- Spiritual Needs of the Dying. This is related to an earlier prompt about the importance of faith in human nature. Question: does everyone have spiritual needs? Even atheists? Even the dying? Even children? Please explore.
- Are we dualistic creatures? Do we have minds separate from bodies as Descartes argued? Or is that a folk tale we tell ourselves for comfort? What is the mind-body problem? Do souls exist? If yes, how does that fit into human metaphysics? Which of the many possible philosophical positions detailed in Barry's Chpt 5 is most comforting / makes the most sense to you?
- update 25Feb: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/25/science/the-brains-inner-language.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140225
- Does one need to have a conception of a personal soul for immortality to make sense? Explain.
Tuesday, February 18, 2014
Chpt 5: The Self (by 26Feb)
Comment on at least one of these prompts, and follow-up on someone else's comment:
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ReplyDeleteI agree. A person's immorality is based on the legacy that they leave behind through the thoughts of others, and their personality.
DeleteIn response to prompt three, I think that the idea of a soul certainly helps for immortality to make sense. The "soul" is simple and not subject to change. It represents the unchanging Forms that Plato outlined. When thinking about death, for many people it is comforting to think that the soul cannot be corrupted, change, or even die. The soul is what gives us our "being" according to Decartes. Therefore, since it is believed soul lives forever, immortality becomes easier to understand although it is a very difficult concept to grasp.
ReplyDeleteI agree the soul is something that lives forever and to not believe in a soul would make it difficult to understand immortality. Immortality means that something lives forever and that is exactly what the soul does.
DeleteI also agree the soul is an ever lasting part of you that never ceases not even for a moment throughout any part of your life. I agree that the soul is the definition of what immortality is.
DeleteIn response to prompt one, I think every has spiritual needs. Even atheist have the needs in the sense of needing a common community of those who believe what they do. I think children have the needs too, to me all living beings strive to know where they came from, why they are here and what happens next. Although we might not agree on those answers the fact that we seek the answers is a sign of some type of spiritual need to fulfill.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that everyone has needs of some sort when it comes to spirituality. Now, whether or not they call it that, is what complicates the issue. I've heard people who are almost violently atheist discuss what I would consider to be spiritual issues thoughtfully... all the while, not framing the issues as spiritual ones.
DeleteResponding to prompt one I do believe that each person has spiritual need, because as humans we all have desire that cannot be satisfied by the material man-made world we live in. Whether living, dying, atheist, believer, child, or adult. We each have a uniquely human ability to always desire something more than what is within our grasp. For myself as a Roman Catholic I attribute these desires to the spiritual needs of every human being.
ReplyDeleteIn responds to the third prompt, a person gains immorality not because of their "personal soul" but because of what they leave behind. A person does not have to have a conception of their personal soul, they need to just know their legacy and what they have done to be remembered and how those left after they have moved on remember them. To have immorality, means that their memory lives on, even after the body and mind have left this life.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the first prompt, I am not sure if I believe that all people have spiritual needs. I do believe that if you are a spiritual person, you will have spiritual needs. I also believe that even if a person has (what they think, at least) all their needs met, they will not be truly satisfied until their spiritual needs are met and some people do not live a satisfying life.
ReplyDeleteResponding to the first prompt, I think that not everyone has spiritual needs, as not everyone has a specific faith or belief. For those who have spiritual needs, if they are not met, then I would think that the person might not feel completely satisfied with the life that they had leading up to their death. Perhaps like something was missing, and once that spiritual need is met then they are comfortable with being able to let go.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the spirituality of each and every person needs to be nurtured. Everyone in my opinion chooses to believe what they want and i respect that. Some may regret by not going to church and working to get closer to God, but i feel as long as they are willing to accept God in their life then their spiritual need can be met so they can truly find peace in the last moments of their lives.
DeleteThe first prompt is the one that appeals to me the most because I believe 'spiritual needs' could be taken in a very broad or specific sense. I believe that spiritual needs refers to some sort of support from a larger entity or 'the other side'. I believe that everyone has spiritual needs at the end of their life. Even atheists at the end of their life need comfort to know that physical death is not the end of their existence and that they will go on, or go where ever their beliefs should send them. During life a person's spiritual needs depends on the life that they live. If a person has a rough life it is possible they turn to their spiritual beliefs for support. But, it is also possible that a person with a rough life turns towards other things and therefore do not look to their spiritual needs until the end of their life.
ReplyDeleteI believe that everyone has some type of spiritual needs. Whether they tend to them or not is up to them but the actual need is there. The spiritual need does not have to be with a religion. It could be just with having a sense of community or belonging. I feel that when dying this is most prominent. The dying in my eyes seek to see if they will be remembered or if they will continue once they have left their body.
ReplyDeleteRegarding prompt one, i do believe that everyone has spiritual needs no matter their background. I think everyone towards the end of life hope that this isn't the end. They hope that there is something else after this life. No matter what religion or belief, nearing the end changes everything you believe.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the last prompt.... I do not believe that one must have a conception of a personal soul for immortality to make sense. Immortality requiring a soul would have been an easy argument to make in the times before social media and the internet. Peasants in the Middle Ages stood no shot of being immortal unless their souls continued on in some form of afterlife. Immortality is a concept which all humans aspire to in some way shape or form, though. Early man painted hand prints on cave walls to say, "I was here. Remember me." Unfortunately for those early people, they could not denote individuality in a lasting, meaningful way to those who followed. Modern man posts on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr - take your pick. Social media is the new cave wall. Except now, we can document and put our stamp on everything we do now. And, in theory, the internet lives forever as long as there is electricity. If I never reach Shakespeare, Washington, or Gandhi-level fame, things I have done could potentially still live forever... which guarantees me immortality. Whether that is good or bad has yet to be determined.
ReplyDelete