LESSON 8:

HUMAN
PERSON
AND DEATH

Objectives:
•Recognize the meaning
of his/her own life

•Enumerate the objectives

he/she wants to achieve
and define the projects he/she
wants to do in his/her life.

•Explain the meaning of life

(where will all these lead to).

•Reflect on the meaning of

his/her own life.

How does the reality of death

define our lives?

DEATH
• Is the end of bodily
functions which signals the
end of person’s life. It also
refers to the separation of
the body and the soul.
• The body grows and dies,
while the soul continues to
exist even after the
body has passed.

KINDS OF GOOD

NOBLE GOOD
• Noble good is pursued for
its own
sake.
•Examples are love and friendship.

USEFUL GOOD
• Useful good is only found from what
it can provide.
• An example of this is money.

PLEASURABLE
GOOD
•Pleasurable good is good
as long as it provides some
pleasure, though it does not
have to be physical.

•Whatever the source of

our happiness right
now, let us see to it that
it is real and meaningful.

PHENOMENOLOGICAL
NOTION OF DEATH

According to Martin
Heidegger (1889-1976)
in his book Being and Time, death is
•Certain

•Indefinite

•One’s property

•Non-relational, and

•Not to be outstripped.

DEATH IS CERTAIN
Life is full of uncertainties.
The only aspect of life that
we can be truly certain about is
death. Everything must,
eventually, come to
an end.

DEATH IS CERTAIN
Birth and death are two
things we cannot
remove from our existence.
Whether we like it or not,
we will die.

DEATH IS INDEFINITE
•While death is sure to come,
it is however indefinite as to
when it will come.

•Death is impending,
meaning to say, it can
happen in time.

•That is why, we should

try to live the best life that
we can for we never know
the day of our end.

DEATH IS ONE’S
PROPERTY
•The death of the person
belongs to him.

•Nobody can experience

his death except
himself.

•There can be no proxies

or substitutes for a
person experiencing death.

DEATH IS
NON-RELATIONAL
•This means that when
we die, we die alone.

•We have no choice but

to face it on our own.

•Death cannot be
shared by anyone.

DEATH IS NOT TO BE
OUTSTRIPPED
•Death cannot be taken
away from a person.
• Even the person himself
cannot remove the possibility
of death in his life.
• Refers to the inevitable
possibility of death.

MODES OF
MEANINGFULNESS

MEANING AS
EXTERNAL CAUSAL
RELATIONSHIP

•Meaning is dependent on
the causal relationship that
helps form life. You, for
instance, exist because of
the process of reproduction.
• Each human life is meaningful
through external causal relations.
It implies that life’s meaning is
anchored on the life that is
causally connected with
others’ resulting situations.

MEANING AS EXTERNAL
REFERENTIAL OR SEMANTIC
RELATION

•Life meaning can be

established through
semantic relations.
Life becomes meaningful
when one draws out a
referential relation between
life and some symbols
that represent life.

• The stipulative definition

can form and stipulate what
his or her life means,
provided there is a clear
notion of what these
references are.

MEANING AS INTENTION OR
PURPOSE
•It helps to clarify semantics.
In this mode, life is said to have
meaning through the purpose and
intent of why one person is alive.
Hence, when it is about intention,
life will have meaning based on
the goals or sets of intentions
persons intend to do.
• It reveals that meaningfulness
will be helped by establishing a life plan.