Society and Its Relation to Human Nature

Society and Its Relation to Human Nature

The origins of human nature and society are distinguished and are different throughout history. The origin of human nature depends upon the period involved. Early anthropologists based human nature on their own experiences of living because no written records existed as to how a society formed, while modern anthropologists have the luxury of using written records and current living situations to develop their own notion of a society and human nature. However, human nature cannot be defined by a particular set of criteria, because it embodies characteristics that are associated with thinking and feeling that humans should naturally have. It is not clear as to what exact characteristics humans should naturally have because society originations differ throughout causing everybody to think and exhibit qualities that are distinct among their origins. Many scholars have struggled with the classifications societies have brought forth, forcing them to struggle with the idea of where human nature originated and how such classifications are even brought forth in a society. In Ancient Society, Lewis Henry Morgan’s focus is on the idea of progress and how it is used as a classification system. He explains that progress is a series of social strata that are arranged on a scale from which man has worked his way up from the bottom. Progress, according to Morgan, is historically true for the whole family, but it is not uniform therefore stating that human advancement came forth through different conditions. The idea of progress was presented through an analogy of an ascent to human supremacy on earth and the ideal person to portray progress is an individual who is working his way up the ladder in society. The concept of rising in status through society came from the Roman phrase cursus honorum, which means rising through the ranks. This Roman idea became the background for the English ideas of a career and working one’s