Mark Twain: What is Man?

[hsifeng]

Did you know that Mark Twain wrote books besides “Tom Sawyer” and the “Adventures of Huck Finn”? Well, now you do.

‘Old Man’ from “What is Man: And Other Essays”, pg. 119-120 (this section explains why one shouldn’t fear the collapse of society into chaos at the introduction of the idea that man is not special, unique or extraordinary as a creature

Comments

clarification?

[shadowd1]

fifth to the last sentence: Considering what it can stand, and be happy, you do me too much honor when you that that I can place before it a system of plain cold facts that can take the cheerfulness out of it.

Re: clarification?

[hsifeng]

Bad on me (naughty typer - no biscuit!), it should read: "Considering what it can stand, and be happy, you do me too much honor when you _say_ that that I can place before it a system of plain cold facts that can take the cheerfulness out of it

Re: clarification?

[docryder]

Not sure I agree with the whole argument. I watch the Small kids, as well as others. Children under a certain age are very self-serving. They want everything for themselves. Cam has been taught a certain level of empathy, and Maurelle is learning it. They are not being led to God, or being given any particular moral training (that I'm aware of) beyond "Do Unto Others..." and being taught to follow rules we adults give them.

So, my observations lead me to believe that our nature is to be greedy and selfish, and only through learning of other ways of being do we seek those more communal ways. Admittedly, there is now a good deal of science that now says that we do get benefits from being altruistic and "good."

Now, that said, I also don't believe in the idea that we are "born sinners." Children don't know good or evil (sin) until they're taught it. They simply act from a more amoral, animalistic level until they learn to access their empathy. (Assuming they ever do, which I think is a large part of the problems with our country.)

Re: clarification?

[hsifeng]

You should probably read more of the essay - your arguements are actually the same as those offered for why we are 'teachable machines'. The arguement isn't that "God Makes Us Good", rather it is that "God Made Us Trainable" - what training we get is environmentally based and is influenced by our lifetimes experiance to end up in a final expression as our actions.