For most thinkers since the Greek philosophers, it was self-evident that there is something called human nature, something that constitutes the essence of man. There were various views about what constitutes it, but there was agreement that such an essence exists---that is to say, that there is something by virtue of which man is man. Thus man was defined as a rational being, as a social animal, an animal that can make tools, or a symbol-making animal.
More recently, this traditional view has begun to be questioned. One reason for this change was the increasing emphasis given to the historical approach to man. An examination of the history of humanity suggested that man in our time is so different from man in previous times that it seemed unrealistic to assume that men in every age have had in common something that can be called “human nature.” The historical approach was reinforced, particularly in the United States, by studies in the field of cultural anthropology (人类学). The study of primitive peoples has discovered such a diversity of customs, values, feelings, and thoughts that many anthropologists arrived at the concept that man is born as a blank sheet of paper on which each culture writes its text. Another factor contributing to the tendency to deny the assumption of a fixed human nature was that the concept has so often been abused as a shield behind which the most inhuman acts are committed. In the name of human nature, for example, Aristotle and most thinkers up to the eighteenth century defended slavery. Or in order to prove the rationality and necessity of the capitalist form of society, scholars have tried to make a case for acquisitiveness, competitiveness, and selfishness as natural human characters. Popularly, one refers cynically to “human nature” in accepting the inevitability of such undesirable human behavior as greed, murder, cheating and lying.
Another reason for skepticism about the concept of human nature probably lies in the influence of evolutionary thinking. Once man came to be seen as developing in the process of evolution, the idea of a substance which is contained in his essence seemed untenable. Yet I believe it is precisely from an evolutionary standpoint that we can expect new insight into the problem of the nature of man.
63. Most philosophers believed that human nature ________.
A. is the quality distinguishing man from other animals
B. consists of competitiveness and selfishness
C. is something partly innate and partly acquired
D. consists of rationality and undesirable behavior
64. The traditional view of “human nature” was strongly challenged by ________.
A. the emergence of the evolutionary theory
B. the historical approach to man
C. new insight into human behavior
D. the philosophical analysis of slavery
65. The author mentioned Aristotle, a great ancient thinker, in order to ________.
A. emphasize that he contributed a lot to defining the concept of “human nature”
B. show that the concept of “human nature” was used to justify social evils
C. prove that he had a profound influence on the concept of “human nature”
D. support the idea that some human characters are inherited.
66. According to the passage, anthropologists believe that human beings ________.
A. have some characters in common
B. are born with diverse cultures
C. are born without a fixed nature
D. change their characters as they grow up