All people sleep and it is a biological imperative that they do. This does not mean that all sleep is or should be created equal. Most people have two hands but everyone’s looks lightly different and some might be missing fingers, etc. Sleeping issues are the same idea. They may be for psychological or physiological reasons, but they lead people to sleep less or sleep less comfortably. They do not change the fact that all people sleep. Sleep allows people to recuperate physically from the stress of the day both physically or mentally. Children likely need a lot of sleep during stages of physical and mental development and adults might need less because they do not face these developments. I would guess this would change at a certain age because the body would start to face difficulties from age related stress. This might be why your grandmother would seem to sleep more. Sleep is also an important aspect of human nature because it helps with memory storage. It is widely believed that our brain selects certain memories to maintain from the day’s activities during sleep. Sleep is also thought by many people to help us sort through emotions and difficulties in our lives. One theory of dreams is that they are where we work through unconscious emotions that we are unable to access in our daily lives. Whether these theories are true or not, and as someone with only an introductory understanding of psychology I cannot claim to know their degree of truth with any authority, sleep and dreams are an important part of humans as well as other animals mental and physical development and maintenance.
Should aspects of biological similarity and similarity in consciousness be filed under the same category of human nature or are they to distinct to be discussed as two parts of one whole?
First I just wanted to say good points...you paid attention well in your psych class.
ReplyDeleteAnyways to answer the question...
Due to the fact that they are BIOLOGICAL similarities although they could definately be considered their own topic of dicussion (just like anything else in philosophy...you could probably talk about it forever). But I also feel because it's biological similarities they also fall under human nature. I believe it is our biological aspects that contribute to our human nature. If we weren't able to do something then it wouldn't be in our nature...
Even something simple like walking. We all have to learn how to walk...we are born walking. Although all of us are not able to walk it is biologically built into our human nature. For those of us who can't walk usually it isn't because we aren't able to learn how per say but because of some other underlying cause. An example would be a baby born with only one leg or with a muscle defiency or and accident or something else along those lines. But because it is in our human nature to walk we have come up with ways for those in the examples above to walk. Such as crutches, canes, and walkers,etc. My point is even if we all can't do it initially we all had the ability and or the want/desire to learn how to walk.
Question:
Do you believe that our biological make-up contributes to what we are and are not capable of doing in our human nature?