Human Nature

According to Plato’s ideas of Human Nature, man can not be without imperfections. Plato believes that man cannot live alone in human nature and due to this weakness man will naturally form social relationships that enhance his chances of surviving in nature. Plato goes onto say, with these social relationships must come social and political structure to control greed and envy, without social and political structure these can not be maintained. With all that being said Plato colors his views of government by saying it is inevitable. As long as man must form a social relationship to survive, he will eventually have to construct government to control social relations.
Aristotle’s famous saying “Man is a political animal” says a lot about his views of human nature. Like Plato, Aristotle believes the construction of government is inevitable. In human nature males are superior to females. Slavery is a natural part of life and slavery is helpful to society. A slave master must always be good to his slaves. Aristotle believes that family is a component of human nature. In human nature man needs he family to survive. “Man is a political animal” pants the color of how Aristotle views the nature of government. He believes that man will always form some type of government in the end.
St. Augustine was a Christian philosopher and he had a Dualistic Constructive Version on Human Life. Just like the book he wrote there was the City of God and the City of Man. St. Augustine was not worried about the City of man but the City of God. According to St. Augustine there was divine nature which was God the creator, Corporal Nature which was the body, and Spiritual Nature which is the soul. St. Augustine believed the soul is naturally peaceful and man has free will. St. Augustine also believed that human nature was believers vs. non- believers. I do not feel that St. Augustine paints a clear picture of how he views government but I do