- Capitalism and the Alternatives -

Is it human nature to be greedy, egocentric, competitive, power-hungry, dominant etc

Posted by: Ashley Lavelle ( Griffith University, Australia ) on July 01, 1996 at 14:53:41:

In Reply to: Capitalism/Socialism etc. posted by A. Kent Kingston on June 28, 1996 at 18:28:12:


The main point of your argument which needs addressing, incidentally it is the only main point of your argument, is that human nature is partly responsible for the gross inequalities prevalent in a modern capitalist "democracy". Does this mean that it is human nature to be greedy, egocentric, competitive, power-hungry, dominant etc? Or is it possible that humans are by nature inquisitive, creative,thinking and caring beings. My opinion is that humans are eventually products of the system in which they exist. A system which from day one teaches people to compete and outdo peers in order to be successful. If a system which wasn't based upon these few underlying principles were created, maybe the results would indicate some different ideas about human nature.



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