More on essential and conditioned nature of man

Experience suggests that there is a distinction between “human nature in general” and “human nature as modified” in each historical period (From, 2005, 24). Accordingly, man has certain constant or fixed drives and appetites such as hunger and sex. They are present in all historical periods though their form and direction may change with culture. On the other hand there are other appetites which emerge or weaken in “certain social structures and certain conditions of production and communication.” An example of such appetites is the need for money. This need is not a part of essential nature of man. This need is the product of capitalist form of economy. Thus one’s personality or his psychological organization is shaped constantly by values, social structure and history (Figure 7.2). The implication is that happiness needs to be defined keeping in view both “human nature in general” and “human nature as modified” by history, and social structure, i.e., the sum total of social (normatively defined) relationships.

To quote Mukherjee (1991, 13):

Mukherjee says that are four cardinal values of human society: survival, security, prosperity, and progress. They link “the subjective wills of individuals and the objective circumstances with which they are concerned.”