Political Theory and Human Nature: A Talk by Jonathan Anomaly

"In his talk, Jonathan Anomaly offers an overview of how leading thinkers have used theories of human nature to justify claims about the kind of political institutions in which we should live."

One of the main themes of my Substack is the relationship that genetics has with social science, ethics, and politics. While many people understand this relationship, many more in Western nations take little time to consider it. The widely accepted causal explanations for many phenomena are vastly overstated. The average person is not particularly blameworthy because most have no exposure to behavioral genetics research. However, academics who dedicate their lives to understanding society are too often wilfully ignorant because they consider giving nasty ideas like “eugenics” and “genetic determinism” fair consideration is immoral.

These widely accepted but incorrect beliefs about human nature lead to wasteful government spending and ineffective social interventions. Taken to their extreme, they get people killed. The actual solution to many social pathologies—widespread genetic enhancement—is highly stigmatized and, thus, drastically under-discussed. The importance of genetic enhancement overshadows current social interventions considerably. Few recognize this. Fortunately, we have people like Jonathan Anomaly.