Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2001 13:18:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: Thomas Seay <entheogens-AT-yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: AUT: Re: saaataaaaaaan!! (reply to chris, re: religion)



> Long ago, research about human "nature" already
> revealed that the tendencies
> for solidarity/affiliation are inborn, and even hard
> to suppress by the
> capitalist society upbringing.
> Ilan


Ilan, that is certainly true.  Howevever, I think it
has also been proven that power, hierarchy and
territoriality also exist in human nature...or, at
least, in primates. Notice that I did not put nature
in quotations, because I dont believe that humans are
ONLY socially determined.

Will socialism bring out these "positive" virtues?  We
hope so, but the truth is, as Sharon says, we dont
know.  So far we dont have that many good models, do
we?  Somehow I think this whole question of biology
and human nature are things that most marxists dont
want to consider.  Most marxists cop an 18th century
french materialist line about human nature being
socially determined.  I think that is an error.

I am a computer engineer, so I dont have much
expertise in this area, but I am beginning my studies
of biology soon and hope to explore this very
question.

Thomas



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