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Introduction to the Philosophy of

the Human Person
Subject Description: An initiation to the activity and process of philosophical reflection as a
search for a synoptic vision of life. Topics to be discussed include the human experiences of
embodiment, being in the world with others and the environment, freedom,
intersubjectivity, sociality, being unto death.

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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Lesson 1

Lesson Title: Introduction of Philosophy

I. Learning Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, students are expected to:

1. Know and understand the meaning and nature of Philosophy.

II. Lesson Content:

Questions to ponder:
1. What is real?
2. What makes an action moral?
3. Does freedom truly exist?
4. What is the purpose of your existence?

How would you evaluate the following questions? Could you answer directly? Perhaps you can’t,
right? It is because they are “Philosophical Questions”. We have encountered these phenomena everyday
but we just ignore it. If you would try to find an answer of those questions, surely, you will spend a lot of
time what kind of explanation you will give. That’s the start of engaging then the realm of philosophy.

What is Philosophy then?

Western Definition

Epistemological Definition: (The origin of the word)

Philosophy came from the Greek words “Philos” which means

love, and “Sophia” which means wisdom. Therefore, Philosophy is
the “Love of Wisdom”. As love of wisdom, philosophy is a desire
or interest for an intellectual inquiry.

Real Definition: “Philosophy is a speculative science that

investigates all things in their ultimate, causes, reasons and
principles through the use of human reason alone”.

Eastern Definition

Epistemological Definition: (The origin of the word)

Philosophy came from the Chinese words “Xue” which means Study and “Zhe” which means Wisdom.
Therefore, philosophy in eastern definition is the study of wisdom.

Although there are certainly differences between Eastern

and Western philosophical systems, they both aim at the same goal
of apprehending Truth and understanding the best way to live
one's life. There is no division between eastern or western
philosophy when it comes to the most basic questions of what it
means to be a human being. The fundamental purpose of philosophy
is to find meaning in one's life and purpose to one's path, and there
is no major difference between eastern and western philosophy
according to that understanding.
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Philosophy is considered as “mater scientiarum” which means mother of all sciences. Thus, Philosophy is
the mother discipline out of which the other sciences emerge.

Distinction between Knowledge and Wisdom

Knowledge
 facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or
education;
 Theoretical or practical understanding of a subject.
 Acquired theories
Wisdom
 positive application of the theories

Examples:

A tomato
A tomato is defined as a glossy red, or occasionally
yellow, pulpy edible fruit that is eaten as a vegetable or in salad. So you
cannot find a tomato in a fruit salad though it is considered as a fruit,
instead you can find it in a vegetable salad or in a “bagoong/ginamos”.
The point here is you have to apply the knowledge in a most reasonable
way and that is wisdom.

An IT expert

If such person will use his/her expertise in hacking files of any

person illegally, obviously, he/she is not utilizing his/her
knowledge in a positive way. Instead it will lead him/her to jail
for violating the persons privacy which is against the law.
With that given situation, he is not wise in philosophers view.

Philosophy: A Discipline of Questioning:

The core in every philosophical inquiry is the discipline of questioning. Anyone who asks
questions is then philosophizing. A “question” is a conscious search for knowledge.

Three Fundamental Conditions:

 It is the knowledge for something;
 It is an awareness of ignorance, and;
 It is an awareness that there is more to be known.

Philosophy is a discipline that can be explained in two points:

1. Dynamic- in the sense that it is an unending series of questions and answers. Philosophy
is a discipline where the questions are more important than the answers and every
answer becomes a new question.
2. Personal- in the sense that one man’s answer to a question may be valid for him but not
for the next man.

Philosophical concepts, therefore, are not immutable doctrines. It means they are susceptible for
change… it can’t be formulated in articles of faith.

