Can We Redesign the Aggressive Nature of Human Beings?

Five philosophers offer their opinions.

We asked young people what their most burning philosophical questions are. In order to answer them, we went and asked some of today’s leading thinkers.

Q:  Is there or could there ever be a formula to redesign the aggressive nature of human beings for hunger for power?

    - Rachel, 27

James Tartaglia, Keele University, UK

There isn’t, but lots of enthusiasts for ‘moral enhancement’ think one could be developed through eugenic biological science. That strikes me as a terrible idea—we shouldn’t treat human beings as if they were objects with a design fault, like a car with poor steering. You’re right that hunger for power causes major problems, but the way to address this is through politics, philosophy, and religion—persuade people to act more reasonably through reasoned argument, don’t look for a shortcut by poking around inside their brains. Also, note that hunger for power isn’t necessarily bad—you might want the power so you can help people, I think most good politicians are like that.

Matt Schneeweiss, The Stoic Jew Podcast

If the term “nature” in your question refers to the innate constitution of human beings, then I’m not sure what it would mean to “redesign” this nature. That being said, it might be possible to “dial down” the physiological causes of aggression using a yet-to-be-developed form of neurotechnology or to somehow intervene in the space between the aggressive impulse and the decision to act on it. In my opinion, there is another approach that is superior to either of these options and can be implemented without any new technology: namely, to take our aggressive tendencies and channel them towards healthier, productive, and socially desirable ends. By way of example, a person who has aggressive tendencies could become a butcher.

Miriam Kosman, Author

If we did, we would be left with a bunch of cows chewing cuds in a field. The drive for conquest and power is probably behind all scientific and technological advances. Both cats and humans have been gazing at the moon for thousands of years, but it took a human to look a the moon and say, I have got to get up there! Of course, the desire for power needs to be channeled, but if I didn’t want power, I would always give in to my temper or my desire for chocolate.   

Paul Franks, Yale University

If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie Clockwork Orange, consider it to carry a huge trigger warning! Alex is a violence-loving rapist who is reconditioned using the “Ludovico technique” so that he now feels nausea when he imagines violence but also when he hears the classical music he loves. The story raises many important questions, but its main message rings true: aggressiveness is not an isolated feature that can be excised without cost; if we are to change this feature of human nature, it will probably be through a change in the personality as a whole, not through a technique or formula. 

Grant Maxwell, Author

The suggestion that one can “redesign” human nature is dangerously close to eugenics for my taste, but one can perhaps reframe this question as: “How can the destructive consequences of the human desire for power be avoided?” I’d return to Nietzsche’s “will to power,” whose lowest expression is the will to dominate, while its higher expression is the task of human life: to carry the affective impulses, including aggression, into their more creative and active registers “to the ‘nth’ power,” as (French philosopher) Gilles Deleuze expresses it. To do this, one must withdraw projection onto the other, for instance, the demonization of other races, genders, sexualities, and religions, but also the projection onto a father, a lover, a boss, or even a child, in order to create something new that expresses the plurality of voices constituting one’s essential nature.

Other posts in this series:

What is the Best Way to Aquire Happiness?

Can I Make My Own Decisions?