Introduction Date According to Darwin’s famous dictum in The Origin of the Species , human beings are said to have evolved from a higher form of apes. This theory has been supported by many philosophers and many have gone against this crude concept. However, there is no denying that human beings are not completely divine beings; there are animal instincts in us, like using the five senses to judge our environment and react to it; the desire to be in groups; mating behavior; the mother’s protectiveness of the child; habits of ‘nesting’; not to mention the violent urge for self-defense and self-preservation. Also, our superior reason does not help us with the primitive sense of anger and violence that lurks in us. Like animals, we never forget a wrong done to us. Even if we look at modern trends and civilization, we find it rooted in violence. Fast cars, the need to ‘ make a kill’ (Lamb, 224) at video games, reading racy thrillers and James Bond novels, watching movies with gore and violence, the culture of ‘Rock’ bands, perversion in relationships, the need for addictions to escape being human. All these points out the ‘lesser’, ‘physical’ and ‘ animal ’ side of humans (Lamb, 224). Human nature in philosophy Human nature is studied through its unique characteristics like the way humans think, feel and act in different situations and the subjects of sociology, psychology, and sociobiology study these patterns of behavior. However, human nature has also been the subject of philosophy for centuries. Let us take a look at statements made by such philosophers who have found a link with animal nature and humans in the ‘ state of nature , (Lamb, 214) which refers to the condition of man before he is imposed upon by society. According to John Locke, human beings were not sinful or corrupt since their creation. Their behavior and needs change according to their social and biological environment. However, Thomas Hobbes thought that the animal instinct prevalent in human nature makes them “ solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short ” (Lamb, 202). Rousseau agreed with this, terming man ‘ The Noble Savage’ who could become animal-like, cruel and violent in the race for survival. The philosopher, Bertrand Russell explained that the sinful nature of human beings is born from the ancestry of beasts of prey. just as animals must kill and hunt for their food and try all kinds of trickery to survive among other stronger species, so also human beings have the gut instinct to fight, snatch and win to survive. Catholic Christianity terms these animal instincts as ‘ the Seven Sins’ . Aristotle has famously dubbed man a ‘ political animal’ , a ‘ conjugal animal’ and a ‘ mimetic animal’ (Lamb, 231). Animal behavior All the above assumptions are based on the common fact that animals are fundamentally unreasonable, wild and instinctually violent. However, if we look at Annie Dillard’s work, ‘Living like a Weasel’ , we might find that animal existence is considered purer and more intense than human beings, who get deflected by their reason and their social pressures. Annie Dillard has minutely observed a weasel’s habits and especially, its hunting and survival patterns. She describes how the weasel is content to be buried in its holes in th