Existentialist view on human nature - Essay Example

Comparative Essay I Analog of Faith and Aquinas's Analogy of Being Thomas Aquinas, a priest, and philosopher, influenced centuries of religious and academic thought with his methodical way of harmonizing faith and reason. When the ancient logic of Aristotle was being revived, despite condemnations by the Roman Catholic Church, Aquinas reconciled the two by granting reason its own integrity. He used Aristotelian arguments to prove God's existence and the truth of Christian beliefs, but held that some doctrinal truths are revealed only by faith. It is argued that "the theological tradition in the West remains powerfully operative (quite legitimately) in regard to the articulation of the Christian faith and sometimes resists any attempt to treat Christianity itself in the manner dedicated by the history and phenomenology of religion"(Smart, nd). For thousands of years people have debated whether God exists, and most conclude that it cannot be proven. Karl Barth asserts that God "rules unconditionally and irresistibly in all occurrences. Nature is God's servant, the instrument of his purposes. God controls, orders, and determines, for 'nothing can be done except the will of God" (Barth, 1958). Aquinas argued that "God is impassible, unaffected by the world. Since God knows all events in advance and controls every detail, divine knowledge is unchanging and in God there is no element of responsiveness" (Gilson, 1956). In this context, an analysis of opinions expressed by different philosophers is paramount in understanding the analogy of self and being, and it is postulated that the correct answer lies in the area of abstract philosophy and the metaphysical. Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes the uniqueness and isolation of the individual experience in a hostile or indifferent universe, regards human existence as unexplainable, and stresses freedom of choice and responsibility for the consequences of one's acts. Danish religious philosopher Soren Aabye Kierkegaard is considered as the founder of existentialism and is remembered for his critique of systematic rational philosophy of Hegel on the ground that actual life cannot be contained within an abstract conceptual system. Kierkegaard rejected collective thinking, and insisted on the importance of the individuals and resisted the features of Hegel's tendency to mediate all oppositions and to hold out the prospect of complete understanding of god. Hegel maintained that true understanding can only be attained if one has a comprehension of 'The Absolute', and for Hegel the whole of human history and intellect constitutes a progressive self-realization of this Absolute spirit that takes place through 'dialectic.' (Stevenson, 1987, p.54). He believed that to an extent the mind has not completed its journey toward the absolute, the individual experience alienation, and a strong sense of awareness is essential to accomplish this goal. Hegel's emphasis on self-awareness in establishing self-realization is strongly reflected in existential philosophy. Marx also adopted the concept of alienation into his thinking, but maintained that such self-estrangement is a product of economic and social factors, and not of a metaphysical relationship. Rene Descartes assumed a dichotomy between thinking substance and extended substance, the ghost in the machine, and faced the problem of how we can have valid knowledge of objects if the only basis for knowledge is intuitive individual self-consciousness. Martin Heidegger believed that the individual and the world are inseparable, and postulated that 'to be' involves existing, and existing involves constant and dynamic change. Although one has no choice regarding some of the circumstances he lives in, these factors determine the context in which one exercises one's freedom and defines his/her existence. The position of the German philosopher Immanuel Kant, that the physical world did not transcend consciousness, or of objective or absolute idealism, that the world was an aspect of an absolute mind, has repeatedly been formulated as a viable option by American thinkers. Thomas Aquinas deepens the understanding of Aristotle's thought, makes it his own and incorporates elements from other sources on the basis of their compatibility with Aristotle. Aquinas is primarily a theologian, and as such the truths of faith are regulative of his thinking, as faith is the existential ambience out of which Catholic philosophers think. Revealed truth provides the starting points of theological reflection and is thus intrinsic to the discipline. Aquinas's natural theology states that God is personal and creation in the sense is a philosophical doctrine. He believed that the individual exist before God, in immediate relation to God. But, Aquinas fails to do justice to the full humanity of Jesus when he ascribe to Jesus 'the greatest knowledge and power possible in a creature'. In Christian theology, analogical arguments were accepted to explain the attributes of God and Aquinas made a distinction between different terms of analogy. Thomas Aquinas distinguishes philosophy and theology as: "the believer and philosopher consider creatures differently. The philosopher considers what belongs to their proper nature, while the believer considers only what is true of creatures insofar as they are related to God, for example, that they are created by God and are subject to him, and the like" (Summa Contra