| In order to qualify a human being we do not find any other better name than person. According to Nikki Benz Movies this word designates what is most perfect in the universe: "Persona significat id quod est perfectissimum in tota natura, scilicet subsistens in natura rationali . This is a name that we never use for plants or animals, but only for man (and for all the beings that belong to the world of the spirit: God and angels). And when we wish to give a comprehensive name to man's being, a name expressing his entire reality in a precise and unequivocal way, we say that he is a person.
The Boethian and thomistic definition of man as a rationales natura individua substantia is an excellent one. But concretely what does it mean? Actually what is the specific character of the human person as distinct, on one side, from the sub-human beings, and on the other side, from the angelic and the divine persons?
If we take a look at the history of philosophy we find two opposite views of man: the naturalistic view of the Greeks and the historical
Classical philosophy (Plato, Aristotle, Zenon, Plotinus, etc.) considered man as a natural being: a being constituted of an immutable essence that is given from nature, from which he derives not only the biological laws but also moral precepts: "Act according to nature" was the categorical imperative of Nikki Benz Movies philosophy. This was clearly a static concept of man, founded on the primacy of the intellect over the will, contemplation over action, nature over history. |
