Nicole Bornales

HUMAN PERSON; A REFLECTION PIECE 1) The previous discussions conducted on online learning introduced me to philosophical thinking through a careful examination of our nature as humans. In my understanding, a person is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness. The defining features of personhood and, consequently, what makes a person count as a person, differ widely among cultures and contexts. The discussions last few weeks gave me knowledge regarding the nature, value, and capacities of the human person and also serves as an introduction to the discipline and subject matter of philosophy. Specifically, we have discussed the idea of what it is to be human, what it is to be an individual, and what it is to be the same individual over time; the phenomenon of human knowing and the nature of mind; the humans as embodied spirits who has a body, and is rational, free, capable of loving, social beings and historical being. And the relationship between soul or mind and body; And the revelations of christian faith regarding man having dignity and being both good and bad. Human beings are created in the image and likeness of God. Based on my understanding, humans are embodied- spirits because we are created as “embodied spirits,” which means our souls are not separate from our bodies, or our bodies from our souls. Just as through the mystery of the Incarnation we believe that Jesus Christ is simultaneously fully human and fully divine, and that his humanity cannot somehow be separated from his divinity or his divinity somehow dissected from his humanity, so too i believe that from our conception, our souls and bodies are interrelated. Indeed, this is one of the reasons I believe in the resurrection of the body. Not only did Jesus Christ rise with a glorified body, but we too will be given “glorified bodies” upon resurrection that will perpetuate this embodied spirit dynamic in eternal life. –The most direct connotation that comes to my mind when I hear the word “embodied” is that it is being materialized or incarnated. But after i’ve been introduced to the topic of “Human person”, i learned that the idea of the human person as an “embodied spirit” does not necessarily refer to incarnation or materialization of spirit as an immaterial entity. The embodiment of the spirit specifically refers to the inseparable union of body and soul. It means to say that when we say “embodied spirit”, it means that the body is not separate from the soul, just as the soul is not separate from the body. One of the subtopics that I like the most is the topic that emphasizes the rationality of humans or human is rational and is capable of thinking rationally. According to a traditional philosophical view, dating back to Aristotle and shared by Immanuel Kant and many others, what makes human beings different from the other animals is that human beings are “rational” or have “reason.” In the philosophical tradition, “reason” is often taken to refer to the active as opposed to the passive or receptive aspects of the mind. “Reason” in this sense is contrasted with perception, sensation, and emotion, which are thought of as forms of passivity, or at least as involving passivity. The contrast is not unproblematic, for it seems clear that the kind of receptivity or responsiveness involved in sensation, perception, and emotion, cannot be understood as wholly passive. The perceived world does not simply enter the mind, as through an open door. In sensing and responding to the world our minds interact with it, and the activity of our senses themselves makes a contribution to the character of the world as we perceive it. Reasoning is self-conscious, self-directing activity through which we deliberately give shape to the inputs of receptivity. This happens both in the case of theoretical reasoning, when we are constructing a scientific account of the world, and in the case of practical reasoning, where its characteristic manifestation is choice based on deliberation. Reason has also traditionally been identified with the ability to grasp, employ, or simply conform to, certain principles, which are usually conceived as a priori. These include the principles of logic, the principles that guide the construction of scientific theories, mathematical principles, and the principles of practical reason. The rationality of human beings becomes evident everytime we evaluate our reasons by applying the categorical imperative –by asking ourselves whether the principles in which those reasons are embodied could possibly serve as universal laws. This conception of rationality is not at odds with the conception of reason as the active dimension of the mind: the principles of rationality may be taken to describe the activity in which the reasoner or human being consciously engages when he/she considers whether his/her reasons are good ones. Even when we do not deploy these principles consciously, however, they are the principles in accordance with which we reason, the principles that describe how we think out what to do or believe. A person is called reasonable or rational when his beliefs and actions conform to the dictates of those principles, or when he is subjectively guided by them. Many animals may have the capacity to think about their situations, and to be motivated to act intelligently in those situations to get what they want and avoid what they don’t. But intelligence is not the same as reason. Only human beings have the capacity to think about their motivations themselves – about the potential reasons for their actions - and to ask whether those potential reasons meet certain normative or evaluative standards. Human beings have a distinct form of self-consciousness that enables us to be aware of the motivations or potential reasons on which we are tempted to act, to evaluate those potential reasons, and to be moved to act accordingly. The second subtopic that gained my interests is the topic detailing why human beings are free. Human beings are free. Freedom is a powerful word. To some it means independence. To others, it means the ability to act and speak freely - or to go where they wish. The starting point for an account of human beings is in the account of the being of consciousness. This does not mean that human beings have an essence of freedom. “Man does not exist first in order to be free subsequently; there is no difference between the being of man and his being-free”. Freedom is the reason that human beings do not have an essence. “Human freedom precedes essence in man and makes it possible; the essence of the human being is suspended in freedom”. The freedom of human beings manifests itself as the limitless choice of human action. No matter what the situation is, a human being can always choose to act and his action will define his being. Even in extreme situations of coercion such as being threatened with death, a human being still has the ability to choose his action and to choose the conscious attitude with which he apprehends the world. I also agree with the statement that one of the greatest proofs of man’s freedom is that he can willingly desire the good of another person or not; loving is using our freedom in such a way to do good for others –” to do the right thing is to do the loving thing”. The reason I can say that all humans are capable of loving/ all possess love and affection is that they are naturally and inherently part of us. So I believe that enhancing them, rather than ignoring them and letting them disappear, will be much more desirable. This is of vital importance, because love is one of the most essential qualities of our mind, something truly precious and crucial for a human being. Once we recognize how vital it is, then we can cherish and enhance it, although the basic potential that we are accentuating is already naturally ours. Now, when a person embodies that attitude of love and affection, his or her conduct in life will be admirable and what we call that of "a true human being." The statement “ Being immoral/ inhuman means doing anything that will hurt others. Being moral implies that we use our freedom in loving others” –is