Module 1

INTRODUCTION TO THE
PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN
PERSON

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Module 1

Doing Philosophy

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Module 1
Lesson Objectives

• Recognize human activities that emanated

from deliberate reflection
• Realize the value of doing philosophy in
obtaining a broad perspective on life
• Do a philosophical reflection on a concrete
situation

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Module 1
Key Questions

• What is Philosophy? What is its importance?

• How does philosophy work in our daily life?

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Module 1

ACTIVITY NO 1
Picture Analysis

Process Questions:

 How would you connect

these pictures to each
other?

 How do these pictures

give you an idea of what is
philosophy?

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Module 1
Meaning of Philosophy
• “Philosophy” came from two Greek words:
 Philo which means “to love”
 Sophia which means “wisdom”
• Philosophy originally meant “love of wisdom.”
• Philosophy is also defined as the science that by
natural light of reason studies the first causes or
highest principles of all things.
 Science
 It is an organized body of knowledge.
 It is systematic.
 It follows certain steps or employs certain
procedures.
INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
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Meaning of Philosophy
 Natural Light of Reason
 It uses a philosopher’s natural capacity to
think or human reason or the so-called
unaided reason.
 Study of All Things
 It makes philosophy distinct from other
sciences because it is not one dimensional or
partial.
 A philosopher does not limit himself to a
particular object of inquiry.
 Philosophy is multidimensional or holistic.

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Module 1
Meaning of Philosophy
 First Cause or Highest Principle
 Principle of Identity – whatever is; whatever is
not is not. Everything is its own being, and not
being is not being.
 Principle of Non-Contradiction – it is
impossible for a thing to be and not to be at
the same time.
 Principle of Excluded Middle – a thing is either
is or is not; between being and not-being,
there is no middle ground possible.
 Principle of Sufficient Reason – nothing exists
without sufficient reason for its being and
existence.
INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
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Meaning of Philosophy
• Early Greek philosophers studied aspects of the natural
and human world that later became separate
sciences—astronomy, physics, psychology, and
sociology.
• Basic problems like the nature of the universe, the
standard of justice, the validity of knowledge, the
correct application of reason, and the criteria of
beauty have been the domain of philosophy from its
beginnings to the present.
• These basic problems are the subject matter of the
branches of philosophy.
• The Mother of the Human and Natural Sciences
• Greece, Miletus – birthplace of Philosophy in the west
INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Module 1

What is a Philosopher?
• A lover of wisdom, he gives meaning to what
is out there open to changes and discovery.
• He/she does not stop wandering/asking
questions, hungering for truth, meaning, and
sense.

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Characteristics of Philosophy
• As a Framework – a way of thinking about the
world and is composed of views and beliefs of
a person.
• As an Examination of Knowledge – embraces
all types of knowledge (historical, scientific,
etc.)
• As a Discipline – it seeks to open our minds to
become aware of illusions and flawed
reasoning.
INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
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PHILO METAPHYSICS
LOGIC
SOPHY

AXIOLOGY
EPISTEMOLOGY (worth/value)

• Cognitive Branches
• Normative Branches SOCIAL/
ETHICS AESTHETICS POLITICAL
PHILOSOPHY

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

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Branches of Philosophy
Logic
• Thinking and Reasoning is the concern of the
logician.
• It comes from the Greek word logike, coined by
Zeno, the Stoic (c.340–265BC), which means a
treatise on matters pertaining to the human
thought.
• It uses empirical support and information which are
reliable, valid, and objective
• It is the science of “the art of thinking”
• It is not interested in what we know regarding certain
subjects but in the truth or the validity of our
arguments regarding such objects.
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Branches of Philosophy
• Aristotle
 First philosopher to devise a logical method
 Truth means the agreement of knowledge with
reality.
 Logical reasoning makes us certain that our
conclusions are true.
• Zeno of Citium
 One of the successors of Aristotle and founder of
Stoicism
• Other influential authors of logic
 Cicero, Porphyry, and Boethius
 Philoponus and Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes
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Branches of Philosophy
• Sources of knowledge/Types of Reasoning
 Induction (Inductive Reasoning)
 gives importance to particular things seen,
heard, and touched
 From specific truth to GENERAL truth. (from a
particular truth to universal.)
 forms general ideas through the examination
of particular facts
 Empiricist – advocates of induction method
 Empiricism is the view that knowledge can be
attained only through sense experience.

