The Myth of Normal 97

Chapter 8 Who Are We Really? Human Nature, Human Needs There is always some conception of human nature, implicit or explicit, underlying a doctrine of social order or social change. —Noam Chomsky, The Chomsky-Foucault Debate: On Human Nature What is our nature? The query is age-old, in part because it is so hard to get a handle on. Taking in the vast horizon of deeds and accomplishments, from the life-affirming to the murderous, it certainly seems as if “being human” is a rather plastic, malleable thing. Though it may not be obvious why a book about health in the twenty-first century should concern itself with so broad and elusive a topic, I believe the question is central, with far-ranging implications. The relative health of any life-form is a function of its essential needs being met, or not met. Thus, to know what kind of beings we are is to know what we need in order to be those beings to the fullest. Who we take ourselves to be dictates how we set up our lives, individually and as a collective, and determines the extent to which a culture does or doesn’t meet the requirements for optimal health and functioning. Every society makes assumptions about human nature, and ours is no exception. “It’s human nature,” we say, shrugging our shoulders at someone’s—often our own—manipulative, self-serving behavior. “Interestingly,” notes the educator Alfie Kohn, “the characteristics we explain away in this fashion are almost always unsavory; an act of generosity