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The VilPhil Blog is intended for courteous discussion of Topics selected for Presentation at our meetings in The Villages, FL. Do not post extraneous material such as "chain letters" or political or religious diatribes.
The VilPhil Blog is intended for courteous discussion of Topics selected for Presentation at our meetings in The Villages, FL. Do not post extraneous material such as "chain letters" or political or religious diatribes.
March 15, 2019. Robert Altobello. "Human Nature".
ReplyDeleteThank you Robert Altobello for your talk on Human Nature. By the end of the talk, I was certainly hoping that a class was in development. And of course, beginning April 3rd, through The Enrichment Academy, your class ‘Exploring Human Nature’ is offered. I’ll be attending.
Your talk and discussion after got me thinking. (Part 1.)
Is there something within our human nature that makes us qualitatively different from the natures of animals, plants or inanimate matter? Or is our human nature, through which we become persons, externally determined by evolutionary forces pushing us forward or societal pressures holding us back?
Ancient wisdom holds that it is our ability to reason that makes us persons – human beings – and different in kind from the rest of nature. Also, our reasoning nature comes to so influence our personal activities that we transcend the world nature makes. It is with reason that we break out of nature’s evolutionary mold in such a way that instead of being severely limited individual creatures instinctively reacting to environmental changes we intend, through our actions, to change our common environment more to our liking. In other words, we have reason to build roads, houses and institutions - all things nature does not do.
So, reasonably, we choose to act and interfere with the natural course of things; or, we choose to not actively interfere and leave things alone to take their natural course.
But now the curse and bless of reason. Even though our reasonable acts direct things differently than would naturally happen, we are still bound by material laws, finite lives and limited abilities do as we please. Though reasonable action unbinds us from nature’s mythological ‘Garden of Eden’ it fails to make us Gods. As nature has it, animals, plants and matter don’t make mistakes; they are each bound according to the laws of their respective natures. Only persons – acting outside nature’s garden – can, while intending good, mistakenly produce bad. Reasonably good intentions informing our actions do produce great wonders and/or pave the road to hell.
Still, I believe, it is our ability to reason that establishes our nature as human. With reason: we transcend but include that in us which is animal, alive and material; we are self-aware and other-aware beyond a sensual level; we know that we are not gods; and, we know that when we die that which makes us human is no longer embodied. Of course, it is possible that we evolved to reason; though, with reason we step beyond evolutionary bounds. Of course, it is also with reason that we build social institutions to both extend our personal freedoms and restrict them.
Generations ago our Declaration of Independence articulated a belief in at least three values fundamental to our being human, such that, without these values guiding our personal actions we behave as less than human. These three objects of reason are described as “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”. Take away a person’s life and their human nature is dead. Take away a person’s liberty through coercion and that person’s behavior is reduced to an animalistic slavery only reacting to environmental changes. Take away a person’s pursuit of happiness – while there is no guarantee of achieving it – and meaningful action and purposeful living won’t even be imagined. Reason informs us that any person treating another person as though they lack one of those objects of value is ignoring that other’s personal value. It is in our non-personal moments that we experience some loss of reason and forget that all people are persons; then, we mistakenly act as though people are not really persons but more like animals or inanimate objects.
"Human Nature" (Part 2.)
ReplyDeleteMaterial things, plants and animals: they all behave according to their nature. But persons are different because we reason. John Macmurray says “Reason is the capacity to behave, not in terms of our own nature, but in terms of our knowledge of the nature of the world outside.” This means that our personal activities are not automatic – instinctive – reactions to environmental changes though they can be habitual. Personal behavior is learned; and, what is learned can be unlearned. It is with reason that we value certain environmental changes as ends to be achieved. And it is with reason that we devise various means to achieve those ends.
As reasonable persons we all know well enough what we are doing until we don’t. And it is at this point, when things go wrong, that we have to take a time out and halt what we are doing and reflect. With reason, when things go wrong, we turn inward and work things out ideally instead of continuing to do the wrong things over and over expecting different results. With reason we intend to end reflection and again act outwardly in our common world, differently than last time, but with the hope of acting better.
This is our nature: To reason things out and act hopefully for the better but sometimes for the worse.
Thank you Robert for your presentation,
Maury Garvey
Dear Maury,
DeleteTo "reason" is to form conclusions or draw inferences from facts or premises. This ability is not unique to our species. We share at least 96% of genes with chimps and over 90% with mice. They are able to reason. Our difference from other animals seems to be more a matter of degree than of function.
Clearly, our knowledge has surpassed that of other species. Writing has allowed us to advance beyond oral communication as a means to share learning. Thus, our knowledge of the world exceeds that of other species as a result of our use of our brains rather than of a unique property that our brains possess.
Note that birds probably had a more accurate conception of our world than humans did for the many millennia during which we conceptualized the Earth as flat, although the sounds that birds make may not have the range of symbolic meaning, to permit sharing their observations, that early humans developed with our language systems.
Cheers,
Peter Irwin
March 29, 2019, Mike Enright, "How To Stay Happy As We Age".
ReplyDeleteThe link below is a five minute clip on the key to happiness that I think you will link and I believe complements Mike’s presentation. Don’t let the title fool you.
Enjoy!
https://www.prageru.com/video/the-key-to-unhappiness
Bob
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePeter: Sure, let us have this conversation!
DeleteYou go first by re-posting the above Comment at a new Topic I’ve created: vilphil.blogspot.com/2019/05/discussion-about-peter-irwin-whats.html
Love, Ira
This comment was re-posted under the title of my talk, per Ira's request.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSee re-posting mentioned above.
ReplyDelete