Dualistic Thinking is a way of dealing with life. In the Catholic Times, a Professor of Philosophy gives the readers an understanding of dualistic thinking and some of the problems that arise.
The Bible contains an integrated view of humanity… Examining the body, soul, and spirit as a combined whole
St. Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica may seem filled only with stories about God. Still, it is full of amazing reflections on humanity. One will seek completely different forms of happiness depending on our view of human beings.
Historically, famous expressions such as 'rational animal' or 'thinking reed' implicitly reflect the relationship between body and soul. The duality and unity of body and soul have been discussed for a long time. However, this issue is being raised more urgently today due to the various side effects caused by Dualistic Thinking.
Dualism, which divides humans into body and soul, strongly influenced human history before modern times. Plato (428-348 BC) theoretically systematized the distinction between the soul and the body, which appeared in myths and other places. He believed the soul belongs not to the mortal body but to a qualitatively different world. According to him, the soul that recognizes eternity existed before the real world on earth and belongs to the world of eternal ideas. However, the soul descends to the earthly physical world and is "confined in the body, as if in a prison or a tomb."
In this way, Plato thought of the body as hindering and restricting the soul's contact with the truth. Therefore, he argued that the union of the soul and the body is not essential and must be overcome.
This Platonic dualism continued to influence Western thought from Plotinus to Augustine, and in the modern era, it acquired a new perspective in the philosophy of Descartes (1596-1650). Descartes, the father of modern philosophy, arrived at the famous proposition, "I think, therefore I am" (Cogito ergo sum). After continuously exploring what this self (自我) that is conscious of itself is, he defined the self as a "thinking thing."
The body, which cannot think for him and is merely an object in space and time, was treated like a machine. In this way, the 'self that lives purely in consciousness' discovered by Descartes was cut off from the physical and the world. Despite his many attempts, Descartes and others could not solve the riddle of how the union of body and soul is possible.
However, idealism, which emphasizes only the functions of the soul and mind, can easily ignore the physical elements, leading to contempt for physical labor and even labor exploitation by capital.
In addition, if idealism develops into extreme idealism, it carries the risk of degenerating into totalitarianism like Nazism in Germany, which mercilessly destroys the individuality of human existence. On the other hand, materialism, which reduces both the human soul and mental functions of the body, can easily damage the spiritual nobility inherent in humans. If only the body is emphasized, it will follow the logic of the capitalism of the ordinary people and a distorted form of body-centrism, such as the commercialization of the body and sex.
Then how can we acknowledge the nobility of the body and soul and seek harmony between them? Surprisingly, many theologians try to find the answer to this question in the integrated view of man contained in the Bible. The Bible's integrated way of Thinking examines man as a whole, combining body, soul, and spirit. Although the Bible had a tradition of integrated Thinking rooted in Hebrew thought, it gradually became strongly influenced by Greek Thinking throughout Christian history, resulting in the unfortunate result of many Christians despising the body.
Gnosticism, which spread throughout the Hellenistic cultural sphere, downplayed the physical body and the creation of the world expressed in material terms and virtually denied the resurrection of the body by emphasizing only the ascension of the soul. This was judged heresy by the church, but Christianity's view of humanity was strongly dualistic due to the influence of Hellenistic culture.
Origen (185–254), who viewed only the rational soul as the essence of human beings, thought that the human soul belonged to the upper world of light but fell through free will.
In addition, Augustine (354–430) opposed Manichaeism, which strongly advocated dualism, but understood the unity of the soul and body as functional and secondary. In this way, his view of the body and soul was strongly influenced by Neoplatonism, which downplayed the physicality of human beings.
As monastic life, which emphasizes asceticism and ascetic practices, spread in the West, the tendency to despise the body became even more emphasized. The body is considered inferior, a prison for the human spirit, and the body's pleasure shallow. When the despising and abuse of the body were influenced by this dualistic view of humanity, St. Thomas tried restoring the integrated view of humanity.
