Steven Pinker’s academic view on violence and humanity leads
many related humanities and philosophical studies in terms violence and the existence
and the history of humanity. The text
authored by Steven Pinker, The Better Angels of Our Nature opened my mind to
the realities of humanity and the history of violence. And the most interesting part that Pinker emphasizes
that since the dawn of mankind violence towards human being itself is more
frequent compared today. His theories
drives the notion that governance and civilization is still in the process of
evolution that one way for humans to survive is to violently kill same species
or other species. What Pinker would like
to show to his reader that the attitude for humans to get violent is
genetically acquired in our human species? Pinker further deepens his narrative examples
regarding violence by quoting several stories in the bible that shows how
violence and civilization occurred during the time of the exodus in Egypt. International laws and negotiations at that
time are not that refined in terms of legislative protocols we have today in the
United Nations. One country or Kingdom
can easily go to war without any good reason but only for the sake of political
power and survival in their economic and military survival. Unlike today United Nations are setting
international guidelines to serve as the universal guide for peace and
prosperity of mankind.
The observation
of Pinker flows back to the early civilization of men that human beings before
are more brutal compared to our society today.
It is but a general notion that present civilization today are more
inclined with the nightmares of crime, terrorism, genocide, and war. But the belief
is rather opposite in manner. According
to the data being gathered by Pinker based from the secondary data sources of
historical and archeological data civilization before are more brutal and
violence and started to become more civilized until today. Pinker even sited the story of Cain and Abel
in the Bible that with that population at that time the death of Abel gave 25%
homicide rate given that the population at that time is only 4, that is about a
thousand times higher than the equivalent rates in Western countries today. During the 21st century has certainly
seen the rape of women during wartime. Menelaus launches the Trojan War when
his wife, Helen, is abducted. Also, the
case of Helen gave the reason for Agamemnon to rally other smaller nations and
started a war against Greeks. During
that war time women has no value at all unlike the women of today. Rights of women are more equal with men due
to the ratified civilized laws of our lands.
Only a handful few are still having hang-ups with the traditional
legislative references that women are still inferior in terms of the old values
that some nations are observing.
Pinker
further cited the story of Abraham in the Bible when Abraham attempted to offer
his son Abel for the sake of his faith.
Sodom is on fire because of the belief that the people in Sodom are not
in accordance to the standards that God gave them. More over the Passover alludes to the
executioner angel’s passing over the households with Israelite firstborns. According to Pinker God follows these
massacres with another one when he drowns the Egyptian army as they pursue the
Israelites across the Red Sea. During
this time blasphemy, homosexuality, adultery, and working on Sabbath are
subject to the sinful acts based from their religious laws that Moses and Aaron
followed. Thus, Moses and his brother
Aaron killed three thousand of their companions. Many of the acts in the olden times in terms
of justice and law are all subject to capital punishments. Thus, it gives the high rates of brutality and
violence in terms of capital punishment alone.
Even Saul plots to have David assassinated but David narrowly and manage
to escape before staging a successful coup.
Professor Steven Pinker in The University of Edinburgh
During the early modern Europe the eagerness for mankind to
commit violence still runs to the genetic behavior of men. During the time of
Shakespeare most of his story plots are inclined to violence and romance. Shakespeare’s depiction of tragedy and
violence resulted to a more aggressive and romantic behavior of men. His famous story of the “Merchant of Venice”
triggers the behavior of revenge and violence. The story of Titus Andronicus,
two men kills another man, rape his bride, cut out his tongue, and amputate her
hands. Her father kills the rapists, cooks them in a pie, and feeds them to
their mother, whom he then kills before killing his own daughter for having
gotten raped in the first place; then he is killed, and his killer is
killed. With this simple analogy during
the early Europe justice are also defined in terms of violence. As of today Capital Punishment is already an
obsolete notion in terms of Justice.
