Human Nature
Culture is the next goal of human development. It’s about the cultivation of thoughts and emotions through values and virtues. True culture refines human nature e.g. it elevates emotions, furnishes knowledge and keeps our primitive urges in check.
Human Nature Explained
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Physiology
Thoughts and emotions are both expressions of electric and chemical processes in and between the nerve cells. It's the various processes in the nervous system that make up the difference between thought and emotion.
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Emotionality
An emotion is mentally blind excitement in consciousness. It is always associated with some thoughts. Pure emotion is irrationality, a raw activation energy or arousal that motivates us to action.
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Mentality
Mentality is rationality. Rationality pertains to ratios. Ratios are about relationships and proportions. Mentality, mind, intellect, reason, rationality - all these terms describe the ability to reason: to recognise proportions, relationships, correlations and ratios in the world.
What is Human Nature?
How do we achieve happiness? Where do we derive our morality from? What are the right policies? What is the meaning of life? Such enquiries are usually made in the context of science, religion, philosophy, psychology, sociology, politics and economy. However, all these enquiries come down to this question:
What is human nature?
Human nature concerns body and consciousness. Physical sensations such as hunger, thirst and sexual drive are urges coming for the constitution of the body. Emotions and thoughts on the other hand concern the inner experience, the consciousness. Our nature lies at the crossroads between bodily impulses and emotional-mental complexes.
On a neuronal level there's no difference between emotions and thoughts. It's all electrical and chemical impulses. However, we experience thoughts and emotions as two distinct human faculties with their own different dynamics. Understanding their characteristics and interactions with each other will help us gain insights into our inner subjective lives.