Human actions are directed to virtue, as to its proximate end, and to eternal life as to its last end.
The ends in practice are like the principles in speculative le, as Sto. Thomas. And in the way that the principles move the understanding to the assent of the conclusions, so the end moves the will to the operations, which are the means to achieve that end.
1.2. Introduction
Human actions insofar as they are said to be moral as far as they are compared with the rules of customs, which are the eternal law and right reason or conscience, and if such actions conform to them they are called good customs; but if not, they say bad. Therefore the morality of human acts is nothing other than the order or relation that they say to their rules, by which it is known whether they are morally good or bad. Wherever you can see, how wrong are those who put morality at the whim of man; or the utility and delight alone.
Perfect bliss is the possession of God. This possession constitutes formal bliss, and consists essentially of the act of understanding, with which God is clearly seen. With this abundance, the righteous will be glorious in body and soul, and they will enjoy forever everything that the spiritual and corporal powers can bring joy and satisfaction.
1.3.- Of the principles or sources of humanism
When the human being is in need of change, and considers within the deepest part of his being, that the fundamental stone that he has discarded is the suffering experienced in life and decides to give birth to his moral man, based on In developing empathy for helping others, it is time to raise this fund and place it as the main basis for moral growth, from which the transformation of oneself and love of neighbor will begin, since it is well true that You can give what you do not have, thus achieving great perfectible achievements, developing great moral identity towards your fellow men, resulting in personal benefit in great human and divine moral quality.
The noblest action of man is to get excited contemplating the infinity of the universe, which is, at the same time, contemplation of the Divinity; heroic enthusiasm, which sustains him over pain and leads him to triumph over death.
1.4. The primalities of being
The knowledge is verified in the own conscience "The sensible spirit feels the heat, first of all, in itself: it feels the heat through itself, as soon as it is changed by the heat". External causes produce modifications in the soul that would remain strange and unknown to it, if the soul did not have an original knowledge of its own alterations. But this original knowledge is not unique to the human soul; it belongs to all natural things inasmuch as they are all endowed with sensitivity.
Self-awareness reveals the fundamental principles of natural reality. Man immediately realizes that he knows, can and loves. It needs to admit that the essence of all things is constituted precisely by these three "primalities": power, knowledge and affection (love). Everything is insofar as it can be, and being power is the condition of being and of the action of all things. Likewise, all action is endowed with knowledge of itself and with knowledge of other things because it is endowed with sensitivity. Right: on this sensitivity the harmony that sustains the world is founded. In short, all beings love their being and want to keep it. Love, in effect, is the third primality.
The three primalities are limited in finite things, which, as such, are deficient, participate in non-being. Impotence, insatience and hatred are the three primalities of non-being. Only in God, who is infinite, are primalities not limited by non-being: in him power does not imply any impotence, wisdom does not imply insanity and love does not imply any affirmation of hatred.
Only faith in God and his mercy is the remedy to be saved. “Everything that man lives and does without faith in Christ, is summed up in this word: sin. Even good deeds, the work of deceptive free will, do not rescue man ”. Man is not free. Only God is the subject of freedom. “With free will eliminated, we are certain and sure that we please God, not because of the merit of our works, but because of the mercy that He has promised us. If our acts are insufficient or bad, we know that He will not take them into account, but He will forgive and remedy paternally.
1.5.- Intellectual morality as the basis of teaching
Knowledge (logos) has a purpose: the moral education of man; which is achieved thanks to the ethical virtues. The philosopher considers that the correct knowledge of things leads man to live morally (moral intellectualism). Who knows what is good, also practices it; no wise man errs; evil comes only from ignorance, and since virtue lies in knowledge it can be taught; but virtue is man's own happiness. The purpose is unique ideas, knowledge and virtue must be at the same point.
