The Study of Human Nature: A Reader

About this book

Now in a new edition this exceptional anthology provides an introduction to a wide variety of views on human nature. Drawing from diverse cultures over three millennia Leslie Stevenson has chosen selections ranging from ancient religious texts to contemporary theories based on evolutionary science. An ideal companion to the editors recent book Ten Theories of Human Nature 3/e (OUP 1998) this interdisciplinary reader can also be used independently. The Study of Human Nature 2/e offers substantial selections illustrating the ten perspectives discussed in Ten Theories of Human Nature 4/e--The Bible Hinduism Confucianism Plato Kant Marx Freud Sartre B.F. Skinners behaviorism and Konrad Lorenzs ethological diagnosis of human aggression. The Islamic tradition is represented by a selection from the 20th-century Iranian philosopher Ayatullah Murtaza Mutahhari. The 17th- and 18th-century philosophers Descartes Hobbes Hume Rousseau and Kant are also represented. Selections from Rousseau J.S. Mill and Nancy Holmstrom discuss alleged differences between women and men and a paper by Henry Bracken deals with racial issues. Examples from E.O. Wilsons sociobiology and his critics are also included together with material from Chomsky and from recent evolutionary psychology. This new edition includes more substantial selections from the Hindu Confucian and Christian traditions and provides more accessible extracts from Marx Sartre and Lorenz. An excellent reader for introductory courses in philosophy religious studies human nature and intellectual history The Study of Human Nature 2/e is also an essential resource for anyone interested in ancient modern and contemporary perspectives on human nature.