The word essence often expresses the concept corresponding to the phenomenon, that is, the internal connection and fundamental nature of things. Human nature is divided into class and individuality.

1, human nature is the fundamental nature of human beings relative to other things (including nonliving things, plants and animals).

Labor is human nature.

First, labor is the fundamental symbol that distinguishes people from animals.

Marx pointed out in Das Kapital: "Franklin defined man as an animal making tools, an animal making tools."

Second, labor is the concentrated expression of human initiative.

Human initiative includes two aspects: actively understanding the world and actively transforming the world. The material activity of transforming the world is labor and the concentrated expression of human's unique conscious initiative.

Third, labor is the driving force for the formation of human social relations.

Labor formed the initial sexual taboo, resulting in marriage and family relations; Labor forms production relations, that is, economic relations; On the basis of production relations, political relations and cultural relations have emerged.

2. The essence of the individual is the internal relationship between the fundamental nature of a specific person (Zhang San, Li Si, etc. ) and its various attributes.

There are three aspects of human attributes:

(1) natural attributes (including appearance beauty, etc. );

(2) Social attributes (including virtue, good and evil, etc. );

③ Mental attributes (including IQ). ).

Virtue is the concentrated expression of individual essence; In other words, the most important criterion to identify the essence of an individual is moral quality. What is the most favorite question most children ask when watching movies? -"Is he (she) a good person or a bad person?"

On the essence of human beings, Marx famously said: "The essence of human beings is not an abstract thing inherent in a single person. In reality, it is the sum of all social relations. " Many scholars misinterpret this famous saying as: "The essence of human beings is determined by social relations."

In fact, the essence of the individual is the unity of social constraints and subject selection. The transformation of the last emperor Puyi into a new socialist was the common result of social transformation and personal efforts, and Gao Gang, a leading cadre in the new society, chose to commit suicide when he was critically educated.

Second, class.

Class is a social group in a different position in a specific production relationship, in which one group can occupy the labor of another group.

There are only six classes in human society:

(1) slave owners and slaves;

(2) landlords and farmers;

(3) Capitalists and hired workers.

The standard for dividing classes can only be economic standards.