The book “Human Nature and Jewish Thought” from the author Alan Mittleman is one of the bases used in the class Humanity 2.0 to try to reach an understanding about human nature. The book uses the comparison between Jewish tradition and lessons and the western thoughts to dig about the core of the human nature. In the chapter two of the book “Persons in the Image of God”, the author talks about the hybrid nature of the human, and our potential for both good and evil. Mittleman states that the reason for both potentials is the free will and ability to choose. I personally agree with this statement, because I believe that someone can only be truly good when understand the meaning, consequences and reason of the actions of being a good person. Althought, the Jewish tradition says that what motivates the human against the good is the hybrid divine and animal nature. I disagree of this statement, because I believe that what drives people toward for bad actions is the lack of knowledge, and understanding of consequences. …show more content…
Meanwhile, the author compares with the western vision of Plato, which says that, the rational part of the soul is always fighting over the irrational and animal side. This view of evil as being beneficial, by the Jewish tradition, is related to the ability to the human to “build a house, procreate, engage in business, rule and kill the animals”. I believe that this view comes from the Jewish religious thoughts about that cutting a tree and killing other animals to survive is a necessary evil, and that procreation is the original sin after eating the forbidden fruit, because it was when they were aware of their
On The Genealogy of Morals, Essay I refers to the second stage of human morality—the emergence of the concepts of "Good" and "Evil" as categories o...
“Whence comes this combination of qualities of mind, body and character? These are qualities with which every one of us is familiar, singly and in combination; which you find in friends and relatives; and which other doubtless discover in you. They are qualities possessed by most Jews who have attained distinction or other success. In combination, they may properly be called Jewish qualities. For they have not come to us by accident; they developed by three thousand years of civilization, and nearly two thousand years of persecution; developed through our religion and spiritual life; through our traditions; and through the social and political conditions under which our ancestors lived. They are, in short, the product of Jewish life.” – Louis D. Brandeis
Many people have different views on the moral subject of good and evil or human nature. It is the contention of this paper that humans are born neutral, and if we are raised to be good, we will mature into good human beings. Once the element of evil is introduced into our minds, through socialization and the media, we then have the potential to do bad things. As a person grows up, they are ideally taught to be good and to do good things, but it is possible that the concept of evil can be presented to us. When this happens, we subconsciously choose whether or not to accept this evil. This where the theories of Thomas Hobbes and John Locke become interesting as both men differed in the way they believed human nature to be. Hobbes and Locke both picture a different scene when they express human nature.
The author suggests that an effort in attempting to figure out “why” evil exists will not provide substantial answers, but more focus on understanding the necessity of evil to allow
The seventeenth century not only marks an important era in Jewish history, the arrival of Jews in the New World, but it marks a shift in Jewish ideology as well. Traditionally, in the Old World prior to the Inquisition, Jews did not live as individuals but rather as a part of a social network or community that worshipped together, studied together, at times lived together, and had the same set of beliefs. During, and for sometime after the Inquisition, some secret Jews were part of an underground community but other secret Jews chose not to be part of any Jewish community, secret or not, out of fear. It was not until the seventeenth century that there was a conscious break in the tradition of being part of a community and some Jews chose the path of individualism, because they were dissatisfied with the confines of their current Jewish community or they were forced to abandon their community and worship individually. When Jews began to move from the Old World to the New World they were forced with the challenge of figuring out how they were supposed to practice Judaism when there was no current Jewish framework in place. When Portuguese Jews arrived in the New World they were forced to live outside of the traditional community because there was no Jewish community to greet them in New Amsterdam. In the seventeenth century, it was not the norm for a Jew to live outside of the Jewish community, but it was possible; one’s willingness or necessity to live outside of the community depended upon one’s geographical location, fear, or personal convictions.
I am a very spiritual person and am always interested in learning about other religions, especially the three monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I feel I have an adequate knowledge of Christianity and Islam, but I do not know much about Judaism. This paper will focus on the questions I have about Judaism. I have always wanted to know the fundamental beliefs of Judaism. I want to know how many Jews there are in the United States and in the world. I often see Orthodox Jewish men wearing yarmulkes and prayer shawls, and I wonder what is the purpose of wearing these. And finally, I wanted to know what is the role of women in Judaism.
When people realize that good and evil are just points of view that are placed on other people and actions, it is possible to transcend these superficial roles. Since it is people who create the meaning of evil, it cannot be said that people are evil, or are born evil, because not only is that a perspective that is assumed onto others, which will change with different cultures, societies, and eras, but the very same acts may appear to be both good and evil, depending on the perspective in which the acts are seen. Ultimately, it is the individual’s responsibility to decide for himself the effects of his actions on himself and others.
In this essay, I will be arguing about humanity’s spiritual evolution. For humanity to evolve spiritually, it must go from an inferior state to a superior state. First, I will defend my conclusion by stating my reasons to support my conclusion. I will defend them and expand as well as explain what I mean. Before going in depth of my claims, I will first clarify critical terminology such as “moral evil” and “natural evil”. Finally, I will touch on some oppositions regarding any of my claims.
