The essence of man is a philosophical concept that reflects the natural properties and essential characteristics that are inherent in all people in one way or another, distinguishing them from other forms and kinds of being. One can come across different views on this problem. For many, this concept seems obvious, and often no one thinks about it. Some believe that there is no particular entity, or at least it is incomprehensible. Others argue that it is knowable, and put forward a variety of concepts. Another common point of view is that the essence of people is directly connected with a person who is closely intertwined with the psyche, which means that having known the latter, one can also understand the essence of a person.
Main aspects
The main prerequisite for the existence of any human individual is the functioning of his body. It is part of the natural nature that surrounds us. From this point of view, man is a thing among other things and part of the evolutionary process of nature. But this definition is limited and underestimates the role of the active-conscious life of an individual, without going beyond the passive-contemplative view characteristic of materialism of the 17-18 centuries.
In the modern view, man is not just a part of nature, but also the highest product of its development, the bearer of the social form of the evolution of matter. And not just a "product", but also a creator. This is an active being endowed with vitality in the form of abilities and inclinations. Through conscious, purposeful actions, it is actively changing the environment and in the course of these changes it changes itself. Objective reality, transformed by labor, becomes human reality, "second nature", "human world". Thus, this side of being represents the unity of nature and the spiritual knowledge of the producer, that is, it has a socio-historical character. The process of improving technology and industry is an open book of the essential forces of mankind. Reading it, one can come to an understanding of the term "essence of people" in objectified, realized form, and not just as an abstract concept. It can be found in the nature of objective activity, when there is a dialectical interaction of natural material, human creative forces with a specific socio-economic structure.
Existence Category
This term refers to the existence of an individual in everyday life. It is then that the essence of human activity is manifested, the strong relationship of all types of personality behavior, its abilities and existence with the evolution of human culture. Existence is much richer than essence and, being a form of its manifestation, includes, in addition to the manifestation of human powers, also a variety of social, moral, biological and psychological qualities. Only the unity of both of these concepts forms human reality.
Category "human nature"
In the last century, the nature and essence of man were identified, and the need for a separate concept was called into question. But the development of biology, the study of the neural organization of the brain and genome makes us look at this ratio in a new way. The main question is whether there is an invariable, structured nature of man, independent of all influences, or whether it is plastic and changing in nature.
Philosopher from the USA F. Fukuyama believes that there is one, and it ensures the continuity and stability of our existence as a species, and together with religion makes up our most basic and fundamental values. Another scientist from America, S. Pinker, defines human nature as a combination of emotions, cognitive abilities and motives that are common in people with a normally functioning nervous system. From the above definitions it follows that the characteristics of the human individual are explained by biologically inherited properties. However, many scientists believe that the brain only determines the ability to form abilities, but does not at all condition them.
"Essence in oneself"
Not everyone considers the concept of "essence of people" as legitimate. According to such a trend as existentialism, a person does not have a specific generic essence, since he is a "essence in himself." K. Jaspers, his largest representative, believed that sciences such as sociology, physiology, and others only provide knowledge about some of the individual aspects of a person’s being, but cannot penetrate into its essence, which is existence (existence). This scientist believed that it is possible to study the individual in various aspects - in physiology as a body, in sociology as a social being, in psychology as a soul, and so on, but this does not answer the question of what nature and nature of man is, because he always is something more than he can know about himself. Neopositivists are also close to this point of view. They deny that in the individual one can find something in common.
Representations of a Man
In Western Europe, it is believed that the works of German philosophers Sceller ("The Position of Man in the Universe"), as well as Plessner's "The Steps of the Organic and the Human, " marked the beginning of philosophical anthropology, published in 1928. A number of philosophers: A. Gelen (1904-1976), N. Henstenberg (1904), E. Rothaker (1888-1965), O. Bollnov (1913) - exclusively dealt with it. The thinkers of that time expressed many wise ideas about a man who still have not lost their determining significance. For example, Socrates urged contemporaries to know themselves. The philosophical essence of man, happiness and the meaning of life were associated with the comprehension of the essence of man. The appeal of Socrates was continued by the statement: "Know thyself - and you will be happy!" Protagoras argued that man is the measure of all things.
In ancient Greece, the question arose about the origin of people for the first time, but often it was decided speculatively. The Syracuse philosopher Empedocles first suggested the evolutionary, natural origin of man. He believed that everything in the world moves with enmity and friendship (hatred and love). According to the teachings of Plato, souls live in a world of empire. He likened the soul of man to a chariot controlled by Will, and Feelings and Mind harnessed to it. Feelings pull her down - to gross, material pleasures, and Reason - upward, to the awareness of spiritual postulates. This is the essence of human life.
Aristotle saw in people 3 souls: rational, animal and plant. The plant soul is responsible for the growth, maturity and aging of the body, the animal soul - for independence in movements and the range of psychological feelings, the rational - for self-awareness, spiritual life and thinking. Aristotle was the first to realize that the main essence of man is his life in society, defining him as a public animal.
The Stoics identified morality with spirituality, laying a solid foundation of ideas about him as a moral being. You can recall Diogenes, who lived in a barrel, who with a lit lamp in the light of day, was looking for a person in a crowd. In the Middle Ages, ancient views were criticized and completely forgotten. Representatives of the Renaissance renewed ancient views, put Man in the very center of the worldview, laid the foundation for Humanism.
