Introduction To The Philosophy Of Human Person PDF

PREPARED BY: CATHERINE C. LACHICA  HUMAN PERSON AS AN EMBODIED SPIRIT  Union Between Body and Soul Aristotle is a student of Plato. However, they do differ in their understanding of man. Aristotle asserts that there is no division between the body and the soul. The soul g...

PREPARED BY: CATHERINE C. LACHICA  HUMAN PERSON AS AN EMBODIED SPIRIT  Union Between Body and Soul Aristotle is a student of Plato. However, they do differ in their understanding of man. Aristotle asserts that there is no division between the body and the soul. The soul gives life to the body, while the body gives the soul its material entity. Hence, the body and the soul are in the state of unity. The soul “acts as the perfect realization of the body.” It is the soul that gives life to the body. It can only possess life when it is united with the soul. Thus, soul is the principle in life; it causes the body live. The body is matter to the souls and the soul form to the body. Therefore, the two are inseparable. They constitute man as a whole.  Understanding Human Person as Embodied Spirit from Different Perspectives “The Body as Prison to the Soul.” - Plato in Phaedo “Human beings by nature are limited. This limitation is caused by having our bodies. To understand the human person, Plato asserted that man is composed of body and soul. However, man is a soul using a body. With this, the relationship between the two is divided. For Plato, the body is material; it cannot live and move, mutable and destructible. In contrast, the soul is immaterial and can exist apart from the body. It exists before the body. When we died, our physical body died while our soul continues to live. Hence, he called the body the prison of the soul. Our body is treated as the coffin of the soul and it can only be freed through death. Thus, the body limits the full potentials of the soul. This doctrine is connected to Plato’s theory of Forms where the material world (our world) is just a mere illusion while the Real- world Man as a Rational Being Man has a body. However, he is not only a walking body. Man is equipped with rationality. According to Aristotle, rationality is what separates man from all other animals. What makes us different from the animal is our ability to think and reason out. By using this intellect, man can face complex situations and even can overcome his own limitations.