Creating a Timeline Understanding Reality in a Bigger Picture: Various Ways of

Doing Philosophy

In our existence, we've asked several questions. Questions are asked

Various Ways of Doing Philosophy
The Discipline & its Methods
Human Person as Embodied Spirit
because we're looking for answers. We are looking for answers
because we have a desire to know. To know something leads us to
more questions and give us the desire to know more

Freedom as an Existential Condition

Philosophy
Human Existence of Intersubjectivity
• philosophers = lovers of wisdom, goal to become wise (know
Human Person in Society and Environment the truth), their activity is always in pursuit of wisdom, not
easily deceived
Truth of Living and Dying • Greek: philein “love”, Sophia “wisdom” = the love or pursuit
of wisdom
• a way of looking at the world and giving it meaning; can
provide a high-quality method of examining our beliefs
Aristotle • are open to examination, further questioning and enquiry
• can be answered by appealing only to scientific investigation
Socrates
or sense experience
Rene Descartes • questions about meaning, truth, value, knowledge, and reality
• do not have ready or definite answers
Paul Ricoeur • questions that matter for they reflect desire to understand or at
least make sense of our experiences
Thomas Hobbes • when we ponder on a philosophical question, we are engaged
in a philosophical reflection
Baron de Montesquieu
• always contains a bigger problem
Martin Buber • allows us the freedom to ask even those questions that others
believe to already have a definite answer
Auguste Comte • does not dictate conclusive or final answers to philosophical
questions
Jean Paul Sartre • goes beyond questions of fact and of what is practical
• challenges over assumptions and preconceived notions
Arne Naess

Immanuel Kant
Pilosopo
John Locke
• usually connotes poor or faulty reasoning
Karl Jaspers • a danger and contrary to the real meaning of philosophy
St. Thomas Aquinas • erroneous kind of reasoning: fallacy
• studied because to have skill in argumentation, one also has to
Martin Heidegger be mindful of arguments that are meant to deceive

Plato’s Three Function The solution to philosophical questions is to ask them (clarification).
The search for wisdom only begins the moment we ask questions.
Determinism Philosophy promises us better understanding of ourselves.
What is Freedom

Responsibility according to Aristotle Western Philosophy

Syllogism • Greek Philosophers: Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
• introduced intricate ideas concerning the rational capacities of
Dialectic Method man and how these capacities can be used and developed.
• a human person is a thinking being fundamentally supports the
Facts, Opinion, and Arguments
idea that we all have the freedom to explore the world.
Death • human person is gifted with reason
• rationality would facilitate the self = discover its true potentials
Intersubjectivity

Deductive and inductive reasoning

Socrates
Self-Actualization
• he cared little or nothing for external appearances
Transcendence • his philosophy emanated from his way of life, a life that was
not concerned about wealth and worldly goods
• SOCRATIC ELENCHUS: dialogues with various people,
spends most of his time in the marketplace (dialectic)
• discuss with them profound ideas, such as justice, virtues,
morality, life, and death; focused on getting at the answers to
the questions that are important and relevant in everyone's life.
• simplest and most complicated questions
• helped many people, examine how they lived and understood
their lives because, "An unexamined life is not worth living”
Plato
• One of the students who gathered around Socrates was Plato.
• ALLEGORY OF THE CAVE - explains the real world and the
unreal (ex: digital world as the “unreal world," while the actual
world is the “real world").
• Plato sought to solve the question of the real and unreal;
TRUTH
• the truth is often forgotten at birth, a recollection happens when
we encounter actual objects
• Wonder = feeling of the philosopher
• philosophy begins in wonder
• Wonder stimulates us to venture into philosophy, directed
toward analogy and the relationship of things. We are
wondering about a more enduring question.
Aristotle
• He studied under Plato
• the forms can be achieved through the senses, things can be
known and proven using the senses and the faculty of reason.
• put forward the notion that the forms have two categories
• Substance - can subsist on its own
• Accidents - need another thing to exist
• human person = body and mind (s), intellectual and physical
capacity (a), but s remains the same
• ideas about empirical evidence or things that can be achieved
and proven by using the senses.
• innate ideas that requires recollection to remember them
• St. Thomas Aquinas: “Nothing is in the intellect that was not
first in the senses." Thus, by using one's senses, one can gain
knowledge.
• the real world = the most palpable to the senses
Eastern Philosophy
• who and what am I?
• meaning of being human
• to understand human nature and to practice how to truly live as
a human person
• philosophy and religion are intimately connected
• practical practice of the different theories of living
Confucianism
• Confucius
• philosophy of peace, restore peace among men and nations
• if a leader sets a good example, the people will do the same
• a social philosophy that is grounded on the assumption that
proper social and political behavior is cultivated in the family
• the love and relationship with one's family are paramount
• similarities with the Filipinos' concept and experience of family
• promote a certain societal order
Buddhism
• Siddharta Gautama, Buddha
• human person lives in suffering and that he should overcome
this; deep dissatisfaction that pervades human experience, and
the thirst for endless desires.
• Four Noble Truths:
1. human life is pervaded by suffering
2. suffering is a result of craving
3. state of freedom from suffering (Nirvana), realizing that
we are not Selves, thus abandoning the craving
4. anyone can attain Nirvana by following the Eightfold
Path:
a. Right View: noble truths and Buddha's teaching
b. Right Resolve: intention to renounce sexual
drive and of non-ill-will, and non-cruelty
c. Right Speech: not engaging in speech that is
false, malicious, harsh, or idle
d. Right Action: not killing living beings, not
taking what is not given, and avoiding
misconduct in sexual pleasures
e. Right Livelihood: the resolve not to am one's
living in a way that violates the ethical code
f. Right Effort: eliminating and preventing
unwholesome states and develop meditative
practice
g. Right Mindfulness: various contemplations of
the body, feelings, and mind
h. Right Concentration: attainment of
progressively higher mental states
• As we experience negative things, Buddhism teaches us
something for our emancipation.
• neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but rather realistic
• attain freedom from suffering through total non-attachment
• “let go” of our attachments in life
• life of goodness = rewarded with goodness
• human naturally clings to impermanent things and self-
centered pursuit of happiness
Indian Philosophy
• "Who am I?" = deeper meaning and see the self
• essentially spiritual - human is conceived as spiritual in nature
• it enables to relate to a spiritual and metaphysical destiny
• promotes a reflective approach to reality
• The realization of the highest truth is beyond intellectualization
because truth is a deep and very personal one.
• the physical world is not as important as knowing the inner self
and the right practices of living.
• an essential enterprise, centered on the notion of the self
The Value of Philosophical Reflection
Socratic Legacy
• philosophical reflection is necessary
• Socratic method is the series of questioning and answering
• What we believe to be true becomes the basis of our action
• If we know something, it is worth sharing it to others. If we are
ignorant about something, we learn from others who know.
Know Thyself
• it would be wise to have some self-knowledge relevant to one's
choice of career and many other significant and life-altering
decisions
• self-knowledge can benefit our emotional lives – knowing what
will motivate you to achieve a small or large goal can help
• to understand one's self is to understand other humans as well
• the more you know yourself, the more control you will have in
your life
The Unexamined Life is Not Worth Living
• you begin to know yourself and to take control of your life, you
decide and begin to become the person you want to be
• If a person does not examine his life and sins, he may keep
making the same mistakes and never change or improve.
Virtue is Knowledge of “Good and Bad”
• Virtue is knowledge because to truly know what is good
necessarily leads to the actual doing of what is good.
• A person who truly understands what is good chooses to do
what is good. One who pretends to know what is good does not
choose what is good. Ignorance is revealed in actions.
