| Chapter 1: | Instincts |
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The last point must be stressed. Our instincts direct our behavior in that they provide goals for our actions. We use our reason to help us figure out how to meet these goals, but reason is subservient to our instincts. As Veblen put it, “Men make thought, but the human spirit, that is to say the racial endowment of instinctive proclivities, decides what they shall take thought of, and how and to what effect” [Ibid. 6].
Broadly speaking, there are two categories of instincts. One set of instincts is group-regarding, and seeks to promote human life in general. The second set of instincts is self-regarding, and promotes the individual’s interests at the expense of others. It must be understood from the beginning that these instincts are not independent and isolated from one another. They sometimes augment and sometimes contradict each other. As a moment’s reflection will no doubt reveal, human beings are sometimes torn by conflicting aims.
Human instincts are the product of human evolution. It makes sense that both self-regarding and group-regarding instincts evolved. Without self-regarding instincts, individuals would not survive. But for humans, individual survival also depends on the survival of the group. We are not solitary beings. Human life is lived in groups, and the destruction of the group generally means the destruction of the individual. Recent anthropological research suggests that during the last glacial period, there was a strong selection process in favor of those willing to engage in cooperative behavior. Faced with a harsher climate and more difficult living conditions, group solidarity meant individual survival [Ambrose, 2002, 22]. As Ambrose put it, “our ancestors made the transition to cooperative networking societies early in the last ice age. Neanderthals never achieved what I call this troop-to-tribe transition” [Ambrose, 2005].