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The Philosophical Method

Questions and answers are correlative. In arriving at the correct and consistent answer to a
question, the philosophical method of rational analysis and argumentation is needed.
Logic- as an art of correct thinking must always be considered as a tool in facilitating this method.
Honer points out that philosophical inquiry will always demand intellectual skill and intensive
knowledge of the various logical procedures.

General Idea:
We become more effective not because we discuss and answer well about contentious issues and
problems but because the time we spend in thinking about such issues are likely to produce in us a
rational and independent-minded person who can bring creativity and productivity to our respective
profession and organization. Thinking hard, therefore, is a valuable experience.

How Philosophy started?

Philosophy started in “wondering”.
“Wonder is the feeling of a Philosopher, and Philosophy begins in wonder”—
Socrates

A person wonders if he/she sees new things and that

would lead for him/her to be curious, and tend to ask
questions about that matter. Curiosity then would
require an answer of all the questions popping out
his/her mind.

Who was the 1st philosopher?

Thales of Miletus
 Known to be the first major philosopher
 Father of Western Philosophy
The first man who started to diverge from the mythological tradition and sought to answer questions
like “what is the underlying substance that reality is made of?” He was the first man in recorded history to
veer away from mythological tradition and began to view things in a different angle. His curiosity and thirst
for knowledge gave him a different perspective.

Doing Philosophy: East and West

Western Philosophy:
 The basic task of the philosophers was to satisfy their curiosity.
 Tends to make heavy use of logic, reason, and categorization.
 Breaks down ideas and tends to focus on the parts rather than the whole.
 Western philosophy is somewhat revolutionary because it went against tradition

Eastern Philosophy:
 Seems to have no dichotomy between the objective world and man as a human
being.
 Their philosophy is associated with their religion.
 For them, philosophy and religion are one.

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 Their being or their oneness with the world could actually be experienced by
practicing their religion.
 Eastern philosophy could be summarized as “philosophy being a way of life”.

Western Philosophers Eastern Philosophers

Mencius
Thales

Lao-Tzu
Plato

Confucius
Pythagoras

The most prominent ancient philosophers of the world with their seeming spheres of influence on the
ancient landscape.

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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Lesson 1.1

Lesson Title: A Holistic Perspective: The Philosopher’s Way

II. Learning Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, students are expected to:

2. Distinguish holistic perspective from a partial point of view
3. Realize the value of doing philosophy in obtaining a broad perspective on life
4. Do a philosophical reflection on a concrete situation from a holistic perspective.

III. Lesson Content:

Motivation:
Six blind Men and the Elephant
by John Godfrey Saxe
I. The Fifth, who chanced to touch the ear,
Said: "E'en the blindest man

I T was six men of Indostan

To learning much inclined,
Can tell what this resembles most;
Deny the fact who can,
This marvel of an Elephant
Who went to see the Elephant Is very like a fan!"
(Though all of them were blind), VII.
That each by observation
Might satisfy his mind.
II. The Sixth no sooner had begun
About the beast to grope,
Than, seizing on the swinging tail
The First approached the Elephant, That fell within his scope,
And happening to fall "I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Against his broad and sturdy side, Is very like a rope!"
At once began to bawl: VIII.
"God bless me!—but the Elephant
Is very like a wall!"
III.
And so these men of Indostan
Disputed loud and long,
Each in his own opinion
The Second, feeling of the tusk, Exceeding stiff and strong,
Cried: "Ho!—what have we here Though each was partly in the right,
So very round and smooth and sharp? And all were in the wrong!
To me 't is mighty clear MORAL.
This wonder of an Elephant
Is very like a spear!"
IV.
So, oft in theologic wars
The disputants, I ween,
Rail on in utter ignorance
The Third approached the animal,
Of what each other mean,
And happening to take
And prate about an Elephant
The squirming trunk within his hands,
Not one of them has seen!
Thus boldly up and spake:
"I see," quoth he, "the Elephant
Is very like a snake!"
V.

