On the cohesion of the animal and spiritual natures of the human being

�On the cohesion of the animal and spiritual natures of the human being� attempts to demonstrate the close relationship between our body and soul. A very audacious essay for its time and still for our century because it asserts the pre-eminence of the men

On the cohesion of the animal and spiritual natures of the human being .

 

§. 1. Introduction

Many philosophers have already affirmed that the body, so to speak, is the prison of the spirit, that it focuses all too much on worldly matters and impairs the so called “journey to perfection” of this last one. On the other hand, it is more or less agreed among many philosophers that science and virtue are not as much the aim than the means for felicity; that all the perfection of the human being turn up in the improvement of his body. It seems to me that the matter is pronounced unilaterally from both sides.

The last system will be proved almost completely from our morals and philosophies and it is, so it seems to me, often been rejected with all too fanatical eagerness, - nothing is certainly so dangerous to truth than when unilateral opinions find unilateral disapproval; -- The first one is really, overall, being mostly tolerated, in the sense that it is the most capable to inspire the heart for virtue, and has already justified its value in truthfully great souls. Who does not admire the intense sagacity of Cato, the high virtue of Brutus and Aurelius, the equanimity of Epictet and Seneca?

However, to disregard these qualities is, hence, nothing more than a beautiful aberration of intelligence; a really extreme position which lowers all too enthusiastically a part of the human being and will raise us in the rank of ideal creature, without, at the same time, discharging us of our humanness; a system that, all that we can historically know and philosophically explain from the evolution of the individual human being and from the totality of the human genre, contradicts straight away and bears not, with the limitation of the human soul. It is, according to that statement, here, as everywhere else, most advisable to keep the balance between both doctrines, in order to find the middle way of truth the more certainly.

As, however, commonly, more is lacking in the discussion, in the sense that people has written too much about the specific account of spiritual force, so far as it will be conceived as something externally dependent of the body, at the detriment of this balance, hence, the current attempt will focus more on explaining the noticeable contribution of the body to the actions of the soul, on clarifying the great and real influence of the sensitive animal system on the spiritual one. However, that is still really not the philosophy of Epicurus, the same way as it has little to do with stoicism to hold virtue as the highest good.

Before we seek to explore the higher moral goals, which will be reached with the help of the animal nature, we must first establish its physical necessity and agree ourselves on some basic concepts. And consequently, agree on the first angle from which we should consider the relationship between both natures.

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