gentiles, bk.II, chap. 4). According to Barth, the 'analogy of faith' refers to the result of a divine act over which human beings have no control, whereas methods is a conceptual tool which enables human thinking to perform certain tasks, to accomplish certain goals. "The analogy which is established in a revelation event is an analogy between God's knowledge of Himself and human knowledge of Him in and through human concepts and words" (McCormack, Bruce L. 1997.p.17). It may be concluded that God's normal role is to maintain and concur with the natural order, yet all events are indirectly predetermined in the divine plan, leading to coexistence of self and being in humans. II Modernity is a central self, seeks absolute certainty and Post-modernity is a de-centered self living in mystery: Only Buddhist concept of self can survive post-modernity All religions are undergoing the most radical, far-reaching and challenging transformations in history. This transformation can be called modernity as it includes the empirical-rational mindset derived from scientific research, our industrial-technological lifestyle, free market economy, and the political ideals of individual human rights and democracy. Over the last four hundred yeas Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam have to struggle with the forces of modernity and strive to maintain their religious heritages against modernity's thrust towards secularization. Ours is an age of cultural pluralism idealizing moral relativism, and it is noticed that the self-gratifying consumer society devours culture. Compared to modernity's overemphasis on the individual, post modernity elevates the value of what rise above the individual. Modernity and post-modernity are Western phenomena, and our present and immediate future is a global phenomenon that the religions of the world must face together. In this context, it is essential to examine whether Buddhism's odd status as a 'nonreligious' spiritual resource will be successful in the struggle against modernity by world religions. Due to transition from one society to another, which is characterized by markets and marketing, twentieth century witnessed the crisis of modernity, and today modernity means the gratification of needs and the satiation of desires. The society we live in is called by many names: modern, late modern, high modern, post-modern, hypermodern, hyper-industrialized, post-industrial, programmed, the information society, the knowledge society, etc. The characteristic of present culture is that it rejects symbols, depth, and signs, because these refer to a supra-human world. Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud were the fathers of post-modernism, who provided the strongest critique of modernity, as they were both modern in their rationalism, and anti-modern in their respective criticisms. One characteristic of modernity that has to be noted is its massive dynamism, its sheer pace of change. At that time, nature was understood in a wider sense than physical things alone; it also included the intellectual order and the moral order, and Locke was attempting to maintain the unity of man and universe. On the contrary, Postmodernism is the movement from a linear, rational world to a world that is rational, where knowledge comes more from the heart and less from the head. "As a radical alternative, postmodernism holds that all knowledge is a product of environment, and the we should thus speak of contingent "narratives" rather than absolute truths" Postmodernism rejects any claim of absolute truth as the attempt to impose one worldview over others and it challenges the main tenets of modern political economy. Post-modernity regards a person as a whole or a continuous seamless series of mind and body, where "Mind" as our awareness and our attempt to make sense of things, and "Body" as that which we relate to a natural and social world, are radically interrelated, and both come into play at some level in all our acts. For the post modern spirit, what appears different from one's self, beliefs, or values should not ultimately be either assimilated or dismissed or reduced to a more object. It also holds that our perceiving, knowing, and acting play a significant role in creating the world we experience. It may be seen that the shift to "post-modernity" arose fundamentally from the enormous changes resulting from globalization leading to a focus on the interdependence of culture and thought. Each religion holds very diverse beliefs about their God. They generally regard their own beliefs about their God to be accurate, and the beliefs of other religions to be partly or completely false. A good rule of thumb for judging religions is the way they counsel their nations to treat the poor, the weak and helpless and the ideological outcasts. Most religions through most of history have bound mankind in taboos, self-torture, and self-denial and the manifestations of religion in history have been reactionary rather than progressive. Critics from Nietzsche through Walter Kaufmann point out that religion have acted to drain the creative energy and initiative out of humanity by ascribing the glory and worth all to God. The Key European philosophers of post-modernism Wittgenstein, Austin, Derrida and others have emphasized the importance of the role of language and culture in interpreting the significance of history in the understanding of metaphysical views. There is always a marked interdependence between philosophic statement and