the mark of a good human being, rather than whether or not one is a spiritual practitioner. It also lies at the root of a happy and peaceful human society. How important it is,then, that we recognize this and do everything we can to enhance that attitude of love and caring for others.Human beings naturally possess this love and affection, and so I feel it is the role of the religions of the world to bring out their potential and make these wonderful qualities grow. Isn't this why so many different spiritual views and philosophies have indeed evolved — so that we can develop these wonderful, natural qualities more and more? In a nutshell, this is the whole reason that we undertake spiritual practice: to become a good human being, someone who is patient, tolerant, altruistic, compassionate, contented, and self disciplined. We practice because that is the kind of person we want to become. The topic of human beings being a historical being fascinated me as a person. The human person is a historical being and this historical nature of own being reveals his journey towards humanness. I learned from the previous discussions that a human person as a historical being means that a history is written about him, and that he makes it. The history that is written about him takes into account all his actions; thus, he himself makes his own history. This means that the human person not only exists in history but also exists as history. This is true at all the levels we have looked at already. As autonomous subjects, our lives are not simply a whole series of disconnected choices. The choices or decisions we make are the very stuff out of which we fashion the person we choose to become. Our so-called 'fundamental option' is not some out-of-history basic decision we make about our lives. It comes into being through the medium of the concrete choices we make in life. Once in being it is further consolidated by subsequent choices in the same direction, or it is weakened by choices inconsistent with it. It can even be radically changed through a choice which either is like the straw that broke the camel's back in therms of this weakening process or else is so deliberately and substantially contradictory to one's fundamental option that it constitutes a moment of 'conversion', whether for good or for evil. A moral theology organised around the notion of virtues, of character, or personal story clearly draws much of its strength from this dimension of the human person. These approaches share the common belief that there is more to the moral life than particular choices and decisions. The virtue approach, for instance, has its roots in Aristotle's notion of 'habit'. This recognises that we gradually become virtuous through repeated acts of virtue. In other words, the virtuous person is the outcome of a long history of acting in this way so that eventually acting virtuously becomes 'second nature' to such a person. Likewise, character needs to be built up. Hence, the emphasis on personal formation and education. Personal story, too, is a continuously unfolding narrative, told in the course of living out our individual lives in history. Moreover, the historical dimension of being a human person means more than that our lives include a history of free personal choices. Our very capacity to make such choices has its own history of development. The revelations of christian faith have taught me many things. One of those is about man having dignity. Human dignity to me means not only possessing strong morals that help society to prosper and improve, but following through on them. Every human being has the basic right of respect both of himself and by his fellow man. Every person has the right to freedom and to express his moral beliefs through words and actions that will help him grow as he uses his talents to help others. People have the right to be free of fear. They have the right to find peace in the understanding and acceptance of who they are, but only to the extent that their rights do not intrude on the rights and beliefs of others. Each person's rights end where the dignity of others begins. The principle of human dignity is one of the core principles for the doctrines of ethics and Christianity. Also, it is the fundamental concept from which all the human rights derive, and the basis for social order. In brief, the phrase 'human dignity' refers both to self-respect and to the respect for the other human beings. According to some thinkers, dignity is very close to the concept of virtue or righteousness. The intrinsic worthiness of all human beings advocated that man was created in God's image, and therefore is worthy in himself, independently of his acts. In the Holy Bible, righteousness and moral integrity are the main attributes of man, and the main ethical principles: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied/ Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." As a result of man’s dignity, humans are basically good. However, we are also capable of doing evil. 2) I think we spent so much time trying to understand the human person in its relation to morality because understanding a human person is like understanding and knowing the self as a human being. By studying Philosophy of the Human Person, I believe we can and are given a chance to clarify what we believe, and be stimulated to think about ultimate questions about our own being. A person can study philosophers of the past to discover why they thought as they did and what value their thoughts may have in one's own life. Also, this will open doors for deeper discoveries regarding what constitutes a human person including not only answering questions about our physical states as a person but also involves detailing about the possible common and shared characteristics of it together with the others and what makes us unique and different compared to other creations and our relations to the other existing nature/ beings around us. Upon understanding the idea of a human person,I have encountered my different characteristics as a human being. I have given a chance to understand what constitutes me as a creation while provided with logical and critical reasons and explanations about who and what i am as a “person. I realized that understanding a human person is like understanding one's character, wherein the “character” is the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of a person. It is something that makes an individual unique and helps him stand apart from the rest. It plays an essential role in personality development. Personality development isn’t only about looking best but also developing one’s inner self and becoming a good human being. Character is something which comes from within and is often long lived. It helps one develop a winning personality. Just as understanding a human person in relation to morality –An individual with a good character would in turn have a good personality, which is helpful in making moral decisions. With the practice of self-actualization and with interactions to others, an individual who has a right and deep understanding about the self knows exactly what he/she would like to become in future. People of good character are guided by ethical principles even when sometimes they are in situations that are detrimental to their careers, social standing or economic well-being. They do the right thing even when it costs more than they want to pay. Knowing right things doesn’t ensure that right things are done. This is because it takes a character to do them. An individual’s character has a great influence in making decisions. It guides people's responses to issues that they face in life as they work toward success. Since it is something that “who we are” and “what we do” it is important that each have a strong foundation of character. That is why it is also important to examine the self from time to time when dealing with difficult circumstances in order to make right decisions and be in the path of success. Self-assessment is not for impressing anybody, rather it is for ensuring that an individual is taking the right steps in line with what they hold to be true.