About the essence of man
According to Dostoevsky, the essence of man is a secret that must be solved, and let those who take it and spend their whole lives on it do not say that they spent their time in vain. Engels believed that the problems of our life would be resolved only when a person was comprehensively known, suggesting ways to achieve this.
Frolov describes him as a subject of the socio-historical process, as a biosocial being genetically connected with other forms, but distinguished by his ability to produce tools with speech and consciousness. The origin and essence of man is best traced against the background of nature and the animal world. Unlike the latter, people appear to be creatures that have the following basic characteristics: consciousness, self-awareness, work and social life.
Linnaeus, classifying the animal world, included man in the animal kingdom, but carried him, along with anthropoid apes, to the category of hominids. Homo sapiens he located at the very top of his hierarchy. Man is the only creature in which consciousness is inherent. It is possible thanks to articulate speech. With the help of words, a person becomes aware of himself, as well as surrounding reality. They are the primary cells, carriers of spiritual life, allowing people to exchange the contents of their inner life with the help of sounds, images or signs. An integral place in the category of "the essence and existence of man" belongs to work. This was written by the classic of political economy A. Smith, the predecessor of K. Marx and the student of D. Hume. He defined man as an "animal worker."
Work
In determining the specific nature of the essence of man, Marxism rightly gives labor the main significance. Engels said that it was he who accelerated the evolutionary development of biological nature. Man in his work is completely free, unlike animals in which labor is hard-coded. People can do completely different jobs and in every way. We are so free in labor that we can even … not work. The essence of human rights lies in the fact that in addition to the duties assumed in society, there are also rights that are granted to an individual and are an instrument of his social protection. The behavior of people in society is governed by public opinion. We, like animals, feel pain, thirst, hunger, sex drive, balance, etc., however, all our instincts are controlled by society. So, labor is a conscious activity assimilated by a person in society. The content of consciousness was formed under its influence, and is fixed in the process of participation in production relations.
The social essence of man
Socialization is the process of acquiring elements of social life. Only in society is a behavior assimilated that is guided not by instincts, but by public opinion, animal instincts are curbed, language, traditions and customs are adopted. Here, people take over the experience of industrial relations from previous generations. Starting with Aristotle, social nature was considered the main in the structure of personality. Marx, moreover, saw the essence of man only in social nature.
A person does not choose the conditions of the external world, it simply is always in them. Socialization occurs due to the assimilation of social functions, roles, gaining a social status, and adaptation to social norms. At the same time, the phenomena of public life are possible only through individual actions. An example is art, when artists, directors, poets and sculptors create it with their labor. Society sets the parameters of social certainty of the individual, approves the program of social inheritance, maintains balance within this complex system.
Man in a religious worldview
A religious worldview is a worldview based on a belief in the existence of something supernatural (spirits, gods, miracles). Therefore, the problems of man are examined through the prism of the divine. According to the teachings of the Bible, which is the foundation of Christianity, God created man in his own image. Let us dwell on this teaching.
God created man from the dirt of the earth. Modern Catholic theologians claim that there were two acts in the divine creation: the first is the creation of the whole world (the Universe) and the second is the creation of the soul. In the most ancient biblical texts of the Jews it is stated that the soul is the breath of man, what he breathes. Therefore, God blows the soul through the nostrils. She is the same as the animal. After death, breathing stops, the body turns to dust, and the soul dissolves in the air. After some time, the Jews began to identify the soul with the blood of a person or animal.
The Bible gives a large role in the spiritual essence of man to the heart. According to the authors of the Old and New Testaments, thinking does not occur in the head, but in the heart. It contains the wisdom God has given to man. And the head exists only for hair to grow on it. There is no hint in the Bible that people are able to think with their heads. This idea had a great impact on European culture. The great scientist of the XVIII century, a researcher of the nervous system, Buffon was sure that a person thinks with his heart. The brain, in his opinion, is only the organ of nutrition of the nervous system. New Testament authors acknowledge the existence of the soul as a substance independent of the body. But this concept itself is vague. Modern Jehovah'sists interpret the texts of the New Testament in the spirit of the Old and do not recognize the immortality of the human soul, believing that after death, existence ceases.
The spiritual nature of man. Concept of personality
A person is structured so that in the conditions of social life he is able to turn into a spiritual person, into a person. In the literature you can find many definitions of personality, its characteristics and signs. This is, above all, a creature who consciously makes decisions and bears responsibility for all his behavior and actions.
The spiritual essence of man is the content of personality. The central place here is the worldview. It is generated in the process of the activity of the psyche, in which 3 components are distinguished: these are Will, Feelings and Mind. In the spiritual world there is nothing else than intellectual, emotional activity and volitional motives. Their ratio is ambiguous, they are in dialectical connection. There is some inconsistency between feelings, will and mind. Balancing between these parts of the psyche is the spiritual life of man.
A personality is always a product and a subject of individual life. It is formed not only on the basis of its own existence, but also due to the influence of other people with whom it comes into contact. The problem of the essence of man cannot be considered one-sidedly. Teachers and psychologists believe that talking about personal individualization is possible only from the time when the individual manifests a perception of his self, a personal identity is formed, when he begins to separate himself from other people. The personality "builds" its line of life and social behavior. In philosophical language, this process is called individualization.