Philosophy: The Discipline & its Methods
An Exercise of the Truth-Making
Reality
• things that appear to us in this world (actually exist)
• objects we try to figure out
Phenomenon
• situation that is observed to exist or happen
• the object of a person's perception
• what the senses or the mind notice
Science
• Observation through experiments and calculations are the data
used to arrive at conclusion.
• Specific phenomenon to be understood is isolated to yield
valuable information.
• Narrows Its analysis in order to know something.
Philosophy
• Uses phenomenon or raw experience to form the basis for truth
• phenomenon is studied, not by isolating it from others but by
examining the relations it has with other phenomena
• Broadens its analysis to arrive at wisdom and truth
Science and Philosophy both seek to understand the world.
Rationalism VS Empiricism
Empiricism – empiricists
• sense experience is the ultimate starting point for all our
knowledge (experimentation and memory too)
• John Locke: the mind was like a tabula raza (blank sheet of
paper/slate) which was informed by the world of experience
• works with key principles to use skepticism in its school of
thought that rejects the principles of rationalism.
1. Sense experience – simple (one sense) or complex (two or
more senses) ideas come solely from sense experience
(touch, taste, smell, sound, and sight).
2. Innate ideas – reject the notion of innate ideas, tabula rasa
3. Induction – most crucial principle; the belief that very
little can be proven conclusively, especially without
experience: cannot be determined as truth if no one
experienced a certain situation; needs an evidence
Rationalism – rationalists
• the ultimate starting point for all knowledge is reason
• Rene Descartes: reason could explain the working of the world;
without reference to sense experience
• Kant rejected Locke’s empiricism – the rational mind is capable
of structuring and interpreting sense experience
• believe in the reasoning behind things and reality, independent
of sensory experience.
• three key principles that work to find the truth:
1. Deduction – application of concrete principles to draw a
conclusion. Mathematical principles, ex: l x w (area)
2. Innate ideas – the concept that we're born with
fundamental truths or experiences left over from another
life that we're born with; can also come from God and
explain why some people possess significantly more talent
in some things than others who have exactly the same
exposure to them
3. Reason – uses multiple methods of logic to determine
conclusion and truth
Rationalism and Empiricism are both under the epistemology, which
is a branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge.
Doxa & Episteme: The Journey to Truth
Opinion
• a personal claim, belief, or stance on a particular subject matter
based on experiences – relative; entitled to his or her opinion
• opinions are sometimes based on facts
• fact = objective, well-supported by available evidence
• opinion = subjective or not well supported by available
evidence, refers to what a person thinks about something but is
lacking evidence; cannot be proven or certain
• the criterion of objectivity, a necessary condition or facts, is
what separates an opinion from a fact
• not all those who claim that they are telling the truth are
revealing the truth, we may be deceived if we do not verify
whether these clams are indeed true or not
• We expect people to respect our beliefs.
• usually changes through time
• would not count as knowledge unless they pass a test of
verification or confirmation
Truth
• neither an opinion nor a fact; universal, undisputed, verified
through facts, and even transcendent, beyond a reasonable
doubt (he main questions in philosophy, and many theories
have dealt with this question)
• always true regardless what a person thinks/speak
• does not change, it remains, no matter how convincing an
opinion is – how to seek the truth
Journey to Truth (Doxa and Episteme)
• Knowledge (episteme in Greek): facts, information, and skills
acquired by a person through experience or education.
• Opinion (doxa in Greek): a view or judgment formed about
something, not necessarily based on fact or knowledge.
Epistemology
• Branch of Philosophy – theory and nature of knowledge,
justification, and rationality of belief.; devoted specifically to
the problem of Knowledge
• Rational beings are held responsible for their thoughts in the
same way that they are for their actions.

Plato's Dialogue: This dialectic is instrumental in drawing out
assumptions, inconsistencies and citing counter-examples so the
truth is known.
• Opinions: Agreed by interlocutors
• Question & Answer: discussion progresses due to cross-
examination of the opinion
• Implications are drawn-out: Counter examples are cited to
arrive at truth
Syllogism
• type of reasoning developed by Aristotle
• deductive argument of a certain form where a conclusion is
inferred from two premise
a. Major Premise - a very general statement
b. Minor Premise - gets more specific
• Based on the two statements, a conclusion is drawn; serves as
explanation as to why the conclusion is valid and acceptable
• EX: All fish (M) are sea creatures (P) (Major Premise); Every
shark (S) is a fish (M) (Minor Premise); Therefore every shark
(S) are sea creatures (P) (Conclusion)
Indubitability
• Rene Descartes, Father of Modern Philosophy
• Indubitability = cannot be doubted: patently evident or certain;
unquestionable.
• Statements that are false, doubtful or uncertain cannot be used
as basis for knowledge.
• Clear and distinct ideas alone can become the foundation of all
knowledge.
A fact is a statement about an actual thing that exists and can be
proven true or false, observed, or measured (are observed to the real
of truthful). Claims are statements that require further examination
to determine their truthfulness.
Philosophy is concerned with determining truth since it lies at the
heart of any inquiry. Philosophers explore the nature of knowledge
and the ways of knowing.
Truth can be a product of agreement or consensus or a claim as
truthful if it can be rested and verified.
Opinions are comprised of statements which not only give facts but
also provide conclusions or perspectives regarding certain
situations; advance a belief or provide explanations. It is often
influenced by bias – views and tendencies that affect the way they
see reality. We must be aware of bias so that we can objectively and
critically examine points of view.
Arguments provide reasons to convince the reader or listener that a
claim or opinion is truthful. Some may contain fallacies (products of
faulty reasoning), affecting the validity of arguments.
Philosophy can help us examine various views on relevant issues in
our lives. An objective evaluation of opinions and an awareness of
our personal biases can help us to make wise choices regarding the
most acceptable views to adopt and the right actions to undertake.
Unveiling Truth through Method
The Methods of Philosophizing
• philosophical reflection: enables to see through the things and
see the person that we become because of what we do
• We know ourselves only when we philosophize.
• methods of philosophizing = attaining truth or wisdom
Socratic Method
• a process of asking open-ended questions that are committed to
finding the truth
• It usually takes the form of a dialogue in which people discuss
and analyze a specific subject matter. It is like a cross-
examination. It Is also a strategy of teaching any subject matter
between a teacher and a student. (Zack, 2010)
• “An unexamined life is not worth living” – Socrates urges us to
examine ourselves, including our beliefs and assumptions in
life.
• the art of asking a question that is committed to the truth; aims
for moral improvement to make us wise and virtuous persons
• he/she does not seek to harm or destroy a person; instead, the
goal is to correct one's opinIons and lead him or her to the truth
Dialectical Method
• 'dialectics' = Greek word dialego,: to debate or discuss
• George Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel & Karl Marx - Modern
Philosophers who develops the Dialectical Method
• Reality is in constant conflict.
• Formula: thesis VS antithesis results in synthesis
• Thesis: a claim, hypothesis, speculation, declaration, belief,
conclusion, or a certain reality
• Antithesis: thesis that negates or opposes the given thesis
• Synthesis: result of the conflict of the thesis and antithesis.
However, it becomes a new thesis that will be opposed by
another antithesis, which will result in another synthesis.
• The dialectic method, is not concerned about winning or losing
but about seeking new ideas that arise from a conflict.
• method in searching for the truth or discovering a new idea
Phenomenological Method
• phenomenology = Greek words: phainomenon (appearance)
and logos (study or reason).
• Phenomenon is that which appears to the consciousness of the
mind.
• Phenomenology investigates the essence of nature of the things
that appear to a person.
