MY

BODY
CALASANZ, EDUARDO.
ATENEO DE MANILA UNIVERSITY.
Mr. Renz Joelle C. Domingo | Holy Spirit Academy of Malolos
Classical Views
• What is the body of man?
• Is it truly a part of his being man or is it just a
contingent addition to his self?
• Is it a bestial imprisonment of the human spirit
or its perfection?
Classical Views: Plato
• MAN IS HIS SOUL.
• Soul as essence of his
humanity and source of
all his activities.
Classical Views: Plato
• Soul as a charioteer of
two winged-horses.
(Phaedrus)
Classical Views: Plato
• The taking of human
body is an unfortunate
accident and a cruel
imprisonment of the
free and pure soul.
Classical Views:
Aristotle
• MAN IS THE WHOLE OF
HIS BODY AND SOUL.
• Relation of body and soul is
the relation of matter to
form. (De Anima)
Classical Views:
Aristotle
• There is no matter that is not
informed by form and no
form that is not the form of
matter. Body and soul are
only two aspects of the
whole man.
Classical Views:
Aristotle
• “There seems to be no case in
which the soul can act or be acted
upon without involving the body;
e.g. anger, courage, appetite, and
sensation generally.” (De Anima)
Medieval Views: St Augustine
• MAN IS THE UNITY
OF BODY AND
SOUL, AND HE CAN
EXIST ONLY AS THIS
UNITY. (De Civitate
Dei)
Medieval Views: St Augustine
• Man can be divided
into body and soul, and
no doubt soul is more
real and important but
the soul is not only the
man.
Medieval Views: St Augustine
• charioteer with a
horse; the soul is not a
soul if it is not the soul
of a body
• jar with water; the end
of the body is to be
filled with the soul.
Medieval Views:
St Thomas Aquinas
• ALTHOUGH THE BODY IS
NOT PART OF THE
ESSENCE OF THE SOUL,
THE VERY ESSENCE OF
THE SOUL INHERENTLY
NEEDS TO BE ONE WITH
THE BODY. (Summa
Theologiae)
Medieval Views:
St Thomas Aquinas
• The soul is not only the man.
• “Just as it belongs to the nature of
this particular man to be composed
of this soul, of this flesh and of these
bones, so it belongs to the nature of
man to be composed of soul, flesh
and bones.” (Summa Theologiae)
 Modern View: Rene Descartes
• First Meditation: Methodic Doubt: We
should doubt all that we know because
first, they come from our SENSES which
can be mistaken or can deceive us. Second,
this can just be the result of a DREAM.
Even the certain and universal truths of
religion and mathematics I can think of
only as imaginary, the work of a bad
spirit.
 Modern View: Rene Descartes
• Second Meditation: Even if we use
methodic doubt, there is one truth I
cannot deny or doubt: I think,
therefore, I am. (Cogito, ergo sum.)
• If you are thinking and doubting,
therefore you are existing.
Modern View: Rene Descartes
• Sixth Meditation: Even if we can
prove the reality of the world and
material things, the real essence
of man is still different from his
body.
 Modern View: Rene Descartes
• Man’s body is just a material thing,
extended, and as such does not
seem to differ from a complex
machine like computerized robot,
but we cannot say that the
relationship of body and soul is like
that of the captain and his ship, a
metaphor of Plato.
Contemporary View:
Gabriel Marcel
• “Man’s embodiment is not simply a
datum alongside other data but the
primary datum that is the starting
point and basis of any
philosophical reflection.” (Mystery
and Being)
Contemporary View:
Gabriel Marcel
• Primary Reflection: Placing oneself outside of the
thing one is inquiring on; an ob-jectum (thrown in
front); it has nothing to do with one’s self nor one
does have anything to do with it; taking each of the
parts (ANALYZE), study their ordering
(SYSTEMATIZE) and arrive at some clear and fixed
ideas regarding the thing itself (CONCEPTUALIZE)
Contemporary View:
Gabriel Marcel
• Secondary Reflection: coming closer to understanding
of the totality of all that exists; recognizing that I am
part of the thing I’m investigating; sub-jectum
(thrown beneath); I have something to do with it and
it has something to do with me; I cannot tear it apart
into clear and fixed ideas; I have to describe and bring
to light its unique wholeness in my concrete
experience
 Contemporary View:
Gabriel Marcel
• a body; objective and universal idea
apart from me; of which I have nothing
to do nor has something to do with my
life;
 D. 1. Limitations: Facticity
• The things in our lives that are already given.
• All the details that surround us in the present as being –in-
the-world in the here and the now; including our
environment, our language, our past decisions, our past and
present relationships, and even future death.
 D. 2. Limitations: Temporality
• Being born and existing in particular time
• Finitude: mortality
• Dealing with the past, present, and future: not yet, no
longer.
 D. 3. Limitations: Spatiality
• Being born and existing in particular place.
• Set to be at one place at a time.
• Subject to physical laws of universe and restricted by spatial
nature
 D. 4. Limitations: Spatio-
Temporal Understanding
• Being situated in a particular time and place shall prescribe
the way we look at and understand things.
• Spatio-temporal situation limits us from obtaining a purely
objective perspective or someone else’s perspective
 D. 5. Limitations: Body as
Intermediary
• We are our bodies but also more than our bodies
• limits my experience of the world to my world
• limits in communication and expression
a. limited by language and bodily expressions in fully disclosing
ourselves, our thoughts and feelings to others: words fail us
b. hides our thoughts and feelings, our dispositions and
sentiments
 Transcending Facticity
• Change attitude towards our facticity. Never let facticity
define you. Be creative with life options—set out our
possibilities and maximize them
• Historicity: we are free to define who we are and who we
are to be. We are history-making creatures not limited to
what nature has initially given us.
 Transcending Temporality
• “The present is never our goal: the past and present are our
means, the future is our goal.” (Blaise Pascal)
• “Why do we want to hastily achieve or have something which
is not yet? Why do we hold on to or lament on something
which is no longer? What if we give the present its due worth
and simply appreciate it?”
• Make life meaningful and interesting; make the most out of
time.
 Transcending Spatiality
• Make the most out of our lives; make the most out of the
occasion; make the most out of the moment; enjoy the place.
• Value the people and things around. We lately appreciate the
value of things when it is no longer present; the things in our
immediate surroundings are what we most often neglect.
• Enjoy the journey.
 Transcending
Spatio-Temporal Understanding
• Dialogue: Express yourselves; Learn from others.
 Transcending Intermediation
• Consider your experience of the world as a privileged experience:
uniquely and specially for you.
• Be creative in expression.
• Work on a good relationship with people whom we want to disclose to
us. Be respectful of one’s concealment; be responsible, patient,
sensitive and understanding.
• Consider the body as a protection and solace.