Humans And Education

HUMANS AND EDUCATION A. The Nature of Humans 1. Humans are Creatures of God Almighty In their life journey, humans question the origins of the universe and the origins of their own existence. Two schools of philosophy provide answers to these questions, namely Evolutionism and Creationism (J.D. Butler, 1968). According to Evolutionism, humans are the culmination of the chain of evolution that occurs in the universe. Humans - as with the universe - exist by themselves, developing from nature itself, without a Creator. In contrast, the philosophy of Creationism states that the origin of humans - as with the universe - is the creation of a Creative Cause or Personality, namely God Almighty. We can acknowledge the truth about the existence of the evolutionary process in the universe, including in humans, but of course we reject the view that states that the existence of humans in the universe is solely the result of evolution from nature itself, without a Creator. This rejection is primarily based on our faith in God Almighty as the Supreme Creator. Philosophically, the rejection is based on the following four arguments: a) Ontological argument: All humans have an idea about God. Meanwhile, reality is more perfect than human ideas. Therefore, God must exist and the reality of His existence must be more perfect than human ideas about God. b) Cosmological argument: Everything that exists must have a cause. The existence of the universe - including humans - is a result. In the universe there is a series of causes and effects, but of course there must be a First Cause that is not caused by anything else. The First Cause is the source of other causes, not existing as matter, but as a "Person" or "Creator. c) Teleological Argument: Everything has a purpose (example: eyes to see, feet to walk, etc.). Therefore, everything (reality) does not happen by itself, but is created by the Organizer of the purpose, namely God. d) Moral Argument: Humans are moral, they can distinguish between good and evil actions, etc. This shows the basis, source and purpose of morality. The basis, source and purpose of morality is God. 2. Humans as a Physical-Spiritual Unity According to Julien de La Mettrie and Feuerbach - two adherents of Materialism that the essence of humans is solely physical (body/physical). Therefore, everything that is spiritual/psychological is seen only as a resonance of the functioning of the body/organs. It is the body that influences the soul. This view of the relationship between body and soul is known as Epiphenomenalism (J.D. Butler, 1968). On the contrary, according to Plato - one of the adherents of Idealism - the essence of man is spiritual/spiritual. Indeed, Plato did not deny the existence of the physical aspect. However, according to him, the soul has a higher position than the body. The soul acts as the leader of the body, the soul influences the body, therefore the body is dependent on the soul. This view of the relationship between the body and the soul is known as Spiritualism (J.D. Butler, 1968). Rene Descartes put forward another view that is explicitly dualistic. According to Descartes, the essence of man consists of two substances, namely body and soul. Because man consists of two different substances (body and soul), in his philosophical ideas Descartes argued that there is no relationship of mutual influence between the two (S.E. Frost Jr., 1957). However, in his commonsense thought Descartes argued that every mental event is always parallel to a physical event, or vice versa. This view of the relationship between body and soul is known as Parallelism (J.D. Butler, 1968). All of the above views were refuted by E.F. Schumacher (1980). According to Schumacher, man is a unity of the physical and the spiritual which is principally different from objects, plants, animals, or God. In line with this, Abdurahman Sholih Abdullah (1991) emphasized: "although humans are a combination of two different elements, spirit and body, they are integral individuals". As a physical-spiritual unity, humans live in space and time, have consciousness and self-awareness, have various needs, instincts, desires, and have goals. Humans have the potential to believe in and be devoted to God Almighty and their desires also have the potential to be able to think (create), the potential to feel (feel), the potential to will (karsa) and have the potential to work. In their existence, humans have dimensions of individuality, personality, sociality, morality, culture and religiosity. The implication of all that is that humans have historicity, interact/communicate, and have dynamics. 3. Individuality/Personality Humans are not only members of their environment, but are also individual. Therefore, it is an indivisible unity, has differences with others so that every human being is unique. This difference concerns his posture, thinking ability, interests, hobbies, ideals, etc. Even conjoined twins do not have similarities in their entirety. In addition, because every human being has subjectivity (self-awareness), then he is essentially a person, he is a subject. As a person/subject, every human being is free to take action based on his own choice and responsibility (autonomous) to emphasize his existence in the environment. Thus you can conclude that humans are individual persons, meaning that humans are an indivisible unity, have differences with others so that they are unique, and are autonomous subjects. 