• Edmund Husserl: "the science of the essence of consciousness"
• Husserl's phenomenological method is also called pure
phenomenology. It emphasizes the person's lived experience to
get to the true meaning of reality.
• It helps a person to examine his/her own experience of
something. One's experience is never taken for granted in the
search for truth.
Hermeneutics
• hermeneutics = associated with the Greek god, Hermes, who
was the messenger between gods and humans
• It is derived from herméneuein or herméneusai and herméneia,
which means interpreting or interpretation.
• Friedrich Schleiermacher system = romanticist hermeneutics
• It aims "to capture the truth of the text." The truth is taken from
how the author originally meant something.
• To achieve this, one starts from the subjective interpreter (or
the reader himself), then considers the historical and the
cultural context to grasp the original authorial intention
(Demeterio, 2001). The reader should check the author's
historical background and the period when the author
said/wrote something.
• In seeking the truth of what the person has said, one must aim
for what the person has intended to say, considering the history
and cultural background.
The search for truth is like a vocation – a calling. There may be only
one call, but there can be different ways of answering it.
A person must be open to the call for truth even if it is against one's
opinion; and from here, he/she must consider examining the
immaterial element of the human person: the embodied spirit.
The Self in Question: The Human Person
as an Embodied Spirit
Discovering the Self
What are your experiences of discovering new things, attitudes,
capabilities, talents, including your own principles in life that affect
your major decisions that you have already made?
• Man is always more than what he knows about himself – Karl
Jaspers
• Human being's understanding of himself/herself, the source of
many questions about the existence of the world and everything
that exists in it.
• Confronts "Who Am I", = unveils existence or pushed to the
limit of silence.
• Classic view of man dictates that the nature of man is to think,
to feel and do or act only those that are inherent in his nature.
Who am I?
• does not only deal with a general concept or information about
oneself, considers obvious and ordinary becomes the center of
their mental and physical activity
• deals with concrete and specific historicity
• encompasses self-being
• what is seen and considered as obvious and ordinary question
is certainly, can be very difficult to answer
Jose Rizal
• believes that because human being is endowed with, he/she
wonders and questions everything including his/her existence.
• he claims that disharmony among persons occur when one does
not recognize the light of reason of the other person.
Immanuel Kant
• claims that "Human person has the responsibility of respecting
other people in the same way he/she respect himself/herself."
We CONSTRUCT the Self
• self: constructing and organizing principles of experiences =
world that is familiar, predictable and significantly called mine
• I myself is the one who's discovering the world for I am the
driver of my life. Nobody will do it for me for it transcends the
experience in my mind as well as the senses of mine.
Rene Descartes
• Man is a thinking man that has an entity to doubt, understand,
analyze, question, and the most important thing is to reason out
that can exist independently in the physical body.
• Cogito ergo sum - "I THINK THEREFORE I AM"
• I have the free will to reason out what I wanted to say.
John Locke
• The Self is Consciousness
• Tabula Rasa or a mind self at birth is a blank state
• Conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences are
the keys in understanding the self.
The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
• Non-material Aspects – emotional needs, desires, and passions
• Material/Physical Aspects: body with various features
• the idea that a human person is an embodied spirit
• “Embodied" = quality of being materialized or a characteristic
of possessing a body; "Spirit" = immaterial
• The human person as an 'embodied spirit' does not refer to the
materialization or the personification of a human being. It
refers to the inseparable union of the body and the soul. Their
body is inseparable from their soul, just as the soul is
inseparable from the body. The human person is the meeting
point of the material and immaterial entities (Steph, 2018).
• This concept makes it possible to accept man's limitations and
realize his potentials. It helps man recognize his uniqueness.
Ancient Period: Plato and Aristotle
• Concepts are influenced by the cosmogenic model of the world.
• Considering that man is part of the universe.
Plato's Three Function
• Dichotomy of the Body and Soul – the body is material and is
subject to changes and destructions, while the soul is
immaterial and unchanging.
• The human soul is an authentic part because the body is just its
prison cell. Hence, the body's existence is dependent on the
soul, while the soul is independent of the body.
• Soul – the soul has a tripartite function, namely, the rational
function, the passion function, and the appetitive function.
These are represented by the body parts.
1. The head does the soul's Rational function, which enables
human persons to think, analyze, comprehend, and make
decisions. This guides the passion and appetitive functions
of the soul.
2. Passion function performs the actions dictated by reason
and is also responsible for various feelings, such as hatred
or anger.
3. Appetitive function enables a person to experience
cravings or anything that deals with man's physical wants.
• For Plato, if a person allows his reason to properly guide his
passion and appetite, he will have a well-balanced personality.
 Aristotle's Three Types of Souls
The Soul is inseparable
The soul and the body are substantially united. There is no
dichotomy between the two, for none cannot talk about the soul apart
from the body or talk about the body apart from the soul.
The word soul is an English translation of the Greek word psyche.
Hence, for him, the soul is the source of life.
For Aristotle, all bodies, living or not, are a combination of the
primary elements. The body is not the principle of life, for it is
always in potentiality. It needs a form to be in actuality. By actuality,
we mean it is alive. When the body is alive, it will then be able to
perform its functions. The soul then is the form of the organized
body. Anything that lives has a soul.
Aristotle identified three kinds of souls found in plants, animals, and
man. These three kinds of souls are characterized as vegetative,
sensitive, and rational
1. Vegetative – Plants can grow, reproduce, and feed themselves.
That is why the living soul is found in them. It does not share
the higher types of souls, for it cannot feel and think.
2. Sensitive – it shares with the vegetative soul, for it is also
capable of growing, feeding, and reproducing. What makes it
different is that it is capable of sensing or feeling. A sensitive
being possesses the appetite where desire, anger, and pain are
experienced.
3. Rational Soul – the capacity for scientific thoughts, for it can
distinguish various things. It analyzes and understands the
relationship of things. It also deliberates and discovers the truth
of the nature of things and the guidelines for human behavior.
Aristotle believed then that there must be a connection between the
mind and the soul. It is from this connection that consciousness and
self-awareness arise.
Medieval Period
• The ancient Greek philosophers focused only on the
cosmogenic nature of human beings.
• The period following the ancient times is called the medieval
period or the Middle Ages.
• This period is also referred to as the age of faith. In Philosophy,
this age marks a shift of focus from cosmology to theodicy.
This period centers on proving the existence of God based on
rational methods.
• St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas
St. Augustine
• St. Augustine of Hippo had a deep interest in Philosophy in his
search for meaning in the Christian faith. He believed that God
created the world and the creation of the immortal soul.
• A human being is not only material and rational but, a soul
embodied in a material substance. The soul is a 'self-sustaining'
substance.
• Plato believed in the soul's immortality, which can exist
without the body. With the soul's self-subsistence, it is the real
person in man. It is the principle of life which is also what
makes man authentic. The authentic person of man is the soul
within him. The fact the human body moves means that it is
animated by the soul to perform its functions.
• The human body and its senses outwardly express the activities
of the human soul. Through our five senses, the intellect, as a
special faculty, is enhanced, allowing us to understand and
realize that they are more endowed than other animals.
St. Thomas Aquinas
• Defender of the Christian faith and a Doctor of the Church.
• Aquinas believed that the soul is dependent on the body, in the
same way as the body is dependent on the soul. The body and
soul is inseparable.
• Without the soul, the body will not have its form, and without
the body, the soul will not have its required sense organs to gain
knowledge.
• The intellect and will are the highest human faculties, making
humans beings higher than other animals. These faculties are
geared towards the attainment of the contemplation of God.
Man can aim towards the union and eternal fellowship with
God, which is achieved in the beatific vision.
