure he's a great guy, seriously.
2007-10-01 08:46:04 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