Human Nature...
... is described in a different way by each of the hundreds of religions, by the many philosophical schools, by psychologists, by psychiatrists, by sociologists, by economists, by political scientists, by marketing experts, by the thousands of guests on the hundreds of talk shows, and by the authors of thousands of self-help books. If one of these descriptions of human nature is the most accurate, then the other descriptions are, at least in part, wrong. Because no single description is embraced by a majority of people, we can safely say that most people base their lives on a flawed description of themselves and their world. And, as we all know, most people confidently assert that their beliefs are the really real, truly true ones, and that other people are foolish and mistaken. Every philosophy insists that its principles are the only correct ones and every religion asserts that its regional deity is the best or only one. This cacophony of beliefs is one of humanity’s biggest problems.
Why should you think, then, that the Machiavellian perspective - my version of it - has any more validity than other descriptions of our species and our world? You could be reading a description of just one more flawed philosophy being peddled by yet another author seeking income. Your thoughts may be like those of my drill sergeant, who explained to me in 1970 that, “Opinions are like assholes. Everybody has one.” He then mused aloud at some length and in quite graphic detail about the similarity of his interests in my opinion and my asshole, much to the amusement of my fellow draftees.
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Machiavellianism is a perspective, not a philosophy or a religion. Its value is in what it enables you to understand and to do, not in providing a final and complete description of the truth of things. It is an intellectual tool, not a creed. Its power is that its assertions become self-evident after you have thought about them. If they don’t, then this is not for you.
Here are the key assertions that Machiavellianism makes about human nature:
1. Human beings are primates. According to the smartest scientists, the human ape is a product of evolutionary development. The human ape and the chimpanzee, they say, evolved from the same ancestor. That distant ancestor’s population was split apart by the appearance of a geological rift in Africa, long ago. The human developed on one side of that geological rift and the chimpanzee developed on the other side. From Africa, the human primate spread over the world.
2. The human ape has a huge brain. A Human Being Without the Meat WrapperScientists have shown us that particular thoughts or moods are always accompanied by changes in the chemistry, electricity, and blood flow in certain parts of the brain. Apparently, both thinking and feeling can be defined as your experience of your brain’s electrochemistry. That is to say, you are your brain, which is essentially a stew-pot of biochemical reactions and electrostatic charges. Brain tissue - in the form of nerves - permeates your entire body; controlling, regulating, communicating, and coordinating via chemical reactions and electricity. In addition to the five big communication channels of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste, your brain’s internal non-conscious senses monitor and regulate the organs that keep it (you) alive. Brain activity is so intermingled with the processes of your body that it makes little sense to speak of your brain as separate from your body. Brain and body form one system, not two. You are your brain, but you are also your body - not a passenger inside it.
3. The human ape evolved in communicating groups. We are a social animal. We Our species expends an enormous amount of energy communicating complex thoughts to each other.occur naturally in societies, not in isolation. Our self-esteem is based on (1) what we think other people think about us and (2) how we compare ourselves to them. Most humans continually appraise their own self-worth by comparing themselves to those around them. Humans live in a network of communication with other humans: appearance, speech, writing, artistic and graphic images, and now electronic media like this web page. A human being who is raised in isolation from other human beings is just a smart primate - not a person. Our ability to communicate complex thoughts and behaviors to other members of our species, who can then react to them or imitate them, is the secret of our short but unprecedented success as a species. Only humans can teach each other how to program a computer, make pasta, navigate a sailboat from Guam to Hawaii, think about Machiavellianism, rebuild a carburetor on a 1987 Ford pickup, or play pinochle. Humans like you and me can learn how to do all of those things by accessing information that is readily available in our culture. For most tasks, if one human can figure it out, then he or she can teach it to any other human who can teach it to any other human, etc.
4. The human ape is a mimic. Human see, human do. The human ape is remarkable as a learning animal. We learn our Jane Goodall imitates a fellow primate ... or is the monkey imitating her?repertoire of behaviors by imitating the speech, appearance, and actions of others. Excellence in imitating others is the great genius of our species.
5. The organization man was born. Organized imitation is even more efficient than spontaneous mimicry. Military, governmental, corporate, and religious organizations put a lot of energy into regimenting the behavior of their memberships. They shape the human being into a person that is pretty much interchangeable with other people in the organization. One district manager can take over a territory from any other district manager, one payroll clerk can complete a job begun by another, one Roman centurion can step in when another is killed in battle, etc. Each member of the organization strives to imitate, perfectly, the behavior of the ideal member as defined in organizational rhetoric, policy documents, and training. Organizations that encourage individualism and eccentric behavior do not thrive for the obvious reason that they fling themselves apart. There is no Rugged Individualists’ Club or Society of Hermits.
6. The human ape is true to its primate nature. Because the human race is not a race of angels but a race of primates, This pretty primate is pretending to be an angel, but we can see through her disguise.because our evolution over the past million years has been a twisting path though radically changing ecologies, because our very brains are divided into a number of lobes or compartments that were developed in those environments, we are complex rather than simple beings. The tendency of human beings to be contradictory, inconsistent, untruthful, delusional, deceptive, hypocritical, self-deceiving, pretentious, and selfish is not a violation of human nature; it is the very expression of it.
7. Human culture defines human beings. The sum of all human communication in all forms is human culture. It is in human culture that we live. It is there that we learn what makes life meaningful. Your culture can tell you that the purpose of your life is to become CEO of a corporation, die for Allah, raise children, dress stylishly, sacrifice your life for your country, believe in and worship the local god or goddess, obey your husband, plant and harvest corn year after year, paint and sell paintings year after year, kill your country’s enemies, become a spy, build weapons capable of destroying life on earth, act in plays, or preach sermons to the faithful. Many humans have devoted their lives to each of these things.
8. Human nature is expressed broadly in each generation in a wide variety of human personalities. The only thing we know about these babies is that they will have unique personalities by the time they are adults.The phrase “human nature” suggests that all humans have the same fundamental nature. “Human nature” is much too large to be contained in a single human. “Human natures” might be a better phrase, as our personalities differ from one another as much as do our faces, voices, laughter, intelligence, courage, strength, weight, and swiftness. On every dimension, humans vary greatly: from the tallest to the shortest, from the meanest to the sweetest, from the skinny to the fat, from the boring to the charming. Every face is recognizably human, yet every face is unique. As much as we are like other humans, we also differ from them. All of our personal qualities add up to form what we call our personalities. Surely this personality is to a large extent a reflection of the individual structure and chemistry of our very brains, as well as our personal histories.
9. The Prince is a special type of personality. While it is true that most humans mimic each other’s thought and behavior, a Young Albert Einstein was working on the theory of relativity when this picture was taken.very few people are more inwardly directed: less imitative, more original, more thoughtful, more insightful, more intelligent, less complacent, and more introspective. The Prince determines for himself or herself - by insight rather than imitation - what goals to pursue, what methods to use to achieve them, what kind of happiness to enjoy, and how other people should behave.
“... as Nature has given men different faces, so she has given them different dispositions and different imaginations.” -- Machiavelli, in a letter dated January, 1513.
Caveat: Do not confuse the type of person that I call the Prince with those who have leadership positions in our nation, our universities, or our corporations. While there are a few Trumans and Churchills among our presidents, chancellors, and CEO’s, most of them are simply imitating other presidents, chancellors, and CEO’s - who are, in turn, imitating them. We note that most members of our culture’s leadership speak in the same phrases, dress alike, make and break the same promises, preserve their deniability by speaking in the same doublespeak, and aspire to pretty much the same lives - always avoiding controversy and criticism, always mimicking each other in every way
