Lesson 2: HUMAN NATURE/THE HUMAN PERSON

Topics: • The Nature of the Human Person and its Implications to Morality
• Some Views on the Ultimate End/Destiny for the Human Person

Learning Outcomes: At the end of this module, you are expected to:

a. Describe the holistic nature of the human person;

b. Explain how moral norms flow from the nature of the human person;
c. Recall the possible sources of the wrong principles of morality;
d. Explain the serious moral implications of the ultimate goals of some philosophies and
beliefs about the human person; and
e. Cite some probable consequences of the wrong principles of morality if they are made
correct or acceptable by others.

LEARNING CONTENT:

INTRODUCTION

In our discussion last week, we mentioned the three bases on how morality came up with the
norms for the human person which are: the origin of all things, nature, and the destiny of all. Among
these three bases, the closes or nearest from which morality derived norms for the human person is
Nature. Nature in its totality refers to our environment as a whole, and since we are living on earth or
specifically since we have a body (physical part) which is connected to mother nature/earth, we are
essentially part of nature. With this, we will discuss first the characteristics of the nature of the human
person based on nature, after which is his/her traits in a theological view and the last part will present
some views about his/her ultimate end/destiny.

Lesson Proper

Human Nature/The Human Person

Who or what is the Human person based on Nature?

Since the actions of the human person flows from what he/she is, we
need to discuss his/her nature by enumerating its essential
characteristics.
1. Rational being - The human person has intellect/mind/reason. She/he discovers things by
reason, and she/he is the only animal who knows that she/he knows. He/she thinks,
rationalize, reflect and other activities of the intellect.

2. Has Free-will. The human person is free/ has freedom which means he/she has two or
more options or choices and also has will which is the power to act or not to act on his/her
choices. Will is the power to do or not to do or to act or not to act.

3. Has Conscience. – is the practical judgment of the intellect on what is good or what is bad,
and is prompting the person to always do/follow what is good.

4. Loving being – Aside from the love between opposite sex which is designed for the
continuity of the human species, generally, loving means desiring the good of others.

5. Body - Person – We have a flesh (physical part), which connects us to the material world.
Our bodies (physical part) is dependent on nature/earth. Our bodies use the elements of
the earth. The death of mother earth will also be the death of our bodies.

6. Sexual – refers to being male or female which is intended for companionship and pro-
creation.

7. Unique Though Social: - We are individuals and need independence but we are also
social being: live with others. These two are inseparable. We are individuals and need
independence but we also need the presence of others to complete ourselves.

8. Historical: We have a continuity with the past.

9. Transcendental: We always aim higher, to surpass our achievements, since we are

longing for completeness or total satisfaction/contentment. This also means that the human
person has Metaphysical (meta = beyond) aspects such as intellect, emotion, conscience
and others.

What is the Implication of the Human Nature to Morality? Going direct to the point, what
does your nature has to say to your actions? As we have stated above, our actions flow from
our nature. Example, if you are historical beings, then you must learn from your past
experiences; if you are a loving being, you must always desire what is good for others; if you
are a rational being, then think before you act; if you are transcendental, then you are not
satisfied with your present achievements, or it will lead us to ask and reflect that if we are
transcendental, are we heading to a certain destiny?; if we are body persons, do we need to
take care of mother earth? and the likes. Among these traits of the nature of the human
person, which should regulate the others and his/her human actions/decisions?

Among the nine traits stated above, the one which should always regulate the others or
human actions which proceed from the other traits is Conscience. This is because using the
other traits like intellect or freewill alone without the intervention of Conscience can lead to
misuse, or abuse of human actions. Example is thinking, if you are problematic, you can think
of some bad actions as a solution to your problems which in the end is not the case, but it will
just add or complicate your problem.

Since we are Christians who strongly believe in the existence of a Creator (Theos or
God) as the origin of all and the proper destiny which this Creator prepared for us, we also
need to look at the other traits of the human person based on this perspective.

Who/What is the human person in a Theological Perspective/View?

1. Masterpiece of God (God’s Image and

likeness): If we are the image and likeness
of God, means we reflect some of the
important characteristics of God such as
goodness, loving, just, compassionate and
many others. So, if God is good, then
basically we are also good; if God is just,
we are also basically just, and others.

2. Fundamentally/innately good or moral

being: No human person is bad or evil,
only our wrong actions are bad or evil and not the human person.

3. God’s partner / “co-creators” of God. God created the world and us as “incomplete” or
imperfect so our mission is to develop or bring ourselves and our world to perfection. This is
why we are called stewards of God’s creation. Part of our being “co-creators” of God is our
being sexual (male or female) which is design for pro-creation.

4. Rational being – has intellect or reasoning or mind.

5. Free-will – has freedom and will which he/she can use to act or not to act.

6. Brother’s keeper (social, and communal): we need to take care of others aside from
ourselves.

7. Weak / has fallen nature/ “brokenness”: This is called original sin in Theology. In other terms
we may call this being “incomplete”, or “unfinished”. From this being incomplete comes your
mission which is to finish or complete yourselves. Point for reflection: What if God created us
as perfect beings, what will you do?
8. Graced: this means we are aided/being assisted by God in our journey of bringing ourselves
to perfection. In the Catholic Church, God’s grace will come to us through the Seven
Sacraments and our other ways of connecting with our Creator.

