Mcginn and Heidegger Colin Mcginn

McGinn and Heidegger

Colin McGinn and Martin Heidegger have made significant contributions to the philosophical definitions of "being human." McGinn's concept of consciousness and Heidegger's concept of speaking play vital role in their definition of what it means to be a human. McGinn's explanation is simply based on senses and sensations. He says that a man when he starts feeling, hearing, seeing and smelling is then in a state of consciousness. Heidegger on the other hand gives serious thought to the power of speaking alone. Legein has then a pivotal place in Heidegger's work. He followed Aristotelian concept of 'zoon ekhon logon' i.e. 'being that has logos' and the power of language. By speaking, we need to understand what was actually meant. Heidegger was not concerned as much with oral speech as he was with the ability to express one's self. Expression is then the key to being human.

McGinn is seriously concerned with the connection between mind and body. He knows that a deep link lies between body and brain and this is what makes a man conscious or otherwise but he feels it is too hard to actually comprehend the extent of this connection or the very nature of it. Heidegger on the other hand is simply concerned with the power of expression. So if we combine the two views we might come to conclude that a man is human if he can express himself in a conscious state.

Being human doesn't mean having a body with a brain alone. It means having a body with a conscious brain that allows and facilitates expression. Expression is the ability to communicate thought through whichever medium one prefers. In his book, 'The mysterious Flame', McGinn explains that difference between consciousness and unconsciousness by giving example of a person waking up from a dreamless coma. He writes: "you struggle to open your eyes and a flood of bright color assails you. Your head aches slight under this barrage of sights, sounds and smells. You try to speak." (p. 2)

Pay closer attention to the last line, 'you try to speak'. By saying that McGinn agrees that man's first primary instinct is to "say something." In other words, he wants to express himself because now he is no longer in a vegetative state. Comparing this with Heidegger's claim, we find that his views were on the same lines. He also felt that expression was the key to being human. He writes clearly that 'speaking is what basically constitutes human Dasein" (17-18). Interestingly, it must be noted that by speaking he doesn't mean saying any gibberish. Instead what he meant was based on the Greek word Sprechen and logos. Man expressing himself coherently is a man with human characteristics. In other words, he must speak logically or his expression should contain logos for him to be called a human. He says that logos, 'is thus the fundamental determination of the being of humans as such'. (p. 18)