Why Can We Not Eradicate Human Violence?

The most important function of human rights is to protect inviolable, fundamental rights to which we are inherently entitled, simply because we are human; to guarantee respect for our lives, freedom and the pursuit of happiness. However, these rights are not very useful in times of war or other situations of human violence.

It is difficult for anyone to remain safe and secure without being hurt, hurt or offended by others.

Hegel’s “history theory” has the idea that the principles of thesis and antithesis (historical events) resolved in what we know today as synthesis as a basis. Synthesis balanced opposing parties. But it seems that Hegel was far too optimistic in both his theory of history and in his master-slave dialectic. It is not crazy to claim that our history is progressing in a bad way.

Even in Genesis we can see clear signs of human violence, as the god of the Abrahamic religions used violence when he expelled people from their earthly paradise – all to dare to taste forbidden knowledge. As they see it, only God can possess knowledge.

Furthermore, Eve sinned by eating an apple from the Garden of Eden. What followed was pain and violence as the brothers, Cain and Abel, reveal enigmatic tragedies through their actions; the desire for possession and power. Cain means “possession” and Abel means “innocence”.

The spirit and drive of dominance

One could say that the desire for possession is a desire for dominance. When an individual does not possess what he wants, he has to look for it elsewhere. This is where we find out that one person longs to possess another. He can only achieve it by grasping it and not letting go.

It is precisely this motivation to possess that makes us humans resort to violence and that makes us want to kill. That is why Freud described it as a “lust for death.”

Possession is nothing but a desire to dominate others so that one can possess what they have. If the bearer of the object that the dominant person desires refuses to give it up, the person will die violently.

Or as Nietzsche said: “Where there is life, there is a will to power. And even the strongest living beings will risk their lives for more power. This means that the will to power is stronger than the will to survive. “That means that in order to preserve what you have, you have to expand.

Who wins in a violent world?

For Adolf Hitler, Germany represented culture and strength. His country had the will to power. After all, no other country had what Germany had. It was from this idea that his need to expand and assassinate to increase his empire arose.

When you really want something, you have to dominate the person who already has it before you can possess it. In this case, it is the person with the least fear who wins.

The desire for leadership is spiritual, and therefore motivating. But the fear of dying turns man into simple mammals. Those who continue to fight maintain their condition as thinking people.

The world belongs to the leaders. They have the power of war and the media that they need to conquer the world. They can also possess the world because people are scared. And those who are afraid do not try to rebel.

Human violence and the search for power

For Nietzsche, the will to power reigns in people, and this is positive and important. The will to power throws man into a world of life and not work. The will to power exists because there is a constant development. We love ourselves and we do not want to just keep what we have; we are also willing to fight to achieve more.

It is precisely this confrontation with what you already have and what you want it is all about. For example, between the ruler and the slave; where the slave submits because he is afraid of dying, and thereby he is reduced to nothing.

Only those who are less afraid, who want more, and who do not mind harming others and fighting to achieve what they want, retain their human dignity.

This theory of human violence suggests that it exists because it has always existed and that it will always exist. It is inherent in humans and it is part of our nature.