• It is during the cessation of breath. When the physical body of
man corrupts because of sins, the soul of man continues to exist.
From then, he can see face to face God and enjoy the eternal
happiness. This is the gift of God to all those who follow His
precepts and who in life experienced salvation and redemption
through his son Jesus Christ.
Modern Period
• In this period, there was a huge paradigm shift. From being
theocentric, it shifted to being anthropocentric.
• Modern ideas found it hard to fathom the notion of a God that
is beyond human perception. To better understand man and his
nature, is the most significant being in the world.
• Anthropocentrism became an underlying assumption of most
philosophical concepts during the modern period.
Rene Descartes
• animals have no souls; they cannot think and are mere bundles
of instincts prepackaged by God.
• As a rationalist, he praised the supremacy of the human mind
over the human body.
• “I think, therefore, I am" is his famous dictum. This means that
the fact that man can think is proof that he exists.
• This kind of rationalism maintained that the human mind is
different from the human body and can exist without the other's
presence. Like Plato, he believed that the destruction of the
physical body does not mean the destruction of the mind.
• Descartes believed that the individual is responsible for
himself. Self-examination and Contemplation – a human
person can realize that his existence is completely different
from others.
John Locke
• An empiricist believes that the human mind could not attain any
knowledge without perceiving it first.
• Locke disagreed with Descartes that human persons are born
with innate, fundamental principles, and knowledge.
• Tabula Rasa – Knowledge is acquired only through sensory
experiences. This means that the soul begins to know only
when the senses begin to perceive.
• In Locke's Philosophy, the soul is always in contact with the
body. The soul's task is to think and interpret what the physical
body perceives. Human knowledge is limited, and humans
should be aware of such limitations.
• Human nature necessarily includes the capacities for thinking,
feeling, and acting. These features distinguish us from other
creatures and make us human persons. Each has his/her unique
way of living his/her bodiliness and spirituality.
• Imagining with goals and self-images and the internal functions
of our senses are the activities of the soul.
• With the continued experiences of his bodiliness, he is able to
develop skills. These skills that are developed in the human
person are the possibilities of his existence. As man realizes his
 bodily possibilities, he is at the same time developing his
soulness.
• The soulness is experienced by seeing and aiming at his goals
in life. While living in the material world, the human person
has ambitions. These ambitions drive man to strive hard and
work for the best. Once his goals and ambitions are achieved,
man feels fulfilled with his life's purpose.
The Human Body
The human body connotes the idea of finitude.
The body of a human being is a material thing. Anything that is
material is subject to corruption or destruction. Being embodied
means human beings have certain limitations. Because of his/her
body, a person becomes constrained by time and space.
Everything you see on your body is called accidents: your skin
color, size, shape, height, weight, etc. These accidental
characteristics are sometimes the basis of recognizing (or
misrecognizing) the either positive or negative effects.
It may be well to note that the colonial mentality that most Filipinos
imbibed is one of the problems of the continued patronage of
anything foreign. For instance, many Filipinos aim to look and
sound like the people from the West. Some would even spend a lot
of money just to undergo various cosmetic surgeries due to
dissatisfaction with their natural physical features. These are just a
few of the many things that foreground the idea that human beings
face a lot of physical limitations.
Given these physical constraints, human beings can transcend.
These limitations could also provide the motivation and purpose to
strive harder in realizing one's potentials and possibilities. Being
embodied, therefore, is not a hindrance to develop and advance. We
can always improve the intangible limitations of this life.
The Possibility for Transcendence
The act of surpassing our limitations is called "transcendence".
Through transcendence, a person can acknowledge his/her
limitations, identify possibilities for development, and change
him/herself for the better.
To transcend is to go beyond the ordinary. We often experience
hunger, fatigue, thirst, loneliness, emptiness, and many others.
These bodily tendencies can be overcome through a proper exercise
of reason. We carry within ourselves the possibility of transcending
our limits by exerting enough effort and perseverance.
Freedom as an Existential Condition
Freedom of the Human Person
• People want to exercise their freedom. Nobody likes to be
forced to do things, be imprisoned in an unwanted place, or be
stuck in a miserable situation.
• When we think about freedom deeply, we realize there are
problems with its nature that we are not aware of. The classic
problem of freedom is whether there is freedom or not; our past
actions predict our future behavior.
• Determinism rejects the idea of freedom because, according to
this theory, human behavior is determined by many factors,
such as history, socio-economic context, and physiological
makeup, among others.
• Some believes that a human person can do anything he/she
wants to do, while others believe that there are certain
limitations on what humans can do.
• Despite of many questions/problems concerning the concept of
freedom, one this is certain: freedom is essential in a human
person.
Freedom
• Freedom is vital to human existence.
• Aside from reason, what distinguishes human beings from
animals is freedom.
• Human beings have the capacity to choose, to be free from and
to be free for. The will of humanity is an instrument of free
choice. It is within the power of everyone to be good or bad,
worthy or worthless.
Jean-Paul Sartre
• "Man is condemned to be free.”
• The concept of freedom is ontological. It focuses on the study
of being.
• Freedom is the very being of the human person (as being-for-
itself), and "to be free" does not mean "to obtain what one has
wished" but rather "by oneself to determine oneself to wish"
(Sartre, 1965).
• This means that a person cannot escape from freedom. He
cannot choose not to be free because not choosing is even a
choice.
• Not doing anything is choosing to do something, and that is
doing nothing.
• What you are trying to say is that you were not free during the
time of decision-making. You are free what to choose.
• The limitation that you think does not limit freedom itself. It is
because you are still the one who chooses that limitation. You
decide to limit yourself with those factors and that very fact
means that you are free to choose in any way.
• You think that those factors can hinder you from going there.
Most often, we stop thinking and creating possibilities, so we
immediately say that we are not free.
Is the freedom of the human person limited?
• The limitation of freedom is a product of our being conscious
of things; it is our choice of limitation.
• There are unlimited choices for the person to think, but what
limits is the thought of limiting our actions.
• The obstacle in front of the person is only a limitation as far as
the person’s goal is concerned.
• The only thing that a person cannot be free is not being free.
Whatever you do, you are free.
However, being free also means being responsible. We should never
forget the concept of responsibility when talking about freedom.
Responsibility & Consequences
• "Realize that Actions have Consequences"
• “It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge
the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.” - Sir Josiah
Stamp
Responsibility: when people talk about freedom, what is being
emphasized is how a person is free.
Sartre
• when there is freedom, there is responsibility. The absolute
responsibility of the person is freedom itself.
• "consciousness (of) being the incontestable author of an event
or an object (Sartre, 1993).
• When a person is free, the person is also responsible. Whatever
the person chooses, he/she is the author of the choice.
• Responsibility is being the owner of one's choice.
• disown freedom = neglecting responsibility
• They forget that their choices have consequences
Aristotle
• a human being is rational (based on facts or reason and not by
emotion).
• Reason is divine characteristic.
• Humans have the spark of the divine.
• If there were no intellect, there would be no will. Our will is an
instrument of free choice. Reason, will, and action drives each
other. Reason can legislate (control), but only through will can
its legislation be translated into action.
• The will of humanity is an instrument of free choice. It is within
the power of everyone to be good or bad, worthy or worthless.
• This is borne out by:
o Our inner awareness of an aptitude to do right or wrong;
o The common testimony of all human beings;
o The rewards and punishment of rulers;
o The general employment of praise and blame.
• Moral acts, which are always particular acts, are in our power
and we are responsible for them. Character or habit is no excuse
for immoral conduct.
For St. Thomas of Aquinas: Love is Freedom
• Of all creatures of God, human beings have the unique power
to change themselves and the things around the for the better.
