Introduction to the

Philosophy of the Human

Person
Mr. Joey C. Villanueva, MA
The Paradox of our Age
by Dr. Bob Moorehead

Please watch:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6b3oA83GaE
The Matrix

Please watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDadfh0ZdBM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVM5-_fusjs

Turn on automatic subtitles

What can you say about this statements?

Jose Rizal is the greatest Filipino.

It is morally wrong to steal.
Democracy is the best form of government
 Opinion vs. Truth
The Methods of Philosophizing
Lesson 2
What is Truth?

• How do you specifically claim that something is true?

Doxa vs. Episteme in Ancient Greek
Philosophy
Doxa
• From Greek dokein
(seeming / appearance)
• Literally belief
• The belief held by
someone regarding
something
• Partial point-of-view
Episteme
• True knowledge
• Opinion that has been
qualified
• Truth that can be
demonstrated.
• Holistic point-of view
How to distinguish opinion and truth?
How do we determine what is true?
Methods of Philosophizing
Elenchus: The Socratic Method

• Also known as the Maieutic

Method
• Maieutikos = midwifery /
Intellectual Midwifery
Elenchus: The Socratic Method

Elenchus = argument of
refutation
Also equated with cross
examination
The objections put forward are
for purifying opinion from
lingering biases and prejudices

Paano mo nasabi?!
Can you really explain and defend what you
believe in?

• About your social/ political

views?
• About your religious views?
Methodic Doubt: The Cartesian Method

Rene Descartes and the

epistemological question: How
can I know?

His answer is to doubt

everything. For only after
doubting can one find certainty.

Doubt everything until what is

left is already beyond doubt.
Methodic Doubt: The Cartesian Method

Experience / feelings can be

deceiving…

Dreams and reality can be

confusing…

Is this the real life?

Is this just fantasy?
The Lived Experience: Phenomenological
Inquiry

Phenomenology is literally
the rational explanation or
study of phenomenon.

Phenomena = the
appearances (experience of
things.)
Phenomenology of Immanuel Kant

Phenomena = things as they

appear or seem to me.

Noumena = thing as it is in
themselves.
The Lived Experience: Phenomenological
Inquiry

More than sensory perception…

Meaning-making: Phenomena
pertains to the meaning and
significance of things to the
perceiving subject.

Not just sensation or intellection

but experience.
The Lived Experience: Phenomenological
Inquiry

Edmund Husserl = Intentionality

Intentionality = the directedness

of experience towards things in
the world.

Our consciousness reacts to

things through specific concepts
or ideas that give the thing its
meaning to us.
Phenomenological statements:
I think, I believe, I see, I do, I
desire

The same thing or event may mean

one thing to one perceiving subject
and entirely different to another.
e.g., rain, snow
General Methods

1. Correspondence- If a
statement/belief corresponds to
or represent, a fact in the world
then it is
TRUE. If it does not correspond
to a fact a statement/belief,
then it is FALSE.
2. Coherence- We can know
whether a statement/belief is
true by examining whether it
coheres with
the rules of the relevant system.
If it coheres with these rules,
then it is TRUE; if it does not,
then it is
FALSE.
3. Pragmatism- We can know whether a statement/belief is true by
examining the consequences of
holding or accepting the statement/belief to be true. It’s statement/belief
results to beneficial
consequences it is TRUE, if not it is FALSE
Particular Methods of Truth

1. Observation/Perception
2. Reasoning
3. Intuition
4. Mystical experience
5. The appeal to authority
Suggested Further Reading: Logical Fallacies

• https://thebestschools.org/magazine/15-logical-fallacies-know/
Suggested Further Study:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16PryJonegA
Activity: Breakout Groups

• Share or discuss among your

group the ideas presented in p.
33-34 of your textbook
• Make a concept map / word
map / diagram / illustration /
jam board to present your
thoughts
• Choose a representative to
share your output to the whole
class
Performance Task

Decide among yourselves whether

you want to perform individually or
groups of 3-4 persons.

Choose a song, poem, or artwork

that expresses any of the
thoughts/ideas we discussed to day

Present, demonstrate, or explain

next meeting.