Although humans are social
animals, perhaps the greatest limitation to each individual’s freedom is each
other. We are constantly thinking about
how other people will judge us if wear a certain pair of clothes or perform some
action out in public. We’re also
affected by peer pressure. People often
give into the will of others over their own at the constant urging of other
people. In many respects, ‘hell is other
people.’ Even when we are alone, our
minds still think about others would think if they ever found out. Much of who we are and what we think are
defined by society. Would we still have
racism and sexism if we grew up in a vacuum?
While we are constantly afraid of what others think of us, we require
social interaction, else we would go crazy.
Solitude would became its only hell soon enough.
We've discussed the social nature of humanity before in class, and the idea that solitude can be a kind of hell does follow quite nicely from that. However, it also caused me to think about another point, that of humans with abnormal natures - for example, psychopaths (not sociopath, who have normal natures but act abnormally due to outside influences). Are such humans inherently social as well? Certainly they initially require the presence of other humans in order to survive, but once reaching maturity they often seem to have no emotional need for the presence of other humans. I am not a psychologist myself, but I am interested in this issue, so I'd appreciate any opinions.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I also posted this on my blog if you'd rather it there.