PHL265H1 Lecture Notes - Ultimate Power, Carbon Footprint, Private Good
Document Summary
People are complicated machines driven by their own appetites. Being alive is to be constantly seeking power. The essential nature of humans is to be able to do what they want; whether that want is immediate or for the future. Thus, to be alive is to always struggle for the power to get what you want now and in the future. Since humans are able to make comparisons, they are always curious about how and where they stand in relation to others (humans tend to look at themselves in relation and comparison to others). The proper way to understand society is to understand it as being artificial, even though it is made up out of certain natural parts. However, in order to understand this artificial body, we must understand the natural things that make it. Thus, we must also understand men in a natural state.
