Department of Education - Region III

Schools Division Office of Olongapo City

MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

K to 12 BASIC EDUCATION CURRICULA / SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL – CORE SUBJECT

MODULE 8: THE HUMAN PERSON TOWARDS HIS IMPENDING DEATH

Content: Human persons as oriented towards their impending death
Content Standard: The learner understands human beings as oriented towards their
impending death.
Performance Standard: The learner writes a philosophical reflection on the meaning of
his/her own life.
Learning Competencies:
8.1. Recognize the meaning of his/her own life.
8.2. Enumerate the objectives he/she really wants to achieve and to define the projects
he/she really wants to do in his/her life.

8.3. Explain the meaning of life (where will all these lead to).
8.4. Reflect on the meaning of his/her own life.

Chuck Feeney: The Billionaire Who Gave It All Away

Becoming a billionaire would be, for most of us, the very apex of achievement - and a very
unrealistic dream come true. Chuck Feeney lived that dream but he wasn't content simply with
becoming a billionaire - no, he set himself a further a goal. To give away his entire multi-billion-
dollar fortune while he was still living.
The 89-year-old American businessman has now achieved that, donating almost $9bn (£7bn)
worldwide. And through his private foundation the Atlantic Philanthropies, Mr. Feeney, born to
Irish-American parents, gave $570m (£447m) to causes in Northern Ireland over four decades.

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 Department of Education - Region III
Schools Division Office of Olongapo City
MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

Who is Chuck Feeney?

Charles F. Feeney was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey in 1931, during the Great Depression.
His mother worked as a hospital nurse and his father was an insurance underwriter.
The philanthropist traces his family history back to County Fermanagh, where his grandmother
was brought up close to the village of Kinawley. The entrepreneur made his money selling
luxury duty free goods to travelers across the world, but he rejected the trappings of wealth
himself.
Conor O'Clery, who wrote a biography of Mr. Feeney, said: "He read and was very impressed
by Carnegie's famous essay 'Wealth', which says such things as 'to die rich is to die disgraced'."
He went on to found the Atlantic Philanthropies in 1982, an international organization set up to
distribute his fortune to good causes and projects that he supports around the world.
The foundation's main areas of interest are health, education, reconciliation and human rights.
For the first 15 years of his philanthropic mission, Mr. Feeney donated money in secret leading
to him being dubbed the James Bond of philanthropy, only emerging from anonymity in 1997.
According to Mr. O'Clery, his five children (four daughters and one son) have been left money
through their mother, Mr. Feeney's first wife. He now lives in a two-bedroom apartment in San
Francisco with his wife Helga, having travelled extensively to examine projects to donate to.

NI's 'big bets'

Queens University Belfast (QUB) was one of the biggest beneficiaries of Mr. Feeney's grants
from 1993-2015, being gifted a total of $132m (£83m). It also received the single biggest
donation from the Atlantic Philanthropies, when it was gifted $24m (£15m) in 2012. It was for the
university's Institute of Health Sciences Centre for Experimental Medicine.
Nathalie Trott, from Queen's, said the grants had "changed the lives" of students and had
provided the university with "state of the art facilities." "The doors of the Atlantic Philanthropies
may have closed in Belfast, but Chuck Feeney's legacy will live on for generations."

Integrated education
Another cornerstone of Mr. Feeney's philanthropy in Northern Ireland has been the promotion of
integrated education in the pursuit of reconciliation and peace building.

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 Department of Education - Region III
Schools Division Office of Olongapo City
MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

