PHILOSOPHY

Student’s Name

Institution

I. Thesis statement: Humanity refers to the study of the human nature, the word humanities has human in it because it describes how the people on the universe are guided by the laws, are rational beings and share faculties as discussed by Cicero on his view of humanity.

II. According to Cicero humanity is guided by natural law a concept which is confused by most individuals since most philosophers explain the term in different ways. Natural law can be simply put as moral guidelines and standards that guide the actions of the individuals by helping dictate what is wrong and what is right (Cicero, 2017). The use of laws is what differentiates the people from other beings and maintains order in the universe. Being human can then be described as choosing to do what is right and what results into the greater good for other individuals around us and being inhuman is knowing what is right and still doing what is wrong.

III. Human beings are different because they are rational as opposed to other living things on the universe. According to Cicero rationality allows the human beings to do three distinct things. First, rationality allows humans to have a memory and hence they can learn from their mistakes. Second, rationality helps human beings to moderate their behavior and this means that it makes individuals to know when they are wrong and when they need to change how they act. The third thing that makes humans rational is that they have a desire to know the truth and are eager to pursue the truth. This can be explained in terms of religion and spirituality of the people.

IV. According to this philosopher humans are able to coexist even with the differences between them and share divine faculties. Each and every individual is unique in their own way. According to the philosopher a person has two personas; one of them being universal and the other being specific to them. The universal persona comes from the fact that all humans reason. Although the people have specific personas that are different from each other it should not be a reason as to why people should not get along (Stuart-Butle, 2019). He advises that people should do what suits them best as long as they do not harm others.

V. Conclusion: The human in humanities shows the ability of humans to separate right and wrong according to law and morality and to coexist together as one.

References

Cicero, M. T. (2017). Cicero: On the commonwealth and on the laws. Cambridge University

Press.

Stuart-Buttle, T. (2019). From moral theology to moral philosophy: Cicero and visions of

humanity from Locke to Hume. Oxford University Press.