• A human being has a supernatural transcendental destiny. He
can rise above his ordinary being or self to highest being or self.
o This is in line with the idea of St. Thomas that in the plan
of God, a human being has to develop and perfect himself
by doing his daily tasks.
o Hence, if a human being perseveringly lives a righteous
and virtuous life, he transcends his mortal state of life and
soars to an immortal state of life.
• The power of change, however, cannot be done by human
beings alone humanity and God, there is a gap, which God
alone can bridge through His power.
• For love is in consonance with humanity free nature, for law
commands and complete; love only calls and invites. St.
Thomas emphasizes the freedom of humanity but chooses love
in governing humanity’s life.
• Since God is love, then love is the guiding principle of
humanity toward -self- perception and happiness his ultimate
destiny.
For Jean Jacques Rousseau: Social Contract
• He is the most famous and influential philosophers of the
French enlightenment in the 18th century. In his book The
Social Contract. He elaborated his theory of human nature.
• Human beings must form a community or civil community to
protect themselves from one another. because the nature of
human beings is to wage war against one another.
• And since by nature, humanity tends toward self-preservation,
then it follows that they must come to a free mutual agreement
to protect themselves.
Freedom and Consequences
Because of freedom, the consequences of our actions are inevitable.
The person has to commit himself to a certain goal. From there, the
person can evaluate the possible choices that they may take to reach
that goal. Anything the person chooses becomes part of the self.
Choosing oneself is also choosing all human persons. When one
chooses, he chooses his world that includes others and the
environment.
The consequences of the choice are inevitable. The fact that all other
human beings are freedoms, they also react or choose from the result
of your choosing.
One must always be ready to face what lies ahead, which means they
have to be responsible for their choices.
The freedom of the human is a gift because it makes us what we are,
but it is also a burden because it makes us anxious for not escaping
freedom and responsibility.
A true person who consciously chooses his/her action will
courageously face the consequences.
Individual freedom involves the world and freedom of other
individuals, and that leads us to the idea of intersubjectivity.
Human Existence of Intersubjectivity
Human Being as Being-in-Dialogue
• Self-consciousness and Dialogue
• One important and inherent aspect of human person as thinking
and acting being is self-consciousness.
• For this aspect to become more complete, it must recognize
itself through another self-consciousness.
• Emerges when communicating each other in a vocative
situation or in dialogue.
• Gabriel Marcel's idea: In establishing relation with another
person, self-consciousness becomes more aware of itself.
• The continuous dialogue between "I's" self-consciousness and
the other's consciousness leads to the establishment of unity of
consciousness that pervades in the dialogue.
• This summons each self consciousness to treat one another not
as an object but as subject, as a Thou and not as It (Buber).
• Moreover, Marcel believes that the absence of freedom in
communicative manifestation, objectification follows.
Selfhood and Dialogue
• Human being's selfhood is its individuality, self-being, self-
realization and well-being. It does not show itself when one
decides to break himself from communicative manifestation of
his/her being.
• Karl Jaspers says: selfhood only emerges itself in and through
dialogical situation. Dialogue fosters individuality, self-
identity and self being of each person in the dialogical situation.
Freedom and Dialogue: Unfolding of the Self
• Freedom is a human aspect that he/she becomes conscious of
himself/herself. However, freedom effects something thing
upon human being if it is expressed in a dialogical context.
• The true expression of freedom occurs when it is expressed
both for one's self-being but for the other's self-being. This
freedom is never passive. It summons human being to action
and this action presupposes relationship.
• R. Tagore claims: Human freedom can only find its true
meaning in relation to the freedom of another human being.
Truth and Dialogue: Making Present
Truth about one's self-being is always relational; and it is unveiled
through dialogical situation or communicative manifestation. It is
experienced and shared as human being engages himself/herself in
an intersubjective or interhuman or dialogical encounter.
Buber and Jaspers remind us: It is in this encounter the truth of the
one’s whole being can possibly emerge.
Jaspers: "Truth gives courage: If I have grasped it at any point the
urge grows to pursue it relentlessly. Truth gives support: here
something indestructible, something linked to being”
Truth, make you project a true image of who you are; true self
emerges. In the context of friendships; truth matters for meaningful
relationships.
Human Being as Political Animal
Aristotle
• Living in a society organized intelligently, such as a city, state
or nations, is what makes us human. Anybody who lives
outside the "city-state" is either a beast or a god.
• Man engages in politics to achieve the "common good."
• In the classical period, humans could not conceive a good life
separately from politics.
• Therefore, "Man is a political Animal." At his best, man is the
noblest of all animals; separated from law and justice he is the
worst.
Thomas Hobbes
• "Government is necessary, not because man is naturally bad…
but because man is by nature more individualistic than social."
• He argued that people were naturally wicked and could not be
trusted to govern. Humans are naturally selfish and violent.
• "Leviathan" - is a strong ruler who can give people direction.
• Fear of others in the state of nature prompts people to form
governments through a social contract.
• Social Contract - an agreement between individuals held
together by the common interest.
• "Morality consists in the set of rules, governing how people are
to treat one another, that rational people will agree to accept,
for their mutual benefit, on the condition that others follow
those rules as well."
• "During the time men live without a common power to keep
them all in awe, they are in that conditions called war; and such
a war, as if of every man, against every man."
Baron de Montesquieu
• In the state of nature... all men are born equal, but they cannot
continue in this equality. Society makes them lose it, and they
recover it only by the protection of the law.
• There should be a separation of powers. Separation of powers
would keep any individual or group from gaining total control.
• The separation of powers check and balances the power.
Legislative, Executive, Judicial; It is necessary from the very
nature of things that power should be a check to power.
• To become truly great, one has to stand with people, not above
them.
Human's Existence of Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity deals with the human person as a subject in relation
to another; emphasize the idea of the "subject" as a being who
recognizes the other.
The "other" here refers to the other person, another subject than the
self. However, the other does not only pertain to a human being. It
could refer inanimate or animate beings, such as animals, plants, or
the environment.
Paul Ricoeur
Man is this plural and collective unity in which the unity of
destination and the differences of destinies are to be understood
through each other (Ricoeur, 1986)
Jean-Paul Gustave Ricoeur – He is a French philosopher and
historian who studied various linguistic and psychoanalytic theories
of interpretation. Even a glimpse of Ricoeur's life, one could sense
the breadth of his philosophy, particularly his contribution to
Hermeneutics or the art of interpretation.
Texts as the Concept of Intersubjectivity
• He said that the world now becomes discoverable, not behind
the text but in front of the text, then the work unfolds, discovers,
and reveals.
• He continues that for one to understand is to understand oneself
in front of a text. In other words, the text is necessary for the
development of the self and paves the way to discover the
world.
• Through hermeneutics, one can be a better version of himself.
The realization of the development of the self presupposes that
a reader of a text will realize to be a good and responsible
person, not only for himself but for others (Ricoeur, 2008).
• If one stretches out the idea of the self or self-hood, one cannot
exclude the idea of the other.
• Oneself implies such an ostensible event that one cannot be
thought of without the other. Oneself has its title as a self
because of the other.
• This thought is not a comparison between the self and the other,
rather this is an illustration of the subject and intersubject that,
there is an implication that oneself is similar to another or
oneself since being other (Ricoeur, 1994).
Self
• Ricoeur's idea of the self brought Descartes' famous dictum "I
think, therefore, I am"
• Rene Descartes is a philosopher who lived during the Scientific
Revolution, the era of rapid advances in the sciences. He is best
known for his “Methodic doubt” and the concept of the
“Cogito”.
• Man can doubt everything except the self. Using doubt as a
standpoint, one can attain knowledge and certainty.
