Humanism

Humanism

Plato in his speeches highlights the inclination of humans towards the goddess of love. Love is a supernatural force that binds and connects two individuals to one another. The speakers used by Plato present the essentiality of having and practicing this virtue. Humanism dictates the placement of humanity above everything else without necessarily drawing in theism. In the speech of Phaedrus, Plato emphasizes sacrifice done by people for their loved ones with the crazy in some instances qualifying as mad which is an illustration of concern, care and living for others. Humans also direct their activities in pursuing love as the speech by Aristophanes illustrates. The two speeches are an affirmation of the responsibilities and rights that humans have in the course of living respectively.

In the Odyssey, humanism is depicted by man`s sense for self, a journey towards fulfillment and realization. In this case, there is an emphasis on the human`s sense of control. First, that Odyssey went out to fight in the Trojan War is an illustration of his quest for peace and protection of his kinsmen. When the war is over, he takes time to get back home, being held back by hurdles that keep him away leading to the assumption that he is dead. In spite of this, however, he does not lose the quest and desire to get back to his family and people. The same can be said of his son Telemachus who goes out to look for the news of his father among.

The quest for answers and human responsibility as an illustration of humanity is replicated in the Oedipus Rex. There is a plague that is devouring Thebes, and as the king, Oedipus has the responsibility of finding a solution to these problems. He does this first by seeking for answers on the cause and by asking for help from Tiresias the prophet to find solutions to the plague.

Detailing Plato Symposium, humanism is depicted by reviewing the actual implication of love on the nature of things.   Phaedrus, who is one of the participants, reflects humanism to have a close relationship with how people react in response to how they want to be perceived y others.  He illustrates his notion by implying that, in the battlefield, there is nothing that shames a man more than been seen by his beloved committing an inglorious act. He connects humanity to the strength of love by insisting that the human behavior is guided by love and lovers can sometimes sacrifice their lives for their beloved (Shepherd, 2018). In other words, Phaedrus insists that love contributes much to the nature of things and how human beings perceive the world. He reiterates his statements by rhetorically insisting that humanism and love cannot be separated and it is love that helps human beings gain honor and blessedness.  The Phaedrus views on love and humanity are also echoed by Eryximachus, who is also a participant in the symposium. He claims that love does not only affect humanity but on also it informs on the nature of things. He claims that love affects everything in the universe including animals and plants. Therefore, in humanism, believing that one love is attained should be respected.  He concludes that humanism is composed of two forms of love, one that is healthy and one that is unhealthy and the balance between the two brings an about health which transforms the human desires. Aristophanes, who is also a member of the symposium, deviates on the issue of love and humanism and insists that people should first understand the human nature before they can come to a conclusion on the origin of love and how it is related to humanism.

In Sophocles Oedipus Rex, the rationale of humanism in relation to the nature of things departs from the issue of love and views humanity to be inclined on the concepts of fate, free will, and tragic flaw (Jouanna, 2018).  Oedipus has a strong belief that the direction taken by human beings and how things happen in nature are guided by fate and humanity is just victim of the fate. Just like life, fate is unconditional and inevitable. The rationale given to our behavior is guided by our free will, and the end is defined our fate. In humanism, there is a sense of blindness a reality is determined by far bigger elements which are beyond human control. It is this notion that precipitates human beings into a state of competition which further determine the nature of things.

From the three philosophical sources, it is evident that humanism and rationale into the nature of things is a rather complex philosophical notion that largely informs the way human beings behave. It is difficult to depart from the elements that determine and define humanity but is still inappropriate to confine on variables that only detail humanism.  Therefore, humanism is a split between religion and reason and both have to come to play for one to have a rational explanation that informs on the nature of things.

References

Jouanna, J. (2018). Sophocles: A Study of His Theater in Its Political and Social Context.                            Princeton University Press.

Shepherd, M. (2018). On the difficult case of loving life: Plato’s Symposium and Nietzsche’s        eternal recurrence. British Journal for the History of Philosophy, 26(3), 519-539.

Woodruff, P. (Ed.). (2018). The Oedipus Plays of Sophocles: Philosophical Perspectives. Oxford             University Press.