Human Nature and Value Theory

HUMAN NATURE AND VALUE THEORY T HE CONCEPTION OF VALUE that I wish to propose in this essay has both classical rootage and contemporary awareness. The classical roots are to be found in Plato, Aristotle, and what came to be called natural law theory. I have not been accustomed to using the term' natural law' for my views because of the ambiguous interpretations which the term seems to invite. To some, of course, it inevitably suggests scientific laws, to others fixed orders of creation, and to others perhaps even papal encyclicals. Since none of these is to the point, it seems easier simply to state what one believes without wrestling with a complicated label. Besides, I would not want to be committed automatically to everything that has been put under the heading of natural law. The only point of relevance for the present purpose is the belief that an adequate understanding of value can be based on an adequate understanding of human nature. Still, within this framework, I claim that in what follows there is a modest contribution to natural law thinking, and this is the contemporary awareness I mentioned. On the whole natural law is probably thought of by most people as a system of ethical principles rather than as value theory. To be sure, the good is a central notion in natural law theory, so that values can hardly be ignored. But the paramount focus is ethical principles . Yet it seems possible, and worthwhile, to single out values as such, in the spirit of contemporary value theory, and try to show that they can be interpreted through an understanding of human nature, that is, the "laws " of our nature. This is the contribution I propose. I would go further and suggest the speculation that natural law theory may be more fruitfully considered as a basis for value theory than as a source for particular moral precepts. An analogous assessment has been made by ~78 HUMAN NATURE AND VALUE THEORY 279 others regarding normative ethics vs. metaethics, with natural law being held to be more applicable to the latter than to the former. Without disagreeing with that assessment, the present account focuses strictly on the nature of value. Four theses need to be established in order to make good on this project. They are: (1) There is such a thing as human nature. (2) This nature inclines us, barring interferences, in certain definite directions of activity. (3) The satisfaction we call value experience is found in the fulfillment of these very inclinations. (4) Values are thus perfections of our nature, as measured by the good of all-round perfection or, as John Cooper puts it, interpreting Aristotle in Reason and Human Good in Aristotle , "human flourishing." To underscore that these theses are not just truisms, I add the following: (1) The first thesis is a kind of essentialist principle and is opposed to any nominalism, existentialism, or positivism that would deny an essence of man. (2) The second thesis is a teleological principle and is opposed to any naturalism, mechanism, or pragmatism that would deny natural purposes or ends. (3) The third thesis is similar to what John Rawls has called the Aristotelian principle and is opposed to any hedonistic or interest theory of value which ignores the role in value experience of human nature and its inclinations. (4) The fourth thesis is a perfectivist principle and is opposed to any empirical or descriptive account of values which ignores the role of excellence or normative fulfillment in value experience. Human Nature To believe that there is a human nature is to believe that there is an essence of man. An essence in this sense comprises 280 DONALD W ALHOUT traits or characteristics or properties or capacities possessed by all human beings whatsoever. This essence is the general essence , in contrast with what some modal logicians call the individual essence, the latter being a property possessed necessarily , or in all possible worlds, by an individual. The rejection of a general human essence is sometimes based, I suspect, on a confusion of questions. The question about essence is this: Are there characteristics necessary to man such that any being without them...