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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

First Quarter
SY 2020-2021

Name: ______________________________________________________Year & Section:_________ Date:_______

Subject: Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Grade level: Grade 12
Module: Lesson 3: Abundance
Lesson 4: Methods of Philosophizing

Most Essential Learning Competencies:

 Distinguish opinion from truth;
 Relate abundance based from the students’ experience;
 Give value to the Methods of Philosophizing

Presentation of Discussion:

Transcending and Aiming for a Life of Abundance

Abundance comes from the Latin term “abundare” meaning to overflow nonstop. Abundance is out flowing than
incoming. It is not about amassing abundant things or people but our relationship with others, ourselves, and with nature.
Our way of life belongs to God. Often abundance is equated with materialism, but it is when we raise our empty hands
and surrender, when we do not grab, when we are unattached to anything or anyone, when we offer oneself- all these are
abundance. Only if we have empty hands can we receive full blessings.

To live an abundant life, one must pursue one’s desires and inner self. One must go after what fulfills, before
making more money. It is truly paradoxical because to be able to have, we must first let go. To be able to acquire, we
must first control ourselves. We must learn to control our appetites and desires, for they have impact on other people.
Harsh words, pollution, and eating unhealthy foods are some examples where our choices influence or affect not only
ourselves but others as well. In other words, there is karma in our thoughts, words and actions.

Undoubtedly, money counts in our globalized society. However, money reminds us it should not matter much, for
every moment is a blessing, even if one does not have money. Abundance comes to the one who has money and heart,
money and values, money and relationships, money and deeper happiness. Abundance is more than our ambitions; there
are more precious things such as people that matter. Negative thoughts, emotions, and people should be avoided. As we
aspire for our dreams, we should try our best to be positive in our thoughts, motives and efforts. Abundance is more of an
effort of the heart than mind alone. To achieve one must commit. Abundance therefore is a choice which translates to
commitment, determination and perseverance.

It becomes clear that the concept of abundance covers both external and internal life. We cannot truly live without
material considerations, but externals are not all there are; values for instance matter. To live in abundance means
evolving to a higher being in following one’s mission; a deliberate or conscious desire to act upon what can make us and
others happy. As we are bombarded by negative people and moods, it becomes our choice to adopt an abundant
disposition.

Activity 1:

1. Recall to your past experiences, what instance was the most difficult time for you that you think you were hopeless and
seemed that life has took a tool upon you, how did you overcome it?
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2. What instance did you feel that you feel abundant despite the hurdles you encountered in your life?
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 Methods of Philosophizing

Philosophizing is to think or express oneself in a philosophical manner. It considers or discusses a matter from a
philosophical standpoint. In Phenomenology, truth is based on the person’s consciousness, while in existentialism, truth is
based in exercising choices and personal freedom, in postmodernism, it is accepted that truth is not absolute. In logic,
truth is based on reasoning and critical thinking. The following are the Methods of Philosophizing:

1. Logic is important to our search for truth. It help us adequately to interpret facts and other people’s perceptions
or views it also develops in us the habit of clear and critical thinking. Moreover, logic is the study of method and
principles used to distinguish correct reasoning its validity or correctness, irrespective of whether or not the premises of
this reasoning argue with the facts. Logic does not concern itself with the truth of the premises now with the certainly
which such premises are known. For example, “Since all Visayas are Filipinos and all Cebuanos are Visayas, it follow
that all Cebuanos are Filipinos.” This reasoning is both valid and true. Given the premises as such, the conclusion follows
with logical necessity. It is true that all Cebuanos are Filipinos, because it corresponds to facts.

Logic may thus be characterized as the study of truths based completely on the meanings of the terms
they contain. One of the features of logic is Logical semantics it is the purpose of clarifying logical truth and hence the
concept of logic itself, a tool that has turned out to be more important than the idea of logical form . By this is meant a
study of the relationships of linguistic expressions to those structures in which they may be interpreted and of which they
can then convey information. There has two types of reasoning the deductive and inductive.

Deductive reasoning concerns what follows given premises general premise to a particular. An inference is
deductively valid if there is no possible situation in which all the premises are true and the conclusion is false.

