When I was younger I operated to what I held as a strict, innate moral code. I believed I was, by my very nature, a good person. As time has passed I have behaved in different ways, learned new things and been exposed to many more people. This has caused me to realise the fallacy of my earlier beliefs. It seems to me now, that humans are, without passing judgement on any individual, simply base animals. What appears to set us aside from other animals is our development of complex culture, language and society. Obviously this is due to biological differences, but as DNA has shown this represents a relatively small difference. The way I see it now is that our biological differences have, over time, tiny step by tiny step, allowed us to build up a facade of non-animal behaviour. This behaviour is passed from generation to generation, and as such allows us to maintain a continuous history of relatively steady behaviour. Over time we have come to see this behaviour as being innate: something that makes us different (superior) to other species. Cases of humans “raised by animals” show us clearly that a single generation, removed from our societal constructs, reverts with alarming speed to “primitive” state.
If this belief is accurate, then, the most important question we can ask is what are the mechanisms through which society is reproduced from one generation to the next? I would propose that the traditional answers of family and school are at the centre of this issue. Over the last 100 years I would also imagine, certainly in Western Europe and North America, that mass media has largely displaced the Church as a means for social reproduction.
As both a parent and a teacher-to-be, this line of reasoning has really made me pull up and think for a minute. How can I play my part in this continuum of human behaviour? Which aspects do I wish to propagate and which do I wish to subdue? The answers to these questions might have to wait for another time…
May 3rd, 2010 on 7:39 pm
Hi Ross,
Some interesting points, very concisely put! Although I agree with the majority of what you say and the conclusions you draw I’d like to raise some points. I don’t believe the ‘church’ has ever been a means by which social constructs or moral codes have been passed down, I think the church responded to what existed and then put a structure upon this, reactionary rather than proactive. The codes relating to murder and social behaviour existed long before any book codified them, looking at different social structures from around the world, they all exhibit similar characteristics (codes on incest for example), this hints at some innate structure within the human brain. The case of ‘feral children’ shows that although children very become more ‘animal’ and loose a lot of what becomes ‘human’ they can learn skills of human interaction.
Ricahrd Dawkins proposed the idea of ‘memes’ as a way of passing on cultural knowledge from one generation to another. As the theory has not changed over the last 20 odd years I think we can say it’s probably not totally accurate. If this is the case some other means of transition is needed. I believe the brain is wired so that we can change connections and make certain pathways more likely than others and this is where parenting and nature comes in. This may make those brains that are better adapted to living with others, adapting to social norms, having a good moral compass are those than have a better chance of being reproduced in the next generation.
We are neither a ‘blank slate’ nor a ‘hard wired automaton’ but a learning system where the first years are the most informative.
Most importantly it comes down to the parents in the early years, do they nurture, encourage and care about their child. Do they encourage the child to learn? To question the world in which they live? To live with respect and show respect for others despite their differing views. To stand up for people who maybe can’t. I believe this is innate but it takes a good parent to bring this out.
On a personal note Ross as I know you, you and Danielle are doing a fantastic job, you are doing all of the things in the list. You should carry on promoting these and being as great as you are with your son, he’ll do great!