Man as an

Embodied
Subject
 Opening Prayer
God in Heaven, You are ever glorious. We ask forgiveness
for the times we indulged ourselves in ignorance. Thank
You for enlightening us on what life is all about, and that it
is to love one another as You have loved us. Protect us from
every danger and guide us in every decisions we will make.
Lord, please put an end to this pandemic. Heal our land.
Gathering all my personal intentions, I ask this in the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with You and
the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen.
 Man is rational.
• It means that human being possess the faculty
of reason and volition.

• By reason, we meant that he has the power of generalization,

the conception of abstract ideas, and the possession of
intellectual truths.

• By volition, we meant that he has a strong desire to acquire

an object which after due consideration of its consequences
has been declared by reason to be good.
Volition – “volere”
(to want)
 Man is rational.
• It means that human being possess the faculty
of reason and volition.

• By reason, we meant that he has the power of generalization,

the conception of abstract ideas, and the possession of
intellectual truths.

• By volition, we meant that he has a strong desire to acquire

an object which after due consideration of its consequences
has been declared by reason to be good.
MAJOR BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
• METAPHYSICS – the study of the ultimate cause and of the
first and most universal principles of reality

• ETHICS – is the practical science of the morality of human

conduct
• LOGIC – is the study of reasoning, or the study of the
principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.

• EPISTEMOLOGY – is the study of the nature and scope of

knowledge and justified belief
• AESTHETICS – is the branch of philosophy concerned with
the nature and appreciation of art, beauty and good taste.
 OBJECTIVES:

▪ Identify Descartes’ rationalism, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and

determinants of moral acts.

• Realize the importance of thorough moral discernment before the

execution of one’s actions

Exhibit situations that demonstrate the role of freedom of choice and the
consequences of these choices
 01. 02.
INTRODUCTION ANALYSIS
• MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY •Deconstruction to
• WhO IS Rene Descartes? Reconstruction

03. 04.
PRESENTATION CONCLUSION
•“cogito, ergo sum” •Human Acts and
Acts of Man
 Eras of Philosophy
Socrates, Plato, -principles, the genesis of
Pre-Socratic Greek Triumvirate
Aristotle reality; sophism and
Ancient morality
Cosmocentric Cosmos
-proof/denial of the existence of God;
Medieval Theocentric Theos reason supported faith

-science help human beings to

Modern Anthropocentric Anthropos transcend beyond their limitations
-direct and indirect reaction with the
Post-Modern Reaction previous eras

Contemporary …
Modern Philosophy
• Direct reaction to Medieval Philosophy
(Theocentric)

Medieval Philosophy
• “Glorifies science”
• Everything is a discipline to prove or eliminate the
existence of God
• Human is depreciated and God is exalted
• Science help human beings to transcend beyond their
limitations
• They believe that the existence of God can be proven not
only by faith, but by logic and science.
RATIONALISM
Rene Descartes

Reason is …
• The most important faculty of man
• Universal
• The basis for certainty
• Basis for human conduct and morality
 Rene Descartes
(Mar. 31, 1596- Feb. 11, 1650)
• Descartes (pronounced as DAY-cart) was born in
the town of La Haye en Touraine in the Loire
Valley in central France on 31 March 1596.
• Father: Joachim Descartes (lawyer, magistrate in
High Court of Justice
• Mother: Jeanne Descartes – died of tuberculosis
when Descartes was 1-year-old

• Pierre and Jeanne – siblings

• Together, they were raised by their grandmother.
 Early Life and Writings
• From 1604 until 1612, he attended the Jesuit
College. Then he went to Paris France on 1616,
where he obtained his degree on law.
• He spent 20 years on travelling and experiencing the
world, during which he wrote almost all of his major
works on philosophy, mathematics, and science.
• The most famous of his works include:
• Discourse on the Method (1637)
• Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)
• Principles of Philosophy (1644)
• He died of pneumonia on Feb. 11, 1650.
 Contributions and Death
• From 1604 until 1612, he attended the Jesuit
College. Then he went to Paris France on 1616,
where he obtained his degree on law.
• He spent 20 years on travelling and experiencing
the world, during which he wrote almost all of his
major works on philosophy, mathematics, and
science.
• The most famous of his works include:
• Discourse on the Method (1637)
• Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)
• Principles of Philosophy (1644)
 Descartes’ Epistemology
INDUCTION VS. DEDUCTION
(pp. 54-59, Discourse on the Method)

