Ten Theories Of Human Nature

A superb introduction to the timeless struggle to understand human nature, this book compresses into a small volume the essence of such thinkers as Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Jean Paul Sartre, B.F. Skinner, and Plato.

Over six previous editions, Twelve Theories of Human Nature has been a remarkably popular introduction to some of the most influential developments in Western and Eastern thought. Now titled Thirteen Theories of Human Nature, this text continues to be an ideal introduction to human nature andintellectual history. This unique volume will engage and motivate students to consider how we can understand and improve both ourselves and human society.

Questions for Further Consideration and Recommended Further Reading, which follow each relevant chapter, encourage readers to think further and to craft their own perspectives.

Lucid and accessible, Twelve Theories of Human Nature compresses into a manageable space the essence of religious traditions such as Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Jewish Scriptures, the Christian New Testament, and Islam, as well as the philosophical theories of Plato, Aristotle, Kant, and Sartre, and the would-be scientific accounts of human nature by Marx, Freud, and Darwin and his successors.

This book explores the idea of human nature and the many understandings of it put forward by such diverse figures as Aristotle, Rousseau, Marx, Freud, Darwin, and E.O. Wilson. Each chapter looks at a different theory and offers a concise explanation, assessing the theory's plausibility without forcing it into a mould. Some chapters deal with the ideas of only one thinker, while others (such as the chapters on liberalism and feminism) present a variety of different positions. A clear distinction is made between theories of human nature and the political theories which so often follow from them. For the new edition, Loptson has addressed the new developments in the rapidly expanding genetic and paleontological record, as well as expanded the discussion of the Christian theory of human nature by incorporating the ideas of the Marx scholar and social theorist G.A. Cohen. The new edition has also been substantively revised and updated throughout.

Over four previous editions, Ten Theories of Human Nature has been a remarkably popular introduction to some of the most influential developments in Western and Eastern thought. This fifth edition features a new chapter on Buddhism and a completely revised and reorganized chapter on Darwinian theories. Lucid and accessible, Ten Theories of Human Nature, Fifth Edition, compresses into a small space the essence of such ancient traditions as Confucianism, Hinduism, Buddhism, and the Old and New Testaments as well as the theories of Plato, Aristotle, Immanuel Kant, Karl Marx, and Jean-Paul Sartre. The authors juxtapose the ideas of these and other thinkers and traditions in a way that helps readers understand how humanity has struggled to comprehend its nature. To encourage readers to think critically for themselves and to underscore the similarities and differences between the many theories, the book examines each one on four points--the nature of the universe, the nature of humanity, the diagnosis of the ills of humanity, and the proposed cure for these problems. Ideal for introductory courses in human nature, philosophy, religious studies, and intellectual history, Ten Theories of Human Nature, Fifth Edition, will engage and motivate students and other readers to consider how we can understand and improve both ourselves and human society.