00:00:02
the human person as an embodied spirit
00:00:08
one of the dominant themes in the course
00:00:11
introduction to the philosophy of the
00:00:13
human person is the idea that the human
00:00:17
person is an embodied spirit but first
00:00:22
of all we need to define terms here
00:00:25
because as it appears the meaning of the
00:00:29
concept embodied spirit is not directly
00:00:32
clear to students who do not have a
00:00:35
strong background and orientation in
00:00:37
philosophy and so what do we exactly
00:00:43
mean by embodied spirit the most direct
00:00:49
connotation that comes to mind when we
00:00:52
say something is embodied is that it is
00:00:57
being materialized or incarnated hence
00:01:03
when we say embodied spirit we normally
00:01:06
thought of a spirit being incarnated
00:01:11
however the idea of a human person as an
00:01:15
embodied spirit does not necessarily
00:01:18
refer to the incarnation or
00:01:21
materialization of spirit as an
00:01:24
immaterial entity the embodiment of the
00:01:28
spirit in the context of Christian
00:01:30
philosophy specifically refers to the
00:01:34
inseparable union of body and soul thus
00:01:40
when we say embodied spirit we mean that
00:01:44
the body is not separate from the soul
00:01:47
just as the soul is not separate from
00:01:50
the body so when we say that the human
00:01:56
person is an embodied spirit we
00:01:59
specifically mean that the human person
00:02:02
is the point of convergence between the
00:02:06
material and spiritual entities that is
00:02:10
between the body and
00:02:13
Sol we cannot talk therefore of the
00:02:18
human person without the union of body
00:02:21
and soul just as we cannot talk of
00:02:25
anything without the union of matter and
00:02:29
form now to understand the specificity
00:02:36
of the human person as an embodied
00:02:38
spirit is important because aside from
00:02:42
the fact that it enables us to know our
00:02:45
potentialities and limitations it also
00:02:48
exposes us to a thorough and deeper
00:02:52
understanding of ourselves as a unique
00:02:54
creature United by body and soul with
00:03:01
this caveat in mind let us now proceed
00:03:03
to an engagement with one of the most
00:03:06
famous philosophers in this particular
00:03:09
scholarship namely Aires total but
00:03:15
before we engage in Aristotle's account
00:03:17
of the human person as an embodied
00:03:19
spirit that is again as a union of body
00:03:23
and soul it is important at this point
00:03:26
to provide the theoretical context of
00:03:30
this issue as we may already know
00:03:34
Aristotle's account of the human person
00:03:37
as an embodied spirit is in large part a
00:03:41
reaction against playtest
00:03:43
take on the nature of the human person
00:03:47
for Plato the nature of the human person
00:03:51
is seen in the metaphysical dichotomy
00:03:54
between body and soul this dichotomy
00:03:59
implies that there is an inherent
00:04:02
contradiction between the body and the
00:04:05
soul on the one hand the body according
00:04:11
to Plato is material
00:04:13
hence it is mutable and destructible on
00:04:19
the other hand the soul is immaterial
00:04:24
hence it is immutable
00:04:27
and indestructible and as much as the
00:04:32
body is material mutable and
00:04:34
destructible while the soul is
00:04:37
immaterial immutable and indestructible
00:04:42
Plato contends that in the context of
00:04:45
the nature of the human person the
00:04:48
body's existence is dependent on the
00:04:51
soul while the soul's existence is
00:04:55
independent of the body in fact in the
00:05:00
tiniest play to argues that the soul
00:05:04
existed prior to the body Plato writes
00:05:10
the gods may the soul prior to the body
00:05:14
and more venerable in birth and
00:05:16
excellence to the body's mistress and
00:05:19
governor interestingly then as Eddy
00:05:24
Babur claims this contention made play
00:05:28
to conclude that the human person is
00:05:31
just a soul using a buddy
00:05:36
according to Plato there are three parts
00:05:40
of the soul namely they're rational the
00:05:44
spiritual and the epitome Plato tells
00:05:50
the myth of the charioteer to comprehend
00:05:53
the complex nature of the soul but we
00:05:57
will not discuss this topic here since