▪ self-evident ▪ use of a certain method,

▪ the mind cannot help i.e., arranging certain
to accept it as truth truths in proper
sequence to arrive at the
conclusive
Deconstruction to Reconstruction
• Descartes destroyed his own
system of belief in order to
establish a better foundation.
Yet, in order to build
something anew, he needs to
destroy ALL of what he
believed, ultimately,
destroying his belief about his
own existence.
 Cartesian Skepticism

• Skepticism, also spelled scepticism, in

Western philosophy, is the attitude of
doubting knowledge claims set forth
in various areas.

• Skeptics have challenged the adequacy or reliability of these

claims by asking what principles they are based upon or what
they actually establish.
 The
Deconstruction
Deconstruction On Senses
• Descartes doubted his senses because they are deceiving.
Sense perception is misleading us to the truth.
Deconstruction On Natural Sciences

• Descartes also doubted the natural sciences because they

are based upon material bodies.
Deconstruction On Mathematics (Demon Argument)
• Even though a brilliant mathematician, Descartes doubted mathematics itself
because he believe that there might be an evil deceiving him to believe that it is
true, but actually is false.
Deconstruction On God
• Descartes used the demon argument as hitting two birds in one stone—
falsifying math and the existence of God.

• Omnipotence means God is all-

powerful. This means God has supreme
power and has no limitations.

• Omnipresence means God is

everywhere at the same time.

• Omniscience means God is all-

knowing.
Deconstruction On the “I”

• Ultimately, Descartes doubted his own existence.

Since everything is not certain and everything is
doubtful, then he doubted his very self.
• Descartes himself tried to be skeptic in all his
beliefs in life. He doubted especially the things that
are importantly should be known
• How can he possibly believe on anything if he
does not have any belief on a single things which
could be a springboard for his belief of everything
else?
 The
Reconstruction
 Proofs of God’s existence

• FIRST PROOF (INNATE IDEA OF A PERFECT

BEING)

• SECOND PROOF (TRACING BACK THE

POSSIBLE CAUSES OF ONE’S EXISTENCE)

• THIRD PROOF (ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT)

Aftermath of proving God’s existence

• God is the ultimate cause of the “self”

• If God possess the qualities of omnipresence,

omniscience, and omnipotence, He will not try to
deceive us. Therefore, the credibility of science is
restored.

• If God is not a deceiving God, He will intermediate

with the demon trying to deceive us (restoring the
credibility of mathematics)
Reconstruction Cogito, ergo sum
The Allegory
of the Cave
The Allegory of the Cave
In the allegory, Plato likens people untutored in
the Theory of Forms to prisoners chained in a
cave, unable to turn their heads. All they can
see is the wall of the cave. Behind them burns a
fire. Between the fire and the prisoners there is
a parapet, along which puppeteers can walk.
-actions beyond one’s consciousness; not dependent on the
intellect and will.
ESSENTIAL QUALITIES OF Acts of Man
• Done without knowledge
• Without consent
• Involuntary
Ex: unconscious, involuntary, semi-deliberate, spontaneous actions
• Acts of man can become human acts when he employs his intellect &
will in performing the act.
 Human Person – intelligent and free
• capable of determining our own lives by our free choices

• we can freely choose how to shape our lives and actions in accord with the
truth → by making good moral choices

• these choices performed as free persons are called HUMAN ACTS

DEFINITION OF HUMAN ACTS

• Acts which man does as man = acts proper to man as man
• Acts of which he is properly master = because he does them with full
knowledge and of his own will = actions performed by man knowingly and
freely = will → properly enlightened by knowledge → supplied by freedom
 HUMAN ACTS → THE CONCERN OF MORALITY

• Only human acts are moral acts

→ it is only with human acts
that man is responsible for his
actions

• REASON AND FREEDOM –

makes a man a moral subject
 Closing Prayer
God, You are all-powerful, all-good, and all-loving. Sorry for
being ignorant of these things. Thank You because You
always remain loving and caring even if we don’t. Heal us,
Lord, and the whole world. Gathering all my personal
intentions, grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ who
lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God
forever and ever.. Amen.