The Diversity of Human Agency

The concept of human agency is that humans act as agents in their own destiny - they make choices that have causal effects on the themselves and the world around them. This contrasts with both the naturalistic theory that it is natural forces that determine human fate and with religious beliefs that God determines the fate of man. There are contraversial views regarding whether human agents act with cognitive intent to be agents or not. Regardless of which theory one puts the highest value on, human agency does exist in diverse forms and effects. People do act as human agents with intent but as anyone who has set out on a mission and had something other than the original goal as a result knows, intent does not always bring about the intended. The variety of human agents and their yields suggests that human agency can be deterministic, opportunisttic or simply coincidence. There is a diverse and broad set of examples of human agency that this can be seen threaded throughout history. Some cases of human agency, while still being human agency, follow their own destiny apart from human intent. Perhaps this is the most human quality of human agency.

In the post-classical period (500 - 1500 A.D.) the trend towards capitalism created an environment ripe for human agency in the form of an organized groups looking out for their common interests, guilds. There had been a traditional acceptance of services, goods and use of land in (at times, unfair) exchanges between serfs and their landlords (Stearns 347) that was being altered by the economic trends of the time. Trade was expanding, encompassing a multitude of land and sea routes all across Medieval Europe, from the North Sea through the Mediterranean Sea and to Baghdad and the East (SUMY). Manors were no longer independent in providing their needs and were specializing in crops in order to capitalize on trade (Brinton 434). This, and the distance involved in trading, made it impractical not to deal in monetary notes (Stearns 361). Serfdom was disappearing as the manor lands demanded money for rent instead goods and services, and businessmen wanted to hire workers instead of being tied to servants who were bound to them in their servitude (Brinton 434). As capitalistic ventures became more prevalent there was the opportunity for people to band together in merchant and artisan guilds in order to protect the interests of their profession (Stearns 362). The status of the guilds was raised by the powers imparted on the guilds by royalty. This is demonstrated by Henry the Second when he granted a guild to the tanners of Rouen in 1170:

"...I wish and firmly command that no one molest nor disturb them, nor take action against their craft except before me" (Medieval).

Town bailiffs could be called upon to uphold the statutes of the guilds (Hibbert 28). The guilds were human agents acting to influence the changing commercial environment in response to their values. Capitalism was slowed through the establishment of trading restrictions, pricing and quality standards (Brinton 322) and controls on the number of apprentices members used (Stearns 362). The intent of these agents was in acting in their own self-interest however it also affected the state of capitolism. Guilds persisted as they were for several hundred years and today remain reminiscent of contemporary labor unions.

In Classical Greece (480–323 B.C.E.) human agency developed in the name of one man, Hippocrates. Few details about his life are known for sure other than that he was a physician and teacher in Greece and probably a peer of Plato (Vallance). In a time when medicine, myth and theology were closely related he has been credited with a large number of writings collective known as the Hippocratic Corpus. The Hippocratic Corpus changed the way medicine was viewed and left a legacy on contemporary medicine. The writings were most likely a collection of writings from various physicians and commentators. He may or may not have written any of them but he is attributed with separating medicine from spirituality, astrology and superstition in the study of medicine and surgery (Howatson). The influence of Hippocratic ideas persists today as physicians are obliged to follow the Hippocratic Oath and less formally, some might argue, in such notions as this one found in the Corpus document "The Art 7":

"The patient knows neither what he is suffering from nor the cause there of" (King 45)

These tenets of medicine persist in doctor's offices today. While Hippocrates himself was not a human agent the Hippocratic movement that began with physicians of Classical Greece was a human agent through its influence on medicine as a science. As a human agent the Hippocratic movement was quite successful in shaping the profession of medicine.

Religions fall into the theme of human agency. The Jewish religion of the Hebrews illustrates this example. As early civilizations developed worship typically took the form of regionally specific polytheistic idolization. The Hebrew people who settled in Palestine around 100 B.C.E. developed a monotheistic religion, Judaism (Stearns 44). Unlike the frivolous, humanlike characteristics of the polytheistic gods, the Jewish god was consistent and the religion offered a set of rules that stressed conduct for every day life (Stearns 45). Judaism served as a human agent by way of its creation as an institution by humans in order to organize a belief system and way of life. Early Jewish law established not only the worship of one god but also defined a code that included property rights, war conduct, criminal and family law (Stearns World History 23-26). While the Hebrews shaped their religion they also shaped their society with a stability that persists today.

Marxism is an example of human agency gone awry. Karl Marx, along with Frederick Engels. wrote the Communist Manifesto in 1848 to outline the position of the Communist League. Marx believed in the inevitability of a classless society. To him, capitolism and the bourgois controlling it were the oppressing the working class, the proletariat. The working class Marx devoted himself to inspiring and organizing the revolutionary efforts of the working class. His ideas were interpreted into many different forms of Marxism, which has been the base philosophy of many communist governments. However, communism has never really succeeded in the terms Marx foresaw. Instead of developing into truly classless societies, communist governments simply control the working class in a different manner, and, instead of the bourgois of free societies, there is a state that not only controls labor and the production of goods and distribution of wealth and does not tolerate non-communistic ideas. Communist Russia was plagued with long food lines for most of the working class while high ranking government officials and those held in favor by the state were spared such turmoil and enjoyed the spoils of the working class. The communisim that Marx strove for freed the working class from oppression, provided them with a fair and equal living. His philosophy, along with those of ... Engel brought about the Marxist movement. The results were much different than Marx and Engels originally concieved.

While pollution was not an intent of the industrial revolution it was certainly a world-changing result. Some would argue that it was a known trade-off in a greed driven agent but the argument could also be made that it was an oversight. The affects of greenhouse gases and the resultant global warming is still hotly debated today.

Human agency affects us in many different forms and ways. The sampling through history discussed here shows examples varying from the small specialized organizations acting as on their own collective behalf through guilds, to the representation of movement of scientific ideas through the identity of one man and the development of a religion dominating an entire people in all aspects of their daily lives. To varying degrees affects of these examples can be traced into contemporary times to see how we are shaped by human agency. While the successes of human agents can assure us that we can shape our world, the failures can remind us to look beyond our intentions to see all the possible affects our actions may have before we take them, and accept that there may be results that we simply can not foresee.