• When talking about the self, "I think, therefore, I am" means
that man is a thinking being, and that a thinking being exists.
• If one knows the self well, understands the self, then the act of
reaching out for others is not a farfetched reality (Ricoeur,
1994).
• To realize the existence of the self serves as an impetus for
reaching out to others. The self does not necessarily mirror the
other; rather it recognizes that the other also has a self of its
own.
• This kind of realization broadens the horizon of not only having
a solipsistic point of view of survival. One has also to learn to
take care of the self of the other.
• Selfishness can be a temporary phase may lead one to become
a selfless human being the moment he/she realizes the other.
• one should learn how to develop oneself before one reaches out
for the other; self-care & self-preservation are the stepping
stone for taking care of others
Martin Buber
• The content and relation of these two worlds is the theme of I
and Thou. The other person, the Thou, is shown to be a reality
- that is- it is given to me, but it is not bounded by me. (Martin
Buber, 1923)
• Buber differentiates the "I and It" and the "I and Thou.
• The I-It relationship points to the existence of the self and its
relation to another, which is not necessarily a human being,
e.g., plants, animals, and objects.
I-Thou
• The I-Thou relationship points to the existence of the self and
its relation to another entity that has a human self, that is,
another human being, or simply the "other". It presupposes that
each participant is concerned for each other, and each person
turns fully and equally towards the other with openness and
ethical engagement.
• Buber maintains the importance of the relationship of person to
person. This existence is heightened by the act of dialogue,
leading to the realization of total-presentness.
• The philosophy of dialogue pours much concern on wholeness,
decision, presentness, and uniqueness. These boil down to the
question of the authenticity of the self or authentic existence.
For Buber, one becomes a person by engaging or entering into
a relationship with a Thou.
• To know how to address human existence vis-à-vis the self's
existence is the key to achieving the state of being fully human.
• If the self is only at the play of discovering his own existence,
he might fall short in becoming fully human. However, if the
self engages with others and enters into an I-Thou relationship,
becoming fully human becomes a reality. The pursuit of
becoming truly human is attained in the I and Thou
relationship.
Emmanuel Lévinas
• To approach the Other in conversation is to welcome his
expression, in which at each instant he overflows the idea a
thought would carry away from it. Therefore, it is to receive
from the Other beyond the capacity of the I, which means
exactly: to have the idea of infinity. But this also means: to be
taught (Emmanuel Levinas, 1979).
• For Levinas, "Ethics is the first philosophy because it is only
by acknowledging the command in the 'face' of the other that
we can account for the sensitivity to the normative distinctions
that structure intentional content." (Crowell, 2015).
• Thus, the human person is intentionally directed to the world;
and in the face of the other, he/she does not find superiority
over the other.
• Ethics calls for a vivid and wide scope of responsibility towards
the other. This idea of intersubjectivity presupposes the
equality and inclusiveness of every individual.
• These examples show that the other's concern and
responsibility are expressed not only in words but, most
importantly, translated into concrete actions.
Idealistic Transcendental Ego as Man's Ultimate Goal
• One should not focus on the question of being's essence, but
rather which responsibility has it awoken to.
• Levinas encourages to go out from the self and opens one's
heart and mind to see the face of the vulnerable other. This
means that recognizing the sense of responsibility is the
paramount priority in engaging oneself with the other. Being
responsible is taking care for the others.
Who is the “Other”?
• Other is not limited to the other person. The other does not only
mean the alterity of the self or as the other person, but also those
who are weak and vulnerable whose existence is interconnected
with the environment.
• Levinas asserts that "the Other's ‘exteriority’ does not consist
in the difference between my appearance-systems and his or
hers, but in the Other's ability to call me (normatively) into
question: "The presence of the Other is equivalent to this
calling into question of my joyous possession of the world”
(Boorse, 2008).
• The self’s task is no longer centered on the development of the
self, because the other, in one way or another, affirms the
selfless self. It cannot be emphasized enough that the self may
still want to attain its perfection, but not at the other's expense.
• For Levinas, we should go out of ourselves to see the
vulnerable in the face of the other. The responsibility towards
the other is the key concept of his philosophy.
The Human Person in Society and in Environment
The Human Person in Society
• The human person is a being who does not exist only for itself,
but a being that is naturally destined to relate with others in
society. The human person to fully actualize himself/herself
fully, it is more advantageous for them to live harmoniously
with others as they live in the midst of society.
• Self-actualization does not mean the destruction of others but
rather a process of immersing oneself with others to make each
one better, happy and contented members of society.
• "No Man is an Island."
• Human beings always tend to relate with other groups and
individuals, which constitute what is referred to as a society.
• Society refers to individuals' voluntary association for common
ends, especially an organized group working together or
periodically meeting because of common interests, beliefs, or
profession. A society is a group of interacting individuals
sharing the same territory and participating in a culture, and
thus, "a society is any organization that enables people to carry
on a common life" (Lund, 1979).
Plato’s Concept of Society
• societies are invariably formed for a particular purpose
• Individual human beings are not self-sufficient; no one working
alone can acquire all the genuine necessities of life.
• In order to resolve this difficulty, human beings gather into
communities for the mutual achievement of their common
goals. This succeeds because people can work more efficiently
if they specialize in the practice of a specific craft: I make all
the shoes; you grow all the vegetables; she does all the
carpentry, etc.
• Plato held that separation of functions and specialization of
labor are the keys to establishing a worthwhile society. Plato
envisions that a society should be divided into three social
classes, namely,
a. producing class: farmers, merchants and laborers/workers
b. soldier class: the warriors
c. ruling class: philosopher-thinkers as well as rulers and
kings who are selected to lead the entire society
Auguste Comte’s Three Stages of a Global Society
Theological Stage
Starting at the very beginning of human beings and social groups,
Comte believes that in this stage, people viewed the world and the
events in that world as a direct expression of the will of various gods.
For example, ancient people actually believed that planets were gods
in the sky looking down on Earth. Even the sun was part of the world
of the gods; ancient Greeks believed the sun was one wheel on the
massive chariot steered by Apollo. If something had happened, like
when a community experienced bad weather or an earthquake,
people in the theological stage would explain that such an event was
a result of god's anger to the people.
The theological stage meant that people used supernatural or divine
explanations to understand society and the world. This is one of the
reasons why ancient people-built temples and churches. They were
intended to honor the Supreme Being whom people perceived as
"Greater than themselves”.
Metaphysical Stage
People viewed the world and events as natural reflections of human
tendencies. People in this stage still believed in divine powers or
gods, but they believed that these beings were more abstract and less
directly involved in what happens daily. Instead, problems in the
world were due to defects in humanity.
An example of a kind of thinking in this stage was the belief that the
planets were physical objects in space but that they influenced
people's lives via astrology. The idea here was that societies still
believed in some supernatural or magical aspects of life, but they
were also rooted in the concrete parts of life.
Positive Stage
This stage is when the mind stops searching for the causes of
phenomena and realizes that laws exist to govern human behavior,
which can be explained using reason and observation, both of which
are used to study the social world. This stage relies on science,
rational thought, and empirical laws.
Comte believes that sociology is "the science that [comes] after all
the others; and as the final science, it must assume the task of
coordinating the development of the whole of knowledge because it
organizes all of human behavior".
There have been a variety of views that attempt to define the essence
of a society. Yet, of all these different views, there is one common
entity that is involved in the idea - human beings.
When one thinks of society, the idea cannot stand without humans
being involved since we are, after all, social beings.
The Human Person as a Social Being
"Man is a social animal." - Aristotle, Greek Philosopher; He who
lives without society is either a beast or God" (Jowett, 1885).