1.6.- Choice of the method of good teaching
Socrates goes to the public square to instruct his fellow citizens. It is distinguished from those in that it is not a merchant of wisdom. He does not converse like a man who hides his ignorance with seductive phrases: he wants, in a work community, to discover the truth, because he is aware that he is ignorant too much.
Above all, Socrates tries to keenly interest the interlocutor on the subject. For this, he exhorts it, through appropriate apostrophes. This is the first stage of his method, and it is called protreptic (from pro, first, and I climb, change, change), since it is about varying the conversation by taking the man out of his everyday vulgarity to introduce him into a philosophical dialogue.
Immediately afterwards, the inquiry begins (second stage), requiring the interlocutor the answers that he considers correct, but that, often, are wrong. In order to make the error of these of these solutions known, and to convince the listeners of their ignorance, Socrates uses clever questions, aimed at confusing him. This is Socratic irony (irony means Greek interrogation). Thus, "not knowing", which at first expresses the modesty of the philosopher ("knowing is only divine power, man's mission is to aspire to knowledge") ultimately turns into a pedagogical disguise: its ultimate objective is to lead to interlocutor, by own reflection, to the moral truth. In this way, Socrates comes to give the proper answer to the problem of teacher communication.
This second stage of the method is carried out in two parts: destructive and negative one, creative and positive the other. Socratic irony, first, is the art of refuting, of exhibiting the ignorance of the apparently wise man and is called elntic (of elenchos, objection); second, it is the art of giving birth to each one's ideas, of discovering the truth that should guide life, and it is called mayeutics (from mayeuein, to give birth) or heuristics (from heurischoo, to the art of discovery).
Socrates deeply perceives that the philosophical phenomenon is self-activity. By means of pertinent questions (dialogue form) the teacher leads the disciples to find, by themselves, what they are looking for. All this through a procedure that starts from concrete and singular experience to rise to general ideas.
Due to the circumstance of leading the interlocutor to the truth, such a procedure is called epagogy (epagoge, conduction).
1.7.- The application of humanism in teaching
The teacher at the time of acquiring the formal commitment to teaching, must consider the obligation that he has with the student, guiding him in the academic training, building the teacher-student communication bridge, with the firm bases of morality, which in Consequently, they will develop it in a more humanistic sense with the student, society and the future generations that they will attend, thus forming true human beings, identifying them with themselves, with their peers and with society. It is true that the soul is to the body, as well as the breath of life is by the grace of the divine, then the more we give ourselves to the understanding of the recapitulation of our lives and of society, the more perfectible we will be and transmitting the precious knowledge of knowledge, will be with love with the roots of truth,redounding to the benefit of our fellow men.
It is true that the learned virtues (embodied) such as Humility, Generosity, Chastity, Patience, Templaza, Charity and Diligence, should be applied in the practice of teaching, as pillars of the teacher's consciousness, for the transmission of the sacred light of knowledge, motivating the student to act with these thresholds in the field of learning, as the guiding principle of the training of the student in body, mind and soul, in the application of Law, always with good sense, sanity and diligence of good in society.
1.8.- Conclusions
The humanist philosophy of teaching preserves its proper meaning in Socrates: it is an aspiration to know, a desire for knowledge. The maieutic as an art of splitting ideas is the method of the philosopher. But since moral behavior must flow from a rational understanding of life, pedagogy makes use of the maieutic method itself. The philosopher who reaches certain results, who rises to the ideas of the good and the beautiful, of the just and the true, does nothing but cultivate himself, enriching the wealth of his practical wisdom. His influence, his intervention in the improvement of others, consists in exciting the disciples so that for themselves they discover the world of their own ideas.
1.9.- Bibliography
- Chicken soup for the master's soul
Editorial: Diana
Impression 11/15/2005
Mexico City
- Introduction to the philosophy
Francisco Arroyo
Editorial Porrua
México 1994
- A break for the heart
First edition.
EDIBA SRL - 2004
O Higgins 312
Bahía Blanca (B8000IVH)
Buenos Aires - Argentina.