Down through the decades, it is understood about £8m has been gifted to the Integrated
Education Fund for various projects and the area is listed as the first sector funded in NI by the
Atlantic Philanthropies back in 1991.
One of the schools that benefitted from hundreds of thousands of pounds is Rowandale
Integrated Primary School in Moira. Principal Frances Hughes said Rowandale would not be in
existence today without Atlantic Philanthropies' support.
"In 2007, when the school opened, enrolment began with 18 children and this year we have an
enrolment of over 300," she said. "The pupils here would have had absolutely no idea (about
Chuck Feeney's role) - I would love to tell them that story though and I think they would really
enjoy it." Since 1996, when the Integrated Education Fund received their first grant from the
Atlantic Philanthropies, there were a total of 33 integrated schools, which had risen to 62 by the
time their funding drew to a close in 2014.
The funding has helped to establish 21 integrated primary and eight secondary-level schools
and in those 18 years, pupil numbers overall have risen from 7,000 to 22,000.
Christopher Oechsli, president of the Atlantic Philanthropies, said it was "an honor" to support
so many projects in Northern Ireland since first beginning its operations here in 1991.
"It's heartening to see the progress made and the way groups Atlantic supported continue to
drive change in these challenging times," he said.

"That's the legacy."

According to biographer Conor O'Clery, Chuck Feeney is "very happy" that he has now
completed his almost 40-year mission and celebrated the milestone with wife Helga.

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 Department of Education - Region III
Schools Division Office of Olongapo City
MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

A. After reading Chuck Feeney’s story, what important lessons or principles did you
learn from it? Explain why these lessons and principles are meaningful to you.
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B. Looking forward, considering that you already have reached the peak (end) of your
life; and you will evaluate life, what would you consider as your most significant
achievements, goals or projects that you may have done or accomplished in life.
Describe how these are meaningful to you and how these things will define your life.
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The Meaning of Life

The meaning of life, or the answer to the question: "What is the meaning of life?",
pertains to the significance of living or existence in general. Many other related
questions include: "Why are we here?", "What is life all about?", or "What is the purpose
of existence?"

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 Department of Education - Region III
Schools Division Office of Olongapo City
MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

There have been many proposed answers to these questions from many
different cultural and ideological backgrounds. The search for life's meaning has
produced much philosophical, scientific, theological, and metaphysical speculation
throughout history. Different people and cultures believe different things for the answer
to this question.
The meaning of life as we perceive it is derived from philosophical and religious
contemplation of, and scientific inquiries about existence, social ties, consciousness,
and happiness. Many other issues are also involved, such as symbolic meaning,
ontology, value, purpose, ethics, good and evil, free will, the existence of one or multiple
gods, conceptions of God, the soul, and the afterlife.
Scientific contributions focus primarily on describing related empirical facts about
the universe, exploring the context and parameters concerning the "how" of life. Science
also studies and can provide recommendations for the pursuit of well-being and a
related conception of morality. An alternative, humanistic approach poses the question,
"What is the meaning of my life?"
Nature of meaning in life
The most common [quantify] definitions of meaning in life involve three
components. First, Reker and Wong define personal meaning as the "cognizance of
order, coherence and purpose in one's existence, the pursuit and attainment of
worthwhile goals, and an accompanying sense of fulfillment". In 2016 Martela and
Steger defined meaning as coherence, purpose, and significance.In contrast, Wong has
proposed a four-component solution to the question of meaning in life, with the four
components purpose, understanding, responsibility, and enjoyment (PURE):
 You need to choose a worthy purpose or a significant life goal.
 You need to have sufficient understanding of who you are, what life demands of you,
and how you can play a significant role in life.
 You and you alone are responsible for deciding what kind of life you want to live, and
what constitutes a significant and worthwhile life goal.
 You will enjoy a deep sense of significance and satisfaction only when you have
exercised your responsibility for self-determination and actively pursue a worthy life-goal.
 Thus, a sense of significance permeates every dimension of meaning, rather than
stands as a separate factor.
In Platonism, the meaning of life is in attaining the highest form of knowledge, which is
the Idea (Form) of the Good, from which all good and just things derive utility and value.
Aristotle's meaning is the Highest Good, which is desirable for its own sake. It is its own goal.
The Highest Good is not desirable for the sake of achieving some other good, and all other
"goods" desirable for its sake. This involves achieving eudaemonia, usually translated as
"happiness", "well-being", "flourishing", and "excellence".

