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Lesson 1 - The Understanding of The Human Person in The Ancient Period

The document discusses ancient Greek philosophers' views of the human person as an embodied spirit. Plato viewed the soul and body as separate, with the soul being immortal and the body temporary. He saw the soul as having three functions represented by the head, chest, and abdomen. Aristotle disagreed and saw the soul and body as united, with humans having a rational soul that animals and plants lack, allowing for thinking beyond sensation. Both contributed to the idea of humans as beings with both physical and non-physical aspects.

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Hayness Dullas
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329 views17 pages

Lesson 1 - The Understanding of The Human Person in The Ancient Period

The document discusses ancient Greek philosophers' views of the human person as an embodied spirit. Plato viewed the soul and body as separate, with the soul being immortal and the body temporary. He saw the soul as having three functions represented by the head, chest, and abdomen. Aristotle disagreed and saw the soul and body as united, with humans having a rational soul that animals and plants lack, allowing for thinking beyond sensation. Both contributed to the idea of humans as beings with both physical and non-physical aspects.

Uploaded by

Hayness Dullas
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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CHAPTER 3: THE

HUMAN PERSON AS
AN EMBODIED SPIRIT
Lesson 1: The Understanding of the
Human Person in the Ancient Period
Introduction
Understanding what it means to be a human person is arduous. This
has been a perennial problem even from ancient times. Ancient Greek
philosophers made attempts to explain what constitutes man, or what
makes man different from the other living beings in the world. Some
very common questions are about its origin, life's possibilities,
freedom, purpose, and happiness.
But what is a human person? How will you answer this
question? In explaining the essence of the human person, it
is easy to focus on its material or physical aspect. Human
persons indeed have material needs, but they also have
non- material aspects (Bernados, 2017). What then are
these material and non-material aspects of man?

In doing philosophy, we give attention to the material and


non-material aspects of human persons. This brings us to
the idea that a human person is an embodied spirit.
THE HUMAN PERSON AS AN EMBODIED
SPIRIT
What does the term “embodied spirit” mean? Probably, the first
thing that comes to mind when thinking of the term 'embodied'
is that it is a quality of being materialized or a characteristic of
possessing a body. On the other hand, when we consider the
term “spirit”, we think of something immaterial.

However, to speak of the human person as an 'embodied spirit'


does not refer to the materialization or the personification of a
human being. Rather, it refers to the inseparable union of the
body and the soul.
THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE
HUMAN PERSON IN THE ANCIENT
PERIOD
To speak of the human person's
union of body and soul, we need to
understand some of the thoughts of
the ancient Greek philosophers,
namely, Plato and Aristotle. Their
concepts are influenced by the
cosmogenic model of the world.
Considering that man is part of the
universe, Plato and Aristotle
attempted to explain the origin of
man. They made a great contribution
to the idea of the human person as a
being with body and soul.
Plato’s Three Functions of the Soul
Plato's view of the human person rests
on the dichotomy of the body and soul.
For him, the body is material and is
subject to changes and destructions,
while the soul is immaterial and
unchanging. He also believed that the
human soul is an authentic part because
the body is just its prison cell (Bernados,
2017). Hence, the body's existence is
dependent on the soul, while the soul is
independent of the body.
Accordingly, the soul has a
tripartite function, namely, the
rational function, the passion
function, and the appetitive
function (Stumpf & Fieser,
2012). These three functions of
the soul are represented by the
body parts, i.e., head, chest,
and abdomen.
The head does the soul's
rational function, which
enables human persons to
think, analyze, comprehend,
and make decisions. This
guides the passion and
appetitive functions of the
soul.
On the other hand,
passion function
performs the actions
dictated by reason and
is also responsible for
various feelings, such
as hatred or anger.
Lastly, the appetitive
function enables a
person to experience
cravings or anything
that deals with man's
physical wants (Babor,
2001).
For Plato, if a person
allows his reason to
properly guide his passion
and appetite, he/she will
have a well-balanced
personality (Stumpf &
Fieser, 2012).
Aristotle’s Three Types of
Souls
Aristotle disagreed with Plato that the soul is
separable. For him, the soul and the body are
substantially united. For Aristotle, all bodies, living
or not, are a combination of the primary elements.
The body is not the principle of life, for it is always
in potentiality. It needs a form to be in actuality. By
actuality, we mean it is alive. When the body is
alive, it will then be able to perform its functions.
The soul then is the form of the
organized body. For Aristotle,
anything that lives has a soul.
Does this mean that animals and
plants also have souls? Yes. Not
only humans have souls. Aristotle
identified three kinds of souls
found in plants, animals, and man.
These three kinds of souls are
characterized as vegetative,
sensitive, and rational. They are
modeled according to the various
capacities of the body.
What do we mean by vegetative souls? Plants can
grow, reproduce, and feed themselves. That is why
the living soul is found in them. It does not share the
higher types of souls, for it cannot feel and think.
On the other hand, the
sensitive soul shares with
the vegetative soul, for it is
also capable of growing,
feeding, and reproducing.
Moreover, what makes it
different is that it is also
capable of sensing or feeling.
Meanwhile, the rational soul
shares with the other lower
souls, i.e.,vegetative and
sensitive. It has the capacity for
scientific thoughts, for it can
distinguish various things. With
this capacity, it analyzes and
understands the relationship of
things. Moreover, aside from
the scientific thoughts, it also
deliberates and discovers the
truth of the nature of things and
the guidelines for human
behavior (Stumpf & Fieser,
2012).

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