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Branches of Philosophy
 Deduction (Deductive Reasoning)
 gives importance to general law from
which particular facts are understood or
judged
 From a GENERAL TRUTH to a Specific truth.
(from a universal truth to particular)
 Rationalist – advocates of deduction method
 For a rationalist, real knowledge is based on
the logic, the laws, and the methods that
reason develops.
 Pragmatism – the meaning and truth of an idea
are tested by its practical consequences.
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Branches of Philosophy

Epistemology
• It deals with nature, sources, limitations, and validity of
knowledge.
• It explains: (1) how we know what we claim to know;
(2) how we can find out what we wish to know; and (3)
how we can differentiate truth from falsehood.
• It addresses varied problems: the reliability, extent, and
kinds of knowledge; truth; language; and science and
scientific knowledge.
• 2 Schools of Contentions : Rationalism and Empiricism

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• RATIONALISM – The way to truth is only through
the mind, through the processes of thought itself.
It’s weapon is LOGIC.
- The real is deemed to be LOGICAL, the hyper-
rationalists also say that the logical must be real.
• EMPERICISM – all things that can be sensed is real
apart from it is not real
- The way to truth is through the senses
- Its more physical than mental
Immanuel Kant combined both = Scientific Method
- Says that we are creatures who have minds and bodies, both
which are active in the process of learning
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Branches of Philosophy
Metaphysics (Meta – beyond ; Physikon - nature
• It is an extension of a fundamental and necessary
drive in every human being to know what is real.
• A metaphysician’s task is to explain/distinguish that
part of our experience which we call unreal in terms
of what we call real.
• study that uses broad concepts to help define
reality and our understanding of it
Thales of Miletus (624-546 BCE)
 He claims that everything we experience is water
(“reality”) and everything else is “appearance.”
 Dubbed as the “Father of Philosophy” in the
western civilization.
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Branches of Philosophy
 We try to explain everything else (appearance) in
terms of water (reality).
• Idealist and Materialist
 Their theories are based on unobservable
entities: mind and matter.
 They explain the observable in terms of the
unobservable.
• Plato
 Nothing we experience in the physical world with
our five senses is real.
 Reality is unchanging, eternal, immaterial, and
can be detected only by the intellect.
 Plato calls these realities as ideas of forms.
INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
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Branches of Philosophy
Ethics (Greek word “ethos” = character)
• It explores the nature of moral virtue and evaluates
human actions.
• It is a study of the nature of moral judgments.
• The science of work doing. The study of what is right
and wrong in human behavior in pursuit of beauty and
goodness of life.
• It insists that obedience to moral law be given a
rational foundation.
• Socrates
 I know that I know nothing.
 An unexamined life is not worth living.
 Virtue is an awakening of the seeds of good deeds that lay
dormant in the mind and heart of a person which can be
achieved through self-knowledge.
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Branches of Philosophy

• Thales of Miletus – sought to know why things

behaved the way they do. Conclusion = Everything is
water
• Socrates (470 BC Athens, Greece)– Socratic Method
• Plato (428-347 BC Athens, Greece)– sought to solve
the question of what is real and unreal, it seeks the
truth
• Aristotle (348 BC Stagira, Greece) – titled “the
Philosopher”. Maintained that things can be
known and proven using the senses and the
faculty of reason
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• Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle believed that human

beings are endowed with reason. This rational
capacity facilitates a person to discover his/her true
potentials. As students, you dream of becoming a
better version of yourself and a successful human
person someday. You know for a fact that if you use
your intelligence and capacity to learn new things, it
will eventually bring you somewhere in the world.
For instance, if you want to become a doctor of
medicine, you know you have to feed yourself with
relevant knowledge, and acquire the necessary skills
related to the practice of medicine
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INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
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Political Philosophy
• Body of knowledge that looks into the society,
politics, and the people, making it whole
• Society is inseparable from politics

INTRODUCTION Module 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
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Branches of Philosophy
Aesthetics (Aesthetikos – perceptive of things)
• It is the science of the beautiful in its various
manifestations – including the sublime, comic, tragic,
pathetic, and ugly.
• Concerned with the essence of perception objective,
judgement of beauty, and nature of art.
• It is important because of the following:
 It vitalizes our knowledge. It makes our
knowledge of the world alive and useful.
 It helps us to live more deeply and richly. A work
of art helps us to rise from purely physical
existence into the realm of intellect and the spirit.
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Branches of Philosophy
• Hans-Georg Gadamer
 A German philosopher who argues that our tastes
and judgments regarding beauty work in
connection with one’s own personal experience
and culture.
 Our culture consists of the values and beliefs of
our time and our society.

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Activities
1. Share your concepts about the importance of
philosophy. Give examples of these in politics,
sports, law, and daily life.
2. How do you define “happiness”? Do you support
the view of Socrates: “To become happy, a person
must live a virtuous life”? Explain
3. Share in class your views about what is “right” or
“wrong.” Share your own experience in class.

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON