LESSON 3, PART I

Tendencies
by Zyra F. Lentija, PHL 111, UA&P 2019
 Tendencies understood

"Eros"

Content Summary Tendencies toward the infinite,

the truth and the good

DISCUSSION OVERVIEW Human instincts are tendencies

Bodily Sentient Tendencies

 Premise

The soul is the form of the living

being and hence,

the principle of the living being’s

development and enhancement,

of its

movement towards its own

particular end.
 In each living being,
there is an
orientation, or tendency,
toward its own
perfection.
 a plant grows
turning toward the
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a bee heads toward the
flowers from which to
extract
the pollen
 These are
inborn
inclinations
vital good

fulfillment
 While natural tendency toward

their own fundamental

vital good (survival, reproduction,

growth) is specific to all living

beings,

in those endowed with sensitive

knowledge this intrinsic, or inborn,
orientation is perfected by sense

experience.
 Thus, they have a spontaneous
inclination
toward the vital good as
apprehended via the senses. It is
this inclination, or
sense tendency, that in animals is
called instinct.
possesses
an aspect
an aspect
of
of
knowledge
tendency
Instinctive reinforces
tendency

Reality
perceived thru

the sense experience

 sense experience
internal senses of aestimative

power and memory

 AESTIMATIVE POWER
is an animal's internal sense responsible for

approximating the benefit or the harm

posed by some thing and according to

which it behaves in a particular way.

MEMORY
refers to the varied outcomes of

the diverse forms of learning of

which humans and other agents

are capable; grasping of the past

FROM THE GREEK TERM
"Horexis", inclination, tendency
Tendency
towards

suggests some kind of movement

(dynamis, potency)

a kind of becoming towards self-

realization
TENDENCIES ARE DYNAMIC
Dynamism has to do with
The tendential dynamism’s
functioning and
goal is self-realization.
operationality. 
 Self-realization refers to
the process by which a
person develops the self,
grows and matures in all
his powers and
potentials - bodily,
affectivity, cognitive, and
volitive - within time.
 2 GENERAL BASIC TENDENCIES

1) EPITHYMIA 2) THYMOS
moving towards something moving away from something

perceived pleasant; perceived harmful; irascible

concupiscible desire impulse or flight from.

Animals vs. man

Tendencies are always

instincts in animals because

they are never principled  by

knowledge.

They can be autonomous

and wild.
Animals vs. man

Tendencies in man are

never instinctive or merely

biological.

They become profoundly human,

that is, rooted and present

in subjective intimacy, in the “I” of

self-consciousness.
 Tendential
dynamics - the articulation of man’s
needs, impulses, desires and

aspirations. Human tendencies are

principles by knowledge. Hence, they

are learned, developed, and refined

through education and culture.

the "Eros"
ascending love as desire for
perfection
a dimension of the reality of
love
Three termini of human GOD
tendency

PHYSICAL WORLD

MEN
 Humans

exhibit sentiments for things, people and

the divinity. Self-realization

is achieved cognitively and practically in

reference to these three

termini of human tendency.

In the process of
self-realization
there two
affections involved
A. DESIRE
because we want

something not yet B. LOVE (OR EROS')

achieved which drives all

but is possible: self- tendential dynamics

realization
 Love understood as the affection that
makes all sentiments possible. At
the end of the process, we find the
affections of joy or happiness. It is in
joy that we rest in contemplation of that
we actually achieved: self-perfection
 In short,
eros is a principle that moves
affections towards an end they have in
themselves (entelecheia): self-
realization or fullness.
The first
affection that eros moves is desire,
while the last affection is joy or
happiness.
 affections
indicators of the state of the

person’s taking in or

appreciation of reality in

relation to his or her desires

 Affection refers to a person's appreciation
(knowing plus valuing) of an external reality
in relation to his or her inner world. It is an
elicited appetition because it requires prior
knowledge. Affections are felt sensible and
intellectual tendencies.
the affection of "joy"
 Q: What is it that we aspire for?

The ultimate radicalness of desire and happiness

are not self-evident. Our knowledge of them will

determine what we think

of them and what our attitudes will be in the

concrete.
MATERIALIST VIEW SKEPTIC VIEW THE EROS
THE INFINITE THE GOOD
THE TRUTH
End of Lesson 3, Part I