Nature Of Humans ( paper 1 - 1.2) Flashcards
(15 cards)
What did Sigmund Freud believe about human nature
That it is made of 3 parts
1. The Super Ego - the part of human consciousness that contains the influences of our parts or other authority figures in our childhood
2. Id - forms the basic drives for hunger sex and self preservation
3. Ego - both the Super Ego and the Id are controlled by this which is the rational part of consciousness that balances the other two
What do humanists believe about the human soul + consciousness
- we do not have a soul because humanists don’t believe in the existence of anything that cannot be proven by science
- once our physical body dies we are gone and have no soul or self that continues to exist
- human nature is explained physically by the way our bodies and brains work
- it is not in our nature to be good (Christianity) but to understand right from wrong (moral awareness)
What are Christian beliefs about the nature of human beings ( St Augustine and Thomas Aquinas)
- humans are created in the image of god and are born with some godlike qualities like reason morality and spirituality, we also have free will
- because of Adam and Eve and the tree they ate from we are born with original sin
- Augustine said that humans have a soul which is the spiritual, moral and rational part of a human. He believed that the body and soul is created by god and therefore good
- the soul is immortal because it lives after the death of the the mortal body
- rider of horse analogy — god intended soul to guide body
- Thomas Aquinas — god created us to do good and avoid evil, humans have been given reason
- TA — sin happens because people’s reasons has misinterpreted evil for good. This leads people to pursue apparent goods (money rather than real goods like happiness)
Christian beliefs about the nature of human beings
Key beliefs:
- Human’s are created in the image of God and are born with certain God-like qualities of reason, morality and spirituality (ability to have a relationship with God). We also have free will which allows us to choose to obey God and do good or disobey God and do sin. This makes us different to any other animal.
- Because of the ‘Fall’ in the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve disobeyed God and ate from the tree of knowledge, all people are born with original sin. This can be cleansed at baptism, however, due to free will, humans must always fight the temptation to sin.
Non-religious beliefs about the nature of human beings
Jean Paul Sartre
- Not everyone believes in human nature
- Sartre was a philosopher who argued that there is no such thing as human ‘essence’ or human nature
- Who we are and what we are like comes from the choices we make and how we live our lives
- This is called existentialism
- Sartre is famous for saying ‘existence precedes essence’ which means that you are the choices that you makes.
- Emphasises the existence of the individual person as a free and responsible agent determining their own development through acts of the will
Non-religious beliefs about the nature of human beings
Humanism
- Humanists, such as Stephen Fry and the philosopher A C Grayling believe that we do not have a soul because they do not believe in the existence of anything that cannot be proven by science
- They believe that once our physical body dies we are gone and there is no soul or self that continues to exist.
- They believe that a human’s nature is explained physically by the way our bodies and our brains work.
- Humanists believe that it is not in our nature to be good (like the Christian view) but that it is in our nature to understand right from wrong (moral awareness).
- Humanists would say that our sense of right and wrong comes from what we know helps us to survive.
- We survive best in communities therefore we understand that we need to protect that community by not harming others, but instead promoting their welfare.
Q - “It is in the nature of human beings to be good”
Agree:
- Some Christians may argue that since God created humans we are good because we are made in the image of God and have God-like qualities such as reason, morality and spirituality.
- Secondly, even humanists would argue that humans are born with a sense of right and wrong.
- Aquinas would say we are born with the nature to ‘do good and avoid evil’. When humans do evil things they are doing what they think is good, making it an ‘apparent good’.
Disagree:
- a Christian may also argue that we are all born with original sin so we must always fight the temptation to sin.
- Secondly, some humans do evil things, e.g. serial killers, knowing full well are evil, therefore showing that our nature is not necessarily good.
- St Augustine said that the soul is divided and weakened by the desires of the body, leading us to sin.
What else do Christians believe about the soul?
- Christians have a linear view of human existence. This means that God created the universe at the beginning of time and that He creates humans with body and soul that live only once on Earth.
