Conference paper
CHARITY, HOSPITALITY, AND THE HUMAN PERSON
Mark Agius
; Clare College Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Anna McKeever
; Clare College Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
Abstract
We believe that in order to properly interpret all aspects of human scientific enquiry in terms of its impact on human beings it is
necessary to have an adequate all encompassing model of the human person.
We began this presentation by discussing the differences between the 'Cartesian' Dualistic model of the human Person and that
of Aquinas and Augustine (which depend on Aristotle and Plato respectively). While the 'Cartesian' describes a completely separate 'soul' or 'mind' from the physical body, the Thomistic model of the Human Person is that of an Embodied Spirit, in which every aspect of the human spirit is reflected in an aspect or function of the physical body. We argued that the 'Cartesian view', in the modern age of 'Evidence Based Science' is inadequate, because the absence of evidence of a separate Mind allows the existence if this to be challenged by the application of 'Ockham’s Razor', whereas the Thomistic or Augustinian view need not be so challenged, since every aspect of the human spirit is reflected in an aspect or function of the physical body.
Thus we argued that the 'embodied spirit' model of the Human Person can be an appropriate model in understanding the
relationship of modern neuroscience to the reality of the human person. We were able to observe numerous examples from
Neuroscience, at the level of organs, neural systems and also at the molecular level in which a dualistic model was inadequate to explain experimental observations. We then related these ideas to the idea of Empathy, the neural system for which appears to be the same as the system for establishing a sense of self for the person.
We argued that therefore since the Concept of Charity, that is caring for others, related to the concept of Empathy, then the same neural system existed to promote Charity, as a function of the Human Person. We used anthropological data on the confraternities of 'Our Lady of Charity' to describe how humans had, since Roman Times at least given expression to thin imperative for Charity , and took this further to show how paintings of the Roman story see Pero, who secretly breastfeeds her father, Cimon, after he is incarcerated and sentenced to death by starvation, expresses the need for Charity as a 'giving of self' to others which can be explained by the embedded of the neural network for empathy in the human brain, closely linked with the sense of self.
Finally, we moved to hospitality, most easily expressed among humans by the sharing of a meal. We showed the Confraternities
of 'Our Lady of Charity' used paintings of the feast of the Marriage of Cana to express hospitality and their charitable work. We took the metaphor of sharing a meal further, and suggested that in paintings of the Trinity by Andrei Rublëv and the Supper of Emmeus by Caravaggio expressed that hospitality, as in sharing a meal, can link the human person to the Transendent ... perhaps through the mediation of the Neural system which expresses both sense of self and empathy.
We concluded that 'In the consultation we should treat people as embodied spirits', and that 'Treating people as an embodied
spirit - demands charity, in which we give of our own embodied spirit'.
Keywords
model of human person; Charity; hospitality; neuroscience; dualism, thomism, anthropology, art interpretation.
Hrčak ID:
263874
URI
Publication date:
15.6.2017.
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