Managing in the Gray

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Appendix B

Human Nature,

Evolution, and Ethics

More than two millennia ago, Aristotle suggested that

human beings shared a common nature—an idea that is

now the focus of intense study and controversy. Aristotle is

known, of course, as a pioneering philosopher, ethicist, and

political thinker, but he was also the first important biolo-

gist and zoologist in the West, and his famous definition of

human beings draws on his scientific background. What he

said, with the power of simplicity, is that human beings are

political or social animals.

1

The usual practice for philosophers, sociologists, and

other thinkers is to focus on the political and social aspects

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Appendix B

154

of human nature, but Aristotle also e ...