00:06:00
our task here is just to provide an
00:06:02
overview of Plato's account of the human
00:06:05
person which serves as a background to
00:06:09
Aristotle's account of the human person
00:06:11
as an embodied spirit for Plato the
00:06:18
rational soul is located in the head the
00:06:22
spiritual soul in the chest and the a
00:06:25
pet ative in the abdomen according to
00:06:29
Plato the spiritual and appetitive souls
00:06:33
contribute to the motion and activity of
00:06:35
the whole person while the rational
00:06:38
souls function is to
00:06:40
guide the spiritual and appetitive Souls
00:06:45
according to Plato the a pet ative part
00:06:49
of the soul drives the human person to
00:06:52
experience thirst hunger and other
00:06:55
physical wants while the spiritual soul
00:06:59
drives the human person to experience
00:07:02
abomination anger and other emotional
00:07:06
feelings lastly it is the rational part
00:07:12
of the soul that enables the human
00:07:15
person to think reflect analyse
00:07:19
comprehend draw conclusions and alike as
00:07:25
we can see the rational soul which is
00:07:29
the highest of all parts of the soul
00:07:31
guides the other two parts namely the a
00:07:35
pet ative and spiritual what else could
00:07:40
perform this guiding function from
00:07:42
places point of view than the rational
00:07:45
part of the soul think of a desperately
00:07:50
thirsty man in the desert he sees a pool
00:07:54
of water and approaches it with all the
00:07:57
eagerness that depravation is able to
00:08:00
create but when he reaches the pool he
00:08:05
sees a sign danger did not drink
00:08:09
polluted he experiences conflict within
00:08:14
his desire urges him to drink but reason
00:08:19
tells him that such signs usually
00:08:22
indicate the truth that polluted water
00:08:25
will make him very ill or may kill him
00:08:29
and that if he drinks he will probably
00:08:33
be worse off than he doesn't he decides
00:08:38
not to drink in this case it is the
00:08:43
rational part of the soul that opposes
00:08:45
his desire his reason guides him away
00:08:51
from the water
00:08:54
the principal then that drives the
00:08:56
person to drink is called appetite while
00:09:00
the principal that forbids the person to
00:09:03
drink the water because it is polluted
00:09:06
is called reason another example could
00:09:12
be that of a man who is angry with
00:09:15
another person who insulted him out of
00:09:18
anger he may desire to kill his
00:09:20
Schmucker but does not actually kill the
00:09:23
culprit because he knows that if he does
00:09:26
he will be imprisoned with the same
00:09:31
thread of reasoning Plato argues that it
00:09:34
is the spirit in man that makes the
00:09:37
person angry with his D writer yet his
00:09:42
anger is curbed by reason that is by the
00:09:46
rational soul hence again for Plato
00:09:51
desire spirit and reason make up the
00:09:56
sole desire motivates spirit animates
00:10:01
and reason guides and for Plato if
00:10:07
reason can successfully guide desire and
00:10:10
spirit then the human person will attain
00:10:13
a well-balanced personality if we recall
00:10:20
for Plato the soul exists prior to the
00:10:24
body
00:10:25
hence the soul is an entity distinct
00:10:29
from the body now it is important to
00:10:33
note that if we talk about the human
00:10:35
person we talk about the body and soul
00:10:39
and that they are inseparable but this
00:10:43
is not the case for Plato Plato believes
00:10:48
that the body and soul are separable in
00:10:52
fact for Plato has already mentioned the
00:10:56
human person is just a soul using a body
00:11:01
and Plato believes that the soul is
00:11:05
imprisoned in the body
00:11:08
that the soul survives the death of the
00:11:10
body because it is immaterial immutable
00:11:14
and indestructible this means that for
00:11:20
Plato when the person dies the body
00:11:23
decomposes while the soul leaves the
00:11:27
body and goes back to the world of forms
00:11:32
it must be noted that in plato's
00:11:35
doctrine of form there are two kinds of
00:11:38
worlds namely the world of forms and the
00:11:43
world of matter and for Plato everything
00:11:48
comes from the world of forms and
00:11:51
everything that exists we'll go back to
00:11:55
