Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Module 1:
Introduction to Philosophy
ETYMOLOGICAL DEFINITION
Practical Divisions of Philosophy
▪ Philosophy: Greek words- philo (‘love’ or
‘friendship’) and sophia (‘wisdom’). ‘Love of
wisdom’
▪ Love is an urge or a drive of a will towards a
particular object. As a drive, love always seeks
unity with its object and desire to possess its
object.
▪ Wisdom cannot be dissociated with knowledge.
▪ Truth is the ultimate object of knowledge.
Philosophy is committed to the truth.
▪ If philosophy means ‘love of wisdom’, to
philosophize is to be in quest or to have a desire
towards loving and living the truth (Babor,
2007).
TECHNICAL DEFINITION
▪ Philosophy is defined as ‘the science of beings
in their ultimate reasons, causes, and
principles acquired by the aid of human
reasons alone (Bittie, 1984).
▪ Philosophy as science. Science is about
acquiring knowledge. Philosophy is a science
because the questioning is given more
importance than the answers to the questions,
since answers can become questions
themselves (Babor, 2007).
▪ Philosophy searches for the ultimate reasons,
causes and principles of beings. This means
philosophy studies the ‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’
of beings.
▪ Tol illustrate: Philosophy does not investigate
plant life, but rather it seeks an answer to the
question: ‘What does it mean to be a living
thing as opposed to non-living thing?’
▪ Philosophy uses the power or natural light of
reason. Philosophy does not base its knowledge
on authority but solely on the reasoning power
of the human mind. Divine revelation can and
should assist the mind of man by pointing out
the proper direction for the philosophical
solution along purely natural line.
DIVISIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
▪ Philosophy is classified into Practical and
Speculative. Man’s philosophical questions tend
to fall into any of this fields.
▪ Practical: Logic, Ethics, Axiology, Aesthetics, and
Semantics
▪ Speculative: Epistemology, Theodicy,
Cosmology, Philosophical Psychology, and
Metaphysics
▪ Logic (questions related to Reasoning). Science
of correct reasoning. “What makes good
arguments good and bad arguments bad?”
▪ Ethics (questions related to Morality). Ethics
deals with the development of a virtuous and
moral character. “What makes my action right
or wrong, and how could I know it?” “Is there a
norm good and evil?”
▪ Axiology (questions related to Values). It is the
study of the origin, nature, functions, types, and
interrelations of values. “How are values
experienced?” “What are the kins of values?”
▪ Aesthetics (questions related to Beauty and
Taste). Beauty means the quality attributed to
whatever pleases the beholder: form, color, and
behavior. “What are the essential
characteristics of beauty?” “Do arts provide
knowledge?”
▪ Semantics (questions related to Meaning). It
studies the natural and artificial language
scientifically. This includes the relations of
words to the object denoted by them, the
relation of words to the interpreters to them.
“What sorts of meanings do human grammars
yield, and by what values are these meanings
assembled?” “How does grammatical
knowledge developed in children?”
Speculative Division of Philosophy
▪ Epistemology (questions reacted to Truth and
Knowledge). This includes statement and
solution to the critical problem, nature, origin,
objectivity, and validity of knowledge, truth and
certitude. “What is knowledge?” ‘What is
truth?”
▪ Theodicy (questions related to God). His nature,
existence, essence, attributes and operations.
“Does God exist?” “Why does God allow evil?”
▪ Cosmology (questions related to the Universe).
“How did the world begun and where will it
end?”
▪ Philosophical Psychology (questions related to
the Soul). This study deals man not only as
sensing or thinking subject but also as a being
composed of body and soul. “Is here really a
soul?”
 ▪ Metaphysics (questions related to Being and
Existence). It studies the nature of the mind, the
self, and consciousness. It is the science which
deals with the nature of being, its attributes,
constituents, principles, and causes. “What is
being?” Whys there is being rather than non-
being?” “What is existence?” “What is
essence?”
Why Philosophy is Important?
• Philosophy enlarges our understanding
of the world. It expands our
intellecetaul horizons and freedom of
thought.
• Philosophy raises public awareness and
helps in forming engaged and
responsible citizens.
• Philosophy can increase our sensitivity
for universal moral values, and
stimulate our readiness to stand up for
the principle of justice and fairness.
• Philosophy can give one self-
knowledge, foresight, and sense of
direction in life.
Most Notable Ancient Greek Philosophers
The Milesian Philosophers
➢ Thales
o Described as the ‘first philosopher’
in the western civilization, he was
first to inquire and studied the
composition of things.
o He believed that despite all things
are different to each other, they
have common elements.
o For him, the root all things is water.
➢ Anaximander
o He followed Thales knowledge that
all things are connected to each
other due to commonality of one
thing but did not believed that they
came from water.
o He said that root of all things could
not be ascertained since all things
are continuously changing.
o Thus, all things were product of an
indefinite or boundless situation.
➢ Anaximenes
o Agreed all things are related to each
other but strongly rejected the
ideas of Thales and Anaximander.
o He believed that the root of all
things is air.
o He asserted that air gives life to
things.
