UNIT 1: THE ETHICAL DIGNITY OF THE PERSON A. THE CONCEPT OF PERSON. FEATURES What is the meaning of the word "person"? Person comes from the Greek word "prosopon" which refers to the masks used by the actors in classic theater. Thus, according to the etymology (origin of the word) we could say that person "prosopon" means character. Another explanation claims that person comes from the Latin word "persono" coming from personare verb meaning "to sound the voice" and may have connection with the above discussion as long as the actors perform this action to be heard in the theater. The term person was incorporated into the Roman Empire to the law, referring to a legal subject, with duties and obligations. Augustine, a Christian philosopher of 5 th century, asserted that an individual could be considered a person by their ability to selfreflection. It means that we are aware of our limitations and responsibilities before God, and have the duty of analysing each of our actions to get the path of truth and happiness (in this theory most theologians of the Catholic Church are based). One of the key authors in defining the concept of person is Boethius, another philosopher of the 5 th century. His theory about the concept of person is the most widely accepted today. A person is a being of rational nature. This suggests that before being a social being, the individual person is free and able to reason and decide on their actions. Then he relate to others because he is rational. Currently it is basically associated the concept of person with the possession of liberty and the ability of making decisions. Traits that distinguish humans from other species INITIAL ACTIVITY: What do you know? Make a list of characteristics that distinguish man from animal. 1
Expose an example in which it is shown that animals are intelligent Do you think that man is an animal? Why? We are intelligent Some animals are considered "smart". Really they are to the extent they are able to learn. For example, your dog can learn to obey orders: know it is not allowed to get on the couch, it learns that when you grab the strap you go for a walk immediately after and gets happy or even learn to identify words... It learns because it sees reality as stimuli. These can be positive or negative. Positive stimuli are the prizes: the dog learns to do a pirouette because then it is given a treat. Negative stimuli are the punishments: the dog does not rise to the couch because after that you scold it lifting your voice and that it is unpleasant. On the contrary, men learn not only by stimuli, rewards and punishments, but because we are able to see things as "realities" and not as mere stimuli. For example, if we put a piece of meat in front of our dog, it can not help eat it because for it, it is a mere stimulus when is hungry. However, we do not see the piece of meat only as a stimulus but also as a reality, even if you are hungry you may not eat the meat because you evaluate what that piece of meat. Maybe you are on a diet and the doctor has advised you not to eat meat, maybe you are vegetarian and you think you should not eat meat but you feel like, maybe your religion tells you that meat is not good for you, maybe it is not time to eat, then you have to wait for the rest of the family to share food with them. Similarly, this table on which I write do not exist for the dog, because it is not something that stimulates it. However, for any of us the table it is something, because we see it as a reality: it is a piece of furniture that has a utility, used to eat, to write, to let things... In addition we are able to learn without stimuli. Sometimes I learn because I imitate what my parents or my friends do. I see the same movies as my friends, learn the same profession as my parents or 2
my uncles (a so called "vicarious learning"), sometimes I learn because I think I have to create my own life, without necessarily having to receive an immediate prize (I study 1 st ESO because I think it is very important for my future and to be happy to finish my studies in high school). We're free ACTIVITY 1: What is for you to be free? The dog cannot choose among possibilities when we put forward the piece of meat, that is, cannot avoid eating it. This is to be really free, to choose among possibilities. However, freedom can be understood in two fundamental ways: The "freedom from or absence of coercion (to be forced by someone to do something). It is about being in circumstances that allow us to do what we really want to do. For example, in dictatorships people cannot think what they want. There are totalitarian systems where religion is imposed from the government. Or there are situations of injustice in which man is the slave of other men and cannot choose what he wants to do. Sometimes we think that the fact that there are no external impediments to do what we want means that we are free. But that is not accurate. There are also internal impediments that take away our freedom from us. For example, when we are so lazy that we are unable to study or do the homework knowing that it hurts us. 3
The same thing happens to one who has an addiction: the drug addict or alcoholic is not free, because his desires prevent him from building his life, he is always aware of having drug or alcohol. The "freedom to. But being free does not mean doing everything that I feel like at all times. It does not only mean absence of impediments. People are also free because they project to build their own life. We take longterm decisions and then we have to be consistent with them. If we follow what we feel like in every moment we are not free because we end up not being what we really want to be. Imagine that you love to be a doctor in the future. For that you need to finish your studies and also get very good grades. If every day at the time to do homework and study at home you waste your time playing videogames or watching TV, you are not going to be a doctor in the future. This kind of freedom is what is called "selfdetermination", the possibility that men have to build their own life. Both types of freedom are important and necessary to become truly free. If I have external or internal impediments that prevent me from choosing what to do with my life I am not free, but if I am not able to be faithful to my decision to do what I want to do with my life I am not free either. 4
ACTIVITY 2 Expose two examples of situations in which a person does not have "freedom FROM" and two examples of situations in which a person does not have "freedom TO". FREEDOM FROM FREEDOM TO We are beings with dignity When we talk about dignity we should know that this concept has not always been taken into account when defining human being. For example, slavery is a clear example that throughout history there have been some people who have treated other people as things and not as people. In the 18th century there was a cultural movement in Europe that was called Enlightenment. The protagonists of this movement were a group of philosophers who sought to improve society, then dominated by absolutism, a system where kings and nobility had all the rights and handled the policy of each country, while ordinary people had no rights and could not intervene in politics. These philosophers thought that if we use reason and let people access to education we will be able to build a society of free and happy people. His goal was the recognition that every individual should be considered a subject with rights and therefore equal to others. It was important to recognize that people should have the opportunity to participate in political affairs. They tried, therefore, to change the old regime by a new regime where everyone is considered a citizen and not a serf. Among these the most important philosophers were Rousseau, Voltaire, Diderot and Montesquieu in France. In Germany the most important was Kant. 5
It was therefore necessary to define the dignity of the person and it was precisely Kant who took care of it. Man has dignity because, unlike things, cannot be used as a means or a tool for other purposes, but as an end in itself. For example, when we use someone else as if he were a thing to benefit ourselves we are violating his dignity. The clearest case is slavery: use others as a thing, as a tool without respecting their freedom. Thanks to the claim of the philosophers of the Enlightenment slavery was abolished some decades later. But in today's world there are many times when we still do not respect the dignity of our fellow men. Rousseau and Kant For example, during World War II (19391945) many people were used for forced labour in concentration camps and were exterminated by Hitler for the mere fact of being Jews, gypsies or gays. Similarly, the allied army launched the atomic bomb against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, causing a terrible catastrophe, killing thousands of innocent people in one attack and causing very serious damage to the health and welfare of generations. After the war countries realized that these atrocities that were committed during the war could not happen again because they violate human dignity. Then, United Nations (UN) gathered in 1948 representatives from all countries, cultures, religions and philosophies to develop the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Countries should commit to respect these rights. A lot of nations committed to the Declaration, but even so, still continues attacking human dignity. 6
Eleanor Roosevelt holding the copy in Spanish of the UDHR ACTIVITY 3: Reflect on what you see on TV, hear on the news or your friends tell you. Expose five situations in today's world where dignity is violated. B. MORAL AUTONOMY The ideal result of being free is that we become autonomous. Autonomy is a word composed of two Greek words: "Autos": self, by oneself "Nomos": rule The autonomous person is one that gives himself/herself his/her own rules to act in life. The opposite of autonomy is heteronomy. (Hetero= other. It is another who gives me the rules, which tells me how to act) 7
We think that being independent is "to do what we feel like" at all times. But it's not that. Autonomy is achieved by the use of reason. I can decide for myself, but using reason, not following just what I feel like. For example, a person acting in a certain way because it is what the rest of their friends do, or because it is what others expect of him is not an autonomous but a heteronomous person. A person who decides to be a doctor or a lawyer because it is what his parents expect him to be acts in a heteronomous way. Or a person who follows a religion just because it is his family s one without thinking about whether is good for him is also heteronomous. Someone who votes for a political party because it is the same as voting their parents or their friends without thinking whether it is the best choice do not act autonomously, but in an heteronomous way. But also, a person who has decided to be an engineer or a veterinarian because it's what he really likes and then instead of studying each afternoon is spent watching TV or playing PS, then it is not autonomous but heteronomous because he does not follow what his reason tells him, but what his desires dictate him. To be autonomous is to be true to ourselves, to follow what we must do, although we do not feel like at that time. Thus, a person who implements the "freedom to" is a person who strives to be independent, to create his own life. To be adult means to be truly happy because we become what we really want to be. The only way is to think for ourselves, to become autonomous. One of the objectives of the philosophers of the Enlightenment was to engage people to use reason in order to become autonomous. Only in this way we can build a society of happy people where the dignity of others, their decisions and life projects are respected. 8
ACTIVITY 4: In many occasions we act in a heteronomous way we act. Evaluate your attitudes and your friends and expose three examples of heteronomous attitudes: ACTIVITY 5 Imagine that you witness a case of harassment by the head of your work against a colleague. You have seen everything that has happened repeatedly. Aggression is very serious. Your colleague decides to report the boss to justice because her dignity is being violated and also is against the law. This companion asks you to be witness in the trial and tell everything you have seen. What would be the autonomously way of acting in this case? Explain your answer. Then we put it in common with the rest of the class. 9
ACTIVITY 6: DESIGN YOUR "prosopon" Person comes from the term "mask". The mask reflects what you want to show others about your personality. Design a mask that shows how really you are. For this you can use symbols, colours, letters, messages that describe you: what you feel, what you think, your tastes... Then we put in common with the rest of the class. Then we know each other better. 10
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