The Fourth reached out his eager hand,

And felt about the knee.
"What most this wondrous beast is like
Is mighty plain," quoth he;
"'T is clear enough the Elephant
Is very like a tree!"
VI.

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Explanation:

In that poem, the different parts may be seen as separate and different from each other. Only when
the blind men learn to perceive the elephant as a whole would they appreciate how each part makes up one
thing. Not one of the blind men was able to give a correct answer. We come closer to the truth about a thing
or someone when we look at that thing or person from various perspectives.

Philosophy and its Holistic approach

A philosopher’s way of thinking can be described as

“Abstractive”. This means that it rises from the level of
everyday life to a higher level that gives a bird’s eye view of
the whole. Try to recall an experience in which you were able
to climb a tower, reach the peak of a high mountain, or view
things from the window of an airplane. The view is certainly
different from up there than from the ground. When you are
on the ground, you see roads, buildings, and all that make up
the busy everyday life, one at a time. When you are up there,
you not only see the same roads and buildings from a different
perspective, but you see them all at the same time. Moreover, you also see how they are connected to each
other. This is what we mean by seeing things from a holistic perspective.

If today we have airplanes, satellites, or spaceships that would allow us to see

the world from a holistic view, these great thinkers in the past used their minds to “see
the whole”. They had insights. Insight means “seeing the mind”.
Having a philosophical insight means being able to see the mind. This means
that to be able to think philosophically, you must learn to look beyond what is
immediately before you. Moreover, you must learn to see how a thing is related to
everything else. This is the mark of a holistic perspective.

Martin Heidegger
“To truly understand what Philosophy is, we must immerse ourselves in it.”

To understand philosophy is to engage in it. This entails opening ourselves up to the experience or
questioning our own established beliefs, of looking with the mind beyond what we see with our senses.
Doing philosophy entails a holistic rather than a partial perspective. With a holistic perspective, we are
able to see the connectedness of parts to see a meaningful whole. Having a glimpse of the whole allows us
to see the meaning of the activities that we do everyday-from rising to sleeping.

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Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Lesson 1.2

Lesson Title: What it means to be a Philosopher

III. Learning Objectives:

At the end of this lesson, students are expected to:

5. Understand the meaning of what it means to be a philosopher.
6. Distinguish between personal and philosophical question.

IV. Lesson Content:

Philosophers have been the object of laughter for as long as the world can remember.
Thales, himself, was known to have been laughed at one day when he was busily gazing up the
heavens, and fell into a cistern. Another Greek philosopher, Socrates, was comically portrayed by
the comedian Aristophanes. He said that Socrates, and all the other philosophers, are ugly and
unkempt because they have no time to bathe.

In our context, we have used the term “pilosopo” to refer someone

who asks a lot of questions, many of which are judged as nonsense or out-
of-this-world. We often do not take a “pilosopo” seriously because we
think of them as simply trying to get attention by annoying others.

There is a difference between asking a questions with the intention of

making the other person look stupid or ignorant, and asking questions with
a genuine desire to know. The latter is one of the characteristics of a true
philosopher. A genuine desire to know begins with this humble
admission of one’s own ignorance. With this desire comes the courage to ask questions. Sometimes, we
hesitate to ask questions because we are afraid of being thought of as stupid. We are afraid of being judged
as attention-seekers, or we are afraid that our questions will be taken against us. Socrates is a shining
example of someone who bravely sought for the truth. This is what it means to be a lover of wisdom. He
loved it even to the point of risking his very own life. He was sentenced to death for the charges of
disrespecting the gods and for corrupting the minds of the youth. He was killed by being forced to drink the
poison hemlock.

Socrates (470-399 B.C.)

 A philosopher from Athens, Greece who is known through the writings of his student, Plato.
 He was considered as annoying philosopher who would embarrass others in the process of asking
them questions about what they professed as their expertise.
 He was considered as a wise man.

