Ancient views of greed abound in nearly every culture. In Classical Greek thought; pleonexy (an unjust desire for tangible/intangible worth attaining to others) is discussed in the works of Plato and Aristotle.[9] Pan-Hellenic disapprobation of greed is seen by the mythic punishment meted to Tantalus, from whom ever-present food and water is eternally withheld. Late-Republican and Imperial politicians and historical writers fixed blame for the demise of the Roman Republic on greed for wealth and power, from Sallust and Plutarch[10] to the Gracchi and Cicero. The Persian Empires had the three-headed Zoroastrian demon Aži Dahāka (representing unslaked desire) as a fixed part of their folklore. In the Sanskrit Dharmashastras the “root of all immorality is lobha (greed).”,[11] as stated in the Laws of Manu (7:49).[12] In early China, both the Shai jan jing and the Zuo zhuan texts count the greedy Taotie among the malevolent Four Perils besetting gods and men. North American Indian tales often cast bears as proponents of greed (considered a major threat in a communal society).[13] Greed is also personified by the fox in early allegoric literature of many lands.[14][15]
Greed (as a cultural quality) was often imputed as a racial pejorative by the ancient Greeks and Romans; as such it was used against Egyptians, Punics, or other Oriental peoples;[16] and generally to any enemies or people whose customs were considered strange. By the late Middle Ages the insult was widely directed towards Jews.[17]
In the Books of Moses, the commandments of the sole deity are written in the book of Exodus (20:2-17), and again in Deuteronomy (5:6-21); two of these particularly deal directly with greed, prohibiting theft and covetousness. These commandments are moral foundations of not only Judaism, but also of Christianity, Islam, Unitarian Universalism, and the Baháʼí Faith among others. The Quran advises do not spend wastefully, indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils…, but it also says do not make your hand [as though] chained to your neck…"[18] The Christian Gospels quote Jesus as saying, "“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”,[19] and “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”.[20]
Human nature is to cooperate and share among the tribe, and the tribe is basically just “anyone who lives in the same place.” Yes, maybe expanding the tribe to include “everyone everywhere” is beyond human nature, but we’re extremely good at welcoming new people into the tribe. There are countless examples throughout all of human history of new people being welcomed in despite being different, and that’s so very different from basically the rest of the animal kingdom. Humans are amazing, stop being a misanthrope.
It is! Humans are naturally cooperative and empathetic, we aren’t selfish assholes that only care about our immediate families.
Empathy is a skill. It atrophies under capitalism, but it could be trained and flourish under different conditions.
From wikipedia:
Ancient views of greed abound in nearly every culture. In Classical Greek thought; pleonexy (an unjust desire for tangible/intangible worth attaining to others) is discussed in the works of Plato and Aristotle.[9] Pan-Hellenic disapprobation of greed is seen by the mythic punishment meted to Tantalus, from whom ever-present food and water is eternally withheld. Late-Republican and Imperial politicians and historical writers fixed blame for the demise of the Roman Republic on greed for wealth and power, from Sallust and Plutarch[10] to the Gracchi and Cicero. The Persian Empires had the three-headed Zoroastrian demon Aži Dahāka (representing unslaked desire) as a fixed part of their folklore. In the Sanskrit Dharmashastras the “root of all immorality is lobha (greed).”,[11] as stated in the Laws of Manu (7:49).[12] In early China, both the Shai jan jing and the Zuo zhuan texts count the greedy Taotie among the malevolent Four Perils besetting gods and men. North American Indian tales often cast bears as proponents of greed (considered a major threat in a communal society).[13] Greed is also personified by the fox in early allegoric literature of many lands.[14][15]
Greed (as a cultural quality) was often imputed as a racial pejorative by the ancient Greeks and Romans; as such it was used against Egyptians, Punics, or other Oriental peoples;[16] and generally to any enemies or people whose customs were considered strange. By the late Middle Ages the insult was widely directed towards Jews.[17]
In the Books of Moses, the commandments of the sole deity are written in the book of Exodus (20:2-17), and again in Deuteronomy (5:6-21); two of these particularly deal directly with greed, prohibiting theft and covetousness. These commandments are moral foundations of not only Judaism, but also of Christianity, Islam, Unitarian Universalism, and the Baháʼí Faith among others. The Quran advises do not spend wastefully, indeed, the wasteful are brothers of the devils…, but it also says do not make your hand [as though] chained to your neck…"[18] The Christian Gospels quote Jesus as saying, "“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions”,[19] and “For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world.”.[20]
That’s not “human nature”, that’s an evolutionary eye blink! Do you think people 50,000 years ago had concepts like that? Absolutely not!
Yes they did. Dogs are greedy. Monkeys are greedy. You dont get far in this world if you dont have some sort of greed baked into your genes.
You aren’t a dog and you aren’t a monkey.
Human nature is to cooperate and share among the tribe, and the tribe is basically just “anyone who lives in the same place.” Yes, maybe expanding the tribe to include “everyone everywhere” is beyond human nature, but we’re extremely good at welcoming new people into the tribe. There are countless examples throughout all of human history of new people being welcomed in despite being different, and that’s so very different from basically the rest of the animal kingdom. Humans are amazing, stop being a misanthrope.
MFW we’re trying to compare a small tribe to a countries spanning landmasses…
Now you’re just highlighting how unnatural human lives are, which makes the entire “human nature” talking point irrelevant anyway!
Every civilization in history has thought of itself and everything it does as natural or ordained by god or somehow fated. It’s all bullshit.