the world of forms after it perishes
00:11:59
again when the human person dies the
00:12:03
body decomposes and the soul will go
00:12:06
back to the world of forms and lives
00:12:09
there eternally it is here where
00:12:14
Aristotle's notion of the human person
00:12:17
as an embodied spirit comes in indeed
00:12:23
Aristotle disagrees with Plato's dualism
00:12:26
which implies the concept of other
00:12:29
worldliness hours total believes that
00:12:33
there is no dichotomy between the
00:12:36
person's body and soul the body and soul
00:12:40
for Aristotle are in state of unity they
00:12:45
are inseparable
00:12:47
hence unlike Plato Aristotle believes
00:12:51
that we cannot talk about the soul apart
00:12:55
from the body and vice versa now how
00:13:01
does Aristotle view the human person as
00:13:05
an embodied spirit first we need to
00:13:11
understand that the term soul is the
00:13:14
English translation of the Greek word
00:13:16
psyche and for Aristotle the general
00:13:20
definition of the
00:13:22
involves the concept of life thus the
00:13:27
soul for Aristotle is the principle of
00:13:29
life this suggests therefore that
00:13:34
anything that has life has a soul as the
00:13:41
principle of life the soul causes the
00:13:45
body to live indeed it is the soul that
00:13:50
animates the body if the soul is the
00:13:55
animator of the body the body acts as
00:13:58
the matter to the soul
00:14:01
hence Aristotle believes that the soul
00:14:04
is the form of the body while the body
00:14:07
is the matter to the soul for Aristotle
00:14:13
everything that exists is composed of
00:14:17
matter and form and matter and form are
00:14:21
indeed inseparable hence we cannot talk
00:14:26
about any object if either of these
00:14:29
entities is not present in the context
00:14:33
of the human person Aristotle believes
00:14:36
that body and soul are inseparable body
00:14:42
and soul therefore constitute the human
00:14:46
person as a whole because for Aristotle
00:14:52
anything that has life has a soul then
00:14:55
it follows that plants and animals in
00:14:59
addition to humans have souls
00:15:02
thus Aristotle distinguishes three
00:15:05
levels of soul namely that of plants
00:15:09
that of animals and that of humans the
00:15:17
kind of soul that is found in plants
00:15:19
according to Aristotle is called
00:15:22
vegetative while those found in animals
00:15:25
and humans are called sensitive and
00:15:28
rational souls respectively according to
00:15:34
Aristotle
00:15:35
Glantz have souls because they possess
00:15:38
the three basic requirements for
00:15:41
something to be called living being that
00:15:45
is the capacity to grow reproduce and
00:15:48
feed itself however plants do not share
00:15:54
the higher levels of soul although they
00:15:58
grow reproduce and feed themselves
00:16:00
plants are not capable of feeling and
00:16:04
thinking sensitive Souls grow reproduce
00:16:09
and feed themselves
00:16:12
but unlike vegetative souls sensitive
00:16:16
souls are capable of sensation as
00:16:20
Aristotle writes plants possess only the
00:16:24
nutritive Faculty but other beings
00:16:28
possess both it and the sensitive
00:16:31
faculty and if they possess the
00:16:34
sensitive Faculty they must also possess
00:16:38
the a pet ative for appetite consists of
00:16:41
desire anger and will all animals
00:16:46
possess at least one sense that of touch
00:16:51
anything that has a sense is acquainted
00:16:55
with pleasure and pain with what is
00:16:58
pleasant and with what is painful and
00:17:02
anything that is acquainted with these
00:17:04
has desire since desire is an appetite
00:17:09
for pleasant finally rational souls grow
00:17:16
reproduce feed themselves and feel but
00:17:21
unlike the sensitive souls rational
00:17:24
souls are capable of thinking according
00:17:29
to Aristotle this highest level of soul
00:17:32
is present only in humans now
00:17:39
since humans possess all the
00:17:42
characteristics of animals that is the
00:17:46
capacity to grow reproduce
00:17:49
feed itself and feel in addition to
00:17:52
being rational
00:17:54
Aristotle concludes that the human
00:17:57
person is just an animal that thinks as
00:18:04
Aristotle's famous dictum and the human
00:18:06
person goes man is a rational animal
