Reflection Paper on Inhabitants of the World

Is there a rational being? The answer of course to this is YES. Human beings are rational beings. This is what makes us distinct from other living things. We are rational, we think and we make decisions based on our rational thinking. However, during the course of the discussion, we mentioned that human beings are not always rational. Often, human decisions are superficial and materialistic.

Human beings tend to lose their rationality because of the views of beauty and materials. Often, we see physical beauty as what defines us. Many people are like this, most are blinded by what is seen by the eyes. Further, the level of people’s rationality varies. But one thing we all agree on, everything seems to be geared towards an end.

All of us are geared towards a purpose. Some of us are more aware of it than the others. But the truth remains, and that is all our actions have purposes. This purpose guides us. This is very true because only in having a purpose or goal do we achieve something. And if we want to achieve what we really want to do, we have to make sure that we make choices that will bring us closer to it. Therefore, our being rational has a purpose and that purpose is to know and be aware of our purposes.

Such purpose varies on knowledge, which actually has two types: the notional and the real knowledge. Notional knowledge refers to ideas. We identified that only the human beings have this. Animals and other creatures are not given such gift. Such ideas can ascent, as what has been described in Bloom’s taxonomy of knowledge. We start with basic knowledge of knowing ’what is.’ However, we do not stop on merely knowing what is. We also strive to comprehend and answer questions about how things are related. And ultimately, we want to understand why. We do this through analysis. Therefore, human being’s desire to learn is a progression. It does not stop on merely knowing and remembering ‘what is.’ This is what many of us aim through reason-the notional ascent and that is to ascent to a higher level of wisdom. Although this is the case, not everyone aims to reach the highest level of wisdom. Some are satisfied with their level of understanding. But can we blame them? Each person is unique, and although it would be great to reach that level of wisdom, many are contented in finding what makes them truly happy.

I also gained understanding on the real ascent, which is a different form of knowledge. If notional knowledge speaks of wisdom, real ascent speaks of our level of awareness, which is being caught up in experience. Indeed, we can only fully understand something if we have experienced it. This has also shed light to one of my questions growing up, and that is why Jesus became man. Why would someone so powerful choose to live among His people? And the answer was to better understand humanity, and because he became man, he was able to understand us better.

Death was partly discussed as well. Although there are some stories about what happens after death, no one has really gone through death and lived to tell the story. What’s interesting about our discussion of death is how such word can be seen differently by scientists and philosophers. For scientists, death happens when all the vital organs of the body stops functioning. But for philosophers, death happens when the soul leaves the body or when reason leaves a person. Perhaps this is the reason why we value the body even in its lifeless form.

But the ultimate purpose of man is not death. Although all of us will encounter death someday, it is not what we aim for in our life. Our ultimate purpose is happiness. This is why we set goals and strive to achieve them. For us, achieving those goals will give us happiness.

Another argument is dualism. Here, we are presented with an ideology; body + reason = man. An example presented was that of the medieval belief wherein the resistance of temptation lies on a person’s ability to control his body. Some ended up hurting themselves just to prevent temptation. Today, people’s mindsets have changed. In most part of the world, it is no longer acceptable for a person to be tempted because of the kind of clothes women wear.

Through the course of the discussion of dualism, we tackled physicalism, which was thoroughly discussed in the story of Thomas Moore. As mentioned in the discussion, he manifested his belief that the body can be destroyed but the soul cannot.  People with strong principles live by this. The body, for them is just temporary. What is important is where the soul would go, once it leaves the body. If the body did well, the soul will be with God when the body dies.

The discussion progressed to the topic of the body as a unitary being. One cannot detach himself from the pain that a portion of the body feels. The entire body will sense it. And such is true. We cannot ignore a part of our body. We will definitely know if something is wrong. We cannot be separated from our body if we feel pain, discomfort and the like.

Aside from the body and its part, man is also an integral being who undergoes holistic development. But man is not just man, he also has, in himself, God. In this ideology, the body is man, while the soul is God Therefore, anything man asks about man, he can also ask about God. This is why we should not look at development as an earthly desire only. There is danger in looking at development as a mere satisfaction of the body –materialism. We fail to see what should matter most.

Then we look at man as a free man. We are granted this because of our free will. But what is freedom? The being and non-being: I determine my own existence. I determine my own destiny... I am the captain of my soul… I AM IN CONTROL OF MYSELF. One way of looking at freedom is that freedom is absolute. We can do anything that we want. And according to this ideology, we only limit ourselves when we consider God. The more we think of God, the more we lose our freedom. But there is danger in this ideology. If we see our freedom as absolute, we could lose our being rational. We could lose our sense of what is right and what is wrong.

Another notion of freedom is that it continually seeks satisfaction. As mentioned in our discussion, human beings are wolf. We seek personal satisfaction and happiness even at the expense of other people. If we believe that anything that makes us happy is good and anything that hurts us is bad, then we become selfish. What would the world be like if all of us live out our selfish desires?

And the last view of freedom is that freedom is regulated. It is not absolute. It respects the freedom of others as well. In our discussion, our freedom ceases when the right of others are violated. This, for me is the best view of freedom, our freedom should be regulated because we are not alone in this world. We live with people. And if we are truly rational, we will consider them as well.

The highest form of freedom is experienced in two dimensions. There are only two choices at hand. Freedom lies in the availability of choices: more choices, more freedom. But we should be concern of is the fundamental option as this could drastically change our life.