Lecture 3 Part 2: Origin & Nature of Human Being PDF

LECTURE 3 PART 2 ORIGIN & NATURE OF HUMAN BEING WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE OVERVIEW OF LECTURE 3 ◦PART 2 ◦THE ORIGIN & NATURE OF HUMAN BEING: WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE ◦ DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION ◦ FREUDIAN ICEBERG METAPHOR ◦ THE CONCEPT OF ORIGINAL SIN  DARWIN’S...

LECTURE 3 PART 2 ORIGIN & NATURE OF HUMAN BEING WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE OVERVIEW OF LECTURE 3 ◦PART 2 ◦THE ORIGIN & NATURE OF HUMAN BEING: WESTERN PSYCHOLOGY PERSPECTIVE ◦ DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION ◦ FREUDIAN ICEBERG METAPHOR ◦ THE CONCEPT OF ORIGINAL SIN  DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION ◦Theory of Evolution was founded by Charles Robert Darwin (1809- 1882) when he was 22 years old (18 ◦He was student of Theology in Cambridge University, influenced by materialism HMS Beagle – yr 1832 – voyage in Atlantic Ocean ◦ ◦According to the Theory of Evolution, creations evolve. In other words the species “descent with modification”. ◦Evolution happens through natural selection. ◦Natural selection refers to the process of choosing the favourable traits. ◦Only the favoured (advantaged) survives – known as survival of the fittest ◦Therefore species have to adapt to environment over time. ◦The disadvantaged or not favoured will die out.  Quotes from Darwin ◦"…Natural selection acts only by taking advantage of slight successive variations; she can never take a great and sudden leap, but must advance by short and sure, though slow steps." (Charles Darwin, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life," 1859, p. 162.) EVOLUTION OF HUMAN FROM APE Evolution of human skull ◦"If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down." (Charles Darwin, "On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life," 1859, p. 158.)  CRITICS AGAINST DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION 1. Modern molecular biology: "Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, weighing less than 10-12 grams, each is in effect a veritable micro-miniaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up altogether of one hundred thousand million atoms, far more complicated than any machinery built by man and absolutely without parallel in the non-living world." (Michael Denton, "Evolution: A Theory in Crisis," 1986, p. 250.) ◦2. Emergence of human with complete features – no evolution “Fossils show that different living groups emerged suddenly with all their features intact—in other words that they were created.” (Harun Yahya, The Collapse of the Theory of Evolution) 3. Random and fake demonstration of ‘evolution of human skull’ ◦4. Traces of footprints similar to homo sapiens: ◦ One of the oldest traces of man are the "footprints" found by the famous paleo- aentologist Mary Leakey in 1977 in Tanzania's Laetoli region. These remains caused a great furore in the world of science. Research indicated that these footprints were in a 3.6-million-year-old layer. Russell Tuttle, who saw the footprints, wrote: ◦“A small barefoot Homo sapiens could have made them... In all discernible morphological features, the feet of the individuals that made the trails are indistinguishable from those of modern humans.” (Ian Anderson, "Who made the Laetoli footprints?” New Scientist, vol. 98, 12 May 1983, p. 373. FREUDIAN ICEBERG METAPHOR  Freud’s concept of unconscious mind ◦In Freud's psychoanalytic theory of personality, the unconscious mind is a reservoir of feelings, thoughts, urges, and memories that outside of our conscious awareness. Most of the contents of the unconscious are unacceptable or unpleasant, such as feelings of pain, anxiety, or conflict. According to Freud, the unconscious continues to influence our behavior and experience, even though we are unaware of these underlying influences. (https://www.verywell.com/what-is-the-unconscious-2796004) ◦Ways that unconscious make themselves known: ◦Dream ◦Freudian slip (slip of the tongue) ◦These unconscious information is brought to awareness through free association which leads a person to the state called catharsis.  CRITICS AGAINST FREUDIAN UNCONSCIOUS MIND 1.The method that he used to come up with this concept is merely speculation and assumption. 2.Freud only limits human being to ‘mind’, whereas man has various other dimensions 3.He confined human experience only in existential reality. There is an obvious denial of spiritual essence – his idea is in line with secular theories.  CHRISTIANITY CONCEPT OF ORIGINAL SIN ◦Catholic Encyclopedia: Original sin may be taken to mean: (1)the sin that Adam committ ed (2) a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam. ◦From the earliest times the latter sense of the word was more common, as may be seen by St. Augustine's statement: "the deliberate sin of the first man is the cause of original sin" (De nupt. et concup., II, xxvi, 43). It is the hereditary stain that is dealt with here. As to the sin of Adam we have not to examine the circumstances in which it was committed nor make the exegesis of the third chapter of Genesis. (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11312a.htm) CRITICS ON THE CONCEPT OF ORIGINAL SIN ……In chapter 4