The politics of human nature

M. Kronfeldner*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to Book/Report typesChapterpeer-review

Abstract (may include machine translation)

Human nature is a concept that transgresses the boundary between science and society and between fact and value. It is as much a political concept as it is a scientific one. This chapter will cover the politics of human nature by using evidence from history, anthropology, and social psychology. The aim is to show that an important political function of the vernacular concept of human nature is social demarcation (inclusion/exclusion): it is involved in regulating who is "us" and who is "them." It is a folk concept that is used for dehumanization, for denying (1) membership in humankind or (2) full humanness to certain people to include or exclude them from various forms of politically relevant aspects of human life, such as rights, power, etc.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationOn Human Nature
Subtitle of host publicationBiology, Psychology, Ethics, Politics, and Religion
PublisherElsevier Inc.
Pages625-632
Number of pages8
ISBN (Electronic)9780127999159
ISBN (Print)9780124201903
DOIs
StatePublished - 2017

Keywords

  • Dehumanization
  • Exclusion
  • Function
  • Genealogy
  • Humanness
  • Inclusion
  • Indexical
  • Vernacular concept of human nature

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