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 Department of Education - Region III
Schools Division Office of Olongapo City
MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

Cynicism. Antisthenes, a pupil of Socrates, first outlined the themes of Cynicism, stating that
the purpose of life is living a life of Virtue which agrees with Nature. Happiness depends upon
being self-sufficient and master of one's mental attitude; suffering is the consequence of false
judgments of value, which cause negative emotions and a concomitant vicious character.
The Cynical life rejects conventional desires for wealth, power, health, and fame, by being free
of the possessions acquired in pursuing the conventional. As reasoning creatures, people could
achieve happiness via rigorous training, by living in a way natural to human beings.
The world equally belongs to everyone, so suffering is caused by false judgments of what is
valuable and what is worthless per the customs and conventions of society.
Epicureanism. Epicurus, a pupil of the Platonist Pamphilus of Samos, taught that the greatest
good is in seeking modest pleasures, to attain tranquility and freedom from fear (ataraxia) via
knowledge, friendship, and virtuous, temperate living; bodily pain (aponia) is absent through
one's knowledge of the workings of the world and of the limits of one's desires. Combined,
freedom from pain and freedom from fear are happiness in its highest form. Epicurus' lauded
enjoyment of simple pleasures is quasi-ascetic "abstention" from sex and the appetites.
The Epicurean meaning of life rejects immortality and mysticism; there is a soul, but it is as
mortal as the body. There is no afterlife, yet, one need not fear death, because "Death is
nothing to us; for that which is dissolved, is without sensation, and that which lacks sensation is
nothing to us.
Stoicism. Zeno of Citium, a pupil of Crates of Thebes, established the school which teaches
that living according to reason and virtue is to be in harmony with the universe's divine order,
entailed by one's recognition of the universal logos, or reason, an essential value of all people.
The meaning of life is "freedom from suffering" through apatheia (Gr: απαθεια), that is,
being objective and having "clear judgement", not indifference.
Stoicism's prime directives are virtue, reason, and natural law, abided to develop personal self-
control and mental fortitude as means of overcoming destructive emotions. The Stoic does not
seek to extinguish emotions, only to avoid emotional troubles, by developing clear judgment and
inner calm through diligently practiced logic, reflection, and concentration.
The Stoic ethical foundation is that "good lies in the state of the soul", itself, exemplified
in wisdom and self-control, thus improving one's spiritual well-being: "Virtue consists in
a will which is in agreement with Nature." The principle applies to one's personal relations thus:
"to be free from anger, envy, and jealousy".
Nihilism suggests that life is without objective meaning.
Friedrich Nietzsche characterized nihilism as emptying the world, and especially human
existence, of meaning, purpose, comprehensible truth, and essential value; succinctly, nihilism
is the process of "the devaluing of the highest values". Seeing the nihilist as a natural result of
the idea that God is dead, and insisting it was something to overcome, his questioning of the
nihilist's life-negating values returned meaning to the Earth

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 Department of Education - Region III
Schools Division Office of Olongapo City
MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

Pragmatic philosophers suggest that the practical, useful understanding of life is more
important than searching for an impractical abstract truth about life. William James argued that
truth could be made, but not sought. To a pragmatist, the meaning of life is discoverable only via
experience.
Friedrich Nietzsche, life is worth living only if there are goals inspiring one to live. Accordingly,
he saw nihilism ("all that happens is meaningless") as without goals. He stated that asceticism
denies one's living in the world; stated that values are not objective facts, that are rationally
necessary, universally binding commitments: our evaluations are interpretations, and not
reflections of the world, as it is, in itself, and, therefore, all ideations take place from a particular
perspective.
CONCEPT OF DEATH
From the philosophical point of view, we should recognize first that we can experience death,
because we ought to know the cognitive value of our conceptions and judgments about death
and its relation to with the whole of human existence.
ANCIENT VIEW OF DEATH. Most ancient people attributed death to the agency of the gods,
elves, demons, or evil spirits who are jealous of human achievements and beautiful human
features, or who are offended by man’s sins.
BIOLOGICAL VIEW OF DEATH. Death is viewed as a biological event; death is the end of man
considered to be a living organism. • Death is the cessation of life, the total arrest of both mental
and physiological functions as a person.
PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS. Concept of death and adjustment addresses the ability to adjust to
one's own death when that death is not imminent. • Therefore, it deals with the vast range of
events related to possible deaths and the various methods of adjustment to these possibilities.
THEOLOGICAL VIEW. St. Thomas Aquinas is very clear about the nature of death. • He says:
"The necessity of dying for Man is partly from nature and partly from sin.
PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW. Our philosophical understanding of death is given to us exclusively on
the basis of the self-understanding of a living-man, who is inevitably approaching death as the
ultimate event of his life. • Thus, we come to an understanding of death by analyzing our actual
existence in the light of the one-side experience of death and dying by the others.
Death is commonly understood as the end of bodily for function which signals the end of a
person’s life. • Death also refers to the separation of the body and the spirit. As mentioned
earlier, the human person is an embodied spirit. The body, being material, is bound by the laws
of time and space and is subject to growth, death, and decay. • The spirit, being immaterial, will
Continue to exist even after the body has passed.
FOUR CATEGORIES OF DEATH • Natural Causes: Quite simply when the body ceases to
function of its own accord or if there are mitigating medical factors such as terminal illness, heart
disease or the like, which would bring about death - this is generally referred to as death by
natural causes. • Homicide: The taking of one human life by another human being by means of

