The ways our human rational powers seem to transcend the bodily aspects of our human existence.
Order Description
you will be defending the hylomorphic account of the human person against the theory of materialism. Materialism posits that the human person is nothing but a body. According to the materialist theory, the peculiarities of human experience can all be explained in terms of the body. There is no need to recognize the existence of anything like a “rational soul.” How might one attempt show that hylomorphism is a more plausible theory than materialism? Put differently, how could one show that human beings are not just “bodies” but rather “bodies and rational souls”? One way that suggests itself is to point out the various ways in which human rationality (which includes both intellect and will) seems to “go beyond” the body, to have a certain independence from the body or a much greater power than the body. Your task in this paper will be to identify and discuss some of these ways that the body cannot sufficiently explain the phenomenon of human rationality.

ASSIGMNET: Write a three page paper in which you discuss some of the ways our human rational powers seem to transcend the bodily aspects of our human existence.

You can also search on:

– Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search for Meaning is a rich resource for “positive” examples, ways in which we are fortunate to have rational powers that transcend our bodies.

– Walker Percy’s book Lost in the Cosmos is a rich resource for “negative” examples, ways in which it is unfortunate for us that our rational powers have degree of independence from our bodies.