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3 J. Hate Stud. 121 (2003-2004)
Our Ancestral Shadow: Hate and Human Nature in Evolutionary Psychology

handle is hein.journals/jnlhtst3 and id is 126 raw text is: Our Ancestral Shadow: Hate and Human Nature in Evolutionary Psychology James E. Waller Whitworth College jwaller@whitworth.edu Paper presented at the Conference to Establish the Field of Hate Studies, Spokane, WA, March 19, 2004. I. INTRODUCTION In some unique ways, each of us is like no other human being. In other ways, each of us is like some other human beings. And, in yet some other ways, each of us is like all other human beings. The question of the nature of human nature is captured in this final statement. In what ways are we like every other person that has gone before us and will come after us? This ques- tion is particularly relevant to the emerging field of hate studies. Is there an endowment with which each of us begins our life that is important in under- standing how, and why, people hate? Many philosophers, social thinkers, and psychologists assume that human nature is intrinsically neutral and has no predisposing inclinations. In this view, we are a blank slate, virtually free of content until written on by the hand of experience. Others more optimistically maintain that our basic predisposition is toward goodness. Still others argue for a more pessimistic conception of humans as essentially evil, dangerous, or impulse-ridden-a recognition of our basic natural proclivity to turn ugly. Finally, many thinkers maintain the exis- tence of both good and evil inclinations in humankind and focus on the eternal struggle between these two universal aspects of human nature. How do modern social scientists respond to the question of the nature of human nature? Most are hesitant to engage the topic directly. There is some- thing too personal and subjective about it that makes it seem out of bounds. It is mistakenly assumed to be a question of metaphysics that cannot be addressed using the methodology of the social sciences. In reality, though, all social scientists have, and regularly employ, conceptions of human nature. It is pre- cisely these underlying assumptions that must be faced as we begin to establish the interdisciplinary field of hate studies. THE NATURE OF HUMAN NATURE IN MODERN SOCIAL SCIENCE Rene Descartes, the noted French philosopher and mathematician of the seventeenth century, argued that humans alone are capable of rational thought 121

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