Understanding Human Nature: A Philosophical and Religious Inquiry
Humans
Introduction: Anthropology
The complexity of human beings has been analyzed across religious traditions, philosophy, and science. Each era has sought to understand human prehistory and the nature of consciousness. Humans become aware of their complexity by observing similarities and differences in relation to other beings. This self-inquiry is reflected in myths, religions, philosophical thought, and scientific exploration.
1. The Human Body and Soul in Religious Thought
Perhaps the experience of death, and the ability to express grief and loss through language, led to the belief in some form of survival beyond death. Humans constructed mythical-religious explanations that tended to identify two elements within themselves: a material body and a more subtle, active soul that animates the body and gives it life. After death, the soul was believed to survive the body, adopting an unknown way of being that might require assistance. This distinction between body and soul was used to explain the experience of consciousness.
2. Humanity and Philosophy
Greek philosophy began by conceiving of the human being as a rational being. The body was understood as a substance responsible for growth, reproduction, and nourishment, while the soul was seen as the substance responsible for consciousness and thought. As the source of life and knowledge, the soul was considered superior to the body. Throughout history, philosophers have debated whether these are two distinct realities (dualism) or a single reality (monism).
2.1. Dualistic Explanations
Dualistic philosophers believe that human beings are composed of two distinct substances with unique identities and functions.
Plato posited the existence of two fundamentally different realms: a sensible world subject to change and an intelligible world of ideal forms. He believed that true knowledge resided in the intelligible world. Since humans can access both worlds, they must be composed of a material element for sensation and an immaterial element for understanding. Plato believed the soul existed before the body and originated in the eternal world of ideal forms. After death, the soul survives and returns to its origin. Its fate depends on how well it governed the body during life.
Descartes also presented a dualistic view. He emphasized the activity of thought, stating, “I think, therefore I am.” He believed the essence of being human is thought. Descartes proposed two substances: an infinite substance (God) and a finite thinking substance (the human mind or res cogitans). He also identified a material substance (res extensa) encompassing human bodies and the physical world. Humans are composed of two of these: the thinking soul and the extended body. These substances are distinct and can exist separately, although they interact in a complex way in humans. Descartes’ mind-body dualism significantly influenced modern psychology.
2.2. Monistic Explanations
. Unlike the dualist, monist approaches claim that it is a unitary whole material or spiritual development unfolds in two-dimensional physical or mental: Monism materialistic and in ancient Greece, Democritus (fifth century BC) argued that all reality, including the human soul is a composite material resulting from an aggregation of atoms. The human being is purely material, atoms are brought together and separated by chance. There is no question therefore of immortality of the materialism of Democritus alma.El was maintained in ancient philosophers like Epicurus, but it is from eighteenth century reappears reaches its greatest strength and vitality in the nineteenth and XX.Entre materialist philosophers of the eighteenth century stands La Mettrie, in his book, “ “ The man machine extends the mechanism to be humano.El Cartesian soul would only be a material part of the body being identified with the brain, and mental or psychological states can be reduced to bodily states, therefore, are very complex machines that require no external address for all funciones.El mechanical materialism of La Mettrie was replaced in the nineteenth century by a more in line with evolutionary materialism the prevailing views at the time. Standouts in this line and Mars Darwin