The Question Of An Answer What

The Question Of An Answer: What It Is To Be Human Essay, Research Paper

The Question of an Answer: What It Is To Be Human

The body is socially constructed; and in this paper we explore the various and

ever-changing constructions of the body, and thus of the embodied self……The

one word, body, may therefore signify very different realities and perceptions

of reality…..(Synnot 1992, 43)

It has been said that in order to understand life and society, we as

people must first understand ourselves. Who are we as a people. Who are we as

individuals. Who are we as humans. These questions all present themselves when

discussing a topic such as this. I believe that it is indeed important to ask

questions such as these, and also as important to answer them. All of this

assuming of course, that there is one specific answer. My problem begins here,

in that I do not believe that there is one defined answer to these questions.

As you will see, many “great philosophic minds” have different views and beliefs

relating to these questions, and it is my job to sort through these different

beliefs and discover…… What it is to be human

It seems that for ages the human body has been studied and inspected.

However, literal “inspection” only takes us so far. As humans, we all know that

there are parts of our “being” that are intangible. Take thoughts, dreams, and

things of the like. We know they exist, yet they are unable to be inspected

scientifically (to any valuable degree at least). The distinction between

beliefs begins here. How one views this intangible side of life with respect to

the tangible, is the factor that defines one’s beliefs.

There are several ways in which one may view the body. A dualist is one

who views the body and mind, or tangible and intangible, as two separate

intities existing together to form one being. The principle of “Cogito, ergo

sum,” or in english, “I think, therefore I am.” The “I” meaning the mind, and

“I am” meaning the body. (Synnott 1992, 92) The tangible side of the person

being bound of course, by the laws of biomechanics and gravity, and the

intangible being bound by nothing but the laws of reasoning.

“…..the body, from its nature, is always divisible and the mind is completely

indivisible.” (Descartes 1995, 70)

Like anything, dualism comes with its pro’s and con’s. Many people

choose to believe in the idea of dualism because of its truths. Obviously, we

can all see that indeed, the body is real and tangible, and that the mind on the

other hand is the intangible, although it too is real. Likewise, as evidence of

dualism we have undoubtedly felt the physical as well as the non-physical. The

physical being, exhaustion or heat. The non-physical perhaps being the “ah-ha”

experience, learning something or even dreaming.

Dualism however, does have its share of con’s. Take for example, the

actual evidence of this belief. No one has ever been able to explain totally

how the mind and the body work together. How can a tangible reality coexist

with an intangible one. This one question is the draw of most criticism of the

belief, obviously because no one has been able to answer it. Along the same

line of thinking, how does one explain the physical location of the mind,

without giving it a physical nature. If I said that undoubtedly my mind is

located in my brain, I have made it part of the brain, and thus into a physical,

tangible intity. The same goes for wherever one would like the mind, or “soul.”

Dualism itself can be broken up into four types. Object dualism, value

dualism, behavior dualism, and language dualism. (Kretchmar 1994, 37) Of the

four, object and value are by far the two most prominent. Its important to

understand that any dualist is an object dualist. The basis of object dualism

is that of dualism itself, the idea that the mind and the body are separate

intities. Value dualism however, is a bit different. A value dualist agrees

that the mind and the body are separated, yet they value the mind over the body.

A value dualist puts emphasis on the fact that the mind is superior to the body,

and in effect supervises it. “The body is distanced from the thinking person

because it is less capable.” (Kretchmar 1994, 42)

The attraction of value dualism is huge. The fact is that people simply

cannot trust their senses (their body) all of the time. Kretchmar provides an

excellent example of this:

For example, playing center field, we see the batter take a mighty swing, hear a

loud crack of the ball against the bat, and see the ball start on a trajectory

that would take it over our head. We begin to run back to make the catch, but

we have been deceived. The ball actually struck the end of the bat, and it

turns out to be a short blooper that falls in front of us. (Kretchmar 1994, 42)

It is facts like this that attract people toward the idea of

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