( Two of you beat me and started posting--great, thanks! So, read below this prompt also)
Read the chapter, "The Divided Self" (Haidt, The Happiness Hypothesis). Read the chapter, " Values: Living by A Love Ethic” " (hooks, All About Love) and/or the selection from Needleman's Why Can't We Be Good. These readings are not long or difficult, so I hope you read all three.
Haidt writes about the dualities present in our humanness that influence our thinking, our actions, and our capacity for moral being. He also really deconstructs the mind/body split that traditional philosophers have usually reinforced--Needleman also speaks to this, the power of embodiment . Haidt also writes about the role of the emotions in our rational thinking and hooks plays this out a lot more in her chapter in her thoughts about love as a source for community building and openness to the reality of others. You can use these connections between the readings and unpack them further and/or see what other connections you make. Extra credit for working with all three readings!
In our last reading we learned about Humanism. We learned that “humanism…[is] a celebration of the qualities that make us human…these qualities can inspire us to use them to the full” (Norman 1). In the most recent reading “The Divided Self”, we learn where exactly those qualities come from and what it means to truly create an identity.
ReplyDeleteWe first learn that “human thinking depends on metaphor” (Self 2). We as humans relate ideas to other ideas we have learned. The decisions we make in order to determine who we are come from our “rational choice” processing. This idea means that we as humans “are rational agents who set goals and pursue them intelligently by using the information and resources at their disposal”(Self 3). It is interesting to learn that we human beings fight every day against with our id and superego just to do what is right. To become individuals we must not only fight outside sources like other people and societal ideas, but also our own inner temptations and wants.
Through this piece the author constantly refers this idea of temptation vs. rational thought to a driver riding a elephant. The driver steers the animal that moves towards its own desires. However at the end of the piece we learn that a lot of our rational thought actually comes from what society has shown us. In fact our minds “are loose confederations of parts” (Self 22). However, we set our ideas based on what we believe and find reasons to support it later, never once budging from our own set idea. This in turn truly makes us the elephant and the driver. Through our many different parts we are made of, each part still has its own “strengths and skills”(Self 22) that come together to make us who we are.