Human nature

Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics—including ways of thinking, feeling and acting—which humans tend to have naturally, independently of the influence of culture. The questions of what these characteristics are, how fixed they are, and what causes them are amongst the oldest and most important questions in western philosophy. These questions have particularly important implications in ethics, politics, and theology. This is partly because human nature can be regarded as both a source of norms of conduct or ways of life, as well as presenting obstacles or constraints on living a good life. The complex implications of such questions are also dealt with in art and literature, while the multiple branches of the humanities together form an important domain of inquiry into human nature and into the question of what it is to be human.

The branches of contemporary science associated with the study of human nature include anthropology, sociology, sociobiology, and psychology, particularly evolutionary psychology, which studies sexual selection in human evolution, and developmental psychology. The "nature versus nurture" debate is a broadly inclusive and well-known instance of a discussion about human nature in the natural sciences.

Human nature (disambiguation)

Human nature refers to the distinguishing characteristics, including ways of thinking, feeling and acting, that humans tend to have naturally.

Human nature may also refer to:

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Michel Gondry

Michel Gondry (born 8 May 1963) is a French film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. He won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one of the writers of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), which is often ranked one of the greatest films of the 2000s.

His other films include the surrealistic science fantasy comedy The Science of Sleep (2006), the comedy-drama Be Kind Rewind (2008), the superhero action comedy The Green Hornet (2011), the drama The We and the I (2012), and the romantic drama Mood Indigo (2013).

He is well known for his music video collaborations with The Chemical Brothers, Björk and The White Stripes.

Early life

Gondry was born in Versailles. He is the grandson of inventor Constant Martin.

Career

Gondry's vision and career began with his emphasis on emotion. Much of his inspiration, he says, came from the film Le voyage en ballon. He stated: "When I watch this movie, I dream I'm flying and then I do stories where people are flying. I think it's directly influencing."

Charlie Kaufman

Charles Stuart "Charlie" Kaufman (born November 19, 1958) is an American screenwriter, producer, director, and lyricist. He wrote the films Being John Malkovich (1999), Adaptation (2002), and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004). He made his directorial debut with Synecdoche, New York (2008), which was also well-received; film critic Roger Ebert named it "the best movie of the decade" in 2009. It was followed by Anomalisa (2015).

Throughout his career, Kaufman has been lauded by critics for his creativity and originality: Being John Malkovich features John Malkovich as a fictional version of himself finding that his own mind is accessible by others; Human Nature touches on themes of behaviorism and is told mostly in flashbacks; Adaptation follows Nicolas Cage as Kaufman himself, trying to write the film itself and to understand the book from which it is adapted, with the help of his twin brother Donald Kaufman (credited as a co-writer despite being a fictional character); Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind takes place mainly in the mind of the main character as his memory is erased; Synecdoche, New York is a postmodern film with many complex and surrealist elements; and Anomalisa follows the life of a self-help guru who experiences everyone, save the titular Lisa, as having the same voice and face.

Patricia Arquette

Patricia Arquette (born April 8, 1968) is an American actress. She made her film debut in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987). Her notable films include Tony Scott's True Romance (1993) as Alabama Whitman, Tim Burton's Ed Wood (1994), David O. Russell's Flirting with Disaster (1996), David Lynch's Lost Highway (1997), Stephen Frears's The Hi-Lo Country (1998), Martin Scorsese's Bringing Out the Dead (1999), and the Disney film Holes (2003) as Kissin' Kate Barlow.

For her performance in Richard Linklater's Boyhood, which was filmed from 2002 until 2014, she received widespread praise and won the Academy Award, BAFTA Award, Critics' Choice Award, Golden Globe Award, Independent Spirit Award, and SAG Award for Best Supporting Actress.

On television, she played the character Allison DuBois—based on the author and medium Allison DuBois, who claims to have psychic abilities—in the supernatural drama series Medium for seven seasons (2005–11), for which she received three Golden Globe nominations and two Emmy Award nominations, winning the Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama in 2005. Since April 2014, Arquette has appeared in the CSI franchise as Avery Ryan, the Deputy Director of the FBI. Since March 2015, she has starred in CSI: Cyber.