- They believe that the soul is immortal and will either go to Heaven or Hell (or Purgatory for Catholics) on Judgment day when God judges a person after death on how they have lived their lives.
- It is not only the soul, however, that lives on after death, but Christians believe that the body will be resurrected, meaning raised from the dead as Jesus’ was
Christian beliefs about the soul and immortality
- “the LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being”. Genesis 2: 7
- The soul is the ‘breath of life’- the soul gives the body (‘the dust of the ground’) life.
- “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” 1 Corinthians 3:15
- The body is ‘God’s temple’ and the soul is ‘God’s Spirit’.
Reasons for belief in the resurrection of the body and immortality: - “So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body”. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44
- The body on Earth is ‘perishable’ meaning it is mortal and can be destroyed, whereas the resurrected body is a ‘spiritual body’.
St Aquinas’ views on the soul
Aquinas believed that the human soul gives life to the body, and that one cannot exist without the other (This was a view influenced by Aristotle). He believed that both live on after death because the soul is immortal and the body is resurrected
Plato’s views on the soul and immortality
Plato was a dualist because he believed that the body and the soul were separate and that the body died, whereas the soul is eternal. He believed that the aim of life is for the soul to escape the body. The body is inferior to the soul, which is the rational part of a human
Why might non-religious people believe humans have a soul?
- Some non-religious people believe in the idea of a soul as the part of a human that is conscious, self-aware, moral and can feel complex emotions such as love. They believe that these things cannot simply be explained by the physical workings on the brain.
- Some non-religious people also like to think that the soul lives on after the body dies as this gives them hope for the future that they may see their loved ones again.
differing views about the soul and immortality
- Christians believe that humans have an immortal soul that is created by God and a body that is resurrected. After death, God judges whether the body and soul will go to heaven or hell.
- In the Bible, it describes the human soul as ‘God’s spirit’. The Earthly body is described as ‘perishable’ meaning that it will die and a ‘spiritual body’ will be resurrected as immortal.
- Plato, on the other hand, thought that the soul was eternal and superior to the body which dies. This made him a dualist.
- Some non-religious people believe in the idea of a soul as the part of a human that is conscious, self-aware, moral and can feel complex emotions such as love. Some non-religious people also like to think that the soul lives on after the body dies as this gives them hope for the future that they may see their loved ones again.
Why some people don’t believe that humans have a soul
- Humanists, such as Stephen Fry and the philosopher A C Grayling believe that we do not have a soul because they do not believe in the existence of anything that cannot be proven by science
- This is a position also known as physicalism.
They believe that once our physical body dies we are gone and there is no soul or self that continues to exist - They believe that a human’s nature is explained physically by the way our bodies and our brains work
- They would say that the parts of a human person that people sometimes attribute to the soul like consciousness and complex emotions such as love, can be explained by chemicals and signals in the brain
- views on physicalism - The philosopher A.J Ayer also argued that talk about things that we cannot
Experience or test scientifically is “meaningless”, including the human soul - Richard Dawkins (atheism)also denies that humans have a soul. He would say that our rational, conscious ‘minds’ are a product of evolution (a physical, scientific process) over millions of years.
Q - why some people believe that the real world is nothing more than the physical world
- Humanists, such as Stephen Fry and the philosopher A C Grayling do not believe in the existence of anything that cannot be proven by science. This is a position also known as physicalism
- They believe that once our physical body dies we are gone and there is no soul or self that continues to exist beyond the physical world. Instead, they believe that a human’s nature is explained physically by the way our bodies and our brains work and that there is nothing real beyond the physical world
- They would say that the parts of a human person that people sometimes attribute to the soul like consciousness and complex emotions such as love, can be explained by chemicals and signals in the brain. This is because they believe that nothing exists beyond the physical world
- The philosopher A.J Ayer also argued that talk about things that we cannot experience or test scientifically is “meaningless”. This only includes physical things, so it is meaningless to talk about things beyond the physical world
