Philosophy of Man

• Jewish Concept of Human Person (Man)

  Outline of the key aspects of the Jewish understanding of the human person
• Main Tenets of Judaism on Man

  • Humanity was created in the "image" of the Creator
  • The "image" of the Creator is the ability to discern and reason
  • Humanity has an inclination to both good and evil (Dual Nature)
  • Free will is the ability to choose which inclination to follow
  • Covenant: Basis of Man's Ethical Constitution
  • Empowered to subdue the earth
• Genesis 1:26-27: 'Then God said, "Let us make mankind in our image and in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.'
• Image and likeness


  • Not in the physical appearance of man because Judaism steadfastly maintains that God is incorporeal and has no physical appearance
  • In man's reason, free-will, self consciousness
  • In man's moral powers and capacity to become holy
• Hebrew Concept of Body (basar)


  • Flesh - denoting blood-relation, clan, physical appearance
  • Body - the general state or condition of man, or man as a creature of flesh, and finally mankind - "all flesh"
  • Formed by God out of dust, frail, dependent and mortal
  • Made alive when God breathed into its nostrils the spirit/breath of life
• Man does not have a living body but MAN IS A LIVING BODY, not a dichotomy of a living soul
• Having a body is not only an essential aspect of being human; it is also God's perfect will
• The body is a marvelous gift from God, which evidences His indescribable wisdom and power
• Body and soul integration constitutes the body becoming the expression of the soul
• The body is the seat of the Yetzer ra ("evil inclination"); as such is natural and necessary
• Human Body's Role


  • The erect figure of the body, set toward the heavens, points man to his origin and end
  • Man's pre-eminence over the rest, and his high destination, are apparent in the very form of his body
• Human Soul's Role


  • God's image refers to man's reason, free-will, self consciousness
  • God's likeness refers to man's moral powers and capacity to become holy
• The distinction between an immaterial and immortal soul was not found in Judaism before the Babylonian Exile, but developed as a result of interaction with Persian and Hellenistic philosophies
• Nephesh (Hebrew word for "soul")


  Meaning closer to "living being" that is, "living breathing conscious body" rather than to an immortal soul
• The concept of an immaterial soul separate from and surviving the body is common today, but according to modern scholars, it was not found in ancient Hebrew beliefs
• Judaism teaches that the body and soul are separate yet indivisible partners in human life
• Biblical Anthropology of "Soul"


  • Humans are by nature creatures of desires and longings
  • Humans are living beings who eagerly seek to live but are unable to acquire or preserve life by themselves
• Imaging God


  Owing God and holding communion with Him
• What distinguishes man from brutes

  All that raises him above sense and time and merely material considerations
• God created man to be immortal, and made him, an image of his own eternity: '(Gen. 2:23)'
• Judaism teaches about body and soul


  The body and soul are separate yet indivisible partners in human life. The body is a God-given tool for doing sacred work in the world, not a prison or corruption of the soul
• The word "soul"


  Not the best translation of the original Hebrew, nephesh (Grk. Psyche). In the Bible the "soul" is not immortal and cannot exist independent of the physical body
• What the term "soul" expresses

  • Humans are by nature creatures of desires and longings
  • Humans are living beings who eagerly seek to live but are unable to acquire or preserve life by themselves
• What "soul" refers to

  The whole person in need of God, who is the only one who can preserve a human being or extinguish the self forever
• What nephesh/psyche refers to


  The totality of the person as a center of life, emotions, feelings, and longings that can be fully realized only in union with God
• What divine imaging consists of

  • In its nature and substance as it is like God, spiritual and invisible
  • In its powers and faculties, reason or understanding and freedom in its choices and actions
• How man was formed

  The Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into the nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being (Gen. 2:7)
• Human impulses


  • a good impulse = yetzer tov
  • an evil impulse = yetzer ra
• Yetzer tov


  Oriented towards the soul (moral conscience - telling you what is wrong), must be controlling
• Yetzer ra


  More body oriented (desire for food, sex, and other needs), open to abuse and misuse, must be controlled
• The yetzer ra was created by God for a good purpose. Without it there will be no desire to satisfy personal needs. Man will not build house, marry a woman and beget children
• The yetzer ra is generally seen as something internal to a person, not an external force acting on a person. Satan is merely a personification of our own selfish desires, rather than that our selfish desires are caused by him
• Man's innate ability


  Capacity/aptitude to choose which impulse (yetzer tov or yetzer ra) to follow. This is the nub of the Jewish understanding otherwise known as free will
• Unlike in Christianity, Judaism does not believe in original sin. Every person has the ability to choose good and evil - between the tov or the ra
• Covenant


  Evokes the idea of two parties agreeing on something usually based on an agreed written piece of evidence called a "contract"; hence a pact
• Basis of man's ethics in Judaism


  The covenant, which has its origin and efficacy in man's imaging God. Man representing the pinnacle of God's creation
• Ethical conformity


  God demands that man not only conform himself to Him ontologically, but that, once the ontological imaging is obtained, man strives to be like God through his actions in the spirit of the Ten Commandments
• Dabhar Yahweh (The "Word of God")

  The word uttered - an extension of Speaker's personality which is His presence somehow. God's presence has a kind of authority that compels listener to do something about what the Speaker (God) has said
• Whether prophetic, legal or creative, Word of God (Dei Verbum, Dabhar Yahweh) is always EVENT PRODUCING
• If Jews obey God's Commandments, then they act as heavenly creatures, and if not, they act like the creatures below them