Lesson 12: Freedom of the Human Person

Time Frame: Week 14

Content Standard:
The learner understands intersubjective human relations
Performance Standard:
The learner performs activities that demonstrate an appreciation for the talents of persons with disabilities
and those from the underprivileged sectors of society
Learning Competencies:
At the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. Explain that authentic dialogue means accepting others even if they are different from
themselves
2. Perform activities that demonstrate the talents of persons with disabilities and those from the
underprivileged sectors of society

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 LESSON CONTENT

Transcendental Phenomenology

Phenomenology literally means the study of phenomenon. It deals with the investigations of the
structures of experience and consciousness. It is also a philosophical movement introduced through the works
of Edmund Husserl. Husserl described phenomenology as “the rigorous science of all conceivable
transcendental phenomena. Phenomenology is a rigorous human science because it investigates how
knowledge comes into being and clarifies the assumption upon which all human understandings are grounded.
As a study, it incorporates the concept of intentionality to explain the intentional character of consciousness:
consciousness is always consciousness of something. Hence, transcendental phenomenology is the
phenomenology of consciousness and intentional analysis is constitutive analysis – how are the meaning of
things constituted in human consciousness. Studying phenomenology will help you discover another
perspective of human intersubjectivity through the study of events or phenomena. In more specific terms, the
phenomenological method will help you further understand how it is possible for the consciousness to be
intentionally aware of the world.

Natural Attitude

The natural attitude is an awareness of being-in-the-world, which is practical, and comes with values.
Every day, you see different objects and people and hear about different ideas. When you surf the internet,
you come across so any information. When you go to school, you ride the bus or the jeepney. During classes,
you use your textbooks. You listen to your teachers as they share their thoughts or ideas on something. But
have you ever asked why or how these things exist? When you see a bus, you just accept it as a fact - the bus
is there, period. You do not question the bus’s existence. This is what natural attitude is. Husserl’s concept of
natural attitude does not mean that something you see is good or bad. What happens is that the way you see
things shows an ordinary or everyday way of being-in-the-world. If you see the world within this natural
attitude, then you are simply aware of what is present in your world. Your world is the world that is familiar to
you, that is, the world that you can view naturally.

Intersubjective Experience is Emphatic Experience

If you accept that other human beings share the same natural attitude as described by Husserl, you will
be able to accept others the way you are constituted. Understanding is established and an objective world is
posited the way it is experienced by one human being with another, coming from the natural standpoint. This
natural attitude establishes a physical and value-laden world at hand common to all consciousness where
these consciousness belong. However, take note that the natural standpoint or natural attitude is prior to all
thinking. Hence, Husserl suggested the alteration of the natural standpoint or not remaining in the natural
attitude by excluding epoch or refraining from judgment compatible with the conviction of evident truth. Why

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should this be done? For Husserl, doing so will ensure that the consciousness is not merely fantasizing or
assuming as it characterizes the experience of the world. When the “parenthesizing,” or the
phenomenological epoch, is done, it completely shuts off a person from any judgment about spatio-temporal
factual being. What is important is that the person is able to conceive the world as it is given through
experience and prior to all theories. By doing so, the person gets the pure data of consciousness as
distinguished from the data described by natural sciences.

The “I – It” and “I – Thou” relationship

The “I – It” and “I – Thou” is a model of relationship presented by the philosopher Martin Buber
through a dialogue, a philosophical theory that showed a particular quality of interaction, where the parties
involved develop a connection or relationship. Buber’s “I – It” relationship states that the “I” or the subject
treats the “it” the person treated as an object. This means that the “I’ separates, disconnects and detaches
himself or herself from the “It” or the object. In the “I – It” relationship an individual treats other people as
objects to be used and experienced. Essentially, this form of objectivity relates to the world in terms of the self
– how an object can serve the individual or subject’s interest. The “I – Thou” relationship on the other hand is
a relationship of mutual and reciprocal connection. In this type of relating to the other, the subject sees the
other as a fellow human being and a person of unique value. This means a full encounter with the person not
just for practical necessity. This is also a holistic engagement with people.

The Use of Authentic Dialogue

Authentic dialogue is a form of communication wherein individuals acknowledge that they are part of a
greater whole and that they resonate with others within the whole. This occurs when individuals learn to set
aside their personal biases and begin seeing themselves in others through communalization. In this sense,
other people, including the marginalized sector, are seen as functional parts of a whole. No biases or
preferences are exemplified during the dialogue because an individual has learned perspective and
communicate with others with a sense of community and oneness.

Examples:

 Accepting your classmates’ opinion on government services because his experience with transacting
with government employees is different from yours
 Overlooking the fact that your boss yelled at you since you understand that he only did so out of
concern over an urgent matter.