A Well-Governed Shark

One thing that I actually found very interesting about this article was the idea of "sharkishness" and evil. I've always thought of sharks as very similar to serial killers but I've never thought that people in general were all like sharks, especially not by nature. I'm always somewhat surprised when someone suggests that human nature is intrinsically evil, and that goodness can only result from conscious activity, which is exactly what Melville suggests. I must say though that I do find the whole idea of the well-governed shark fairly entertaining and worth noting. I do somewhat like the idea that in order to be a good person you can still be a shark by nature, as long as you are properly governing your inner shark. And I do think that most people have an inner shark of one kind or another, I just don't think that that shark is necessarily intrinsic. I suppose I see sharkishness as more of a developmental process than anything else. I also find it interesting how the assumption here seems to be that everyone can and should govern their sharkishness when there may be many cases of individuals who do not possess such a capability, such as some mentally handicapped people for instance. Another thing I find interesting is how Schopenhauer says that animals are not cruel to each other the way humans are, which Melville seems to agree with. The really funny thing about that is that the model being used here for what evil is in humanity, is a shark.