Athenian View of Human Nature Essay

The wrangle of biography has shown that during times of confusion or disaster, spates squargon(a) gentleman constitution emerges. Unlike the view of Gandhi, in these moments charitables behave tearingly and ar c at oncerned with self-interest, supporting the Athenians view of military personnel beings motivation. In the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides gives ample support of this view of clement nature. Generally regarded as one of the first true(a) historians, he cherished to view the world as it really was and firmly insisted on cohesive to the facts.Thucydides subjected human nature to an extremely cold and reductive analysis, which could be regarded as pessimism, but he considered to be realism. Generally people want to celebrate a positive self-concept of themselves which causes them to agree with the overly idealistic views of human nature, such(prenominal) as that presented by Gandhi. The Athenians held the belief that the three motives for human nat ure are security, honor, and self-interest, and these cause people to be inherently violent.When there is a segmentation of faithfulness and point, a state of unprecedented lawlessness occurs and during the confusion, peoples values revert to a barbaric state. Gandhi, on the opposite(a) hand, believed that gentleman act violently as a result of a war or disaster, but that their true human nature compels them to be peaceful. In other words, human only act violently when provoked and when it is essential for survival of the fittest. Yet, the Athenians show that people become wild and violent during times of confusion, because their true human nature is allowed to emerge.Then, with the ordinary conventions of civilized life thrown into confusion, human nature, al expressive styles ready to offend even where laws exist, showed itself proudly in its true colors, as something incapable of controlling passion, insubordinate to the idea of justice, the enemy to anything lord to it self? (p. 245) During the Peloponnesian War, Athens was struck by the plague, which caused widespread chaos and confusion. The Athenians became listless to the holds of religion and law, and began openly performing acts of self-indulgence.It was generally agreed that what was both faithful and valuable was the pleasure of the moment and everything that might conceivably contribute to that pleasure. No fear of god or law of man had a restraining influence. (p. 155) The equal kind of lawlessness occurred during the civil war in Corcyra where extreme military force took place during a period of uncertainty. Fighting and aggression were considered courageous and anyone who held violent opinions could always be trusted, while anyone who objected them became a suspect.The Athenians developed a democratic system of government that was necessary to keep order and peace among the people. The people felt that their participation in government was important in order to prevent themselv es from being uncivilized and therefore barbaric. Gandhi argued that mankind shouldnt avenge each other due to the belief that no one has force out over anyone else but themselves, yet it is clear that laws and punishments are elementary in containing violent human nature.Strong governments prevent people from destroying each other out of self-interest. There becomes an orderly balance provided by the strong impression the weak. A major aspect in the Athenian view of human motivation is the notion that those in power are the stronger and naturally rule or dominate over the weak. During the debate at Sparta, the Athenians admit to exploiting their conglomerate for their advantage and ground their actions firmly in a natural law tied to an eternal human nature.They hold the belief that it is human nature to rule what one can and they are merely acting in accordance with the existing law. It has always been a rule that the weak should be subject to the strong and besides, we consid er that we are worthy of our power. (p. 80) Violence and survival are the laws of nature and although humans have found a way to manipulate their surroundings those basic instincts exist in all humans on a fundamental level.It makes the most sense to live peacefully in society, which is why people generally obey laws, but that does not mean that humans are inherently good. In the end, people are naturally disposed to do wrong and no amount of laws of punishments result prevent it. In a word it is impossible? for human nature, when once seriously set upon a certain course, to be prevented from following that course by the force of law or by any other means of intimidation. (p. 221).