9. Transcendental: this pushes us to look for the ultimate meaning of life and ultimately to our
God.

10. Children/family of God. We belong to the family of God, formally through Baptism.

11. Destined for the Kingdom. We have our destiny which we commonly call “heaven” or
“paradise” or in Jesus’ words called the Kingdom of God.

Basically, most of these traits of the human person in this Theological perspective are
the same with those traits based on Nature since these are parts of the basic nature of the
human person. There are just other traits which are rooted in our connectedness with our
Creator. So, for its relevance to Morality, we have to ask the same question, what do these traits
of the human person in the Theological view say on how he/she should act or live? The same
answer, that these traits of the human person should strongly influence how he/she acts or live
his/her life. In the formulation of specific norms for the human person, these traits should be
strongly considered since these are the ones which will help direct the human person to
perfection/completeness or to his/her proper destiny which we call the Kingdom of God. The
same clarification also that why do we need to formulate norms/rules/laws for the human person
if his/her nature should influence his/her actions? Well, there are many people who abuse their
other faculties like mind/intellect, freedom and others, and they also ignore the very basic and
immediate norm which is Conscience. This is why there are many norms or set of norms laid for
the good of the human person and one of the very basic set of norms is the Ten
Commandments.
With this, we hope that the sources of the norms of Morality is now very clear to us. For a
kind of widening of horizon, let us look on the other views on the destiny for the human person
since we also said earlier that the concept of the destiny is also one of the sources of the norms
of morality.

Some views on the Ultimate End/Destiny of the Human Person

Most if not all of these other views or concept of the destiny for the human person are just
product of philosophizing (Philosophy).
a. Hedonism. For this Philosophy, the ultimate goal for the human person is Happiness, and
this happiness is found in pleasure (“sarap)”. So, “kung saan ang masarap’ dun ang
kasiyahan”. This pleasure is sensual.

Therefore, for this certain philosophy, the norm for human action is to look for
pleasure/pleasurable things.

b. Marxism: A philosophy by Karl Marx which looks at the human person as purely material being or
from mater and there are no such things as metaphysical aspects such as soul and also God. This
view just focused on the way of governance since it was more of a reaction to the abuses of the
democratic and other forms of governing people.
For Marxism, the ultimate goal of people is to have a Classless Society (no rich, no poor). This
was achieved in a communistic form of government. Development or progress must always be for the
common good / not individualistic.
Norm: Do everything for the common good. Never mind individual goals or individual progress,
set aside yourselves. “all for one, one for all”.

c. Nihilism: For this philosophy, the human person and his/her life has no ultimate meaning, no ultimate
value.
If the human person and life is meaningless or no value at all, what is your norm for life and for
your action? Aside from having no definite norm, you reflect on the danger of this kind of philosophy.

d. Christian view: For Christianity, the ultimate goal/destiny for the human person is to enter the
Kingdom or to have eternal union/happiness with God.
Norm: Follow the teachings of God such as the Ten Commandments and others.
As you may have noticed in our discussion, the view of the nature of the human person and
his/her ultimate destiny plays a very crucial role in laying out norms for human actions or for his/her way
of living. As we have said in our past discussions, “wrong” concept of the nature and the destiny for the
human person cause a lot of misconceptions about morality and produces a lot of wrong principles or
norms. Examples of these wrong principles/norms of morality are the following:
a. Morality is a matter of opinion. This means that moral norms are subjective; depends on the person.
b. All opinions about morality are equal and correct. Therefore, all opinions should be followed.
c. Morality is outside the world of practical people. Whatever impractical is not good.
d. Morality develops guilt and moral obligation which makes life unhappy. So, we need to set aside
moral norms.
Point for Reflection: What are the possible or even probable things that will happen to people and to
society if all these wrong principles about morality are correct?
After discussing all the sources of norms for the human person and their serious implications if
there are misconceptions, our next question is, what should we really judge as good or bad? Is it the
human person or his/her qualities or traits or his/her actions? Reflect on this for our discussion next
meeting.

*****END OF LESSON*****

REFERENCES:

Online References:

Principles: The Christian Understanding of the Human Person – A Publication of Christendom

College Volume
III, Issue IV. Retrieved February 01, 2021 from
https://www.getprinciples.com/wpcontent/uploads/2017/09/Principles_Vol3_Iss4.pdf

The Human Person: Nature. Ethical and Theological Viewpoints. Retrieved February 01, 2021
from https://metanexus.net/human-person-nature-ethical-and-theological-viewpoints/

Picture credits:

Creation of Adam by Michelangelo: https://www.signumfirenze.it/en/prodotto/creation-of-adam-detail-

bymichelangel/

Human Nature: https://mozartcultures.com/an-article-on-human-nature/