The Evils of Man: A Bried History of Human Nature

Men have fought wars against one another as long as time has been recorded. Mans quest to dominate his fellow man may be rooted in some elementary genetic trait which dates back to our creation but this only explains reasons for war. Man still commits horrendous acts such as torture and murder, which can almost never be fully understood. What is it that makes some men so sadistic? In Jane Goodall's "Through a Window" chimpanzees are the primary focus of study, Goodall argues that chimps have the ability to kill each other but they lack the understanding of the consequences.

Goodall states "We carry in our genes deep rooted aggressive tendencies." Meaning that despite our evolution into a modern sophisticated culture, we still retain many simple traits, which are rather similar to those of the chimps. Chimps for example live in packs or tribes; in these tribes there is always a dominant male chimp that is responsible for the welfare of the group. He decides when the group moves for food and he protects the group for threats. In the same way many human males try and establish themselves as the head of a company, or family. Take for instance a father and his sons, if the sons start mouthing off, the father will be the one who steps up and quells their mini-rebellion. Mostly this comes in the teenage years when males begin to develop into men and wish to have control over their own lives if not over others.

All of this explains some of the deep-rooted aggressive tendencies, but the question of murder/torture/evil is still at hand. Chimps can kill each other and some times they do so, but the reason for this killing is never out of pure hate or one chimp wishing another chimp was dead. More likely would be territorial issues, one chimp challenges another and as a result a fight for dominance over the tribe ensues, if one chimp dies during the conflict it is not as a result of hate on the part of the other, but more of simple genetic traits which tell each male chimp that he should be the leader.

Humans differ from chimps in this aspect because humans can kill one another for reasons of pure evil, such as the holocaust where as chimps cannot comprehend their actions and so cannot kill for reasons of evil. Six million Jews were killed by the nazi regime simply because they were Jewish, this is an example of humans attacking and killing other humans for a reason of pure evil. Serial killers are probably the utmost evil humans seen today. Serial killers often get pleasure out of torturing and killing other humans. Psychologists have many theories as to why these killers do what they do to other humans, regardless its still inexcusable actions of violence against other human beings for absolutely no purpose other than self-gratification.

Humans and chimps can kill, but only humans can kill with the full understanding of their actions and of the consequences. Chimps lack the mental capacity to conceive of an idea such as killing another chimp. Goodall claims chimps can build and use tools before they actually need them, so perhaps chimps are still developing. Perhaps one day this will develop into the concept of premeditated murder, perhaps not. I certainly hope for their sake that they can stop developing into a "better" species.