Could You Have Been Hitler?

In his book “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” public speaking and sales guru Dale Carnegie wrote that when dealing with an angry person, tell the person something similar to “If I were in your shoes, I would want the same thing as you.” This is expected to calm the person down somewhat, perhaps even get them to see things from your perspective since you are obviously willing to see things from their perspective.

Carnegie goes on to explain that you can say such a thing to an angry person without lying to them. After all, if you had the same life experiences and genetic makeup as the angry person, then you would obviously see things their way.

Carnegie goes further and writes, “The only reason you are not a rattlesnake is that your parents were not rattlesnakes.”

Thus, a friend recently put this question to me, “If you had the same brain and body and life experiences as Adolf Hitler, would you have made the same choices as Hitler?”

My Answer

The following is taken from an e-mail of mine, and is my answer to my friend:

“Looking at it from a purely physical point of view, I don’t know if I can say I wouldn’t make the same choices as Hitler. If you have the same brain and same body as Hitler, and grew up exactly in every detail as he did, for all intents and purposes you ARE Hitler.

The only arguments I could offer against such a thing would tend toward the metaphysical and/or spiritual. One could argue each of us has a unique soul, possibly coming with its own imprint from God or the universe or whatever is out there. If that should be the case, I suppose it’s possible even with Hitler’s brain and body and upbringing, we could turn out differently than he did. This would lean somewhat toward Calvinism, suggesting that God has a fate and possibly a mental state that is unique to each of us.”

What Do You Think?

Admittedly, my answer to my friend was simplistic. It was meant to be. It was only an e-mail, after all, and e-mails are not necessarily the best communication form available for such topics. I’ll probably talk this over with my friend in person the next time we see one another.

Also, though my answer leaned heavily towards spirituality and religion, even mentioning Calvinism, I was not trying to place my answer in a form that made any judgements. I was pushing no agenda, simply trying to come up with the best answer I could with my own Western world, Judeo-Christian background and education. Also, Hitler is used simply for the ease of having a common focal point of evil, what with the historical figure’s general reputation, and this is not necesarily meant to be a study of the actual man or of actual events surrounding him. Someone like the Marquis de Sade or Jeffrey Dahmer or one of a thousand other humans that have been labeled evil by general society could have been used as well. In other words, this is not about judgements of morality, but about metaphysical (and possibly scientific or spiritual) possibilities.

Something bothers me a bit about my answer, though, and I’m not sure what it is. So, I’m seeking other ideas, suggestions and arguments. I’m throwing it out there to anyone who would like to offer an answer or just their own thoughts. Please post below. I’d especially be interested in hearing any scientific possibilities, and ideas from non-Western philosophies, though all ideas are more than welcome.