Every human being is presumably social and always has the
penchant for relating to others. As humans connect with each other,
such relation is accompanied by responsibility.
Luke 10:25-37 - "Parable of the Good Samaritan"
This story captures human beings' imagination on who their
neighbors are or the extent to which they are responsible.
The parable speaks a lot concerning human beings relationship with
others in any given society. Since humans are moral subjects. their
social nature entails an obligation to the other. Humans play a vital
role in the world and the unfolding of this world depends upon the
meaning that humans bring into it.
In relation to the story of the Good Samaritan, it can be noted that
before he comes to the rescue of the robbed man, two others, a priest
and a Levite, happened to pass by and have opted not to save him. It
should be noted that Jewish culture, at that time, looked at dead
bodies as unclean. Hence, a person who touched an unclean body
would also himself become unclean. The priest and the Levite,
presuming that the robbed man was dying, did not take the risk of
helping him, probably afraid that he would die in the process.
The priest and the Levite could not be blamed for their actions
towards the 'half-dead man' since their society expects them to avoid
contacting unclean objects like dead bodies and corpses. The act of
the Good Samaritan, on the other hand, is a response based on his
nature as a moral subject. In other words, the Good Samaritan
transcended his society's expectations and did what was expected of
him as a moral person.
Being for Others in the Local Context
Gugma sa Isig ka Tawo - "love for others". This concept is
understood in connection with pagtambayayong (peace), pagpa-
ambit (share), and pagsinabtanay (mutual understanding).
In a fishing community where homes are built very close to each
other, the essence of "being for others" through good interpersonal
relations are very crucial in achieving, maintaining, and sustaining
peace among people living in the same community.
Since fisherfolks get their source of livelihood from the sea, their
expression of gugma sa isig ka tawo is concretely manifested in
helping and supporting each other in earning their keep amidst the
uncertainties of what the seas would bring them.
Fisherfolks live in a close-knit community where everybody knows
everybody. They are a family of people whose common goal is to
live life side by side with the sea. The spirit of oneness would
eventually develop which eventually leads to the development of
love for others (Fernandez, 2017).
In a farming community, where members are not materially affluent,
acts of sharing naturally strengthen the bond among community
members. Its essence is not so much on the value of the thing shared,
but rather on their willingness to share what they have to a neighbor.
“naa ang gugma ug kalinaw sa pakig-ambit sa mga grasya nga
nadawat" (there is love and peace in the act sharing of the graces one
received) -Lilia Silongan, 2015
"Being for others" is also expressed in pagsinabtanay.
This is an attitude demonstrating understanding for each other. It is
accompanied by a person's capacity for tolerance, enabling him/her
to weigh things out before making a decision or an action.
This brings peace to the community since each member tries
understanding each other and evaluate things according to their
merits. Indeed, pagtambayayong and pagpa-ambit are concrete
expressions of being for others.
The people in the communities taken into consideration look at the
notion of pagtambayayong (collaboration with others in work)
pagpa-ambit (sharing what one has with others) and pagsinabtanay
(understanding each other).
Human Person as a Being Condemned to be Free
• In short, life is what each and every person makes of it.
• "Existence precedes essence." (Jean Paul Sartre). Existence
refers to the totality of how a person has lived his or her life.
Essence refers to the nature or the whatness of a human person.
• Existence precedes essence means...
o a human person does not a have a pre-given nature,
meaning, purpose, and value;
o there is no universal human nature, meaning, purpose, and
value; and
o that individual human nature, meaning, purpose, and value
are created by each person depending on how he or she
lives his or her life.
Abandoned to be Free
• Abandonment – the existential condition of being thrown into
one's existence with nothing to cling to as guide. The path of
life is not ready-made; it is for each of us to create.
• We are abandoned in the sense that we did not choose to be
free. Freedom is a human condition we are thrown into.
Freedom in Despair
• We are in despair when we have no control over the realization
of our plans in life.
• According to Sartre, we can rely only on those things within
our power and on the sum of probabilities that made our actions
possible.
• We can plan and decide to realize our plan, but its realization
depends on an ensemble of possibilities. And this is the
condition under which we live our freedom.
Life in Action
• Things do not always turn the way we plan them. The
realization of our plans is beyond our control.
• According to Sartre, we are what our actions are. Our actions
define who we are. There is no life outside action.
• A human person, according to Sartre, "is nothing else but what
he purposes, he exists only in so far as he realizes himself, he
is therefore nothing eke but the sum of his actions, nothing else
but what his life is."
• It is in our ability to create and to recreate ourselves where the
meaning of our lives lies. "[T]here is no love apart from the
deeds of love: no potenticity of love other than that which is
manifested in loving: there is no genius other than that which
is expressed in works of art." (Sartre)
• Sisyphus's endless pushing of the rock may appear
meaningless, but it is not the top of the mountain that is
important for him. It is the pushing of the rock; it is his
engagement and commitment with life that matters. It is by
endlessly pushing the rock that Sisyphus defines his life.
• Similarly, according to Sartre, it is through our actions,
commitments, and projects that we define our lives.
Freedom and Responsibility
• Jean-Paul Sartre: Freedom Implies Responsibility
• A human person is free; hence, he or she is responsible for
himself or herself, for others, and ultimately for humanity.
What a person is and how he or she should exist is his or her
responsibility.
• A person is free but he or she does not exist alone; he or she co-
exists with others and his or her actions surely affects others.
This is the reason why a person cannot just do anything he or
she wants. In his actions, he or she should not only think of
himself or herself, but also, of others. His or her actions should
not only be self-regarding, but also, other-regarding.
Freedom implies that the person's awareness of his or her huge
responsibility gives him or her so much anguish, which is the feeling
of being burdened by his or her own awareness of his or her total
responsibility.
But can a person choose not to be responsible? It is an act of bad
faith on the part of any person not to recognize his or her total
responsibility. Choosing to live irresponsibly is to deny one's
freedom, a freedom which defines his or her own existence.
To be human is to be free and to be free is to be responsible, not only
for oneself, but also, for others and for the whole humanity itself.
Kant: Freedom is Doing What is Good as a Matter of Duty
• Freedom is not an act of doing anything one wants. Getting
what one wants is not freedom; it is slavery to one's appetite or
emotion.
• Freedom does not react; it commands.
• Freedom is not also doing things because they are beneficial; it
is doing things because they ought to be done.
Kant's Concept of a Human Person
• A human person is a rational being. As a rational being, a
human person is capable of distinguishing what is right from
what is wrong.
• This capacity enables a human person to choose his or her
actions making him or her free.
• Rationality and freedom makes a human person autonomous.
An autonomous being commands, not commanded. As an
autonomous being, a human person does something because he
or she thinks it to be good.
• The commandment does not come from the outside but it is
self-imposed.
When is a Human Person free according to Kant?
• A person acts freely it he or she acts out of a sense of duty and
if he or she acts on the command that he or she imposes upon
himself or herself.
• To be free is to be able to choose independently of conditions,
independently of whether it is good or bad to the person. Only
acts done out of a sense of duty, according to Kant, are free.
They are free because they are willed as universal values and
not out of any personal interests.
Freedom does not mean doing anything one wants. Freedom is doing
what a human person ought to do. What a human person ought to do
is that which does not treat a human person simply as a means but
always as an end. What a human person ought to do is an act which
can be universalized and not an act that simply promotes his or her
own interests.
It is expected of a human being, being rational, free, and moral, to
always act in accordance with good will and not in accordance with
the dictate of personal interest.
Acting out of personal interests is to be driven by urges, desires, and
appetites and hence to be enslaved by them. Acting out of a sense of
duty is to act in freedom.
