The problem of rationality is one of the key issues of philosophical research in the modern world. For example, philosophers have attempted to explain the connection between rationality and the biological characteristics of individuals. While some might consider that rationality and biological characteristics of humans are identical, others consider them as merely overlapping each other or as having an incidental relationship. This paper demonstrates using an illustration from Jonas’ essay on The Nobility of Sight that rationality and biological characteristics are identical. The paper bases on the definition of rationality that an individual’s actions are rational when they are done according to some sensible reasons that make their objective possible to attain. It means, therefore, that the activities of individuals are expedient and because rationality pertains to the sphere of the activity of humans, anything rational is also expedient. The fact that rationality is dependent on the activities of people means that it is reliant on the biological characteristics such as the sense of hearing as this paper demonstrates.
An individual is considered rational when their actions are done according to sensible reasons that make their objective possible to attain (Shneider, 1991). Each activity has a universal aim-means-results structure. Aim defines the predictable outcome in the consciousness of a person because it is an ideal of the outcome as well as a reverberation of demands that exist objectively (1991). Therefore, the aim is a critical element of the structure of any action, a mode used in the construction of activity, and a fundamental principle used in the reduction of different actions to a system that owns an absolute value quality inside the universal structure of actions. In its broadest sense, means entail the whole collection of things, acts, conditions, ways, and methods that will make the accomplishment of the aim, its foreseen outcome possible. Therefore, result seems to be determined by a combination of its perfect image as well as project. The definitive terms of a human action imply that human action is expedient and because the rationality phenomenon pertains to the human action sphere. Therefore, anything rational is expedient. By expedient, it means a total submission of all constituents of activity to its objective like a collection of factors that necessarily lead to the attainment of the objective. Let us explore one of the elements of rationality, normativity, which will make the relevance of the thesis of this paper more concrete.
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Two principle types of norms are in existence from a cultural reality. One of the norms is a traditional one that has arisen spontaneously in the social development process as a principle (Shneider, 1991). The principle is then handed down through imitation and customs among others. Such norms entail the informal norms and customs of the various groups of humans. However, besides the described norms, there are those that have resulted from traditional norms or reasonable actions of consciousness and mirrored by reason. Such norms do not occur randomly because they have an author. The same norms are formed textually and founded on some logical argumentation. The norms of etiquette and morals are also included in this class of rational normativity; even though such norms have traditional elements to a larger extent than the technological and legal norms (Shneider, 1991). It is assumed that such norms based on logical argumentation, expressed textually, and reflected socially underpin a rational action of an individual. Therefore, not each type of activity that is regulated by norms could be considered to be rational. Therefore, a theoretic model to explain rationality is the same model of human thinking and behavior.
Jonas’ essay on The Nobility of Sight provides a basis for arguing that rationality (explained above) is identical to the biological characteristics of people. Jonas argues that the sense of seeing is more exemplified than the rest of the senses. He refers to Plato’s argument of the sense of sight being the eye of the soul as well as the light of reason. He also cites Aristotle when he composed in the introductory paragraphs of Metaphysics are connected the longing for knowledge that is inherent in each human beings to their common delight in perception that is mostly expressed through vision. Plato documents a dialogue between his elder brother, Glaucon, and Socrates about goodness in the sixth book of The Republic. Socrates says that the sun is the child of goodness because just in the same manner it illuminates and bestows the capacity to see and be seen by the human eye using its light, the idea of goodness is used to illumine the intelligible with the truth (Jonas 1966).
Plato argued that the visible realm and sight are deficient by positing that for the rest of the senses to be used, all that is required is the sense in itself and that which could be sensed by it. For example, to smell the fragrance of flowers, one is required to have the sense of smell and the flowers that they will smell. He also considers that people might try to see things, but be unable to see them because for them to see, they need to have a third aspect that is made specifically for that function (Jonas, 1966). This means that the real nature of reality (the basis of rationality) is not easy to comprehend through the ordinary senses. For this reason, people are required to use their mind in addition to the sensory organs if they need to understand the hidden truths of the world around them. According to Plato, just like sight, the mind requires a third aspect for it to function properly, his idea of goodness. Therefore, a mind without goodness is comparable to sight in the absence of light because none in the two comparisons can operate optimally in the absence of the other. In this sense, goodness is interpreted to rationality. According to the universal model of human actions and Plato’s perceptions, goodness is the means of attaining the objective of seeing. It still means that the essay on The Nobility of Sight expresses the fact that the sense organs (biological characteristics) are the means of attaining the objective of rationality in human actions.
Jonas’ essay on sight indicates how the sense of sight can be used to generate rationality in the actions of humans. For example, the author posits that sight comprehends multiple things juxtaposed as co-existent elements of a single field of vision at an instant. He argues that a single opening of the eye will disclose a world that has co-existent qualities that are ranged in depth, spread out over space, continuing over indefinite distance, indicating if necessary in their direction of static order and through their perspective, a direction away from the object and not towards it (Kambaskovic and Wolfe, 2014). This argument is the basis of the rationality of human decisions. According to the essay, the author suggests that the eye can be used to feed the mind with the information required to distinguish between objects seen in terms of their quality, to make judgments concerning depth, movement of objects and other elements. It means that the mind itself is unable to drive people to act rationally because it requires to be fed with information from the sense organs such as receptors of touch, light, and sound among others. The essay only exemplifies the sense of seeing over the rest because the author was following Plato’s influence on light and seeing. To justify that other senses are as relevant as that of seeing is not easy using Jonas’ essay. However, other philosophers such as Martin Luther have written extensively on the nobility of the sense of hearing and its significance to theological perceptions (Kambaskovic and Wolfe, 2014).
In conclusion, rationality and biological characteristics are identical since the latter is a basis for the former. The essay has illustrated the definition of rationality by considering that human actions are only rational if they are done according to sensible reasons that make their objective possible to attain. One of the fundamentals of rationality is normativity and norms based on logical argumentation, expressed textually, and reflected socially underpin a rational action of an individual. Plato’s argument on rationality is that the mind requires a third element if it has to be rational (to show goodness). The essay on the nobility of light explains the importance of a sense of organs in feeding the mind with the appropriate information for it to make the rational decisions. This paper has demonstrated, therefore, that the eye, like other sense organs, provide the mind with what it needs for it to interpret the physical surrounding from which individual’s actions can attain rationality. For example, the light illuminates objects from which people can judge different qualities such as color, depth, motion, and spatial distribution among others.
References
Jonas, H. (1966). The phenomenon of life: Toward a philosophical biology. Northwestern University Press.
Kambaskovic, D., & Wolfe, C. T. (2014). The senses in philosophy and science: from the nobility of sight to the materialism of touch. A cultural history of the senses in the renaissance. Bloomsbury, London , 107-125.
Shneider, V. B. (1991). What Is It to Be Rational?. Philosophy Now , 1 , 30-33.
