In one form or another, denying the shared humanity of others seems to be a universal human trait.
Reverence for the past is a universal human trait — or, at least, a recurring symptom of modernity — and the laws of capitalism, technological change and collective taste ensure that things are never what they used to be.
But even if what is involved here is the lighting of a fire and not the filling of a pail, the narrow provenance of the encouragement of what is supposed to be a universal human trait will necessarily limit its efficacy.
As it's a universal human trait to banish the gloom of deep winter with a festival of light, I don't really see what it's got to do with any specific organised religion, so as an atheist I've expropriated it, too".
Face it: Self-interest is a universal human trait, a near-defining characteristic of Homo sapiens.
Diderot's solution was to identify particularity as the universal human trait.
It is as close to a universal human trait as you could hope for.
By virtue of this universal human trait, there are few instances in our collective lives that bond us together in ways that are both constant and unchanging no matter what our condition or circumstance.
