NAME: KYLA SABANAL Grade 12 – ABM Lopez

SUBJECT: INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON SY 2020-2021, 1ST SEM

TOPIC: The Meaning and Method of Doing Philosophy – AQAL FRAMEWORK

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
Realize the value of doing philosophy in obtaining a broad perspective on life.
Do a philosophical reflection on a concrete situation from a holistic perspective.

“The unexamined life is not worth living.” Socrates

Reflection is an activity that requires a person to examine his or her
thoughts, feelings and actions and learn from experience (Abella, 2016). It is
essential in order to understand things better and to make better
decisions in life.

Philosophers always search for the essence of things and the ultimate
reasons for our existence. Philosophical reflection is done using a framework. One
of which is the AQAL which was discussed in Module 1.

HOW IS THE AQAL FRAMEWORK APPLIED IN REFLECTING ON AN ISSUE?

Let’s take for example the issue of poverty. We know that poverty has a psychological aspect
(UL quadrant) to it. It affects the way we think, feel and even what we value. But it does not stop
there. Poverty also affects bodies (UR quadrant). It affects our nutrition, our medication and immune
system. Some children have stunted growth due to poverty. And who could deny that poverty also
affects the culture such as arts, religion and even the way we dress. Religious feast such as the
procession of the Black Nazarene is in part motivated by poverty. And of course it is obvious that
poverty has an economic, political and even technological components (all parts of the social LR
quadrant).

UL – Upper Left UP – Upper right Self- pity Malnutrition

LL – Lower Left LR – Lower Right

POVERTY

Collective aspiration for a better life Inflation

TASK:
Choose any issue in our country and society now which affects you. Do a philosophical
reflection using the AQAL framework.
Indicate how the issue affects the MIND (UL), CULTURE (LL), BODY (UR) AND
SOCIETY (LR). Write your answer on the diagram below.

Body shaming
- We all know that body shaming is one of the issues; everyone faces especially the
citizens in the Philippines who use Social media. Actually, you can also see
people body shaming everyone in front of them or you. Body shaming, as the
name suggests, is shaming someone for their body shape or body type. It is a
modern term recently coined and talked about, but body shaming in practice has
existed for a very long time. People have a definite notion of “beauty” which
defines standards of skin colour, body dimensions, hair length, or the kind of
clothes someone should or should not wear. People are always too thin, too fat,
too tall, too short, too dark, or too fair for the society, and it has repercussions that
are not even realised in everyday life. We know that Body shaming has a
psychological aspect to it. It affects the way we think, feel and even what we
value. But it does not stop there. Body shaming also affects bodies. It affects our
nutrition, our medication and immune system. When they told you you’re fat, you
would want to lose weight; either you won’t eat three days straight or any
possible ways you can do to lose weight, same as when you’re told you’re too
thin. And who could deny that Body shaming also affects the culture such as arts,
religion and even the way we dress. The victims of body shaming always can’t
pick what should they wear because they will just say that it doesn’t fit you
because “You’re too tall, short, fat, thin, white, black, Moreno, etc.). And of
course it is obvious that Body shaming has economic, political and even
technological components.

SELF – PITY DEPRESSION

Body Shaming

COLLECTIVE SELF
ASPIRATION OBJECTIFICATIO
REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
1. After doing the philosophical reflection, has it affected your personal perception
about the issue, your behavior, opinion or future behavior or decision?

- Yes, it affected me in a good way. It enables me to see the interconnectedness and

interdependence of peoples, actions and events, as well as my direct relation to
them.

2. How can having a holistic view of things help us become better individuals?

- Holistic viewpoint as a whole development of an individual allows

us to understand and believe that the larger parts of reality are intertwined with
your personal reality. Becoming a greater person is essentially an aggregation of
responses on a regular basis that one makes.