Kinesis and the Nature of the Human Person

Abstract

Human movement is a matter of beings, not mere bodies. Motion is not something external to human beings. It is not just something we do, but something we are. Building on the work of Aristotle, Brague, and Polanyi, I will argue that human beings are beings-at-work. Being is not so much a “what” as it is a “how.” Human beings are organic not static. Human beings are beings that grow, mature, value, desire and learn. Human beings are beings that metabolize, breathe, run, and jump. Such motion is life. To properly understand human beings one must understand kinesis in this richer sense. In turn, to properly understand human movement, one must understand human beings. The study of “human movement” is irreparably damaged if one cannot begin to articulate what the “human” in “human movement” means. But what is a human being? Why should the human person be understood as more than a mere lump of water and chemicals? Aristotle's conception of the human person, found in On the Soul, provides an intriguing answer to this question with profound implications for kinesiology. He argues that human beings are wholes rather than mere “bodies.” The human person is a unity of body and soul. The soul's work allows the body to remain an organized whole, while the body as a living organism is literally the manifestation of the soul at work.