There are many disputes among humanity. The differences in how humans interact correlate with each other in many ways. These two texts, “Man is the Lowest Animal” by Mark Twain and “Female Circumcision: Rite of Passage or Violation of Rights?” by Frances A. Althaus, show that actions human make are driven by their beliefs. Mark Twain has been studying the traits and dispositions of the “lower-animals” and it is shocking that these “lower-animals” turns out to be the “higher-animals”. He finds the results humiliating because most people believe in the opposite. In Mark Twin’s eyes, the “Darwinian theory of the Ascent of Man from the Lower Animals” seems trivial compared to the “Descent of Man from the Higher Animals”.
...n idea about the human psyche and the nature of evil. Throughout the novels, we have acts that were dubbed as evil. Some of these were: the acts of the rabbi’s son, the killing of Simon, and even the joy Eliezer felt at the death of his father. All of these points and the many that weren’t mentioned all shared a singular idea. It was that the ulterior motive of these acts revolved around people reacting on instinct and desire. From these, we gain the final message of the novel that was proven time and time again. This message was that evil isn’t an act that just isn’t moral. Evil is the primal, instinctual, an animalistic rage that lives in the darker part of our heart, a part of the heart that is brought to light upon the moment the chains of civilization are broken..... A moment where we fall prey to our instincts and our conscience disappears into the darkness.
The fall of mankind with Adam and Eve caused an imbalance in the relations between God and mankind. To achieve salvation, this inequity had ...
God is the source of evil. He created natural evil, and gave humans the ability to do moral evil by giving them a free will. However, had he not given people free will, then their actions would not be good or evil; nor could God reward or punish man for his actions since they had no choice in what to do. Therefore, by giving humans choice and free will, God allowed humanity to decide whether to reward themselves with temporary physical goods, and suffer in the long run from unhappiness, or forsake bodily pleasures for eternal happiness.
Judaism has most interested me, because of the respect I have for the history of the Jewish people and their ability to beat all odds. The perception of God in Judaism is monotheistic; in 2012 the world's Jewish population was estimated to be 13.75 million-according to Professor Sergio Della Pergola (2012) a Hebrew University demographics expert; that means an estimated 13.75 million Jews followed the tradition/religion of Judaism. The ultimate reality in Judaism is God; The Jews view God as eternal- the ultimate creator of the universe, and the source of righteousness. God has the power to intervene in the lives of the Jews. God has been called upon throughout Hebrew biblical history in many different names (ex. Elohim,YHWH), although all names reference the same God.
In viewing 12 Angry Men, we see face to face exactly what man really is capable of being. We see different views, different opinions of men such as altruism, egoism, good and evil. It is no doubt that human beings possess either one or any of these characteristics, which make them unique. It is safe to say that our actions, beliefs, and choices separate us from animals and non-livings. The 20th century English philosopher, Martin Hollis, once said, “Free will – the ability to make decisions about how to act – is what distinguishes people from non-human animals and machines 1”. He went to describe human beings as “self conscious, rational, creative. We can fall in love, write sonnets or plan for tomorrow. We are capable of faith, hope and charity, and for that matter, of envy, hated and malice. We know truth from error, right from wrong 2.” Human nature by definition is “Characteristics or qualities that make human beings different from anything else”. With this said, the topic of human nature has been around for a very long time, it is a complex subject with no right or wrong answer. An American rabbi, Samuel Umen, gave examples of contradictions of human nature in his book, Images of Man. “He is compassionate, generous, loving and forgiving, but also cruel, vengeful, selfish and vindictive 3”. Existentialism by definition is, “The belief that existence comes before essence, that is, that who you are is only determined by you yourself, and not merely an accident of birth”. A French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre, is the most famous and influential 20th - century existentialist. He summed up human nature as “existence precedes essence”. In his book, Existentialism and Human Emotions, he explained what he meant by this. “It means that, first of all, man exists, turns up, appears on the scene, and, only afterwards, defines himself. If man, as the existentialist conceives him, is indefinable, it is because at first he is nothing. Only afterward will be something, and he himself will have made what he will be 4”. After watching 12 Angry Men, the prominent view on human nature that is best portrayed in the movie is that people are free to be whatever they want because as Sartre said, “people create themselves every moment of everyday according to the choices they make 5”.
...a-kind, comes into being. Since we are all unique, we all have a precise and specific “imprinting protocol” which makes us human. Finding our exact “imprint” is “the mystery of the human person” (Cortez, 93). But, “the emergence of higher-level properties and complex systems with novel properties… cannot be comprehensively understood on lower-level terms alone,” affirming that what defines a physical being as being “human,” or what delineates David as a “real boy” is ultimately abstract and unknown (Cortez, 94). It is ultimately up to God.