Education, Altruism and Peace

EDUCATION, 20 Oct 2025

Dr. Surya Nath Prasad – TRANSCEND Media Service

The basic problem of the whole world today is the establishment of peace. But peace based on human nature will be foundational, lasting, eternal permanent and endurable in a nuclear age. Mark May says, “Man’s biological nature is neither good nor bad, aggressive or nor submissive, war-like nor peaceful, but neutral in all these respects.” Man may develop in any a number of different directions “depending on what he is compelled to learn by his environment and by his culture. It is mistake to assume that he can learn war more easily than peace. His learning machinery is not prejudiced… The bias is in his social environment.” UNESCO also observes, “Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the mind of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” 

In fact, what is involved can be evolved. The thing which is not involved cannot be evolved. The human organism contains both altruistic and egoistic forces. The biological struggle for existence impels it to perform egoistic actions. The struggle for preservation of species and often even for the self-preservation of the individual organism induces acts of mutual aid and co-operation and other forms of altruistic behavior. Charles Darwin himself stressed the law of co-operation and mutual aid, side by side with that of struggle for existence. In 1981, Russian Zoologist Kessler made it clear that law of mutual aid and co-operation is fundamental as that of struggle for existence. Later on, Peter Kropotkin in his Mutual Aid and in his Ethics demonstrates this principle convincingly.  The altruistic conduct of man, side by side, with egoistic actions, had deep roots in his biological nature; all the theories that proclaim the purely egoistic nature of human organism are untenable. Egoism and altruism are involved in human nature. Hence, both the nature of man can be evolved.

A great Indian poet Iqbal gives emphasis on the development of egoistic nature of man. He says:

                        Khudi Ko Kar Buland Itna

                                  Ki  Har Tadbir Se Pahle

                        Khuda Bande See Puchhe

                                  Bata Teri Raja Kya Hai

Develop your individuality utmost so that even God Almighty can ask:

“O man, tell me what do you want?”

It means, there should be proper opportunity for everybody to develop his or her individuality to the highest extent so that his or her ability could be properly honored and awarded. A renowned educationist T.P. Nunn said, “Nothing good enters into the human world except in and through the free individuality in man and woman.” It means proper environment should be provided to every man and woman so that he and she may develop individual ability and capacity to control his and her environment which surrounds them for their own betterment. But, there is a highest possibility for that individual to be autocrat, dictator and tyrant. This nature will produce personality like Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and alike persons. It means that Iqbal conviction about man’s nature tells us half truth. And left half truth about human nature is supplemented by the slaying of Sufi, which says:

Nukte Ke Her Pher Se Khuda Juda Hua

                                   Nikal De Khudi Ko Tuhi Khuda Hua

 The change of place of a dot, the word ‘Khuda’ (God) becomes ‘Juda’ (Separated),

Merge your ego into collectivity; you will become the God (Khuda)

If a man achieves individuality he or she will transcend it to the whole humanity irrespective of caste, creed, color, language, culture and even nationality. Then he or she becomes altruist and his or her merge into selves of all, which is God, collectivity is God. This is why it is said that the self of an individual is soul and selves of al are God (Apni Atma, Atma Hai; Sab Ki Atma Paramatma Hai). This type of collective self is altruistic in nature, which is peaceful also. And this is aim of education also. Both individuality and collectivity are essential for the good of self and society. Iqbal and Sufi conceptions collectively about man’s nature are true. If a person has no two breads, how can he or she extend one bread to the needy one. It means man must be capable of livelihood for betterment of self. But man is not made of for self only. Hence what he or she has become capable for himself or herself, he or she should extend his or her services for the benefit others also. This is true of altruistic nature, which is condition for perpetual peace.

State Determines Man’s Nature

 Man is the product of political environment. State is most powerful institution in every nation of the world. The behavior of man varies with variation of the political systems. Man as an individual is in the clutch of the particular form of government which may be a democratic or non-democratic. There are 195 countries in the world, which includes the 193 member states of the United Nations and 2 non-member observer states (the Holy See and the State of Palestine). The numbers of non-democratic countries are more than democratic countries in the world. People under non-democratic government are unable to develop their individual and altruistic nature. These types of governments make their citizens slaves and the slaves fail to develop their own nature of egoism and altruism. Even in some less democratic and quasi-democratic- governments, a very small number of individuals (the economic and political elites) who control the presidency or the cabinet, the communication media and the political parties are really making most of the crucial decisions most of the times. The powerful individuals have the right to decide that millions of people should be sacrificed for what they perceive to be betterment of the rest. A world renowned sociologist Pitirim A. Sorokin thinks, “If the State machinery functions for the benefit of a selfish minority and its rulers are incompetent, rapacious or corrupt, the State is bad and functions poorly.” Eric Fromm also observes, “If a person fails to attain freedom, spontaneity, a genuine expression of self, he may be considered to have severe defect, provided we assume that that freedom and spontaneity are the objective goals to be attained by the majority of a given society, we deal with the socially patterned defect.” Thus if most people fail to attain proper and equal opportunities for their full development we may consider it a State-created defect.

The State must have the bases of universal human nature and energies. Every man comes in this world with egoistic and altruistic nature to be developed for self- perfection. If the State is one of the effective means for achieving it, then it must reconcile the discharge of this duty for the sake of the individual and for its own sake. And this can be done.

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This paper is based on my article published in The Primary Teacher – (A Journal of National Council of Educational Research and Training), Vol. XVI, 4, October 1991

Dr. Surya Nath Prasad, Former President, Executive Vice President & Secretary-General of the International Association of Educators for World Peace (IAEWP); associate professor of education emeritus, the Graduate Institute of Peace Studies, Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea. Founder and editor-in-chief of Peace Education: An International Journal. dr_suryanathprasad@yahoo.co.in

This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 20 Oct 2025.

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