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Lecturer Analyzes Concepts Of Man
A philosophical concept of man constructed to deal more adequately with fields of man's behavior, was presented last night to a near capacity crowd in Fraser Auditorium.
Richard T. DeGeorge, associate professor of philosophy, after analyzing Soviet and existentialist concepts of man, presented his concept of man during the third Humanities Lecture of the year.
"A philosophically consistent concept, adequate for ethics, politics, social organization, and education should recognize both the value of the individual and the reality of relations which unite men," Prof. DeGeorge said in outlining his concept derived from both the Soviet and existentialist concepts of man.
"A father and child are related by a real relationship whether it be recognized or acknowledged," Prof. DeGeorge said.
BOTH INDIVIDUALS and social relations are real, he said, and society is not a fiction, nor merely the sum of the individuals, which make it up. Society is more than individuals because it is a sum of both the individuals and their relations, he said.
Since Soviet theory of man stresses social relations and the existentialism of Jean-Paul Sartre emphasizes the individual certain difficulties arise in the two concepts, he said. Both fail to combine the realities of the value of the individual and social relations; thus, neither the Soviet theory or the existentialist theory are completely right or completely wrong, he said.
Since the concepts are livable, they must be partially true. The concepts are correct in what they affirm but wrong in what they deny—the reality of social relations by the existentialists and the reality of the value of the individual by the Soviets, he said.
"But," he continued, "emphasizing the reality of the individual to exclusion of all else is a mistake."
"THE EXISTENTIALISTS are right that man is an individual, and the individual is real: the man is the center of concern, that he has value and is valuable in himself," Prof. DeGeorge said.
"The other side of the coin is emphasized by Marxist and Soviet thought for whom the individual receives his reality only from the totality which has primacy. Man, according to Marx, is the aggregate of his social relations. For Marx and the Soviets relations are real, and the individual receives his reality second-hand so to speak from society," Prof. DeGeorge said.
In addition to the above criterian that a concept of man should be accountable to the test of reality, Prof. DeGeorge listed four other criteria for judging a concept of man.
- It should be rationally consistent.
Wednesday, Dec. 4, 1963 University Daily Kansar
- It should accord with the facts and needs of action, and a human development and organization.
- It should be able to explain and interrelate not only the diversity of everyday experience and the multiplicity of outlooks, but also the facts of science and of human history and experience, insofar as the concept is descriptive.
Discussing points three and four, Prof. DeGeorge said, descriptively, man is presently at the apex of evolution. But this is no reason to think that evolution has come to an end and that man has nowhere to go and no future. Both Marx and Sartre are correct in claiming the future for man. But man will evolve by his will and not physically.
IF CONSCIOUSNESS or reason or spirit is the distinguishing characteristic of man, then his development and evolution would seem to live not in his physical developments but in a deepening and broadening of his spiritual powers, such as his intellect. However, intellect is not enough, man must turn also to will, and to love as a power, he said.
Analyzing the existentialist concept of man, Prof. DeGeorge explained that according to Sartre man is nothing. He is nothing because he is outside the order of the world; he is not pre-determined by God, but man exists and he is free.
Thus, man fashions his own existence but he expresses his freedom by fear and anguish because he must make a decision which makes himself. Man then becomes responsible for himself and for other men.
Turning to the Soviet concept, Prof. DeGeorge said that strictly speaking, man has no nature.
"Our first conclusion is that man is a historical animal, different in kind from other animals, who has become different by his work," he said.
"Work then becomes the key to the Soviet concept since it is by work that man has made himself and it is by work that man will change himself by changing the conditions of his existence."
The second aspect of the Soviet concept is that man is a social entity, he receives his reality and humanity from society. Things of the spirit, culture, individuality, personal worth and freedom are seen to be products of man's labors and thus part of social reality, Prof. DeGeorge said.
The Soviets try to change men by changing what for them is real, their relationship in society. The existentialists, however, try to change man by changing the individual. A combination of these two positions is possible and is perhaps more successful than either of the other two, he said.
Delta Delta Delta and GSP 4 West will meet at 7:30 tonight in the final playoff of division three of the WRA Round Robin basketball tournament.
Games Tonight Finish WRA Division Finals
Meeting at 8:15 tonight for the final division four playoff will be the Delta Gamma and Pi Beta Phi teams.
Semi-final games are scheduled for December 11. Finals will be a week later.
Alpha Omicron Pi placed second in division two with a 5-1 record. Watkins Hall and Alpha Phi tied for third place. Both had 3-3 records.
Carruth-O'Leary, with a 6-0 record, was the division one winner. Lewis Hall, also undefeated, won in division two.
Miller Hall, with a 5-1 record,
and Alpha Delta Pi, with a 4-2
record, placed second and third
respectively in division one.
WRA swimming competition will begin December 17. Form competition will include sidestroke, breaststroke, front crawl, back stroke and diving events. Speed events will include two freestyle, one breaststroke (or butterfly), one backstroke and one medley event.
THE HIGH SCHOOL AT DRAYTON, N.D.—population less than 1,000—has the distinction of being the "Yankees" of North Dakota prep baseball. The Drayton squad, also known as the "Bombers," has won the state baseball championship six years in a row.
WASHINGTON — (UPI)— President Johnson has placed nearly all his private holdings in the hands of trustees for the length of his term in office and has put his Washington home up for sale.
LBJ Property Goes Into Trust
It was learned yesterday that Johnson turned over to trustees his ownership of approximately 5,000 acres of grazing land in Texas. The only piece of real estate remaining in his hands in his 40-acre ranch near Johnson City, Tex.
Under the trusteeship, Johnson will not have a voice in the management of his property as long as he is President. In the event he dies in office, the trust will be automatically terminated.
Johnson's action is not the first of its kind for the President. When he took office as Vice-President three years ago, his stockholdings were placed in a similar trust. The only financial holdings still in his control were some municipal bonds.
Mrs. Johnson has taken similar steps. It was announced last week that the President's wife had resigned as chairman of the LBJ Co. and transferred her holdings to a trustee.
Mrs. Johnson's holdings were made up mainly of stock in the LBJ Co. which has an interest in radio and television stations in Austin, Waco, Victoria, and Bryan, Tex., and Ardmore, Okla.
WHAT'S NEW IN THE DECEMBER ATLANTIC?
**"Berlin: The Broken City""*A Special 45-page Supplement. A border guard leitenant, an East German textbook editor, distinguished Berlin novelist and critic. He also informed observers report on: *The Political Cabarets, The Young Germans, Why the Guards Defect, Writers in Berlin, Berlin's Economic Future, and other subjects.* Plus a photographic report on the rebuilding of Berlin.
ALSO
"The Supreme Court and its Critics"*; Judge Irving R. Kaufman discusses the extent to which the Supreme Court appears to have taken on an educative function and how such change can be justified.
Stories and Poems by: Dudley Fitts,
N. J. Berrill, Ted Hughes,
Aa..
Peter Davison, Murie Rukeyeser, Sallie Hill Ford, Jeannette Nichols and others.
The pursuit of excellence is the everyday job of The Atlantic's editors be it in fiction or prose. In ever-increasing numbers, those in pursuit of academic excellence find In The Atlantic the training and enlightening companion. Get your copy today.
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