Originally Posted by willravel

Alright, time to address this human nature stuff.

Either a given trait can be explained by innate genetic traits or it's tabula rasa. 'Human nature' is a simplistic and outdated term that's virtually meaningless because of it's varied and vague meaning. One may have a genetic predisposition to violence, or has acquired the concept of war from their environment. To blame 'human nature', as is pointed out by roach above, is to blame Vague language does this thread, and by extension hope of a solution or progress in the venture of ending war, a disservice. Can we move away from the vague and antiquated, for the benefit of the thread topic? If you'd like to suggest that a genetic or environmentally acquired predisposition for violence (coupled with any number of things such as greed or selfishness) spread across certain members of a given society can and will manifest themselves in violent behavior and, when coupled with a type of thought like groupthink, the inevitable conclusion on a mass scale is war, then go ahead and we can debate it on it's academic merits. I welcome that type of debate here, as that can reach a solution. Blaming human nature is tantamount to using Newtonian physics to examine wave functions on the subatomic level or using a rams horn to play a trumpet concerto. We have the necessary tools to really look into this.