Digital SAT Reading and Writing Practice Question #1178

Passage 1 Human beings are, at their core, driven by self-preservation and a ceaseless appetite for power. Without a strong, centralized authority to restrain these inherent impulses, society would inevitably descend into a "war of all against all," where life is "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Reason, while present, often serves merely to rationalize our desires rather than to temper them. Therefore, the establishment of a sovereign power, even an absolute one, is a necessary evil, the only guarantor of peace and order against our own destructive tendencies. Passage 2 The perceived depravity of humanity is largely a product of corrupting social institutions and artificial inequalities, not an intrinsic flaw of our nature. In a state of nature, humans are endowed with compassion and a capacity for self-improvement, guided by a natural inclination towards empathy and freedom. It is the imposition of societal hierarchies and the pursuit of artificial needs that warp this fundamental goodness, leading to conflict and injustice. A truly just society would seek to dismantle these oppressive structures and foster environments where our innate virtues can flourish. Which of the following statements best describes the primary point of contention between the two passages regarding human nature?