Week 9: Post #2

2). Do you believe in the rationality, perfectibility, and mutability premises? What social institutions and practices are based on these beliefs?

Of the three premises covered in chapter 12 in the textbook, I only truly believe in one of them and partially in another.  The premise that I do not believe in is the perfectibility premise.  The book puts it as based on the old Puritan idea that humans are born in sim but are capable of achieving goodness through effort and control.  I do not agree with this notion at all because I believe in nurture much more than nature.  Institutions that follow this premise would be religious institutions.  This might also be a reason why I don't follow this premise, since I am not a particularly religious person.  This brings me to the next premise that I believe in: mutability premise.  The books states that this premise assumes that human behavior is shaped by environmental factors and that the way to improve humans is to improve their physical and psychological circumstances.  Institutions that follow this premise are educational ones.  The book says that a belief in universal education follows this assumption.  I believe that we can always find a way to overcome.  The premise that I have mixed feelings about is the rationality premise.  I want to believe that most people are capable of discovering the truth through logical analysis, but I am not sure all of us are.  The institutions that prove this premise are the majority of institutions set up in this country such as democracy, trial by jury, etc.  I think there is a lot of truth to this premise but not with everyone, which is why I can't commit to say I agree with it completely.