Philosophy

Philosophy Finals

5. The human person is an embodied subject or incarnate spirit.

I am not a disembodied thinking thing (“res cogitans”) like Descartes’ Cogito.

I “have” my body but my body is not merely owned like a separate thing; I “am” my body.

Subjectivity permeates my entire body.

We are able to relate to other beings because we ae embodied.

* First, we see how Gabriel Marcel challenges Descartes’ points stating that the body is separate from the person. Descartes describes the body as a separate thinking self, he says that the body & “I” are separate. Despite the fact that he can affirm that he exists, he says that he is merely a thinking thing. He treats the soul as something of which the body, is the predicate or vice versa. In other words, the soul and body are treated as things.

* Second, This postulate must be rejected according to Marcel. He therefore objects this notion that the “I’ and the body are separate. He stresses that there is no gap between the I & body, therefore we can I do not have my body, I AM my body”. Furthermore, he stresses that the person should never just be compared to an object. It should not be seen as a limited, definite unchanging thing. Because we ae constantly changing as beings, with every experience we have. By saying this, we can see that Marcel says that we can challenge this notion and tackle it by secondary reflection.

* Third, By doing so, we realize that there cannot be an “I” without the body, thru which we are manifested to the world. And it is through our body that we exist in a world with others, to have relations with other beings. Thus, the notion “All beings are in being’. TO ex-ist is very important because it means not just a biological living of breathing and such, but it means to stand out and manifest oneself in the world and be there for others. Thus, when MARCEL affirms his existence, “here I am” he includes the body. that is why there is an indissoluble unity.

* He stressed...