The Knowledge of Good and Evil and How Everyone is Wrong but Me (part deux?)

[oythegreat]

Everyone is Wrong but Me

I recently researched this quote: "The more I love humanity in general, the less I love man in particular." (From The Brothers Karamazov) I managed to find the page and chapter it came from, but also discovered that the quote has been embraced as something of a banner cry of intellectuals--not because it illustrates how

Comments

[tko_ak]

Individuals do awful things. Groups of individuals can do awful things, too, especially when they defer to the sociopaths among them (or are simply guilty of willful ignorance or inaction, like in the case of the average German during World War II).

My view of human nature is that while everyone has the ability to be an asshole, we're essentially blank slates, and it depends on how we're socialized from a young age, major life events, our parents, etc. I suppose it's possible that some people's wiring is just off, and they're born batshit crazy, but most have a litany of precipitating factors that cause them to be the way they are (other than biology).

On the flip side, sometimes humanity as a whole can support or enable some crazy things, while individuals are dedicated to the tough road of doing what's right or moral in the face of adversity or great personal risk (going back to WWII, think about those who shielded Jews).

As you said, people are complicated.

As for stereotyping...it has its uses, but must be taken with a grain of salt, because people are individuals. Grouping people and giving them labels is human; it's how we make sense out of things. It's essentially organization.

[oythegreat]

I like some of your points. And I agree that stereotyping has its purpose. We need to sort people in order to maintain our sanity, I believe. :)

It's not that an abstract view of humanity is a problem in itself. It's when it becomes a faith of sorts and destroys our ability to see humans as individuals, that's when it becomes an issue.