Justice in looking in a myopic point of view the most easy and rapid way
to show justice to a victim is the term “Eye for and eye” looks satisfying in
the view of the public and the victim itself but if you deepen the
understanding of the sadistic human behavior based from the emphatic narratives
of Pinker in his text we can conclude that to implement capital punishment is
some kind of obsolete in terms of the modern and refined definition of the
civilized world.
Even one Senator in the
Philippines is so funny and illogical in his statement in the chambers knowing
that his premise drives to the standard of the Bible that capital punishment is
biblical and we need to follow it. We
cannot deny that his livelihood is related to violence thus his myopic view of
justice points directly to the violent act of capital punishment. If he only based his premise to the emphatic
history of violence in human history maybe he can be enlightened that capital
punishment is the old way of seeking justice.
The matter suggest that if a country rules out to capital punishment
that goes to show that the country is not that refined in terms of law and
order. According to the theoretical view
of Pinker, it suggests that men tend to be more violent in nature when men are
trying to survive in his animal instinct.
On the contrary when men specifically animals are being domesticated,
animals starts to be more friendly with humans.
For example during the olden times dogs are not the best friend of
humans but because of domestication and farming in a civilized world wolfs
became cute and cuddly dogs that even some people sleep with their pet dogs
today. From tribal wars, Empires, Religious wars,
cold war, and the modern nuclear war the cravings of violence of men are still
a trigger away.
The logic of violence drives as back to the fundamental studies
of Darwin and his theories, The origin of species relates to the natural
tendencies of humans to commit violence.
In the FOOD CHAIN itself that is more basic fundamental of human and
animal survival we can conclude that killing is for survival and for food. Likewise, we cannot blame the Philippine senator
that his only reference for diplomacy is the Bible that the bible is based from
the historical stories of the ancient civilization that by then violence are
more rampant compared today based from the observation of Pinker and other
theorist inclined to Philosophy and violence.
We cannot compare our present civilization today from the olden biblical
times. I hope this senator will be
enlightened with the present stand of human philosophy and social
sciences. Though our human nature based
from the observation of Darwin and Richard Dawkins that we are violent in
nature in order to survive, Legislative bodies should consider that their
main concern in making laws is to prevent violence not resorting to the
concepts of “eye for an eye” or cannibalism. The Theory of Leviathan or what we commonly
known as the Leviathan Theory suggest that in every act of violence, there are
three interested parties: the aggressor, the victim and a bystander. Each has
motives of violence: the aggressor to prey the victim, the victim to retaliate,
and the bystander to minimize collateral damage for the fight.
In this case, in terms to the capital punishment issue, since BYSTANDER is
considered as the LAW, therefore the law and the law makers must create and
formulate a law since their given role in this given theory is to minimize
collateral damage for the fight. But rather in the case of capital
punishment it will trigger more violence in the near future.
To argue with the premise for those law
makers that are pro capital punishment and basing their logical supports from
the biblical history, my personal question for them is that why the church and
any religious faith long before the bible times are positive in terms of
capital punishments like Moses, and the modern religious groups of today are TOTALLY
negative in terms of capital punishment?
Is it about the teachings of the Bible or the natural evolution of
mankind and Civilization? In the later chapters of the written literature of
Steve Pinker it shows that eventually mankind in the future will be more
peaceful and civilized. The force of
COSMOPOLITANISM such as literacy, mobility, and mass media can prompt people to
take the perspective of people unlike themselves and to expand their circle of
sympathy to embrace them. Finally, an
intensifying application of knowledge and rationality to human affairs, the escalators
of REASON AND ENLIGHTENMENT can force people to recognize the futility of cycle
of violence, to ramp down the privileging of their own interests over others
and to reframe violence as a problem to be solved rather than a contest to be
won. I am just dismayed to the idea that
high legislative office in my country need not require to have the learning of
the deeper studies of philosophy and law but rather on the contrary to apply
for a job in SM shopping mall you need a bachelor’s degree to achieve the job. Isn’t that ironic?
The Animal instinct of Violence and Romance
Comments