cultural frame, and even science is not free from this perspective. Even Descartes, the father of rationalism, did not discard the concept of God when he defined the human subject "I", because the human subject has to be rejected by those who whish to keep God confined to outer darkness. According to Locke we are capable of knowing certainly that there is a God and "for man knows that he himself exists" and "he knows also that nothing cannot produce a being; therefore something must have existed from eternity" (Locke, 1690). Hence, the relevance of God and religion even in the post-modern rational world could not be ruled out. It may be seen that all the world religions were (and still are) competing with each other to establish their superiority over the other. The superiority of Christianity is assumed on the ground that it consists in 'revealed truth' rather than in 'natural truth'. In contrast to Christianity and Buddhism, which are 'Church religions,' Hinduism and Islam are 'organic religious systems' and only one of the latter fulfills the condition of monotheism. Western religion believe God is a group consisting of three members (especially the Christian Trinity) and is love, Islam holds that God is and can only be one and God created the universe through love. The Koran and Sufism explain that everything is a sign from the God, if only we can begin to divine its significance. The idea of the human soul has traditionally been linked to the divine that is within it and there should not be contradiction between divine subject and human subject. Of all the religions in America (and ironically enough for a religion famous for denying the self), Buddhism seems to have been the one best able to tap into this desire of spirituality-to transcend its status as a religion and present itself as a "free-floating spiritual resource not tied to a particular institution, community, dogma, or ritual "(Bielefeldt, ) It is argued that the transformation of Buddhism from an alien Asiatic paganism to a modern, international spiritual resource capable of blending into the American scene owes much to the work of western academics. Because of Buddhism's odd status as a 'nonreligious' spiritual resource, Americans seem to feel relatively free to participate in Buddhist practices. It derives that in the face of post-modern paradigms for religion in the fast changing post-modern global phenomenon the religions of the world must come closer and augment their resources to face the challenges of modernity together. Reference Barth, Karl (1958). Church Gogmatics, Vol.3, part 3;pp. 42-148. Edinburgh: T & T Clark. Bielefeldt, Carl. Religion & Ethic News Weekly: The Direction of Buddhism in America Toady: The Divisions and Direction of Buddhism in America Toady: UrbanDharma.org. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma5/tension2.html Gilson, Etienne. (1956). Time Christian Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. New York: Random House. Locke, John. 1690. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Of our Knowledge of the Existence of a God. Chapter X. Retrieved May 31, 2008 from http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/locke/Essay.htm McCormack, Bruce L. (1997). Karl Barth's Critically Realistic Dialectical Theology: Introduction, Oxford University Press. P.17. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from http://books.google.co.in/booksid=aWpaj_RnBd4C&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=analog+of+faith+contrast+with+analogy+of+being+&source=web&ots=Xn4eTtQuQF&sig=BEB8cdR_5cvpAUPVYbZ514vpyVY&hl=en Saint Thomas Aquinas: Thomism, (2005). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/#A11 Saint Thomas Aquinas, (2005). Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved May 29, 2008, from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/ Smart, Ninian, Study of religion. Retrieved May 31, 2008 from http://concise.britannica.com/oscar/printarticleId=109466&fullArticle=true&tocId=38068 Wenzel, Nikolai. (2006). Postmodernism and its Discontents: Whither Constitutionalism After God and Reason, P.8. http://pubchoicesoc.org/papers_2006/wenzel.pdf Reference List Barth, Karl (1958). Church Gogmatics, Vol.3, part 3;pp. 42-148. Edinburgh: T & T Clark. Gilson, Etienne. (1956). Time Christian Philosophy of Thomas Aquinas. New York: Random House. Bielefeldt, Carl. The Divisions and Direction of Buddhism in America Toady. Religion & Ethic News Weekly. UrbanDharma.org. http://www.urbandharma.org/udharma5/tension2.html Locke, John. 1690. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Of our Knowledge of the Existence of a God. Chapter X http://socserv.mcmaster.ca/econ/ugcm/3ll3/locke/Essay.htm McCormack, Bruce L. 1997.p.17. Karl Barth's Critically Realistic Dialectical Theology. Oxford University Press. http://books.google.co.in/booksid=aWpaj_RnBd4C&pg=PA17&lpg=PA17&dq=analog+of+faith+contrast+with+analogy+of+being+&source=web&ots=Xn4eTtQuQF&sig=BEB8cdR_5cvpAUPVYbZ514vpyVY&hl=en Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy: Saint Thomas Aquinas. (Jan. 9, 2005) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/ Summa Contra gentiles, bk.II, chap. 4 as cited in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2005) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/#A11 (Wenzel, Nikolai, 2006, p.8) . Wenzel, Nikolai Postmodernism and its Discontents: Whither Constitutionalism After God and Reason 2006. http://pubchoicesoc.org/papers_2006/wenzel.pdf Read More