CHAPTER 5 NATURE OF MAN

- Man cannot be capsulated into one single

definition. Different thinkers give different
ideas about him
- According to Thales, Everything was
water Wherever goes what was seen was
water. It seemed that this would lead to
nothing but water.
- Anaximander, another ancient greek
thinker contended that there must be a
source to all these. He further added that
man must have come from animal of the
rare kind
- Socrates, He had another theory that
claimed Man to be composite of matter
and reason This matter is the human
body and the reason he referred to is from
a Universal Reason. Therefore mans
essence is a human body and an immortal
soul.
- According to Boethus, Man to be
substance with a reasoning power and
questioning nature
-ARISTOTLES POSTULATE
The force or the power to keep the rock,
the branches and the dog moving is an
animted force he called SOUL
Aristotle categorized this moving force
into three distinct kinds of soul.

VEGATIVE SOUL force found in

plants for their growth development
and reproduction.

SENTIENT SOUL force found in

animals that keeps them responsible
for moving with the capacity to feel
and sense.

RATIONAL SOUL force possesses by

human being capable of feeling,
sensing, thinking and reasoning.

This gift of rational soul is equipped with

the gift of language for man to :

Communicate his ideas

Express his thoughts and feelings

Relate with fellow beings, his

feelings of digust and fear, anxiety,
and insecurity, love and trust.

Rene Descartes Views

He claim that only human beings

have mind he called SOUL. This
enables man to have thoughts
classified into:

Believing and doubting,

hoping or wanting, loving and
deciding.

Dualism vs Physicalism
. The concept that there is eternity is for
those who advocate dualism. A person
must therefore possess a physical body
and a non-physical one, soul or spirit to
get his promised glory after a good life or
his damnation if he is prove unworthy.
the physicalism proponents who support
the idea that man is purely physical and
has no soul or spirit. The physical
component or the human body has
determinate mass, weight and spatial
structure.
Hinduism
Brahman is believed to be the Absolute
and the ground of all things. He is the
power to animate, the principle of life
Atman, the mere reflection of Brahman.

The final goal of Atman is to know the live

reality by destroying ignorance through
acquisition of proper knowledge. This can
be attained by YOGA.
Buddhism
This eastern thought adheres to the
psycho-physical organism that constitutes
a man, the nama-rupa. The nama which is
mind and rupa which stands for matter
body. These two are interdependent.
This further teaches that man has to free
himself from ignorance and suffering to
attain peace and happiness of the mind.
This disregards the existence of the soul
and adheres to the concept of
impermanence.
-Its emphasis is on commitment to ideal
life(Dharma). God is truth and the best
way to seek for truth is through nonviolence. Its teaches that nothing exists
without a cause
Since Guatama, the advocator of Buddha
were a descendant of Hindu clan and he
retained some of the Hinduism concepts
like reincarnation and karma.
CRISTIANITY
It advocates that man is a precious being
redeemed by the passion and death of
Jesus Christ
Is an Abrahamic monotheistic
religion based on the life and
teachings of Jesus Christ.
The central tenet of Christianity is the
belief in Jesus as the Son of God and the
Messiah (Christ, chosen one).

Roman army officer, and his consort

Helena.
The first Roman emperor to claim
conversion to Christianity
Constantine's mother, Helena,
exposed him to Christianity
In 324 Ad St. Constantine who
became an ardent follower of
Christs teaching established
Christianity as quasi-official state
religion.

CONFUCIANISIM
Confucius - was a Chinese teacher, editor,
politician, and philosopher of the Spring
and Autumn period of Chinese history.
This advocates
Goodness of man, sense of mercy, sense
of shame, sense of respect and sense of
right and wrong.
Man should make his own destiny.
Privacy of family and a strong sense of
duty must be taught
Golden Rule : Do not do to others what you
do not want the others do to you
Taoism (Daoism)
also known as Daoism, a religious or
philosophical tradition of Chinese origin
with an emphasis on:

living in harmony with, and

in accordance to the natural

flow or

cosmic structural order of the

universe

ST.CONSTANTINE
St. Constantine (Constantine the
Great) - was a Roman Emperor from
306 to 337 AD. Constantine was the
son of Flavius Valerius Constantius, a

commonly referred to as the Tao (, also

Romanized as Dao)

Tao means the "natural way of the

universe", "the way", "path", or "principle
Tao denotes something that is both the
source of, and the force behind,
everything that exists.
Lao Tzu (?604-484 BC)

is traditionally regarded as the

founder of Taoism and is
closely associated in this
context with "original" or
"primordial" Taoism.

author of Tao Te Ching, widely considered

the most influential Taoist text. The
keystone work of this philosophy
Chuang Tzu (?369-286 BC)

the author of at least part of

the work bearing his name, the
Zhuangzi.

This work, in its current shape consisting

of 33 chapters, is traditionally divided into
three parts:
the first, known as the "Inner Chapters",
consists of the first seven chapters;
the second, known as the "Outer
Chapters", consist of the next 15 chapters;
the last, known as the "Mixed Chapters",
consist of the remaining 11 chapters

Three Treasures
Jing, or Essence, is the source of life and is
the most dense of the Three Treasures
(Body)

Qi gives us the ability to activate and

move our bodies and it the most refined
Treasure (Mind)
Shen is the most subtle of the Three
Treasures and is the vitality behind Jing
and Qi (Spirit)
Types of Meditation
Ding literally means "decide; settle;
stabilize; definite; firm; solid" and early
scholars such as Xuanzang used it to
translate Sanskritsamadhi "deep
meditative contemplation
Guan basically means "look at
(carefully); watch; observe; view;
scrutinize
Cun usually means "exist; be present;
live; survive; remain", but has a sense of
"to cause to exist; to make present"
Taoist diet
Fasting
Some early Taoist diets called
for bigu (avoiding grains) based on the
belief that immortality could be
achieved in this way
Veganism
Chinese word for food or dishes, 'cai'
originally means green vegetables. Taoist
religious orders and literatures often
encourage practitioners to be began to
minimize harms. Taoist levels of dietary
restriction, however, are varied.