Thales – states that the most difficult thing to do in life is to know

oneself

Avery Dulles (1918 – 2008 A.D) - the human person is full of

mystery. Like the origin of the human world or person.

Karl Rahner (1904 – 1984 A.D) – states that it is a union of body and
soul, body is the one that animates the soul like the eyes or limbs,
While the soul is the spiritual, the invisible part like the mind. They are
not the same but always together.

Aristotle (384 – 322 B.C) and St. Thomas Aquiñas (1225 – 1274) they
both claimed that the soul is really existing, and the one that animates
the body.

Aristotle – states that the body becomes the extension of the soul
Aquiñas – states that the soul is in the human mind

the reason why the human mind has the functions of:
1. seeking the truth due to his or her capacity to reason
out. and
2. choosing the good due to his or her free
A HUMAN PERSON IS:
Thinking being
Free Being
Frederic Skinner (1904 – 1990 A.D) - freedom is an illusion. In other
words, it is not true that a person is free, it is just a concept in mind, it
is not tangible. All things that are not tangible for Skinner do not exist.

Some people believe that human person’s freedom is limited because

of the following reasons:

1. Human person is an embodied spirit.

- Meaning the person is both matter and spirit.
2. Human person is restricted by his or her behaviour.
- Psychology is the science of human behavior and the study of human
mind.
3. The person's present concrete situation.
- There are times when 'a person's current situation restricts him or her
to do something he or she likes'.
4. Due to a person’s habits.
- Habits are things a person repeatedly do. Sometimes harmful,
sometimes not.
5. Due to the person’s motivations.
- There are many reasons why a person do something, such as smoking,
maybe because of curiosity or stress.
6. The concept of predestination.
Predestination is a religious teaching that everything happens to a
person is caused by a powerful force outside himself or herself.
HUMAN PERSON IS FREE:
Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778 A.D.) 18th century
Swiss-born rationalist philosopher
- human freedom refers to the ability of human beings to act differently
and do anything they want.
Thomas Hobbes (1588 – 1679 A.D.), an English materialist philosopher
- Freedom is an act based on self-interest.
Thomas Aquinas (1225 – 1274 A.D.), the angelic doctor of the Catholic
church,
- defines freedom as an act based on the person’s ability to decide for
himself and make a choice.
In modern times, human person is considered free because of the
following reasons:
1. The person’s openness to the possibility that anything can happen
to him or her everyday, the so called “aha” experience. he or she is
free to accept or ignore that reality.
2. Due to human person’s experience of responsibility. The person
chooses to be or not to be a responsible person.
3. Due to immediate experience of making decision or
choice. Everybody chooses or decides. Not to choose is a “choice,” not
to decide is a decision.
4. Due to rewards and punishment. The person chooses between
doing good or bad, because of reward and punishment he or she will
get.
The Human person as Moral Agent

The capacity of the human person to discern what is ‘good and bad,’
‘right or wrong.

All actions of the human person can be called “human acts. Acts for
which the human person is responsible.
In Christian ethics, under the influence of Thomas Aquinas, there are
two types of actions which are “act of man or actus hominis” and the
“human act or actus humanus”.
"Actus Humanus" refers to "human actions" 
- DONE consciously and deliberately
"Actus Hominis" or the "act of man" is an involuntary action of the
person.
"forced act." A forced act is an action that is NOT DONE willingly or
deliberately by the person themselves.
Human persons as Moral agents have a moral responsibility not to
initiate or start groundless harm to other people, society, and to the
environment (Haring, 1978).

SUMMARY
The human person as an embodied spirit is composed of body
and soul, different entities, yet united and undivided. One is
material, the other is immaterial. Remove one from the other
and the person dies. Thomas Aquinas says that the place of the
soul is the mind. The functions of the mind is to reason out and
to choose, that makes the person a thinking and free being. As
a thinking and free being, the person is capable of choosing an
action or behavior, consciously and willingly. This makes a
person a moral agent, somebody who can discern and choose
an action and be responsible to it.