Catholic Anthropology - Part 1
The following series of articles serves as a very brief primer in some important aspects of Catholic anthropology, or the Catholic understanding of the human person, especially as a preface to understanding the moral life.
Before we can ask “what is good for the human person?” or “what makes human beings happy?” it is reasonable to ask a more basic question first: what is a human being? If we do not first have an answer to what a thing is, it is foolish to ask what makes that thing perfect. Imagine looking far down range and seeing an obscure figure bent over eating grass in the field. If the object in question is a deer, then its activity of eating grass in the field is normal. If the object is your neighbor, then something is probably quite wrong. The kind of activity that is normal, healthy, and fulfilling for a creature follows from the kind of creature that it is. The same is true for human beings - only when we have a solid answer to what a human being is can we begin to speak truly about what makes them happy or perfect.
The first and most basic truth about human nature is that we are creatures who have both bodies and souls. It is normal or natural for human beings to be composed, to be a harmonious unity, of both body and soul. This truth about human nature makes us different from other kinds of creatures. It makes us different from angels - intelligent spirits who do not have bodies - and it makes us different from lower animals - living creatures who do not have immortal or spiritual souls. Human beings are unique in being creatures for whom it is natural to have lives that are both material and spiritual. And this is evident from our experience of ourselves and of other creatures.
The human body makes it such that I experience and understand everything through my body and its senses. I exist, live, and understand through my body - my body is not dispensable or unnecessary. The human soul makes it such that the manner in which I exist, live, and understand transcends the limitations that normally follow other material things. In particular, the human soul grants to our activities some special characteristics - intelligence and freedom. We interact with and perceive the world around us at a level of awareness and insight inaccessible to animals. As a result of this, we also interact with and perceive the world around us with a level of freedom and responsibility inaccessible to lower creatures.
If we build on the foundation of this basic truth, that human beings have both material bodies and spiritual souls, then we will be well-disposed to think clearly about what makes human beings happy, good, or perfect. This truth will especially help us rule out mistaken ideas on two extremes. On one side, we can rule out ideas that define human flourishing as though we were only material bodies. These kinds of ideas would say that human beings are only made for survival, pleasure, or work. On the other side, we can rule out ideas that define human flourishing as though we were only spirits without bodies. These kinds of ideas would say that human beings are only made for something beyond this world and therefore pleasure, community, family, and physical needs should be overcome or set aside.
Both of these extremes are seen to be incorrect once we appreciate that human beings are embodied spirits, creatures with material bodies and spiritual souls. Both are important and cannot be ignored. And both will help us answer what it means to be happy, good, and perfect.
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