Promises of the Modern Scientific Search for Human Nature's Multifaceted Soul

Abstract

Since time immemorial, hwnan beings have sought to understand the
essence of human nature. One well-known explanation-human nature is
dualistic, body and soul, and composed of organic and spiritual dimensions-
has not ended the debate over subissues that proceed from the main
concept of hwnan nature. Our concern here is how the spirit and the body
influence each other. As modem knowledge and science are far from having
the last word in this domain, the perplexity of human nature continues
to engage the attention of philosophers, psychologists, sociologists, and scientists.
In real terms, nothing has changed in our dualistic human nature
except its labeled names.
In general, modem psychologists have come to see the dualism of
human nature in its innate/learned dimensions. Some modem philosophers
have stuck by the asserted dualism of hwnan nature, making only slight
modifications concerning its spirit/body duality. For them, human nature
consists of a body/mind dualism.' Modem scientists have also tried to solve
the riddle of human nature's puzzling dualism. Behavioral psychologists
have sought to eliminate entirely, or at least as much as possible, the innate
state (the inner, spiritual dimension) of our dualistic human nature, with the
result that they view the latter as no more than a mere reflection of the
external environment(s). In a similar manner, the French sociologist Emile
Durkheim has oriented his own sociology toward the concept of /es fairs
sociau.x, which he believed to be the only forces that one needed to consider
when explaining human behavior. His resulting perspective bears a
strong resemblance to behaviorism, for both desire to eliminate the innate,
the psychological, and the spiritual side of human nature.
Contrary to Durkheim's rigid social determinism and behaviorism's
narrow S-R, sociologists have emphasized the importance of human
nature's innate biogenetic2 factors and how they shape and determine
human behavior. For them, the social behavior of human and nonhuman
living beings can be explained by biogenetic determinants. For example,
the practice of not marrying one's very close relatives can be seen as a result ...