Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Partial Point of View

• It is the perspective based on the part of a whole.

• Sometimes we form our ideas by just looking into one dimension of a picture or situation without looking the
whole picture or situation.

• By doing this, we are just like those blind men in the picture who form their ideas just by touching the parts of
the elephants.

Holistic Perspective

• Looking in the whole picture or situation rather than its parts.

• It is also unifying multiple perspectives with their common themes.

As a philosopher you must love the whole…

• Plato in his “Republic” affirmed that philosopher must not only be the

lover of the part of wisdom but of the whole (Book V).

Philosophy and Philosophers:

What is Philosophy?

• Philosophy came from two Greek words: Philo (love) and Sophia (Wisdom).

• Philosophy originally meant “love of wisdom”.

• It is defined as the attitude of mind that by natural light reason studies the first cause or the highest principles of
all things.

• With reason as the tool in doing philosophy, philosophers search for the “truth”.

“Philosophy is the Queen of Sciences”

Four Considerations on the Definition of Philosophy

1.Scientific Approach. Philosophy follows certain steps or it employs certain procedure. It is organized body of
knowledge.

2. Natural light of Reason. A philosopher uses his natural capacity to think or observe the world and people. Reason is
not just a natural gift of a philosopher but all of us by nature are reasonable animals (Marcus Aurelius).

3. Study of all things. A philosopher does not limit himself or herself in one field, instead he or she can study topics such
as God, human beings, language, and etc.

4. First cause and highest principle. An idea which means something is the main and first cause why an idea took place.

Four Principles:

• Principle of Identity- A thing, idea, or person has a name, a concept, and a characteristic for that thing to exist.

• Principle of Non-Contradiction- It is impossible for a thing to be or not to be at the same time.

• Principle of Excluded Middle- A thing is either is or is not; everything must be either be or not be.
 • Principle of Sufficient Reason- Nothing exist without a sufficient reason for its being and existence.

Who are Philosophers?

• In line with the searching of truth…

• According to Plato in his work The Republic, true philosophers are “lovers of the vision of truth”.

• They are lovers of all wisdom and not just its parts.

Do we have what it takes to be Philosophers?

• Aristotle believed that “all human beings desire to acquire knowledge” (Rosen, 2000).

• With this assertion, we could think that we have a natural aptitude to be philosophers.

3 Famous Greek Philosophers

• Socrates= Famous for his art of questioning (Socratic method).

Teacher of Plato.

• Plato= Famous for his inquiry on “justice” and author of The Republic.

Teacher of Aristotle.

• Aristotle= Famous of his inquiry on “happiness”.

Author of Nicomachean Ethics and Politics.

Student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great.

Branches of Philosophy:

 Metaphysics

• Philosophy began in Greece as metaphysics.

• Metaphysics names the investigation of the ultimate principles, causes, origins, constituents, and
categories of all things (Rosen, 2000).

• It is only an extension of the fundamental and necessary drive in every human and necessary drive in
every human being to know what is real.

• Metaphysics assumes that the reality we see with our eyes is just the temporary cover of the true reality
that exist beyond what our senses could perceived.

• For instance, for Thales, everything is water. He claimed that everything we experience is water- which
we call reality.

• Both idealist and the materialist metaphysical theories are similarly based on unobservable entities:
mind and matter.
 • We can see things made of matter but we cannot observe or experience the mind itself that is having
thoughts, ideas, and desires.

Allegory of the Cave

• In Plato’s The Republic (Book VII), you will read about the prisoners bound in chains who in live
underground for a long time. They only see what is in front of them and shadows of themselves. But
one of the managed to go to the surface. That man was blinded by sunlight when he first saw the
sun.

• As he walks to the surface, he adjusted his sight to his surroundings. Seeing flowers, trees, and his
reflection from the water.

• Then he saw the stars and moon. There came a time that he is not blinded by sunlight.

Interpretation

The cave represents the world of sight. With their sight they could only see what is in front of them and
their shadows. When a man was enlightened (escaped from the cave), he will see things beyond the
shadows or beyond what his companions see.

He will be forced back to the cave because he should help his fellow prisoners to go escape (he will help
his fellow to be enlightened).

Now that he sees beyond shadows (things), he will no longer be deceived but his fellow prisoners will
think he is crazy and deserved to put to death.

The man will long the sunlight. The enlightenment of the soul.

Philosophers and anyone who goes beyond the world of sight into the world of ideas will be thought of
crazy by people who could only see using their sights.

 Ethics

• The branch of philosophy that explores the nature of moral virtue and evaluates the morality and virtue of
human conditions.

