Violence as a Defining Theme of Humanity

Julian Rose

ASA 2 Sec. A01

10/17/2015

Week 5

Week 5 Blog: Violence as a Defining Theme of Humanity

Upon reading Hamamoto's "Empire of Death and the Plague of Civic Violence," it becomes patently clear that violence is, has been, and perhaps will always be, intrinsic to humanity. Hamamoto's piece illustrates this point well, correlating the thematic elements of the trends of violent acts/sprees with the relevant war trends of the culture. It seems that regardless of how robust and civilized a culture is, its citizens will always be prone to violence, murder, or other forms of barbarism.

According to Hamomoto's piece, themes of violent outbreaks and acts of malice can indeed be a product of our society and culture. While it is crucial to analyze how our society shapes said acts, I wager it is equally important point to consider the fact that, while violence may be reduced by progressive ethical trends, (humanism, transhumanism, etc.) our biological and carnal nature may ultimately serve as constraints to completely achieving this end. The same manner in which wars are typically instantiated, (political or territorial reasons, etc.) it seems that humans are ultimately constrained by their biological predisposition to self-preservation, self-interest, and egoism. This finer point is demonstrated in Hamomoto's description of typical themes of mass murderers. Ted Bundy serves as an excellent testament to this hypothesis; killing relentlessly out of self-interest, pleasure, and a desire to control.

Question: How “far-fetched” or optimistic is the notion of a peaceful society? Is this simply not achievable? Or, is it achievable, albeit, only by years of ethical and sociological evolution?