Darker side of Human Nature

I'm not sure where I should have posted this, or if there is a forum that discusses this topic already, (and please feel free to move this thread if I posted in the wrong forum) but I have a question that I was wondering if anybody could help me clarrify:

What exactly is the darker side of human nature?

We have done some work on this in class (I am a high school student currently studying Literature), but I have never really gotten an answer that I fully understand.

The teacher described it as the faults and flaws of humans, the things that are part of the human condition, and that we hide behind a facade because we don't want people to see. One of my friends described it simply as the 'bad' stuff about humans. I didn't find either of these explainations very useful (particularly the latter!) because I don't quite understand what 'the human condition' is either. Does anyone know a better way of explaining it?? It would be much appreciated!

As for me, I always thought that the question of "good/bad" is simply an aspect of society, that means that you can only define it within the values of a culture.
To support this idea, one quote just came to my mind, from Choke, by Chuck Palahniuk: The world tells us, whether we are good or bad, saints or sex-addicts. But maybe, it is our job to make up something different.
:wave:

There is no firm definition, because actions that would be regarded as evil in some circumstances are considered good in other circumstances. Then there re some things that might be considered "the dark side" of humanity that includes actions that are simply unjustifiable in any circumstances, but the people who engage in such actions might have a serious mental problem; I am thinking of Jeffrey Dahmer in particular, but there have been a few others in that class.

For me the darker side of humanity suggests a darkness in the psyche. Where the inner turmoils rage. For instance, a stranger is walking down the street - he looks pretty mundane and normal; he isn't disturbing society in any way; he is just walking to the shops; he isn't committing any acts of evil and he could even seem flawless. However, he could be struggling, psychologically, with thoughts of suicide; or he could be suffering with complex relationship issues such as a heavy break-up. This, to me, is what "the darker side" of humanity represents.

There is a wide range or literature which presents this kind of darkness. Here are some of my favourites, you should check them out:

Shakespeare's Hamlet
Keats' Ode to a Nightingale
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment
Lawrence's Sons and Lovers

This topic is also referenced as the "duality of mankind." Albert Camus speaks extensively on this subject, describing how mankind is caught between innate tendencies toward good and bad. This means that, as human beings, we are born with desires for good and evil, but in order to function in society we must learn to suppress the "darker" intentions (e.g. via religion, ethics, or some other discipline...even existentialism).

Nathaniel Hawthorne has a short story, "Young Goodman Brown," that focuses on this duality, and he uses the imagery of the color pink a lot to describe the condition of mixing red (blood, sin, evil) with white (purity, good).

Hope this helps a bit. Great question!

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Originally Posted by Little_Miss_:)

I'm not sure where I should have posted this, or if there is a forum that discusses this topic already, (and please feel free to move this thread if I posted in the wrong forum) but I have a question that I was wondering if anybody could help me clarrify:

What exactly is the darker side of human nature?

We have done some work on this in class (I am a high school student currently studying Literature), but I have never really gotten an answer that I fully understand.

The teacher described it as the faults and flaws of humans, the things that are part of the human condition, and that we hide behind a facade because we don't want people to see.

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Basically the stuff that humans do which you don't talk about. It happens- but you don't talk about it. Drug addiction and sexual perversion are darker sides of human nature.

Well, if you haven't gotten enough explanation yet, I'll throw my two pennies in.
Ahem- The darker side of human nature is exactly what people have been saying- the things that go on within any human that you just don't talk about. Examples would be- selfishness, aggression . . . and i guess that's all I really had to say. I thought I had more to say, but apparently not. I agree with laymonite- very good question!

Wasn't it Kant who said that there are no actions, only their interpretations ?

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Originally Posted by laymonite

This means that, as human beings, we are born with desires for good and evil, but in order to function in society we must learn to suppress the "darker" intentions (e.g. via religion, ethics, or some other discipline...even existentialism).

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I believe sadly that more people learn these darker intentions as a means to get on in society, after they advance in age, though some people can be both complicated and innocent, or in other words, baby-like throughout their life.

It's more than negative emotions. We cry and get mad and scared and it's all just chemical. Like a reflex, we can't help it.

The existence of a darkside relies on people having the ability to make decisions. We can only do wrong if there's a choice to do so. Over time and experience we develop our ideas of what is right and what isn't and it's a complicated and collaborative process. We depend on others to interpret our actions and they depend on us to interpret theirs. And everyone interprets everything differently. But together, we try to progress on the lighter side because we believe that it's the better side to live on. It seems that our actions often become dark after we've committed the acts. We don't think we're doing wrong until it's too late. Sorry, if this seems a bit convoluted.

here's my take:

Despite all of our art and technology, people are still essentially animals with self preservation and self interest as their primary concerns.

