Ernesto gave his $15 to the communist couple. I couldn’t believe it, though I should have expected it. When he was meeting poor South Americans, hearing of the injustices they suffered, I understood his empathy.
Aristotle declares reason to be the “particular function” of man, and, until watching Motorcycle Diaries, I took it for granted. However, Aristotle may have forgotten another uniquely human task: the function of love.
A dog will not forfeit its dinner to a hungrier dog; a carrier pigeon will not airlift its companion to safety the way that a man will run into enemy fire to retrieve a wounded comrade. This extreme empathy, valuation of others above oneself, is a love that is not present in animal, vegetable or fungus-only man.
Maybe there are two uniquely human functions, love and reason, but then Aristotle’s logic springs a leak. Maybe the function of love is particular to some people and the function of rationality is particular to other people.
Those whose function is love find happiness in caring and empathy. Their meaningful relationships with others let them live “the good life.” These people are the Romantics.
Others, the Enlightened, find their happiness in the rational pursuit of self-interest. Simply put, the Romantics enjoy harmony, while the Enlightened are made happy by progress and accomplishment, the products of rationality.
What a discord! Two worldviews, both distinctly and functionally human, but so divergent in their values. Perhaps there are two different types of people, both of whom want different things, either achievement or harmony.
Ultimately, however, since most achievement is at the expense of others, the two values never completely overlap. Since happiness is the only end in itself, it is the only thing actually worth pursuing for either group.
There can never be any agreement between them when any outcome will provide either empirical achievement or harmony: there is no middle ground. People will fight to the death, because if they lose and do not receive their desired outcome, then their life will, by definition, have been unhappy, which is the only thing that matters in the long run.
Long-term progress is the engine of happiness for rational people; it is what they strive to achieve. However, that progress cannot be achieved without cooperation, given the extremely social nature of human beings. Knowledge flowers from those who stand on the shoulders of giants.
Given mankind’s interdependence, then, it is only rational to care very much about what happens to your fellow man, and to be willing to sacrifice for him, because alone you can never achieve all that you could with others.
Aristotle wasn’t wrong when he said that man’s particular function is rationality; human thought remains unique in the universe. But that does not mean that Che was wrong either. What Che understood is that it makes sense to love.
