LOVE OF ONESELF

LEARNING TO LOVE YOURSELF IS THE GREATEST LOVE OF ALL - WHITNEY HOUSTON WHAT IS YOUR REACTION ABOUT THIS ?

LOVE AND SELFISHNESS

To know ourselves is to love ourselves; to know ourselves is to acknowledge the fundamental goodness of our nature and to share it with others Loving ourselves by excluding others is selfishness and narcissism Selfishness is withdrawing to ourselves, putting ourselves ahead above the others; it is the overflowing of greed and pride No man lives for himself alone; the concept of man for others is not a novelty

THE ETHICS OF SELF-PERFECTION

It is our duty to develop by actualizing our potentials; called in ethics as the ethics of selfperfection The goal of ethics is to become a person in the community of persons (Paul Tillich, Morality and Beyond) For Tillich, to build a splendid character, one must actualize what we are essentially to become what we are potentially; in other words, one must apply the intellect and will on those values that truly reflect our nobility as persons Demands personal sacrifices

EXAMPLE: HEROES, SAINTS AND MARTYRS

THE INTEGRAL VALUES OF A PERSON

Biological Duties those pertaining to the preservation of life and the maintenance of health and bodily functions Intellectual Duties those pertaining to the development of our intellect and will Moral Duties those pertaining to the development of the spirit or character

OUR BASIC PERSONAL RIGHTS

Correlative to our duties are the rights essential to our integrity as persons Has several kinds Such examples are:
1. 2. 3.

The Right to Life The Right to Private Property The Right to Education

1. THE RIGHT TO LIFE

Most important of all our rights Guaranteed by the 1987 Philippine Constitution (Article II, Section 4 and Article III, Section 1) Secures us not only from physical harm but provides for the promotion of our economic, cultural and spiritual growth Inalienable

2. THE RIGHT TO PRIVATE PROPERTY

Man has right to private property for the sustenance and maintenance of life It is within mans right to have things, not merely for temporary and momentary use, but in stable and permanent possession (Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Novarum [On the Condition of Labor]) Mans survival would be uncertain if he does not have the means to support life at his disposal

2. THE RIGHT TO PRIVATE PROPERTY

St. Thomas Aquinas distinguished the right possession and right of use
y

of

Right of Possession bestows on the person the exclusive dominion over external and material things to the effect that he may acquire and dispose of them by his personal authority y Right of Use bestows on a person the right to make use of his property in a manner consistent with social justice

A man should not consider external things as exclusively his but as common so that he should readily share them to the needs of others (Aquinas, Summa Theologica, II-II, q. 66, a. 1-2)

3. THE RIGHT OF EDUCATION

Comes from mans rational nature Every child/man is entitled to be educated by the family, the State, and by the Church