• Morality refers to a code of conduct that is acceptable by anyone who meets certain intellectual conditions,
always included by reason.

• One of the qualities that set humans apart from the beasts is the ability to discern what is just and unjust,
good and evil.

Five Main Frameworks:

 Divine Command- What does God ordain us to do? In this framework a strong sense of individualism
does not exist, but rather, collective is emphasized. This is exemplified by the saints.
 Consequentialism or Utilitarianism- What is the greatest good for the greatest number of people is the
best choice and moral choice. Plato’s concept of justice is anchored on the concept of the “good of all”.

Famous proponent is Immanuel Kant.

 Deontological Ethics- This means that a person has a moral duty to do what is right regardless of what
the person thinks or feels about the situation.

In short, we must do good because we must.

 • According to Kant: “As rational creatures, man should treat other rational creatures as end to
themselves, and not just as means to end…”

• We should not treat other people as objects or a way to achieve our goals. We should treat them as
people. That is what rational people do.

 Virtue Ethics- What kind of person I ought to be. This ethical theory ignores the consequences, duties,
and social contracts. Instead, it focuses on the character development of individuals and their
acquisition of virtues ethics.

Plato’s cardinal virtues: Justice, Temperance, Courage, and Wisdom.

Aristotle’s virtue: Moderation.

 Relativism- “When in Rome, do as Romans do”

Ethical Relativism maintains that actions are morally right within a particular society when they
are approved by law, custom, or other conventions of society.

What is right depends on the what is acceptable by a society.

 Epistemology

• Epistemology deals with nature, sources, limitations, and validity of knowledge.

• It begins from this sense of wonder at the powers of the human knowledge seeking mind.

• As Aristotle once stated ““all human beings desire to acquire knowledge”.

• One of the well-known ways in epistemological inquiry is by throwing questions.

• Socrates is the famous example of this method of inquiry. It shows that the right method of reaching
new knowledge does not lie in knowing more answers… but it lies in knowing what questions to ask.

• Socratic idea of knowledge seeking as questioning is developed by Plato as questioning games. It could
be seen in his works, The Republic and Meno.

• In the field of epistemology these are Epistemological Questions.

Epistemology Explains…

1. How we know what we know to claim?

2. How can we know what we wish to know?

3. How can we differentiate truth from falsehood?

These are the main tasks that philosophers are taking.

Philosophers always seek for the “truth”.

Sources of Human Knowledge

 Empiricism- the view that knowledge can be attained only through sense of experience. Real
knowledge is based on our senses (sight, hearing, smell, etc.).

• Knowledge for empiricists is based on facts and evidence that we can see and
perceive in the world.

• Known Empiricist: John Locke

  Rationalism- opposite to empiricism. Empiricists believe that knowledge is acquired by senses,
rationalists believe that real knowledge is based on logic, laws, and methods that reason
develops. Known Rationalist: Rene Descartes
 Pragmatism- Value in use is the real test of truth and meaning. It is true if it is useful or has
practical consequences. Known Pragmatists: William James and John Dewey (Learning by
Doing).

 Logic
 Reasoning is the concern of the logician.
 Reasoning is present in all fields of sciences.
 The term logic came from the Greek word “logike”. It was coined by Zeno the Stoic.
 Logic is concerned with the truth or the validity of our arguments regarding such subjects.
 Aristotle was the first philosopher who device logical method.

 Aesthetics
 The word "aesthetics" derives from the Greek "aisthetikos", meaning "of sense perception". 
 The philosophy of art, is the study of beauty and taste.
 Interpreting works of art and art movements or theories.
 The science of the beautiful in its various manifestations.
 “Sublime” and “beautiful” are only two amongst the many terms which may be used to describe our
aesthetic experiences. Clearly there are “ridiculous” and “ugly,” for a start, as well. But the more
discriminating will have no difficulty also finding something maybe “fine,” or “lovely” rather than
“awful” or “hideous,” and “exquisite” or “superb” rather than “gross” or “foul.”
 Aesthetic design include ornamentation, texture, flow, solemnity, symmetry, color, harmony.

Importance of Aesthetics:
• It vitalizes our knowledge. It makes our knowledge of the world alive and useful. It is the part of
a play, poem, or a story to give us new insight.
• It helps us to live more deeply and richly. It helps us rise from purely physical existence into the
realm of intellect and spirit.
• It brings us in touch with our culture. Things about us change so rapidly nowadays that we
forget how much we owe to the past. This is the importance of preserving and appreciating the
beauty of our cultural heritage and the history of our country.