4. Sociality Although every human being is an individual/personal, he/she does not live alone, cannot live alone, and cannot live only for himself/herself, but he/she also lives in connection with others. In living together with others (in society), each individual occupies a certain position (status), has his/her own world and life goals, but at the same time he/she also has a shared world and a shared life goal with others. It is through living with others that humans will be able to establish their existence. In this regard, Aristotle calls humans social beings or social beings (Ernst Cassirer, 1987). There is a reciprocal relationship of influence between individuals and their society. Ernst Cassirer stated: "humans will not find themselves, humans will not realize their individuality except through social interaction. Theo Huijbers stated that "my life world is influenced by other people in such a way that it gets its true meaning from me with other people" (Soerjanto P. and K. Bertens. 1983). On the other hand, there is also an influence from individuals on their society. Society is formed from individuals, the progress or decline of a society will be determined by the individuals who build it (Iqbal, 1978). Because every human being is a person/individual, and because there is a relationship of reciprocal influence between individuals and others, then ideally the situation of the relationship between individuals and others is not a relationship between subject and object, but rather a subject with subject which Martin Buber called the I-Thou relationship (Maurice S. Friedman, 1954). In addition, there should be a balance between individuality and sociality in every human being. 5. Culture Culture is the entire system of ideas, actions and human works in the context of community life that are made human property through learning" (Koentjaraningrat, 1985). There are three types of cultural forms, namely: 1) as a complex of ideas, knowledge, values, norms, regulations, etc.; 2) as a complex of patterned behavioral activities of humans in society; and 3) as objects produced by humans. Humans have the initiative and creativity in creating culture, they live cultured and cultured. Humans use culture in order to fulfill their various needs or to achieve their various goals. In addition, culture belongs to humans, is one with themselves, they live according to their culture. Therefore, culture is not something that exists outside of humans, but rather includes human actions themselves. Even humans only become humans because of and with their culture. In culture and with culture, humans find and realize themselves. In this regard, Ernst Cassirer asserted: "Humans do not become human because of a factor within themselves, such as instinct or reason, but rather the function of their lives, namely their work, their culture. Thus, culture is part of the essence of humans (CA Van Peursen, 1988). The description above shows that culture has a positive function for the possibility of human existence, however, it is also necessary to understand that if humans are not wise in developing and/or using it, then culture can also give rise to forces that threaten human existence. In its rapid development, since the last century, culture has been suspected of causing an anthropological crisis. In this regard, Martin Buber put forward an example of human punishment by his own work: Humans created machines to serve themselves, but in the end humans became servants of machines. Likewise in the economic field, initially humans produced to meet their needs, but in the end humans were drowned and controlled by production (Ronald Gregor Smith, 1959). Cultural culture is not static, but dynamic. The dynamic nature of human beings implies cultural change and renewal. This is of course supported by the influence of the culture of other societies/nations on the culture of a particular society and is also stimulated by challenges that come from the environment. In addition, considering the positive and negative impacts of culture on humans, society sometimes oscillates between two tendencies. On the one hand, there are those who want to preserve old forms (conservative), while others are driven to create new things (innovative). There is an unceasing struggle between tradition and innovation. This encompasses all cultural life (Ernst Cassirer, 1987). 