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2: Different views on humans

[ 1: What is psychology? ] [ 2: Different views on humans ] [ 3: Can humans be trained? ] [ 4: The subconscious ] [ 5: Erik H. Erikson ] [ 6: Humanistic psychology ] [ 7: Human activity theory ]

Human Outlook -different ways of looking at human beings
The task is to learn about the different ways you can look upon a human being and what this means for you:  the way you treat others, the way you teach etc.

When you deal with humans and human behaviour it is difficult to get clear-cut unambiguous answers.  There are no proved rights and wrongs. The answers will always depend on your basic attitude towards your fellow humans - of your ethics, your morals, your background, your attitude towards religion, your present situation, etc.

For instance:

Do you consider man as “clay” which is formed by other human beings and the environment and particular circumstances surrounding the human being in question?
(Remember “Trading places” with Eddie Murphy and Dan Ackroyd?)

Or do you consider man as a unique creature born with special characteristics which cannot be changed, which will shine through no matter what happens to the person or what other people are doing? (Remember Oliver Twist?)

Do you consider man as master of his own destiny, with many choices and decisions to make throughout life - choices which will have consequences and which you cannot escape? 

Or do you think that our life is determined by divine forces which we cannot influence? And no matter what we do, it doesn’t really matter, because everything is decided be Fate anyway.

Or do you consider man born as a sinner but with the chance of getting forgiveness and love from God? (And a better life afterward…)

Is our development determined and will take place in a certain way, regardless of our own will, that is: everything is foreseeable and inevitable?

Or does development happen in a dialectic process, and is therefore open and not foreseeable?

Your answers to all these questions constitutes your “human outlook” and will affect your attitudes, the way you look at your own life and your expectations to yourself and others.

 

1.      Read the chapter “Hvad er et menneske” (What is a human being) page 39-48  in the book: “Om Pædagogik, opdragelse og undervisning i en ny virkelighed” by  Steen Acton og Jesper Jensen. 
If you do not understand Danish properly then ask somebody to help you by giving a summary.

2.      Read the article “The concept of human nature” which you find under the entry “philosophical anthropology” in Britannica.com.

3.      Read the article “Menneskesyn - av betydning for arbejdet med mennesker?  by Yngve Hammerlin and Egil Larsen from Nordisk Udkast, nr 2, 1999.

4.      Write one page where you:
a) describe the four main human outlooks and their implications
b) state your personal opinions about what makes a human being
c) write what consequences this should have for the way we treat each other and our pupils.

5.      Get comments from your teacher.

 
 


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