Human
Nature
Dear Editors,
I'm aware that Socialists often have to face the criticism that
Socialism is against human nature. According to this point of view
human beings are naturally selfish and acquisitive, even when they have
enough to satisfy their own needs. There would certainly seem to be
plenty of apparent evidence for that point of view. I thought you might
appreciate a
section I came across in "The Neurotic Personality of Our Time" (1937)
by Karen Horney .
"The
irrational quest for possession is so widespread in our culture that it
is only by making
comparisons with other cultures that one recognises that it is not a
general human
instinct, either in the form of an acquisitive instinct or in the form
of a sublimation of
biologically founded drives. Even in our culture compulsive striving
for possession
vanishes as soon as the anxieties determining it are diminished or
removed."
Horney saw "the irrational quest for possession" as one of a number of
ways in which people try to cope with feelings of
anxiety, and not as an expression of "human nature". She rejected
over-generalised ideas about "human nature" and recognised how diverse
people are in their attitudes and behaviour.
ADAM WATERHOUSE, BRISTOL
Buying Life's Essentials
Dear Editors
The aim of capitalism is to sell. I remember that in the 1939/45 war if
we had food, warmth and shelter we wanted nothing, so I try to restrict
my buying to essentials.
M. B. A. CHAPMAN, BATH.
We're not too sure about this. If it caught on,
employers would be able to pay us all less.
Humanism
Dear Editors
Permit me to comment on your book review of Postmodern Humanism
(November). The British Humanist Association was founded in 1896 and
not as stated in 1963. A founding member was Charles Bradlaugh MP and
when I ceased to be a member in 1997 there existed links with
South Place EthicalSociety, Rationalist Press Association and National
Secular Society. I shall not comment on the reviewer's claim "they
still seem to be working out what their positive case is beyond
promoting a non-religious but still ethical approach to life". But I do
assure you that they have taken an active role in the promotion of a
large network of funeral celebrants and likewise for wedding and naming
ceremonies.
Whether these activities exist with the same momentum today, no doubt
the book's author (as a member of the North East Humanists) is
better able to judge.
E. HIRSCH, HOCKLEY, ESSEX.
According to the British Humanist
Association's own website, they were
founded in 1963. It was another body, the
Ethical Union, with which they are now
associated, that was founded in 1896.
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