Inductive reasoning is the process of deriving a reliable generalization from observations so that the premises of
an argument are believed to support the conclusion but do not necessarily ensure it.

2. Existentialism is a philosophical and literary perspective that focuses on the experience of an individual person
and the way that he or she understands the worlds. Man creates himself through his own thoughts and actions, since the
only reality for an individual is that of his own personal existence and nothing else.One of the example of existentialism
would be the idea that when something does not work out or person does not achieve then this is not because God did not
want it to be that way but rather because the person chose to do something different in existence it is believed that there is
no God and that Man makes himself through what he chooses to be. There has six characteristics of existentialism:

1. Existence before essence- Existentialism gets its name from an insistence that life is only understandable in terms of an
individual’s existence, his particular life experience. It says a person lives (has existence) rather than is (has being or
essence), that every person’s experience of life is different from another’s, and that individuals’ lives can be understood
only in terms of their commitment to living responsibly.

2. Reason is unable to deal with the depths of life - Existentialism unites reason with the irrational portions of the psyche,
insisting that people must be taken in their wholeness and not in some divided state; that the whole of a person contains
not only intellect, but also anxiety, guilt and the will to power, which can change and sometimes overwhelm reason.

3. Alienation People have slowly been separated from concrete earthly existence- It is believed that individuals live in a
fourfold condition of alienation: from God, from nature, from other people, and from our own “true” selves. People have
become hollow, powerless, faceless. At a time in our history when mankind’s command over the forces of nature seems to
be unlimited, existentialism depicts human beings as weakened, ridden with nameless dread.

4. Fear, Trembling and Anxiety- The necessity is laid upon people to make moral choices on their own sense of
responsibility. The existentialists claim that each of us must make moral decisions in our own lives.

5. The encounter with nothingness- According to the existentialists, for individuals alienated from God, from nature, from
other people and even from themselves, what is left at last but Nothingness? This is, simply stated, how existentialists see
humanity: on the brink of a catastrophic precipice, below which yawns the absolute void, black Nothingness, asking
ourselves, “Does existence ultimately have any purpose?”

6. Freedom- Sooner or later, as a theme that includes all the others mentioned above, existentialist writings bear upon
freedom. All of these ideas either describe some loss of individuals’ freedom or some threat to it, and all existentialists of
whatever sort are considered to enlarge the range of human freedom.

3. Analytic Tradition is based on the idea that philosophical problems can be solved through an analysis of their
terms and pure systematic logic this is more interested in conceptual questions about the meanings of words and
statements and their logical relations.It is concerned in language because is the principal tool and philosophy consists in
clarifying how language can be used.
Analytic tradition is characterized above all by the goal of clarity the insistence an explicit argumentation in philosophy
and the demand that any view expressed be exposed to the rigors of critical evaluation and discussion by peers. For
example a traditional philosophical problem is Does God exist? Various philosophical schools have proposed answers to
this question, but analytic philosophy approaches it by saying  “What do you mean by God?” Different religions have
widely different ideas about what the word “God” means, so before you can approach the questions of God’s existence
you have to define your terms more clearly.

4. Phenomenology is a way of thinking about ourselves. Instead of asking about what we really are, it focuses on
phenomena. These are experiences that we get from the senses what we see, taste, smell touch hear and feel.
Phenomenology is meant that which appears, shows, gives presents, unfolds or unveils itself in the light of human
consciousness. In the act of knowing that which gives itself to us, insofar as the thing that we know sort of presents and
shows itself in order to be known, for unless the object of knowledge appears and unfolds itself in the light of
consciousness of cannot be known. Therefore it not something entirely independent of, or apart from consciousness but is
related to consciousness. For example it is not where we see an object either in real life a dream or a hallucination that is
important but it is the significance of the object that is important to the phenomenologists. It also does not ask if we are
missing something or if we have all the facts. Instead phenomenologist believe we should look at the world just as it
appears to us.

