Philosophy Notes – Week 14

HUMAN INTERSUBJECTIVITY

 Intersubjectivity – presupposes human being’s connectivity with other human beings.

 It means that we share the same situations where in we can create shared meanings.
 These meanings become bases for our collective actions and beliefs.
 Though shared meanings become channels of collective actions, they do not demand uniformity
of expressions of those actions.

Human Being is a Social Being

 A human being creates his/her world to establish relationships with other created things.
 He/she has to establish relationship with the environment for him/her to survive. Detached from
the environment, he/she cannot survive.
 Moreover, since he/she is endowed with reason, he/she has to establish relationship with other
human beings.
 As social beings, communication among humans is a necessity.
 Communication is a necessity toward intersubjectivity. It becomes a mean towards meaningful
existence.

Human Being is Born and Creates Himself/Herself in Social Interaction

 Existence of being a consequence of social interactions between two unique individuals.

 These two individuals strengthen this interaction through constant communication.
 From such communication, they establish communion of lives that leads to the establishment of
family.
 The social interaction among members of the family can be concretely experienced in the Filipino
family in the spirit of “sakop”.

The Human Person and the Evolution of Human Society

 Hunter-Gatherer Societies – highly dependent on foraging for survival, small tribes usually
composed by kins, nomad communities, egalitarian, primitive belief system
 Agrarian Societies – dependence on agriculture
 Industrial Societies – happened after the Age of Renaissance, Scientific Revolution, and during
the Age of Colonialism; characterized with use of machineries for mass production of products.
 Post-Industrial Societies – society marked by a transition from a manufacturing-based and
mass-production-based end.
 Consumerist Society – Many people have disposable income to buy goods and services they
want.
 Throw Away Society – generalized description of human social concept strongly influenced by
consumerism, whereby the society tends to use excessive single-use items, disposable packaging,
and general consumer products not designed for re-use or lifetime use.