John Hancock

Well obviously but those factors take a while to develop and are of course enviormental influenced. Initially mankind bands together for the mutual purpose of substaining life. Latter the religious charlatans come around.

Martin

niggle

I still would like to know who said democracy was our natural state. I'm sure it was from the American revolution era, but I can't remeber the name. Any ideas?

I realize human nature is a complex thing, but I take the more cynical view of human nature, thus my vote against it.

Mike S.

I think human nature is actually quite simple. The nature of certain individuals is often complex but humanity on the whole acts in a rather predictable and easily generalized manner. I believe we gravitate towards an equillibrium between whatever is easiest and what best meets our needs. If a Monarchy (or whatever) was perceived to be the best way to an easy prosperous life then I think the majority of people would welcome a Royal Family (or whoever) that could make this a reality.

Zar

I don't know if we are quite privvy to what "human nature" is. I see democracy and its offshoots as a grand social experiment, but by no means is it obviously "natural" -- as in some kind of default -- any more than any other system is. On top of this, the referent to the concept "democracy" is hard to find. I guess it involves, at minimum, some kind of officially recognized input from the masses. The rest is pretty flexible.

In many ways, you could argue that the highly conceptualized nature of democracy is quite unnatural. The most natural state for humans might be as small groups of lounging hominids eating berries in the woods. I don't know. But democracy is, if anything, a most rational and abstract construction meant to provide a pressure release valve for otherwise repressed modern societies. So if anything is natural, its probably not democracy.

everlastingtongue

I think that the �natural� state of humanity is brutal � whoever can wield the club better wins. Might makes right. It works in nature, with all other animals, so why doesn�t it apply to us? Of course I have moral problems with this view, but if you pinned me down as to the natural state, this is what I would contend. What I would prefer, and what is true, are two different things entirely.

hinduwoman

Democracy is not a natural state; it is the result of a complex social evolution, after experiments with various forms of government.
anyway even in modern democracies there is always a controlling group telling the masses what laws to obey and a police force to enforce control.

Zar

Having conversed with a number of the people who have responded to this thread, I can easily see the connection between their responses here and their thoughts elsewhere. It is an interesting illustration of how certain basic assumptions about people lie at the bottom of the elaborate justifications/excuses/systems/constructions we present as some sort of approxiamtion of truth.

Vorkosigan

Onyl two choices, democracy or control?

Vorkosigan

Tristan Scott

Yeah , I agree.

It's hard to say what is natural for humans socially because of our ability to reason. It is probably "natural" for us to experiment with different systems and gravitate to the ones that appeal to us as individuals.