The Heart; the Core of Humanity and Education?

Abstract

This article is an attempt to elucidate, as well as celebrate, the notion of the heart. Although poets, songwriters and others appeal to the heart all the time, philosophical treatises on the heart are rare. Yet I claim that philosophers, even those who emphasize the supreme role of reason, appeal to the heart. Indeed, the heart is at “the heart” of philosophy itself since the word literally means love of wisdom. There are, therefore, few topics that are more proper for philosophical examination, and yet also few that are more vast and elusive. I thus limit my discussion on the heart to five themes that are by no means meant to be exhaustive. Firstly, I examine what Dietrich von Hildebrand describes as an objective “value-response” of “the true affective experience”. The heart is, in other words, a faculty of appreciation which makes us sensible to objective worth. Wonder, reverence and a sense of beauty, for example, are all responses of the heart that can reveal to us some important aspect or dimension of reality. This implies, among other things, that to take the heart seriously is to take serious note of the idea that meaning and value is not only an aspect of the human mind but also a feature of reality our minds can receive. Secondly, I explore the connections between the heart and human vulnerability. Here I take my lead from the philosopher Jerome Miller who has demonstrated in his writings how the vulnerability at the core of our lives is what defines us as human beings, for better and for worse. It is our vulnerability and openness to “the other”, to people, beings and to reality as such which constantly makes us liable to be profoundly touched by things beyond our control. On the other hand, this exposure also makes us eager to gain power over our lives and the pursuit of control can easily become an obsession which makes us forget the vulnerability at the heart of life. It is in any case important for our wellbeing and the wellbeing of our society that we learn to temper our hearts and expose them to the right things and in the right measure. Thirdly, I discuss the link between the heart and the imagination. Here I draw on thinkers like Wendell Berry, G.K. Chesterton and Iris Murdoch who understand the imagination not as the source of fantasies but an ability to see things clearly and passionately. The imagination is a power of the heart to recover and enliven the knowledge we already have of the reality of others and the wonder and strangeness of being. Fourthly, I argue that talking about the heart does not make full sense unless we acknowledge reality as a mystery. By this I mean that to know things in one’s heart is to be aware of their aspects and dimensions that one can never fully comprehend – not only regarding their physical nature and interrelations to other things, but also with respect to their origin, existence, meaning, beauty, goodness, and so forth. Lastly, I consider what difference it makes for our understanding of moral education if we take these ideas about the heart seriously. I claim (a) that education would help us grow in and thorough our heart’s vulnerability. I hold (b) that education would primarily be a process whereby we learn to acknowledge truly the reality of the lives of others and the existence of things. And I maintain (c) that to acknowledge the centrality of the heart means that education has once again become a way for human beings to travel towards and live by something greater than themselves.