Philosophy of the Human Person (Essay Sample)

Philosophy of the Human Person
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Philosophy of the Human Person
Introduction
In our daily lives controversies, we tend to try researching most of the questions that lie within nature and the dignity of the human person. This is what is referred to as philosophy. Most of the philosophers tend to live in a wondering world. This is evident when Socrates says that: ‘Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher and philosophy begins in wonder.’ It entails wondering about life, love, knowledge, reality and also the existence of human nature. Most of the commonly known philosophies according to Davies are those of Aristotle and Plato (2009). Philosophy helps individuals know how to cope in any environment they are living in by respecting others so as to gain respect in return. In the study of philosophy is the study of the soul, openness of the human mind and also the human nature and social life which this paper seeks to find answers to most of the questions disturbing the whole of the human person.
1 What is the soul?
When I was still young I knew that the whole of the human person consists of the body and the soul. But with time, I came to realize that the soul is actually the body whereby the body only performs actions that the soul wants it to and as such, the philosophical studies help me discover much about the soul since it exists in all the living beings in the world. According to Velkely plants and objects have a soul (2007). The soul is not only considered the engine of life, but also gives us human beings in this case the reason to exist. The soul gives human beings the purpose to keep living. It gives several individuals the power and purpose to continue living.
I watch music being played in our day to day lives maybe you too should conquer with me that the music composition, which is what is composed by a human being, gives the individual vision gives the song a soul. This is evident when the individual finally sings the songs with a charismatic feeling where confidence embeds itself on the notes being played. Therefore in this case, the composer gave the music life, which is the soul and the notes represent the body of the whole music. Bearing in mind that the body can never survive without the soul, it is therefore important to also thank God for His creative work done while creating the whole person. Respect of the fellow human being is also respecting the soul. They both correlate and coexist in order for life to move on.
The development of the fetus in the womb of its mother indicates a single soul, striving to survive in the new environment. It’s amazing watching a child being given identity with a full mission to achieve in his whole life (Reimers, 2006). The development of the soul starts with a single step of development after birth so as to achieve its mission on earth. In this case, the soul can define its divine power in the society through the body. Actions speak louder than words so they say and as such, the body’s actions create the divine actualization of the soul.
In the doctrine of Christianity, the argument for the immortality of the soul basing its facts on the study of philosophy where it states clearly that the intellectual power of man can never be the body works without the soul. This argument goes further to state that without the soul, the body cannot perform any of its duties (Malikow, 2010). Therefore, the body is the source of life in human beings. There exists the sense and intellectual knowledge in the body (Roy, 2001). In my argument, it is true that without the soul, the body could not have any knowledge and sense of living.
The other form of argument exists in Reimers book, ‘The Soul of the Person: A Contemporary Philosophical Psychology’, who bases his evidence in modern science. He states that, the body has a character which is influenced by the soul and without the intellectual connection; the physical and mechanical inventions invented can never get the answer to the immorality of the soul (2006).
2 The Infinite openness of the human mind.
The mind is always open at all times to accommodate any type of information fed to it. The term infinite is used to refer to the limitless space in the human mind that is immeasurable. It can also not be calculated. This indicates how the human mind is open. On the other hand, the open mind is also finite, since it is ready to create boundaries depending on what it is fed with (Kellert, 2005). The mind too is also open to receive any information through learning and later on the information is processed. The information is later on processed in the mind and an image is created in the subconscious mind. According to Baumeister and Bushman, this image is not readily erased from the mind. This is because, the infinite nature of the mind enabled it to digest the information fed to it thus becoming finite to the information received in the end (2012).
The freedom of the human mind begins to assume a high level in psychology. In philosophy, different people have different minds and as such, we can never think in the same way. In this case, defining the mind as being open is a wrong statement since some people are ready to accept reality in life while others can never accept the same information issued to the other. When thinking of the mind and its openness, I tend to dwell on how the mind has no limits. The argument of the mind being finite according to Roy comes in the end of everything after the mind has already diversified itself to accommodate the required information (2001). Hence in the end the mind is considered to be infinite.
The mind has no limits hence the argument created that the mind has limits, in the end, the proof will be disapproved that it doesn’t have limits. This is because, daily, people come up with different inventions that become a success in life. If the mind had limits, then no inventions could be made since most of the inventions made are an expansion of the information acquired in life during studying. Trying to make the mind limited is just like trying to cut the development of the body in life. The mind only becomes limited after the body perishes and the body perishes after the soul stops functioning and as such, supporting the fact that the mind is limited is an argument with no basis of proof.
3 Human nature and social life
There is no limit in the way we organize our daily lives in the society. Therefore, the human nature and social life too depends on the mind. For a society to be termed to as a society, the mind is required in making decisions. Therefore, the social life of the society depends on the human mind. Philosophy begins in wondering of what’s happening in the society and ends up in being mysteries which always remain untold but can be explained with great arguments and evidence. The study of the philosophy of man is therefore an overview of what man does in his social life and how he handles his activities in order to reach his targeted destiny (Baumeister and Bushman, 2012). Human nature in general refers to the distinguishing characteristics including the way people think in their day to day lives. This nature also includes the way people tend to make decisions that help them manage their social life. A good human life according to most of the philosophers is a life which is in order (Kellert, 2005).
Most of the people in the society tend to believe that human nature cannot be changed. This statement can be argued by other philosophers who stated that it i...