Hobbes Lord Of The Flies Argumentative Essay

The natural way of humans has long been debated by several philosophers. One may agree with Hobbes’ perspective, all humans are naturally evil, creating chaos and disorder; or one may side with Locke’s perspective that all humans are naturally good, kind creatures. Still others do not side with either philosopher, believing that instead, humans actions result of their environment. This has fueled the debate about where human behavior derives from: the biology or the environment. The realistic fiction novel the Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, brings up this debate as it follows young British schoolboys who crashed onto an island. The boys then have to figure out how to survive on their own, forming their own leadership and organization;

The brain accounts for the main portion of one’s personality: “The cerebrum is also the seat of intelligence and personality.” More specifically, the prefrontal cortex of the brain accounts for the personality of one person; therefore, biology is the reason for decisions as biology determines personality, and personality is a part of the decision making process. One instance of this may be seen in the Stanford Prison experiment, an experiment complete at Stanford, where several college students played the guards and some prisoners. From the experiment extreme treatment and abuse from the guards to the prisoners was seen; however, this abuse depended on the guard, “Not all of the guards showed sadistic tendencies, with some seeking to actively help prisoners and show sympathy towards them.” (Shuttlewarth). Depending on the guards personality, the reactions were different, varying from being malicious and torturous to the prisoners, to being kind and reaching out to help them. Additionally, personality playing into decisions and behavior is seen in the novel when Piggy says “‘Which is better -- to be a pack of painted Indians like you are, or to be sensible like Ralph is?’ … ‘Which is better, law and rescue, or hunting and breaking things up?’” (Golding 164). Piggy discusses the different personalities of Jack and Ralph. Their personalities played a large part in to how

Their biology deciding their factors is due to their underdeveloped prefrontal cortex being underdeveloped, causing for poor decision making; their susceptibility to peer pressure due to their brains; and their personalities, which are determined by the frontal lobes of the brain. The decisions and a behavior all emerge from their biology, often leading to poor decisions. They are poor decision makers, and, due to the stage that their brains are currently in, are especially prone to submit to peer pressure. This leads to the poor and absurd decisions and behavior from the boys in The Lord of the Flies, and the poor decisions made by adolescents worldwide. The biology of humans leads to their behavior, especially in young adults and children due to their brain development. Everyone makes decisions in their life; everyone behaves a certain way. Behavior stems from the biology of humans, so how one will act, the decisions one will make, they will all occur, due to one’s brain and