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers
➢ Pythagoras
o He believed that all things are
represented by numbers.
o The best purifier of the soul is number.
o There were three kinds of life due to
thee existence of the three kinds of
soul:
▪ Those who are concerned in
gaining profits
▪ Those who are fond of
competition due to honor or
recognition
▪ Those who prefers giving
observation or analyzing the
situation – those who love
wisdom, ideas and knowledge
➢ Heraclitus
o He was called the ‘weeping
philosopher’ because he was weeping
over what he claimed as ignorance of
mankind.
o He asserted that the things around us
are in constant flux –continuously
flowing or changing.
o Fire was the basic reality which he
identified as the One.
o All thoughts of human beings are
thoughts of God due to the unity of God
and man.
o Sleep is a manifestation of man’s
thoughtless or ignorance.
➢ Parmenides
o He believed that world is composed of
only one things, he called as One that
has no parts, never change and could
never be destroyed.
o He came up with the framework
‘something is, something is not’ which
actually meant that the supposed
changes that happen in a thing is not
really a change since the essence or
reality of a thing could never change
nor destroyed despite the changes that
happens in appearance.
 o This is the philosophical basis of truth
and opinion. The essence of a thing is
the truth (or reality) while the
appearance is an opinion.
➢ Empedocles
o Opposed to the idea that world is
composed of One thing but is
composed of Many things.
o These many things or particles which
are ‘roots’ of an object are eternal not
changing: earth, air, fire, and water.
o He believed that matter’s physical
appearance is changing but not its four
elements.
o He believed that there are two forces
that drive the changes of the object’s
appearance. Love (harmony, unity,
compatibility) and Hate (discord,
disunity, incompatibility, separate,
destroy)
➢ Anaxagoras
o He believed on the existence of matter
formed by separation not though love
and hate.
o He asserted the concept of mind (nous)
which is different from matter. The
‘mind is something infinite and self-
controlling, and that is has been mixed
with no things, but is alone itself by
itself.’
o Mind, according to him, is the one that
moves, changes or controls matter.
o Mind is his greatest contribution in
philosophy.
➢ Leucippus and Democritus
o Atomist philosophy. They asserted that
the things in the universe are composed
of indefinite number of particles called
atoms.
o Democritus offered philosophy on
ethics stressing that man should look
happiness which is an important goal.
This happiness could eb realized in
moderation in all his activities together
with the practice of good culture.
o Democritus advanced philosophy on
gaining knowledge through perception.
There are two kinds of perception
▪ Through the senses –
illegitimate knowledge
▪ By means of understanding –
trueborn knowledge
▪ Trueborn knowledge can be
manifested by saying that two
persons were able to taste
mango. Illegitimate knowledge
is seen by saying that the first
one said that the mango taste
sweet while the one said it was
not good.
The Sophists
➢ Protagoras
o Most influential among the sophists.
o He offered this philosophy ‘man is the
measure of all things.’ Man (who ever
he is, how far would his knowledge be)
would serve as the standard of any
judgement he makes on anything. Since
each man is different, there is no single
correct or good standard.
➢ Thrasymachus
o He believed on the correctness of
injustice than justice. Thus, an unjust
person has a superior character and
intelligence.
The Greek Philosophers
➢ Socrates
▪ Knowledge and virtue are closely
related to each other so that improper
attitude or wrong acts are product of
ignorance of values or virtue. This
means to know good, one has to do
good things.
▪ In quest for true knowledge, a man
should humble enough to accept his
ignorance about the topic or problem
being discussed.
▪ He developed the idea of psyche or
soul. Soul’s role is to know, influence,
direct and govern man’s activities
towards goodness.
➢ Plato
▪ Knowledge is one and firm regardless of
the situation.
▪ The state is a instrument in a society to
function the various needs of the
people. The state must be ruled by a
philosopher-king (someone who is
knowledgeable in such functions, have
the abilities to think and act in
 accordance with the function of the C. The Sophists (2)
philosopher-king.
▪ Protagoras
➢ Aristotle ▪ Thrasymachus

▪ The framework of good and right are D. The Greek Philosophers (3)
already inside the human being, man is
▪ Socrates
basically good and right. What needs to
▪ Plato
be done is to think and do good and
▪ Aristotle
right things.

▪ For him, all ideas and views are based

on perception and our reality is based
on what we can sense and perceive.

SUMMARY:
▪ Philosophy: Greek words- philo (‘love’ or
‘friendship’) and sophia (‘wisdom’). ‘Love of
wisdom’

▪ Philosophy is defined as ‘the science of beings

in their ultimate reasons, causes, and
principles acquired by the aid of human
reasons alone (Bittie, 1984).

DIVISIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
A. PRACTICAL (5)

1. Logic
2. Ethics
3. Axiology
4. Aesthetics
5. Semantics

B. SPECULATIVE (5)

1. Epistemology
2. Theodicy
3. Cosmology
4. Philosophical Psychology
5. Metaphysics

Most Notable Ancient Greek Philosophers

A. The Milesian Philosophers (3)

▪ Thales
▪ Anaximander
▪ Anaximenes

B. The Pre-Socratic Philosophers (6)

▪ Pythagoras
▪ Heraclitus
▪ Parmenides
▪ Empedocles
▪ Anaxagoras
▪ Leucippus and Democritus