Human Nature, Feminism, and Universals

Lisa Sowell Cahill notes that feminism has an ambivalent relationship with the notion of a universal human nature. On the one hand, the concept of a universal human nature has, in the history of philosophy and the world, shown women to be less rational, home-bodies, mothers, and, in many cases, less human. On the other hand, the notion of universal rights, which feminists rely on to fight for justice throughout the world, relies on the notion of a human nature that grounds those rights. She, then, calls for a theory of human nature which can support women, and other marginals, in the support of human rights but which also respects difference, either between genders or between races.

I whole heartedly support that call, and part of the idea behind my own research is to discover and elucidate such a human nature. The fact that there is a human nature cannot be denied if we pursue science which uncovers a human genome. But the genome is only part of the science and part of the story of human nature. That genome is expressed in material and immaterial ways.

When authors, such as Wilson or Dawkins, claim that genes determine everything or that human beings are material beings, they do not really say much. The question is, what does it mean for us to be human beings. For me, Mary Midgley has made great progress in thinking about this when she distinguishes between strict and open instincts. Something like a honey bee's dance is dictated by strict instinct. There are no options there. But something like caring for the young is guided by an open instinct. How a human mother cares for her child can vary along a wide range of "caring" types of activities.

On top of this, though, we have to include the immaterial reality of human life. For example, what ideas support certain "caring" types of activities and disallow others? This is where difference and oneness meet in the search for human nature.

So my project is a search for the biological roots of human practices.

References:
Lisa Sowell Cahill's article in Is There a Human Nature, ed. Rourner.
E. O. Wilson On Human Nature
Dawkins The Selfish Gene
Mary Midgley Beast and Man