What is Human ?

Why do we strive to set things right ? ... what is right ? Why do we seek freedom, justice, fairness ?
Is it human nature ? Or is it social indoctrination ?

Look deep inside yourself and you will find that using pure logic, this is a very tough question to answer.

In fact this question that seems on the surface to be a matter of conviction and belief and principles has been a subject of much debate. Which brings me to this post.

The great debate :

Human Nature : Justice V/S Power.

Prof. Noam Chomsky





Dr. Michael Foucault




Widely respected as two of the most influential intellectuals of our time, Chomsky and Foucault debated the idea of Human Nature, the concept of justice and the idea of power defining our interpretation of " what is right ". Firstly the amount of thought and logic put into the debate is truly astounding. But what is more important is to notice the distinctly opposing views despite the eventual goal being the same.

I have watched the debate over and over again and attempted to read some of the work written by both ( all though i admit it is very heavy reading). From a personal point of view, i tried to approach the matter with the assumption that it is possible for there to be a basic human idea of " what is fair ". So it might follow that i am with Chomsky on this one. However while Chomsky suggests a more evolved form of Anarchy as the solution, Foucault argues that it is impossible to be truly Anarchist since there are always power flows and balances in a society and any change can and will only come through them. There i agree with Foucault. While the idea of true Anarcho - Syndicalism might be close to an ideal to try and achieve, the path to affecting change comes from understanding the idea that change must come by trying to move away from social conditioning.

The debate - Part 1




On a personal note, this debate takes greater importance for me as i get closer to heading back home. My stay in the states, the education, opportunities and exposure it has given me are priceless. Like many of my friends i aim to go back home and do good things, both personally and socially. It is a time of great change and opportunity in India. Perhaps a better understanding of what to strive for goes some way in aiding the process of affecting change.

A couple of days back i watched the video about the violence in Assam. It was extremely disturbing and made me ask the very question this debate is about.

Was the video of the violence a true reflection of " human nature " ? Since we seem to see incidents like that repeatedly over the course of history.

It is still a tough question to answer, but there is at least an ideal to strive toward and there are beginnings of recognizing the path to change.

The only true way to move away from social conditioning, i.e move away from mob mentality and move away from being cogs in a machine, is to teach future generations to think for themselves and question everything, including their own nature.