If the entire human species were a single individual, that
person would long ago have been declared mad. The insanity would not lie in the
(1) of the human mind—though it can be a black and raging
place indeed. And it certainly wouldn’t lie in the (2) . The
madness would lie instead in the fact that both of those qualities, the savage
and the splendid, can exist in one creature, one person, (3)
.
We’re a species that is capable of almost
dumbfounding kindness. We nurse one another, (4) , weep for
one another. Ever since science taught us how, we willingly tear the
(5) and give them to one another. And at the same time, we
(6) . The past 15 years of human history are (7)
of those subatomic particles that are created in accelerators and
(8) , but in that fleeting instant, we’ve visited untold
horrors on ourselves. As the (9) species the planet has
produced, we’re also the lowest, cruelest, most blood-drenched species. That’s
(10) .
What does, or ought to, separate human
beings with other species is our highly developed (11) , a
primal understanding of good and bad, of right and wrong, of what it means to
suffer not only our own pain, but also the pain of others. That quality is
(12) of what it means to be human. Why it’s an essence that
so often spoils, no one can say.
Morality may be a hard concept
to grasp, but (13) . Psychologists believe even kids can feel
the difference between a matter of morality and one of (14)
innately. Of course, the fact is that a child will sometimes hit and won’t feel
particularly bad about it either—unless he’s caught. The same is true
(15) or despots who slaughter. The rules we know, even the
ones we intuitively feel, are by no means (16) .
Where do those intuitions come from And (17) about
following where they lead us Scientists can’t yet answer those questions, but
that hasn’t (18) . Brain scans are providing clues. Animal
studies are providing more. (19) are providing still more.
None of this research may make us behave better, not right away at least. But
all of it can help us understand ourselves— (20) perhaps,
but an important one.
