> This is the 21st century. Are we really still talking about "natural imperatives"?
People (and in particular their brains) have not evolved significantly for a very very long time.
A lot of modern unhappiness is caused by people doing things which they are socially expected to do but which go against their primal urges.
The feminist movement is perhaps the classic demonstration of this. Many women feel that they should go and get that high-powered job etc. due to social pressure, but I think many of them would be happier if they didn't.
This problem isn't limited to women, of course. Men also feel social pressures to behave in more cooperative and less ambitious/aggressive ways and this causes issues for them too.
You're over-reaching. My parents raised me to be cooperative and less aggressive. It feels perfectly natural to me. The human brain is very malleable. There are some natural tendencies... I don't think the natural tendencies are quite what our society thinks they are. Socialization papers over most of them.
Try "socializing" an animal that lacks the evolved capacity for empathy. See how far you get.
We have incredibly complex apparatus in our brain with a dedicated purpose of socialization. Empathy, language, and cooperation are things which humans would not be capable of if we didn't evolve to do them.
People (and in particular their brains) have not evolved significantly for a very very long time.
A lot of modern unhappiness is caused by people doing things which they are socially expected to do but which go against their primal urges.
The feminist movement is perhaps the classic demonstration of this. Many women feel that they should go and get that high-powered job etc. due to social pressure, but I think many of them would be happier if they didn't.
This problem isn't limited to women, of course. Men also feel social pressures to behave in more cooperative and less ambitious/aggressive ways and this causes issues for them too.