GS101 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Human Nature, International Trade
Document Summary
Nature and culture, the universal and the particular. International trade, convergence, integration, interdependence, colonization, regional blocs, migration, communications, technology, religion, culture, global village, a representation of ideas, different interests, power, multi national corporations. Economics politics culture 3 large domains of human life. Physical and mental structures regulate how we relate to the external world. Basic biological needs (food, shelter, security) are universal. We all go through universal life-cycle (birth, sex, death) Universal capacities (to think, evaluate, fantasize, to act, fantasize and hope) Universal emotions (love, hate, anger, sadness, vanity, shame, hope, nostalgia) Human nature may be universal, but it"s not deterministic. Human nature may function as a predisposition or a tendency but it doesn"t necessarily determine the outcome. E. g. war and conflict, but peace and amity. E. g. greed and avarice, but altruism and aid. E. g. shaping and changing environment to provide for basic needs, but also destroying out environment.
