In modern parlance, when the word natural is used in connection with human beings it tends to refer to our automatic desires. It is natural, for example, for men to desire food, drink, and sex. In our permissive culture, acting on such desires is also considered natural. Eating too much is so natural that we must develop drugs to slim down and casual intercourse is so natural that abortion-on-demand is an indispensable right. Man appears to have been born to satiate his individual desires.
This low and pessimistic view of human nature was put on full display at the opening ceremony of the 2024 Summer Olympics. While mocking the Last Supper, a man painted in blue sang about the glories of nudity. Drag queens then strutted provocatively down a red carpet. The message of the performance was clear: the restraints that civilized society places upon us are unnatural. Only when we reject our civilization can we become our true and natural selves.
This sentiment is not new to the modern age, but has been echoed for centuries by men who would tear down society for their own fulfillment. In a scene from Joseph Addison’s popular 1713 play, Cato: A Tragedy, a general named Syphax tells Prince Juba that the Roman virtues he is attempting to emulate are unnatural:
What are these wondrous civilizing arts,
This Roman polish, and this smooth behaviour,
That render man thus tractable and tame?
Are they not only to disguise our passions,
To set our looks at variance with our thoughts,
To check the starts and sallies of the soul,
And break off all its commerce with the tongue;
In short, to change us into other creatures,
Than what our nature and the gods designed us?
According to Syphax, the mores and manners of society are nothing more than impediments to individual fulfillment. Man is not defined by his calm adherence to virtue but by the passions that rouse his soul. Such a view is common among many members of contemporary society. The entire sexual liberation movement argues that man is defined by his desires and any civilizing restraints are unnatural and oppressive.
In contrast to this low view of humanity is a more robust conception of human nature that was promoted by the philosophers of classical antiquity. According to such figures as Aristotle, man was not defined by his desires but by his use of reason. In the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle seeks out the meaning of happiness by looking into the natural function of man. Indeed, he asks his readers to ponder whether man is “naturally ‘without work’” or whether he has a natural goal (Trans. Bartlett and Collins). Aristotle concludes that mankind is unique in its possession of reason and thus we achieve the human good through “an activity of the soul in accord with virtue” (Trans. Bartlett and Collins). In other words, men achieve happiness by fulfilling their natural function which includes the exercise of reason and the practice of virtue. Thus, it is not only bad for a man to unthinkingly indulge in his passions, it is also unnatural.
Aristotle’s view of nature provides a standard by which we can judge human actions. This idea was developed even more explicitly by Cicero who lauded the beauty of nature. When examining the laws he wrote that “We must clarify the nature of justice and that has to be deduced from the nature of man” (I.17 Trans. Rudd). In other words, moral injunctions can be determined by examining what a human being is. Cicero also agrees that reason is what makes mankind unique. Indeed, because men participate in reason, by nature, they can also discover laws that are grounded in nature. For Cicero, it is clear that “we are born for justice, and that what is just is based, not on opinion, but on nature” (I.28 Trans. Rudd). Nature is not merely the indulgence of spontaneous desires but the cultivation and perfection of reason. As Cicero continues in his influential work On Duties, “Nature and reason…have thought all the more that beauty, constancy, and orderliness ought to be preserved in decisions and deeds; and they caution lest anything is done improperly or effeminately, or in all opinions and deeds, lest anything is done or reflected upon lustfully” (I.14 Trans. Newton). Human nature guides man to truth, beauty, and goodness, rather than the fulfillment of subjective desires.
The road to recovering a culture of sanity requires rediscovering this empowering view of human nature. Humans are born into a moral universe that can be discovered through an honest examination of our unique nature. The human experience points towards the naturalness of moral virtue and the unnaturalness of vicious conduct. Furthermore, an honest conception of human nature has important theological implications. If man is a rational creature designed for virtue, then perhaps the universe has a governing principle. If, however, man was born to fulfill his appetites, then the universe is as chaotic as his changing passions. Our entire culture rests on an honest answer to a simple question: what is human nature?