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 Department of Education - Region III
Schools Division Office of Olongapo City
MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

pre-meditated murder. The term pre-meditated means to have purposely planned and executed
the murder of another human being in cold blood whilst trying to elude capture by the
authorities.
Accidental Death: As the term would suggest the death of an individual by means other than
natural death, murder or suicide. Accidental death can sometimes be manslaughter - murder but
committed out of an involuntary act of violence towards another. Likewise, accidental death can
also be categorized as death by misadventure. This means that the victim has died by accident
either whilst doing something they should not have been doing or by taking risks that would put
them in mortal danger. A lot of extreme sports participants have died and their deaths have
been classified as death by misadventure because of the extreme nature of their pastimes.
Suicide: The deliberate taking of one's own life due to extreme emotional distress often brought
about by severe depression. Suicide is neither accidental nor is it classified as death by
misadventure simply because the individual has set about on a course of action that would end
with their own inevitable death. Normally this would occur by means of drug overdose, the
cutting of one's wrists to induce uncontrollable bleeding, or indeed stepping out in front of a
moving vehicle.
WE ALL DIE. THE GOAL ISN’T TO LIVE FOREVER, THE GOAL IS TO CREATE SOMETHING
THAT WILL. - CHUCK PALAHNIUK • We must embrace the fact that death is an integral part of
our life. Once we have come to terms with that, we can focus cannot just on the quantifiable
aspects of life (e g., Years lived, material thing owned) but also on its quality.
The reality of death means that our existence is unique and that we will not always get another
chance to do things we want in this life. Therefore, we should not easily Give up on the pursuit
of good things. • Reflecting on the reality of death enables us to think of how we can best live a
meaningful life. We can strive to leave behind a legacy either in the form of an inheritance, a
repute, or a significant achievement.
Because of our freedom, how we choose to live our lives is entirely up to us. Against the
backdrop of death, we are now called to use our freedom in the best way possible to bring us
closer to our Happiness and bring to others as well. • Our lives are works in progress, stories in
the process of being written, and songs that are about to be sung. • Life is a gift given to each
person and it’s important to turn this life into a gift for others as well.
Death involves reflection on its significance in one's life thinking about the larger values that
give life its meaning in the end death only to the point that it frees us death show us our living
fears Death and its concept are absolutely empty. No picture comes to mind.
The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any
time.

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 Department of Education - Region III
Schools Division Office of Olongapo City
MONDRIAAN AURA COLLEGE
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subic Bay Freeport Zone

LEARNING ASSESSMENT

NAME: ________________________________________ Track/Strand: __________________

1. Identify at least 3 important philosophical ideas / meaning of life. Describe each.

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2. Identify at least 3 important views of death. Describe each.
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3. Discuss. “The reality of death means that our existence is unique.”

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Prepared by

LEO C. EUSANTOS, MPsy., LPT.

Professional Teacher

Note: The Learning Assessment part must be submitted together with the given activity
paper. (Activities A and B)