Meditations and Enlightenment: Finding Humanity & No More Nonage Religion
Finding Humanity
If someone were to walk the streets of Mobile and ask people what they were, most people might respond with a personality trait or an occupation. Not many would answer "A thinking thing." Culturally, we do not value critical or logical thinking. People who think logically and critically about everything are typically considered stuck up, socially awkward, or killjoys. True humanity is commonly associated with creativity, compassion, relationships, and personalities, but according to Descartes, true humanity lies in its ability to think critically and logically. We talk a lot about how humans are different from animals because of their ability to think. Humans are rational creatures. From what I have experienced in media and conversations, the people who have true humanity are the ones who follow their dream or their creative passions. Descartes would say that it is dangerous to rely in the senses and emotions because they can deceive you. The reason he defines himself as a thinking thing is because that is the only way he knows he exists. What sort of thing is he if he exists? A thinking thing. Humans are thinking things; thinking is what makes us human. Therefore, true humanity lies in thinking critically and logically. Do you agree?
No More Nonage Religion
According to Immanuel Kant, nonage in religion is not only harmful but most dishonorable.
Nonage loosely defined is not being able to think or decide without someone else's help. By this definition, we are using nonage when we ask for God's guidance and we should stop at once. After all, nonage is self-imposed because we do not have the courage to make up our own minds without another's guidance. By asking for God's help, we are putting harmful and dishonorable nonage in our religion. We should therefore never ask for God's guidance because we are corrupting our belief system with this dishonorable nonage. Therefore, we must abandon asking for God's guidance for the sake of keeping our churches pure. Can I get an amen?
P.S. I commented on Will and Zelda's posts.
If someone were to walk the streets of Mobile and ask people what they were, most people might respond with a personality trait or an occupation. Not many would answer "A thinking thing." Culturally, we do not value critical or logical thinking. People who think logically and critically about everything are typically considered stuck up, socially awkward, or killjoys. True humanity is commonly associated with creativity, compassion, relationships, and personalities, but according to Descartes, true humanity lies in its ability to think critically and logically. We talk a lot about how humans are different from animals because of their ability to think. Humans are rational creatures. From what I have experienced in media and conversations, the people who have true humanity are the ones who follow their dream or their creative passions. Descartes would say that it is dangerous to rely in the senses and emotions because they can deceive you. The reason he defines himself as a thinking thing is because that is the only way he knows he exists. What sort of thing is he if he exists? A thinking thing. Humans are thinking things; thinking is what makes us human. Therefore, true humanity lies in thinking critically and logically. Do you agree?
No More Nonage Religion
According to Immanuel Kant, nonage in religion is not only harmful but most dishonorable.
Nonage loosely defined is not being able to think or decide without someone else's help. By this definition, we are using nonage when we ask for God's guidance and we should stop at once. After all, nonage is self-imposed because we do not have the courage to make up our own minds without another's guidance. By asking for God's help, we are putting harmful and dishonorable nonage in our religion. We should therefore never ask for God's guidance because we are corrupting our belief system with this dishonorable nonage. Therefore, we must abandon asking for God's guidance for the sake of keeping our churches pure. Can I get an amen?
P.S. I commented on Will and Zelda's posts.
For your Descartes portion: Yes, but some would say that humans and mathematicians are also not the same thing :P But as for your question, society has done this for centuries. Think about people in vegetive states--some people's unfortunate instinct is to treat them as less than a full human. Descartes wasn't the first or the last to view humanity this way.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you on saying that our humanity lies in thinking critically and logically, but I think there are several things that make us human and that is just one. Considering what you said about people who are more invested in the arts or creative forms, they do truly seem more human in some ways to me, too. I would say the reason for this is humanity to me is more of a mixture of both. People who use their natural and creative abilities guided and judged by a logical and critical view point are people I find the most human and they make a true difference. I feel this is because they are using their whole self together as one to create something spectacular. So yes, I 100% agree, I just think Descartes needs to give a little more credit to how truly complicated it is to be human.
ReplyDeleteHumans are on such a higher intellectual plane than animals that you could really differentiate between them with the critical thinking argument, the compassion/relationship argument, or any number of others. Having an immortal soul helps… I don't think any of the definitions of "human" you mentioned are wrong; we have a lot of wiggle room to define ourselves as we're the pinnacle of Creation set apart by God. Five different people could give five different definitions and probably all be right. I don't know what anyone here knows about personality types, but Descartes seems like he fits the INTJ model quite nicely; this is just the way he looks at things.
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