At the same time, we are hardwired to be social, because working and living together best serves our natural interests of self preservation.

So the human condition is this unique spot we're in, where we have two competing drives (what's good for the self and what's good for the tribe) AND we're smart enough to dwell on our actions. We're not just animals. We feel guilt for giving into one drive at the expense of the other.

But that drive is legitimate and we also feel pleasure for satisfying it. That's when things get dark: when you feel good for doing soemthing that you know is bad, and especially when it becomes a secret to obsess over.

The human condition, the dark side of human life is the destruction time ravages on all human life, civilization, and social institutions. The United States of America may seem permanent and indestructible now (perhaps not now, but at least 20 years ago), but it, like all other things, will decay and be replaced by something else.

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In succession
Houses rise and fall, crumble, are extended,
Are removed, destroyed, restored, or in their place
Is an open field, or a factory, or a by-pass.
Old stone to new building, old timber to new fires,
Old fires to ashes, and ashes to the earth
Which is already flesh, fur and faeces,
Bone of man and beast, cornstalk and leaf.
Houses live and die: there is a time for building
And a time for living and for generation
And a time for the wind to break the loosened pane
And to shake the wainscot where the field-mouse trots
And to shake the tattered arras woven with a silent motto.

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I can offer what might be considered a specific example: I am rereading Tarchetti, a minor Italian literary figure who often uses graphic images. In his short story, "The Legend of The Black Castle", the protagonist sees a living dead man whose eyes had been gauged out with red hot iron nails, and at four o'clock in the morning, the thought of getting my eyes cooked in my skull ignited fear, however irrational, about wounds to eyes. This type of horrific torture, which was once a common practice, and dwelling on it, opens up a dark side of human nature.

Mayneverhave hit it right on the head, the darker side of human nature isn't our day to day actions singled out and examined, it's the extensive, longterm perspective that gives light to this. Why none can say that anything is inherently good or bad is that every action taken is for the benefit of something, the whole or self. For example: A missionary that works in the field all his life, recieves no recognition and prefers it that way.=Good, he is working for the good of the whole, and the self satisfaction of a job well done, and a clear concience. A missionary that has spent a handful of years working, is widely recognized and uses that recognition to gain political power and money.=Bad, he works for himself, for the gain of power and money, and is just as satisfied with himself as the former missionary. Despite their differences, and the opposing morals displayed, these two men are equal. Not because-not wholly anyway-of the fact that they both are working for self-satisfaction, but because the resources they abuse, the self-destructing behavior they exhibit-in that they give little thought as to the environment or education of diversity-and lastly because neither can be self-aware enough to realize that they whore and ravage the face of both society and the physical environment. Looking at it from this perspective, it's not a matter of who's good or bad. There are very few who are intelligent enough to remove themselves from the membrane of the mother-society(philosophy and general line of thinking)and look at the bigger picture, specifically those who say they are and encourage others to do the same, despite the fact that they are far from it and are thus hypocrites. There are even fewer that will do anything to remedy this.

So I would conclude that the darker side of human nature isn't some hidden feral side that we all bury underneath layers of social reform, but instead is the audacity and hypocrisy that we display(ed) when we invented and practice morals despite the fact that every last one of us(myself included)reveal(ed) a horrifying self-destructing, viral tendency, both as a whole and individually.

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Originally Posted by Adagio

For me the darker side of humanity suggests a darkness in the psyche. Where the inner turmoils rage. For instance, a stranger is walking down the street - he looks pretty mundane and normal; he isn't disturbing society in any way; he is just walking to the shops; he isn't committing any acts of evil and he could even seem flawless. However, he could be struggling, psychologically, with thoughts of suicide; or he could be suffering with complex relationship issues such as a heavy break-up. This, to me, is what "the darker side" of humanity represents.

There is a wide range or literature which presents this kind of darkness. Here are some of my favourites, you should check them out:

Shakespeare's Hamlet
Keats' Ode to a Nightingale
Faulkner's As I Lay Dying
Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment
Lawrence's Sons and Lovers

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ya I some what agree to that & thanks for that list of literature

I suppose it might be connected with what in psychology is called dual processing. That human beings have two ways of thinking. There is system 1, which is unconscious, irrational, and automatic. It is evolutionarily old and a sort of non-verbal thinking that animals have as well. And there is the evolutionary recent system 2, which is analytic, rational, and using logical standards. As Manchegan wrote, working and living together best serves our natural interests. Cooperation is the more logical and beneficial decision in the long term - at least that's what I understand from Game Theory - so the choice of the irrational and non-cooperative behaviour might be triggered by system 1.

Well... I'm not convinced that my speculations are right. I have neither a deep understanding of psychology nor I'm expert on Game Theory. I just think it would be interesting to investigate if there is a connection.