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Write an essay on human nature by considering the following questions: Do human beings have
a unique “essence” that makes us different from non-human animals? Does this unique essence
lie in any particular trait/ ability/ characteristic, or various different, but related traits (for
instance, our ability to experience a unique sort of pleasure, or experience of intense suffering
and boredom, or intellect and its purpose, our artistic existence or creative ability, freedom and
self-determination, or our social existence that deeply shapes our identity, etc.)?
And finally: what are the implications of your thesis/argumentation for how we should live and
behave as human beings?
Your paper must contain two halves. You must begin by stating your thesis in the first paragraph
in very clear language. Do not start off with irrelevant statements (“Since the dawn of human
civilization…”), but get to the topic of the paper right away. In the subsequent paragraphs of the
first half of the paper, you must argue for your thesis by providing reasons (not other opinions or
beliefs) for why and in what ways certain qualities, abilities or characteristics define human
nature.Your paper must contain two halves.
In the second half of the paper, you must discuss the implications of having the particular kind of
“essence” (freedom, knowledge, social existence, or whatever) that you have already argued we
do have as humans, for how we should live as human beings in today’s society.
This is your opportunity to briefly critique at least two specific trends of our current society,
which you perceive to be in conflict/ tension with your view of human nature (For example,
depending on your thesis you may consider: how is knowledge understood today in our society
and educational institutions? How does our commercial society conceive of suffering and
pleasure? What do we understand by freedom today? Are there discourses that purport to be
liberating but are actually oppressive? And so on).
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