Philosophers and theologians have documented their theories on the essence of human nature for years. There has been heavy debate over the humanistic proposals of people like Thomas Hobbes, and his rival, Jean Jacques Rousseau, who both came up with their own ideas stemming from the “social contract” theory to better define human behavior. Hobbes suggested that human beings, in their natural condition, are murderous and savage creatures. Rousseau had a less pessimistic view, believing that while men live to serve themselves first, they are not devoid of pity and compassion for other human beings. While humans may possess inherently selfish characteristics, we have also evolved to shy away from such tendencies.
While people have speculated on these ideas for many years, it has been difficult to come to any real conclusions about human nature when it isn’t influenced by expansive societal order. That isn’t to say that studies and understanding haven’t evolved, especially with advances in science and technology. Over the last 50 years, scientists have looked outside the human experience and studied chimpanzees, our nearly genetically identical cousins, paying special attention to their tendency to murder, as a way of potentially understanding the primitive or primal nature of human beings.
Scientists have observed that males team up to kill males from other chimp groups. They also kill rivals for alpha positions, and females will kill the children of other females to deplete genetic competition. Such murderous conduct has been confirmed to be sophisticated, premeditated and rarely spontaneous. Now, such observations beg a curious question: Is it natural for us as humans, who share almost 99 percent of our genetic makeup with chimps, to practice murder?
A paper published in Nature followed a team of primatologists and their combined experiences observing chimps in various environments. Pooling their data, they were able to establish whether rates of “lethal aggression” in chimpanzees were enhanced with human disruption of the environment (humans interfering with chimps’ habitats to force more densely populated regions of chimps, promoting conflict). The findings: Human environmental disruption didn’t predict rates of chimp murders, suggesting that their deadly behavior could likely be caused by genetic makeup.
There’s no question that human beings are aggressive and territorial. So, could it be that we have come to find ways of channeling such intense behavior into other things for the sake of accommodating human civilization? War, sports or even other areas like corporate careers or politics promote competition and aggression as a way of channeling more primal behavior constructively and in a way that is safe for human society.
The similarities between rival chimp groups planning and preparing for murderous attacks and professional football teams practicing for Sunday’s matchup are indisputable. Teams are encouraged to “kill” their opponents, demolish them to prevent further challenges and protect the pride of their home cities or states. Primitive tendencies appear inherent to human behavior, and it would be no surprise to me if evidence confirmed that, if society permitted murderous behavior as the result of competition, it would be as common within human societies as it is within those of chimps.
While human beings display a prominent level of selfishness and personal desire for success, they are not incapable of compassion and love for other people and creatures. Part of this kindness and care may be inherent, but I think it is enhanced by our evolution in channeling aggression constructively. In order to progress as a society, we must utilize our aggressive tendencies for constructive, useful ends.