6. Morality Human existence has a moral dimension. Humans have a moral dimension because they have a conscience that can distinguish between good and evil. According to Immanuel Kant, this is because humans have a practical reason that gives absolute commands (categorical imperative). For example: if you borrow a book from a friend, your practical reason or conscience states that the book must be returned. (S.E. Frost Jr., 1957; P.A. van der Weij, 1988). As an autonomous subject (having freedom) humans are always faced with an alternative action that must be chosen. The freedom to act is always related to moral norms and moral values that must also be chosen. Because humans have the freedom to choose to act/do, there is always a moral assessment or demand for accountability for each of their actions. 7. Religiosity Diversity is one of the essential characteristics of human existence which is a form of recognition or belief in the truth of a religion whose attitudes and behavior. This is found in any human being, both in the geographical range where humans are. As we have understood, humans have the potential to be able to believe and be pious to God Almighty. On the other hand, God has also sent down revelations through His messengers, and has held signs in the universe for humans to think about so that (so that) humans believe and are pious to Him. In this religiosity, humans can feel that their lives are meaningful. He gained clarity about his origins, the basis of his life, his way of life, and it also became clear where his life was headed. 8. Historicity Human existence has a historical dimension, meaning that human existence at this time is linked to its past, it has not finished realizing itself as a human, it is heading towards the future to achieve its life goals. Historicity has a function in human existence. Historicity helps build human existence. In this regard, Karl Jaspers stated: "Man must know who he was, to become aware of the possibility of what he will become. His historical past is a basic factor that cannot be avoided for his future" (Fuad Hasan, 1973). Man has surpassed his past, while his existence at this time is in the journey of life, in development, and self-development. Since his birth, man has indeed been human, but he must also continue to struggle to live according to his human nature and dignity. Therefore, he is "not finished" being human, "not finished" actualizing himself in order to achieve his life goals. The purpose of human life includes three dimensions, namely (1) the dimension of space (here - there, world - afterlife); (2) the dimension of time (present - future); (3) the dimension of values (good - bad) according to the religion and culture that he recognizes (MI Soelaeman, 1988). The essence of the purpose of human life is none other than to achieve salvation/happiness in the world and in the afterlife, or to gain God's approval. YME. 9. Communication/Interaction In order to achieve the purpose of his life, humans interact/communicate. This communication/interaction is carried out both vertically, namely with his God; horizontally, namely with nature and fellow humans and their culture; and even with "himself". Thus, the interaction/communication is multidimensional. 10. Dynamics N. Drijarkara S.J. (1986) stated that humans have or are in the form of dynamics (humans as dynamics), meaning that humans never stop, always in activity, both in physiological and spiritual aspects. Dynamics have a horizontal direction (towards others and the world) and a transcendental direction (towards the Absolute). The dynamics are for self-perfection both in relation to others, the world and God. Humans are subjects, therefore they can control their dynamics. However, because they are a physical-spiritual unity (which they are equipped with desires), as social beings, etc., these dynamics cannot always be fully controlled. Sometimes negative impulses arise that are contrary to what they should be, sometimes negative influences from others arise that are not in accordance with their wishes, sometimes arrogance arises that should not be manifested, sometimes their individuality is too dominant over their sociality, etc. In this regard, ideally humans must deliberately and principally control themselves so that their dynamics are truly in accordance with the direction they should be. 11. Human Existence is to Become Human As stated above, humans have a dynamic dimension, therefore human existence is dynamic. For humans, existence means actively creating themselves. Existence means planning, doing and becoming. The problem is, who do humans exist to become? Human existence is none other than to become human. This is the task they carry out. To be precise, he must become an ideal human being (a human being that is expected, aspired to, or a human being that should be). This ideality (necessity, ideals/hopes) comes from God through the religious teachings that He has revealed, comes from fellow human beings and their culture, and even from the human being themselves. The ideal human being in question is a human being who is able to realize his various potentials optimally, so that he has faith and devotion to God Almighty, has noble morals, is healthy, intelligent, has feelings, has will, and is able to work; is able to fulfill his various needs reasonably, is able to control his lusts; has personality, is social and is cultured.