Understanding the Human Person: A Philosophical and Psychological Exploration
1. Diverse Conceptions of the Soul’s Substance
Substantiality of the Soul: In spiritual substances, the composition of essence and existence, or of matter and form, is not supported by Albertus Magnus. The soul, being concrete, is an individual substance. We can speak of a universal form within the soul. Albertus Magnus fears for its substantiality and would consider the soul, like Plato, as the pilot of the body, entirely safe to leave substantial independence.
Immortality or Eternal Life: This refers to an indefinite or infinite existence that transcends death. Throughout history, humans have desired immortality. This longing fuels the concept of immortality and forms the core of the anthropology of religion.
2. Diverse Conceptions of the Soul’s Substantiality
Philosophers who Contend the Soul is a Substance:
- Plato
- Augustine
- Descartes
- Leibniz
- Berkeley
Reasons for this Belief:
- Moral Reasoning: Humans seek perfection in their actions.
- Epistemological Reasons: Humans desire to know the absolute truth.
Philosophers who Believe the Soul is an Accident:
- Materialists
- Atomists
- Evolutionists
- Marxists
Philosophers who Argue the Soul is a Substance:
- St. Thomas Aquinas
- Jacques Maritain
- Étienne Gilson
- Joseph de Finance
Arguments for this Belief:
- The soul is subsistent: it possesses its own act of being, connecting it to the body. The body lives through this participation facilitated by the soul.
- The soul is an incomplete substance, endowed with its own being.
Conclusion: The soul is a complete substance, aligning with the definition of substance, but incomplete because it is not an essence in itself. There is no ‘kind’ of soul, only the human species.
3. Origin of the Soul
Theories on the Soul’s Origin:
- Traducianism: Held by Tertullian and St. Augustine.
- Emanationism: The soul emanates from the supreme being, referred to as the Logos (Stoics) or the One (Neoplatonists).
- Simultaneous Creation: Supported by Philo of Alexandria, Origen, and Augustine.
- Individual Creation: God creates a soul at the beginning of each human being’s existence.
- Evolution of Matter: The soul is the culmination of matter’s evolution.
Evaluation of the Theories:
- Traducianism and the evolution of matter are immediately dismissed.
- Emanationism doesn’t account for the free act of participation.
- Simultaneous creation: Creation means producing something from nothing. God doesn’t create the soul simultaneously because it’s created based on a body.
- The soul doesn’t require a test case because God doesn’t need anything to create.
4. Definitions and Types of Immortality
Immortality: Existing indefinitely. It can be categorized into:
- Physical Immortality: The unending existence of physical objects.
- Spiritual Immortality: The permanent presence of a person after physical death in the form of a soul.
5. Self-Transcendence
Through self-transcendence, a person feels spiritually and emotionally connected with God, others, or nature.
6. The Human Being: Historical, Ethical, and Communal
Being Historical
Humans live in time, existing both historically and for eternity. Time is an accident of the soul’s substance, so significant that some substantialize it, while others, in their nihilism, reach emptiness. The truth is that time exists; without it, there is no being or life. Existence in time is a continuous fluid motion, limited by the present moment.
Being Ethical
Human life is not just about being, but about becoming. Animals are guided by instincts, unconsciously dictating their actions. Humans also possess instinctual drives for survival, but these are insufficient. We also adhere to ethical or moral standards, guiding our actions towards ourselves, others, and reality. These standards are natural to humans but are developed through social interaction.
Humans consciously construct their lives, utilizing and sometimes curbing instinctual drives, and adhering to ethical standards. Unlike non-personal beings, individuals can choose their destiny and may or may not achieve their life’s goal. Those who don’t comply with moral imperatives fail to achieve the goal of human life.
Community Personalism
Community Personalism is a philosophy of life with these core principles:
- Primacy of Persons: The person is inherently valuable and worthy.
- Love as Essence: Love brings us into existence and personal fulfillment is achieved through its exercise.
- Humans as Community: Only through loving relationships can humans reach their full potential.
- Transforming the World: The world needs to be changed into a place of solidarity, justice, and peace.
Community personalists are committed to those whose dignity is trampled and are involved in transforming the world.
7. Mortal and Immortal Meaning
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8. Death as Interpretation of Human Existence
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9. Historical Materialism
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10. Definition and Profile of the Four Humans in Existentialism
Profiles of the Existential Man
Concrete Man
Existentialism emphasizes the value of concrete human existence. Daily individual existence is paramount.
Historical Man
The concrete man is radically open, dissatisfied, and constantly becoming, situated in a city environment that he lives in, either inadvertently or intentionally. He is the only man in the world.
Free Man
Human freedom is the source of possible actions and the means to realize them. Man must choose to be. Once he chooses, he begins to become something. Everything results from this power of choice, which becomes the essence of his life.
Man’s Anguish
In the historical development of his existence and freedom, man feels thrown into the world, abandoned to his own devices. He must continually choose self-creation, knowing that all human activities are destined to fail, as he is doomed to death.
Finite Man
Existentialist humanism represents a philosophy of finitude. Humans are limited in space and time. This limitation is expressed through the body and death as the absurd limit of existence. This finitude is both an urgency and a reason to develop their work in the world.
The Role of Others and God in Existential Humanism
Existentialism is not a unified school of thought. Ideas and positions vary among authors.
Existentialism and Marxism
According to Sartre, Marxism was the insurmountable philosophy of his time. However, he believed that in Marxism, man has been reabsorbed into a social abstraction, while existentialism seeks the man who feels frustrated at home, in the streets. Sartre argued that existentialism is a necessary ideology, deployed not against Marxism, but to fill the gaps it leaves.
In Personalism: Incarnation, Vocation, and Fellowship
The human person occupies a central position and represents the absolute value in personalism. Mounier describes the person as a spiritual being, maintaining their livelihood through adherence to a hierarchy of values freely adopted, assimilated, and lived in their commitment to responsibility and constant conversion. The person unifies all their work in freedom, developing unique creative acts driven by their vocation.
The person is structured around three fundamental dimensions:
- Vocation: The transcendent dimension, opening beyond the given and what is acquired in the past.
- Incarnation: The downward dimension, leading to engagement with worldly realities.
- Communion: The horizontal dimension, detaching from oneself and giving to others.
In Freudian Psychology: Personality Development and Components
Personality Development
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Components of Personality
Freud introduced the tripartite structure of personality: the id, ego, and superego.
- Id: The instinctive part of personality, working for immediate and full satisfaction of instincts and impulses.
- Superego: Opposed to the id, it represents the ethical and the rights of others, driving self-improvement and duty.
- Ego: Adapts the psyche to reality, considering both instincts (id) and moral imperatives (superego).
Personality Development in Freudian Terms
- Development of the Id: Based on biological and psychological inheritance, beginning in the womb. The newborn is pure instinct.
- Development of the Ego: Forms in the first two years through adaptation to reality. The mother and reality itself help the child curb impulsiveness and adapt.
- Development of the Superego: Begins at the end of the second year, internalizing parental figures and societal morals, ideals, and standards.