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Essay - To what extent do socialists agree regarding human?
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To what extent do socialists agree regarding human nature?On the whole, it can be argued that human nature is a core idea which tends to unite socialists
due to the fact most socialists agree with the idea of common humanity and that individuals are
innately social beings. And so, most socialists agree with the fundamental ideas of human nature
and the threat capitalism has posed to human nature; however, it must be recognised that there is
some disagreement with regard to how harmful capitalism is and the way in which human nature
can be restored.
Human nature is a concept which denotes the fundamental characteristics of humans and for
socialists this is underpinned by the idea of common humanity. It can be said that all socialists
accept this idea which argues that humans are innately social beings which strive to cooperate
with one another based on natural fraternity. Subsequently, socialists such as Webb emphasised
the importance of collectivism which is essentially the opposite of individualism and argues that
the common good should be emphasised over individuals. Additionally, it can be demonstrated
that all socialists despite taking an optimistic approach to the basic state of humans recognise
how malleable human nature is for better or for worse.
However, whilst all socialists promote the idea of common humanity the extent to which humans
should bind together is a point of difference which can be shown with regard to different beliefs
regarding common ownership. Common ownership is the idea that the means of production
should be collectively owned meaning that everyone and prevents exploitation which occurs as a
result of private ownership and is an idea which most socialists accept to some extent.
Revolutionaries such as Marx and Engels take the most optimistic approach and argue that as a
part of scientific determinism eventually all the means of production will be collectively owned
within a stateless society whereby due to the altruistic nature of humans individuals will only
take what is necessary for them. Conversely, most other socialists disagreed with this optimistic
approach and thought that a state was imperative to prevent the worst of human nature
manifesting itself. This idea can be shown by Luxemburg who recognised the importance of
parliamentary democracy in order to prevent tyranny and to ensure humans could flourish in
common humanity.
And so, it can be said that whilst all socialists take an optimistic approach to the basic state of
humans and recognise the common humanity amongst individuals. However, revolutionaries
certainly take a far more optimistic approach and essentially think without the mechanism of
capitalism individuals can be innately perfect, which contrasts with social democrats and the
third way’s ideas but it can be maintained that socialists broadly agree on the optimistic view of
human nature.
Another area regarding human nature in which it can be said socialists tend to agree is the role of
capitalism in harming human nature. This is due to the fact that socialists see unchecked
capitalism as innately exploitative and argue the competition it breeds undermines humans’
altruism. This is due to the fact human nature is highly malleable, meaning capitalism has
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