5. Postmodernism is often particularly skeptical about simple binary oppositions characteristic of structuralism,
emphasizing the problem of the philosopher cleanly distinguishing knowledge from ignorance, social progress from
reversion, dominance from submission, good from bad, and presence from absence. But, for the same reasons,
postmodern philosophy should often be particularly skeptical about the complex spectral characteristics of things,
emphasizing the problem of the philosopher again cleanly distinguishing concepts, for a concept must be understood in
the context of its opposite, such as existence and nothingness, normality and abnormality, speech and writing, and the like.
Postmodern philosophy also has strong relations with the substantial literature of critical theory.

6. Fallacies are an error in reasoning and common enough to warrant a fancy name. Knowing how to spot and identify
fallacies is a priceless skill. It can save you time, money, and personal dignity. There are two major categories of logical fallacies,
which in turn break down into a wide range of types of fallacies, each with their own unique ways of trying to trick you into
agreement.
An appeal to pity (also called argumentum ad misericordiam): the sob story, or the Galileo argument) is
a fallacy in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent's feelings of pity
or guilt. It is a specific kind of appeal to emotion. The name "Galileo argument" refers to the scientist's suffering as a
result of his house arrest by the Inquisition.
Appeal to ignorance (Argumentum ad ignorantiam): This fallacy occurs when you argue that your conclusion
must be true, because there is no evidence against it. This fallacy wrongly shifts the burden of proof away from the one
making the claim.
Equivocation: This is the use of equivocal or ambiguous expressions, especially in order to mislead or hedge;
prevarication. an equivocal, ambiguous expression; equivoque: The speech was marked by elaborate equivocations.
Logic. a fallacy caused by the double meaning of a word.
Composition: This arises when an individual assumes something is true of the whole just because it is true of
some part of the whole.
Division: One reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be true of all or some of its parts.
Against the person (Argumentum ad hominem): This fallacy attempts to link the validity of the premise to a
characteristic of belief of the person advocating the premise. It also questions of the personal conduct, character, motives
are legitimate if relevant to the issue.
Appeal to force (Argumentum ad baculum): An argument where force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as
a justification for a conclusion.
Appeal to the people (Argumentum ad populum): An argument that appeals or exploits people’s vanities, desire
for esteem, and anchoring on popularity.
False cause: Since that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one. This fallacy is also
referred to as coincidental correlation, or correlation not causation.
Hasty generalization: One commits errors if one reaches an inductive generalization based on insufficient
evidence. The fallacy is commonly based on a broad conclusion upon the statistics of a survey of a small group that fails
to sufficiently represent the whole population.
Begging the question (Petitio principii) This is a type of fallacy in which the proposition to be proven is assumed
implicitly or explicitly in the premise.
Fact vs. Opinion:
A fact is a statement that is true and can be verified objectively, or proven. In other words, a fact is true and correct no
matter what. An opinion, however, is a statement that holds an element of belief; it tells how someone feels. An opinion is
not always true and cannot be proven. 
 Truth vs. Wisdom
Truth is what really is. However, that which is accepted by the vast majority is often taken as and mistaken for
truth. Wisdom is the accumulation of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. In other words, a wise person can
usually recognize and apply the truth.

Activity 2:
Base from your readings about fallacies think about a situation that have encountered some examples of these fallacies
and explain how did you rebut or confront someone without discrediting or belittling someone’s character. Write this in
detailed and not more than 2 paragraphs.

Assessment: Identify and answer the given statement.

__________1. This help us adequately to interpret facts and other people’s perceptions or views it also develops in us the
habit of clear and critical thinking.
__________2. It the accumulation of experience, knowledge, and good judgment. In other words, a wise person can
usually recognize and apply the truth.
__________3. This is a type of fallacy in which the proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly or explicitly in the
premise.
__________4. This also known as the Galileo argument
__________5. It is a statement that is true and can be verified objectively or proven.
__________6. What is the latin term for an argument where force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as a
justification for a conclusion?
__________7. This is a philosophical and literary perspective that focuses on the experience of an individual person and
the way that he or she understands the worlds.
__________8. This a way of thinking about one’s self.
_________9. Abundance sometimes is equated to what.
_________10. Name your favorite philosopher.

Reference:

Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person, Christine Carmela R. Ramos, Ph.D, p.24- 40

Prepared by:

Ms. Christine Grace H. Bautista, LPT

09451002581/ sedlexsc1ence@gmail.com