“All I know is I don’t know.” Socrates

Pilosopo as Philospher
In the Philippines, the term “pilosopo” connotes the image of a comical and sometimes annoying
character. It is often used to describe someone who plays his words, or twists commonsensical reasoning in
order to come across as funny. Sometimes, the pilosopo is also described as “KSP” (kulang sa pansin)
because their incessant questioning gives the impression that they are desperate for attention.

Is a pilosopo what we mean by philosopher? The answer can either be Yes or No.
 No, a philosopher is not a pilosopo because he/she does not play with words, or twists
reasoning just for the fun of it.
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 Yes, a pilosopo is a philosopher if his/her intention in playing with words is in order to view
things in a different way.
 No, a philosopher is not a pilosopo if he/she raises questions often with intention of showing
off that he/she is singularly smart or inquisitive.
 Yes, a pilosopo is a philosopher if the questions he/she asks stem from a genuine confusion,
astonishment and wonder.

What Makes a Question Philosophical?

If anyone can be as wiser as Socrates, then anyone can philosophize.

The truth is you do not have to be weird-looking or out-of-this-world in order
to think philosophically. Like any of us, a philosopher begins his quest with
ordinary questions-What shall I eat today? What should I wear to school?
These are questions we normally ask ourselves. They are personal questions,
but they are not yet philosophical questions.

Read and analyze the Story:

Ariel looks at the reflection in the mirror for the fourth time this morning. She was running lately
for school, but she could not quite decide on what to wear for the day. She finally decides on this plain
white shirt and jeans, looks at it on her with a sigh of resignation, and then runs off downstairs where her
mother has been yelling about the time.
In the car on the way to school, she starts muttering to himself. “All this trouble of having to
choose what to wear to school everyday. Why does it have to be so difficult? Why can’t I just wear
anything I grab from my closet?”
After she calms down, she moves into a more pensive mode. She begins to ask, “Why should my
clothes or the way I look matter to others anyway? If I think about what others would say, does that mean
I am not free to choose whatever I want? Does this mean that I am not really free?”
Ariel’s dad pulls over in front of his school, she says goodbye and walks to her classroom. She
continues with her questions. “So if living in society means that I am not really free, does this mean that I
will only be free when I live alone? Like live in a desert or in Mars. But what good would that do? If I
live alone, I may be free to do what I want, but would that be a happy life? Is having the freedom to do
what one pleases the opposite of having a happy life. What is freedom, really? What is a happy life?”
She enters her classroom sets down her bag and shrugs off the question. She goes to her
“barkada” who were squatting in a corner of the room, aimlessly chatting about their weekend.

Note the progression from the particular personal questions towards the philosophical questions
raised by Arielle. Here we can see that philosophical questions move beyond specific concerns. Arielle’s
case shows us that everyday we get visited by moments of unease because of questions that ask us to take
some time to reflect.

The French philosopher Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973) shares that

philosophical questioning begins with a metaphysical unease. Simply put,
this form of unease is described as metaphysical because the scope of the
questions we ask cover something broader and deeper than what is
immediately before us, beyond what we physically see.

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Marcel likens philosophical questioning to embarking on a journey. Questions give birth to more
questions, and it takes courage that matches that of Socrates’ to be able to endure the discomfort of not
finding immediate answers. One must understand, however, that accepting the uncertainty that
philosophical questions bring is not an empty or futile exercise. Philosophical questioning may appear to be
“useless” but there is value in philosophizing.

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References

Content
 Hinacay, MarianoL., 2006, “Th Human Person”, Vitasophia Book Center
 Sioco, Maria Paula G. & Vinzons, Ignatius H., 2016, “Introduction to the Philosophy of the
Human Person”, Vibal Group Inc.
 Mabaquiao, Napoleon Jr. B., 2016, An Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human person,
Phoenix Publishing House, Inc.
 Corpuz, Brenda B., Corpuz, Ruben A., et. al., 2016, “Introduction to the Philosophy of the
Human person”, Lorimar Publishing Inc.

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