Is Man Good by Nature?

Philosopher Soren Kierkegaard says that what is special about humans is that we can transcend nature towards ethics. But suppose for a moment that we were unable to do this, what would it be like?

My guess is that things would stay pretty much the same, we would still have relationships, we would still donate to charity, we would still have babies, we would still be polite to people. But what would be different as the philosopher Kant notices, is that we would do all these things not because it is right to do them but because of other reasons, self satisfaction, self-interest, sentiment; these reasons may be useful and beneficial, they are done in accordance with the Good but are they done because they are what the Good requires?

Consider cases where the Good may require us to give up our life for someone; how many penguins have you seen thrown himself on a grenade to save his fellow penguins? A penguin may trip and fall on a grenade when it is about to explode and save the colony but that wouldn't be self-sacrifice. Self sacrifice is not part of nature, it requires something special.

It requires that we move beyond the binds of nature. Penguins can't do this but we can. Kant thought this move involved reason giving itself laws of action; ones not conditioned by inclinations or motivations, but are followed solely for its own sake. Kierkegaard suggests that the move is made when we encounter the special presence of another person, who demands our help. This move does not just solely require sacrificing my life, rather all ethical acts are an act of self sacrifice of some kind; it is the putting of the others needs before my own.

Kierkegaard argues that the other person is special in that are Other, they are different from me and to treat them as if they were the same, would be to do them a violence; it would be to take something away from them. Therefore in order to protect this otherness, I must not place them in or reduce them to a mere role in nature, they are better than that.

Humans then are not good by nature, they are self satisfying animals, but because we can transcend nature, we can do good.