Nature of Human Person

Knowing and Expressing

Oneself
National Service Training Program
Civic Welfare Training Service
S.Y. 2022 – 2023
First Semester
Learning Objectives
The NSTP CWTS students will:
▪ describe the nature of the human
person
▪ identify the importance of a person's
ability and capacity; and
▪ describe a person's unique qualities
that make him/her a productive
social being.
HUMAN PERSON
⚫Estanol (2017) defines the human person as having
physical, spiritual, emotional, and intellectual
attributes.

⚫St. Thomas Aquinas describe the human person as

having physical and spiritual substance because
he/she has a soul and is created by a Superior Being
with a divine purpose.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF HUMAN PERSON

1. Human person is a rational being. He/she thinks

and has the capacity to reason and distinguish between
right and wrong.
2. A human person is born free. He/she has the
freedom to do or not do things. However, every
person is responsible for his/her own action.
3. A human person is unique. He/she possesses an
identity that makes him/her, unlike any other person.
CHARACTERISTICS
OF HUMAN PERSON

4. Every person is intrinsically a social being and

cannot detach himself/herself from the creatures in
the nature.

5. All living things are sexual by nature, but the

uniqueness of expression of a person’s sexuality
makes him/her different.
BIBLICAL VIEWS
⚫The human person has superiority and dignity inherited
from the supreme being.

⚫According to the book of Genesis Chapter 1, verses 25-

27, God created man and women in his own image and
likeness and made them masters of the fish of the sea, the
birds, the heaven, the earth, the wilds beasts, and all the
reptiles that crawl upon the earth.
BIBLICAL VIEWS
⚫Agbuya (1997) states that “he/she (human person) is
designed by God to exercise dominion over other
creatures in his/her everyday use of freedom, search for
happiness, and openness to the world around him/her.

⚫What makes him/her human is his/her being a true

person, which includes the special gifts and talents of
thinking, loving, longing for happiness, and making
decisions.

⚫Human nature was patterned after the image of God.

PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS
⚫According to Protagoras, a human person is the measure
of all things that exist and of all things that do not exist.

⚫Plato claimed that the perfect human being does not exist
in this world because what is in this world is just an
imperfect copy of humanity’s original self in the realm of
ideas.

⚫Parmenides posited that a person has knowledge of

something that exists, for a person who does not exist is
nothing.
PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS
⚫Maguigad (2006) in his book Philosophy of the Human
Being explains the different philosophical views of the
human person.

✔ Conservatism is the conservative view that is not entirely

positive and definitely non-egalitarian.

✔ Liberalism has a more egalitarian view of human nature.

PHILOSOPHICAL VIEWS

✔ Socialism is when the human being readily engages in

cooperative social activities when given the opportunity

✔ Fascism holds that what matter is the country itself

CLASSICAL GREEK VIEW

The early classical Greeks define the

human person as “a rational animal”.

An animal’s vegetative sensory and

rational element is integrated within
his/hers being; thus he/she is a material
(body) and spiritual (soul) being.
SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS

⚫Salcedo (2004) states that people

look at this social world or at the
various ways that human beings
behave in a social way.
SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS
⚫San Juan (2007) proposes some common ideas about the
human person.

✔ Human persons are social animals.

✔ The human person’s social behavior is learned, not
instinctive.
✔ To understand the human person’s social behavior, we
have to focus our attention on the groups to which people
belong.
✔ Sociology is a discipline that looks into the totality of
relationships in an individual’s life.
 HIERARCHY OF NEEDS
Maslow presented the levels of hierarchy of need
in his theory of personality.

Physiological Needs include the biological and

basic needs such as water and clothing.
Safety Needs include security and protein from
physical and emotional harm.
Social Needs include affection, sense of belongingness,
and friendship, which people seek to overcome
feelings of loneliness and alienation.
Self-esteem Needs include achievements and attention.
Self Actualization means a person has reached
the peak of his/her potential.
Abraham Maslow
Hierarchy of Needs
Nature of Human Person
Nature of Human Person
Knowing and Expressing
Oneself

Prepared by:

Pelayo, Benjamen Jr.

NSTP Facilitator
Hukbong Akwa Marino