The self as survival machinery

This thesis is a philosophical enquiry into the nature of human beings, stimulated by Richard Dawkins’ hypothesis that human beings are nothing more than survival machines. Dawkins’ act of escaping his own unsettling conclusion, by proposing a mechanism that makes human beings unique, also stimulated the ideas in this thesis and is examined as symptomatic of a fundamental human proclivity. In essence this thesis explores the dynamics of human beings’ retreat from the notion that they may be nothing more than survival machines as well as their reconciliation with this disconcerting view of themselves. I argue that at the basis of this retreat is an aversion to the nihilistic corollary of Dawkins’ notion of survival machines, namely the idea that they may be nothing more than an animal that leads a life of mere existence, precisely a bodily existence of merely living and reproducing, only to eventually die. I argue that human beings yearn to differentiate themselves from nonhuman animals by claiming unique and special properties that elevate themselves above nonhuman animals that represent such a mere bodily existence. Human beings view such an existence as meaningless and pointless and it will be argued that the human need for transcendent meaning and purpose is an additional element in human beings’ retreat from the notion that they are merely survival machines. I also argue that the underlying dynamic driving the human desire to differentiate themselves from other animals as well as the need for transcendent meaning and purpose is human beings’ fear of death. I examine the psychological preconditions that cultivate these overall dynamics, specifically the nature of the human self, and explore how the self manages the knowledge and fear of its own mortality