Inherently Violent?

Is violence a natural feature of human nature? Would it be possible or even desirable to ever live in a world/society with no violence?

Yes.
Yes.

Desirable ? maybe ...

We do not recognise all that is "violence", yet is and breeds more of it ...

... and some of that behaviour, we even consider compassionate and caring. :dry:

Just something to think about when one feels like being good or fair.

Perhaps this hinges on your definition of violence. Mine is quite broad - individuals acting to the detriment of other individuals. That doesn't necessarily imply a physical act of harm.. but even if it did, I think my answer would be the same.

I think as a species, you'd have to characterise homo sapiens as violent to some extent. We simply have too much evidence of humans being violent to believe anything else, and even the least violent of us have committed acts of violence in one sense or another in our lives, even if that is just verbal or mental in nature.

Society is grounded in ideas I consider violent as well, that old "them vs us" tribal mentality as well as the "eye for an eye" nature of punitive justice. Capitalism is violent because it's about maximising profit, and profit is violent in nature ("I want to take more than I give"). Most (/all?) practical examples of socialism are also violent because they remove rights from individuals and the system is defended with violence.

So.. is our inherent violence to some degree desirable? I don't think it's desirable as such, because I like to think that as a species we can move together towards shared goals and away from the types of things that make violence so ubiquitous. Is it necessary in some form? Yes, probably at this stage in our evolution as a species.

I think the fact many of us aspire not to be violent is important to consider. I don't think that's been true for the vast majority of our hundreds of thousands of years existence as a species and most of our daily lives are much less "violent" than those of the tribal, hunter-gatherer societies which comprised most of our history. In other words, we're moving in the right direction. But the other thing is, in those days the worst we had was a pointy stick.. a nuclear arsenal is a more worrying prospect.

I think violence is a natural feature of humans..
There is violence in some perspective in birth, and continues all through life..
Some acts to us are protection, but from the other side violent.
It would be nice to live in a world without violence, but in order to do say you may have to do it without humans..

V-Tog wrote: Is violence a natural feature of human nature? Would it be possible or even desirable to ever live in a world/society with no violence?

I'll answer this with a paraphrase from starship troopers by Robert Heinlein. He said something like the day humanity grows up and decides 'it ain't gonna study war no more' is the day some bigger, harder species with a huge chip on their shoulders moves in and cleans all of us peaceniks off our own planet.

Violence, however abhorrent it may be to some, serves a purpose. Like a condom, or a gun, its better to have and not need it than need and not have it. As a lifelong student of war, its tactics, its strategies, its history and tools, and as a former professional soldier, I am more than a little biased.

But I know of what I speak.

I would think that in some part violence is part of us from evolution, even if the majority of us never act on it. I don't know if it would ever be desirable to live without violence because humans always manage to find ways to be manipulative or hurtful, even without violence; perhaps it would simply be trading one thing for another?

Research into the brains of criminals suggests that there is a large possibility that for some the cause of violent behaviour is biological (see the very informative "The Anatomy of Violence" by Adrian Raine), but that obviously doesn't take account of war or other 'violence' such as physical sports like MMA which people participate in.

I would say it's natural, but desirable? I'm not sure I can answer that one.

Perhaps non violence will be the stepping stone towards mankind's next stage of evolution...

I am an enabler. I enable people to live lives of peace by drawing violence on myself. That is why I chose to be a military police officer in the military. I detain those that make living in peace difficult for others.

Is violence a natural feature of human nature?

Yep, a Buddhist perspective might be that it's caused by too much anger or fear as a result from a mix of attachment and ignorance. Further, that anger might be the result of too much focus on one self as the proverbial 'centre of the universe'. In that regard it is probably natural for immature (or wounded, or threatened) animal's to have a disproportionate focus on self preservation, leading to increase chances of that. I even think it's an important capacity to have, to defend oneself and others... but I think violence should be avoided as much as possible - ideally to the point it never happens anywhere.

Would it be possible or even desirable to ever live in a world/society with no violence?

Big topic, but in my opinion yes. I think security done properly does not need violence... its just that getting the tools to do it properly might take more time, innovation and yes evolution too!!

In a more primitive mindset, it's a necessity to get what we desire. As our diplomacy has evolved past barbaric days, we would prefer to get our way without use of any tactics, but it's not usually going to be the case. Peace or violence, it's truly individual in how we think is the best way to achieve our goals. As Desolous said, it's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. In other words, it's better to prepare for struggle than to be stranded defenseless. On the other hand, a true master of any art has nothing to prove and can accomplish many things without the direct use of that art. I posted an example of this in my journal, here: http://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/47-Journals/48151-luthien-s-journal?start=20#142178