Communication Between Cultures

Human Nature Orientation

Nearly all judgments about human behavior, whether moral or legal, begin with this

core question: What is the character of human nature? Was Anne Frank right when

she wrote inThe Diary of a Young Girl,“In spite of everything, I still believe that peo-

ple are really good at heart”? Or was Xunzi, a philosopher in Ancient China, correct

when he observed,“Human nature is evil, and goodness is caused by intentional

activity.”For centuries, religious leaders, philosophers, scholars, and others have pon-

dered and debated questions concerning human nature, answers to which represent a

powerful force in how one lives life. Although all people individually answer ques-

tions about human nature, there are also cultural explanations for why people act as

they do. Since discussions of human nature often deal with divisions of evil, good and

evil, and good, each of those issues is examined below to see how they may differ

across cultures.

Evil. Some cultures believe that people areintrinsically evil. Brought from Europe

by the early Puritans, this view prevailed in the United States for many years. In

the last century, however, Americans have come to consider themselves as a mix-

ture of good and evil. That is, most U.S. Americans now believe that by following

certain rules, they can change and improve themselves. According to this idea, an

individual can achieve goodness through constant hard work, self-control, educa-

tion, and self-discipline. A more restrictive view of human nature as good or evil

is found in parts of the world where Islam is strong. There, you can find cultures

that are imbued with the notion that people have a penchant for evil and therefore

cannot be trusted to make a correct decision when left to their own resources.

Hence, to help control the actions of their members, numerous social institutions,

ranging from the religious to the political, are designed to monitor and manage

behavior.

Good and Evil. People with a Taoist worldview believe the universe is best seen from

the perspective ofyinandyang, an infinite system of opposing elements and forces in

balanced, dynamic interaction. Two of the forces are good and evil, and since human-

ity is part of the universe, these forces are naturally present in humankind. This idea

is exemplified in the notion of theyinandyangcycle. Periodic increases inyinare

accompanied by corresponding decreases inyang; this is followed by an opposite

cycle in whichyangincreases whileyindecreases. This view of the good and evil

nature of humanity proposes that evil cannot be eliminated because it is an integral

TABLE 6.2 Five Value Orientations from Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck

ORIENTATION VALUE AND BEHAVIOR RANGE

Humannature

Humans and nature

Sense of time

Basically evil

Subject to nature

Past

Mixture of good and evil

Harmony with nature

Present

Basically good

Master of nature

Future

Activity

Social relationships

Being

Authoritarian

Being-in-becoming

Group

Doing

Individualism

Source: F. R. Kluckhohn and F. L. Strodtbeck,Variations in Value Orientations(New York: Row

and Peterson, 1960).

Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck’s Value Orientations 215

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