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Platonic-aristotelian Notion Of Man
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Thus he writes:
Man
essentially lives in the world that is made up of complex sets of
horizons. Man lives in a certain situation in which he can generally not
change. It is up to him to assume this situation and make the most use
of it.10
The Platonic-Aristotelian notion of man is therefore crucial
with regards to the human existential understanding and our discussion
that will be made clear as we proceed.
1.2 Body and Soul
The body
is one of the elements of man that is naturally sensible and clear in
existence. It is the concrete part of man, yet it does not constitute
the human reality absolutely. It exists with the soul to make the actual
human being. With this fickle nature of the body and soul, we shall
look into, the body and soul as a problem; it’s relationship and
functions.
1.2.1 The Soul And Body Problem
Philosophy and
anthropology have problem on the usage of the term that designates the
psychological faculty in man. Anthropology speaks of mind, philosophers
and theologians refer to it as “spirit.†For the scientists, it is
operational (i.e. the both terms). It is then left to the philosophers,
theologians, and scientists to choose the best, concerning the nature
and origin of man.
The issue of body and soul, at one extreme is the
attempt to separate the human body and soul by the Platonic idealism,
using the dualism of Descartes. At the other end is the attempt to
reduce the mind and body relationship to animal psychology and behavior
giving no acknowledgement to man’s soul as truly spiritual entity.
“Neither pure spirit nor brute animal, man is an organic spirit and
spiritual organism.11
1.2.2 Soul and Body Functions
The body
performs both external function as walking, talking, hearing, seeing,
taste, smell etc and internal activities as biochemistry and the metrics
of genetical informations etc. The somaticity of man transcends and
develops into nuclear operations. Mondin. B writes; “Man is able to
manage his body, train it, and render it capable of performing movement
of admirable perfectionsâ€.12
He is a symbolic being, which is a sign
of life health, vigilance, and command. However, man has some
characteristics in common with the animals such as growth, reproduction,
movement etc.
Epistemologically, the body is a vital instrument of
acquiring knowledge to Aristotle and Hume, it is through the body that
the world manifests itself to me and I project myself on the world
(Phenomenology).
Lastly, the body is the source of evil and likewise a curse to the soul according to the Platonists and Manicheans doctrines.
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