Philosophy 1010
Class 5 -- (10/1/14)
Reading Assignment for 10/8/14
Class Discussion:
Velasquez, Philosophy: A Text With Readings,
(12e), Chapter 3, Sections 3.1 – 3.3
Midterm Exam will not be next week.
Chapter 2
On Human Nature:
A Metaphysical Study
•
Video:
What is Human Nature?
Chapter 2
On Human Nature:
A Metaphysical Study
•
Video:
What is Human Nature?
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious (has
reason) and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the
body, but somehow is related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent
existence from other selves
The Traditional Western View
The Traditional Western View of Human
Nature is the one most commonly held in our
culture.
Yet different philosophers throughout history
have questioned and rejected every one of
the four tenets with various arguments.
The Traditional Rationalist View
(Plato)
• For Plato, humans have a nonphysical or
material soul or self in agreeing with all these
assumptions.
• Plato contends that since reason often conflicts
with our desires (or appetites) and that either of
these can conflict with our aggression, each of
these comprise one of the three main elements
of our soul (self).
• For Plato, man can choose what part of his self
rules his actions. (Free Will?) Because reason
alone can know how we ought to live, it should
rule the appetite and our aggressions.
The Traditional Rationalist View
(Aristotle)
• Aristotle (384-322 BC) mostly agreed with
Plato but went on to argue that reason can
discover the truth about man in the natural
world, and how we should act.
• Thus, Aristotle is rejecting Plato’s Allegory of
the Cave, suggesting that Plato’s world of
shadows can be known through reason.
Ah, isn’t this the basic motivation for science?
• For Aristotle, all living things and the natural
world have purpose (telos). The purpose of
man is to control desires and aggression
through reason.
The Traditional Western Religious View
(Judeo-Christian)
• “The purpose of man is to love and serve God.”
(St. Augustine – 354-430 AD)
• Although influenced by Plato, this view asserts
that humans are made in the image of God.
Man has an immaterial and immortal soul and
the ability to love and to know, in the very
manner of God.
• Augustine emphasized that humans have will
and intellect, the ability to choose between
good and evil.
• “The purpose of man is to know God through
reason.” (St. Thomas Aquinas - c. 1225 –1274)
The Traditional Western View
The Traditional Western View of Human
Nature is the one most commonly held in our
culture.
Yet different philosophers throughout history
have questioned and rejected every one of
the four tenets with various arguments.
The most radical view is perhaps the Existentialism
of Jean-Paul Sartre -- 1905 – 1980.
• “Existence precedes essence.”
• Humans are radically free. Human nature itself is
determined by a man’s choices. There is no fixed
universal human nature (or soul) prior to the
choices that an individual free man makes.
• Existentialism challenges our basic values of
western civilization that human nature in some
way is “fixed.” God does not exist.
Human, All Too Human
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PxbkPCLlXII
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious (has
reason) and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the body,
but somehow is related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent
existence from other selves
Other Challenges to
the Traditional Rationalist View
•
Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) claimed that man
acts only to satisfy his desires. In particular, he
possesses a basic, powerful desire for
aggressiveness and sexual pleasure. Man views
others as objects.
•
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) claimed that the
man’s primary desire was for power over others.
•
Moritz Schlick (1882-1936) believed that man is
able to act only out of self-interest. Schlick
recognized the appearance of unselfish
behavior, but claimed even such behavior
occurred only because of unrecognized selfinterest.
Challenges to the Traditional Rationalist View
Feminism
•
The traditional view seems to be sexist in that it
assumes that reason is male and emotions are
female (e.g. Aristotle & Augustine) By calling for
the subjugation of emotions to reason, does the
traditional view take a gender bias?
•
Some feminist philosophers repudiate the
traditional rationalist view and reject reason as the
basis of human nature. Others agree that reason
is primary and say the view only needs to be
modified to remove gender bias and to
acknowledge that reason is gender neutral.
•
Genevieve Lloyd suggests that the issue is even
more fundamental and may be near impossible to
resolve. Read your text on page 73 carefully!! We
will discuss this passage in class next week.
II the Rationalist View Racist?
• Aristotle claimed that since barbarians
were less rational than Greeks, it was
justifiable to rule and enslave them
because they were less human.
•
Caveat Emptor: Such an assertion
does not logically follow from Plato.
Darwinism
• Evolutionary theory claims that random
variations and natural selection make
species evolve. To many, this suggests
that humans are not unique and that
there perhaps is no special purpose to
human life.
Charles Darwin – 1809–1882
• Darwin does not himself take a
position on the question whether God
exists.
The Traditional Western View
• The Prevalent View Regarding the Nature of Man Makes
Four Basic Claims:
1)
That the self is conscious and has a purpose
2)
That the self is distinct from the body,
but somehow is related.
3)
That the self endures through time.
4)
That the self has an independent existence from
other selves
The Dualist View of Human Nature
•
The Dualist View is an ancient view that can be
traced back to Plato and the Traditional Rationalist
View of Human Nature.
•
A developed, systematic view of Dualism was best
expressed by Rene Descartes (1596-1650).
•
Descartes argues that he can imagine his self
without a body, thus the self is not the body. We
cannot think of the self without thought which is
immaterial. Thus, the mind and body must be
distinct.
•
Descartes further argues that the mind or “soul” is
the essential form of the self and could exist without
the body.
•
I think, therefore I am.
The Mind-Body Problem
•
So how can the mind as a non-physical entity cause
the physical body to act and how can the physical
body cause changes in the state of the mind?
•
Can the mind add energy or force to the physical
world?
But that is exactly what seems to happen when I
decide to move my hand and then move it.
•
How can a physical body alter a state of
consciousness or thought?
But that is exactly what seems to happen when a fly
buzzes near my head and I become annoyed.