The Human Person in/and the Environment
The world is very important to the human person. It is where he/she
is born, raised, and lived the life that he chooses to live. To live life
to the fullest and ensure that the future generation could also
experience the same, it is imperative to take care of the natural
environment.
Nature’s wrath is indeed very destructive. However, humans can do
something to mitigate nature’s destructive force. This follows that
humans should do their share to preserve the environment so that
Mother Nature could protect and sustain them.
In the last ten years, the Philippines had experienced various
catastrophes that were caused by nature. December 2011, Typhoon
Sendong made landfall in Mindanao, which brought heavy rains that
cause flooding in Cagayan de Oro City and Iligan City, leaving
around eight hundred persons dead. December 2012, Typhoon Pablo
ravaged Mindanao which left around one thousand five hundred
fatalities. November 2013, Typhoon Yolanda hit Leyte and Samar
and took the lives of more than five thousand people.
As we continue to explore essence of the human person, it is
essential to include how we interact with the natural environment.
After all, Mother Nature could greatly influence the quality of
human life.
Anthropocentrism and Deep Ecology
• Anthropocentrism - stems from the Judaeo-Christian tradition,
which maintains that humans are the chief stewards of God's
Creation, while non-human beings have no intrinsic value since
they are only valuable depending on their utility to human
beings.
• This concept has a long-standing influence on how human
beings treat the natural environment. For years, humans have
exploited Mother Nature and left traces of destruction all over
the world.
• One of the radical responses to Anthropocentrism is the notion
of Deep Ecology. Deep Ecology is a new ecological philosophy
(ecosophy) that considers humanity an integral part of nature.
The ideology stresses the independence of nature, humans, and
non-humans, as well as the environment and its natural
processes.
• Arne Narss, A Norwegian philosopher coined the term in 1973.
For him, ecological science is concerned only with facts and
reasoning and cannot address ethical questions about how
human beings can live.
• Deep Ecology - human beings need ecological wisdom. By
concentrating on deep knowledge, deep questioning, and deep
involvement, Deep Ecology seeks to establish an integrated
structure where each gives rise to and supports the other.
• Society needs to find a middle ground between
Anthropocentrism and Deep Ecology. In as much as human
beings need to use the things found in nature, they also must
put limits on its use to make sure that there is enough left for
everybody, both in the present and future generations.
• For instance, while human beings need lumber and water, they
should use only what is needed so that these resources could
sustain other humans' needs for a longer period. This means
that human beings can enjoy the things endowed by nature, but
they must do so in moderation in order to sustain them.
Enlightened Anthropocentrism
• Maintains that human beings have a moral duty to set limits in
the utilization of nature's good in order to protect the needs of
the future generation.
• Anthropocentrism is governed by four principles that define
human beings' relationship with the natural environment
(Fernandez, 2019).
a. human beings must recognize their moral obligations to
the present generation of human beings in relation to their
utilization of environmental goods.
b. the present generation must consider the well-being of
future generations and be aware that the stability and
health of the future generations are directly affected by the
decisions that the present generation makes concerning
the environment.
c. people must understand and consider the full value of the
various ecological services provided by the ecosystem.
d. people must recognize that nature has an aesthetic value.
• Enlightened Anthropocentrism - entails moral deliberation and
sustainable actions that are grounded on the fundamental
human inclination for preservation.
• Thus, humans should conserve and protect the environment
because protecting the environment is also an act of protecting
themselves and others
The Natural Environment and Human Beings' Attainment of
Peace
• The wellbeing of the natural environment is crucial to human
beings’ attainment of peace. It is evident that when Mother
Nature unleashes her fury, many people are affected in a variety
of negative ways. For example, when there is heavy rain for
hours, many places will be flooded, which makes people's lives
difficult, especially the poor.
• To live peacefully, people should also leave Mother Nature in
peace so that there will be peaceful co-existence between them.
• Human Beings regard their lives as part of nature; hence, they
have endeavored to be in harmony with it rather than to have
master over it.
• Nature has human-like characteristics and can also reciprocate
the kind of treatment they have towards it. The natural
environment follows the law of reciprocity whereby any good
deed done to it is justly and equally compensated.
The Human Person and Climate Justice
• According to Simon Caney (2020), there is overwhelming
evidence that human activities are changing the climate system.
The emission of greenhouse gases results in increased
temperatures, rising sea levels, and severe weather events (such
as storm surges). These climatic changes raise several issues of
justice, such as
a. how to assess the impacts of climate change,
b. what climate responsibilities current generations have to
future generations,
c. how political actors ought to take into account the risks
and uncertainties involved in climate projections, and
d. who takes responsibility in addressing climate change
• As rational beings. human beings should do the things that can
bring welfare to their fellow human beings about climate
justice.
Though we may have contributed to the destruction of the natural
environment, they also have the power to preserve, conserve, and
restore Nature to its pristine state.
With the harmonious co-existence of the human persons with the
natural environment, the path of attaining personal inner peace,
health, wellbeing, and sustainable development would no longer be
impossible to attain.
Human Being’s Approaches and Influences Toward
Environment
Miss Earth 2017 - Karen Ibasco: "I believe that the real problem in
this world is not climate change; the real problem is us because of
our ignorance and apathy. What we have to do is to start changing
our ways, to start recalibrating our minds, and redirecting our steps,
because together, as a global community, our micro efforts will have
a macro effect to help save our home, our planet. Thank you."
Approaches to the Environment
Instrumental Approach
• Human being affirms the protection of the environment as long
as it possesses value or importance for human being.
• He/she takes care of the environment because it is a medium in
establishing his/her society and civilization.
• The problem with this approach is that when a human being can
no longer recognize the value of environment, it ceases to be a
value.
Axiological Approach
• Human being recognizes the intrinsic value of the environment.
• This demand him/her to protect and take care of it.
• Beauty can be seen as the external expression of such intrinsic
view.
• Axiological approach needs a greater use of imagination and
reflection on the part of human being for his/her to experience
the intrinsic value of environment.
Anthropological Approach
• The primary concern o human being is to unveil his/her being
as human or what being human ought to be.
• The focus of establishing relationship with the environment is
not environment itself but his/her "being".
• Such approach considers environment as an object without any
consciousness of its own.
• can be manipulated and controlled for human beings’ disposal
Utilitarianism
• This approach focuses on the consequences of human action
weather is it wrong or right.
• Our action is ethically right when it produces greater happiness
for the greater number of people, otherwise the action is
ethically wrong.
• Human being uses such view to utilize and manipulate natural
environment for human development.
Natural Law Ethics
• There is goodness in human nature to do good which is rooted
in the goodness of God; the God who created everything
according to His Divine plan.
• This goodness of God in human being can be seen and
manifested through the expression of human intellect and
reason.
• We respect nature because God created it for divine purpose.
Value Ethics Perspective
• The act of caring and respecting becomes our second nature.
• This extends to non-human especially for the environment
where he/she lives and realizes his/her being.
Sacredness of Environment
• The recognition of the sacredness of environment is based on
the creation of all things.
• The environment as part of creation poses an affirmation of
Creator, who is the uncaused and cause, who caused everything
that exists.
• Natural environment symbolizes a possible encounter with the
Divine. The environment shall always have an inherent relation
with the Creator.
The Influence and Effects of Human Activity Toward
Environment
The Spirit of Stewardship
• Human being is part of creation, not the author of existence.
Existence comes from the creator; human is not the master of
their existence.
• As part of creation, human being's choice and action influences
and affects the unfolding of phenomena in the environment.
The potentialities of the environment may be realized through
human action.
• action becomes reflexive to his/her own self-realization
• Human action does not only determine the kind of environment
he/she wants to live in, but also it determines his/her existence
in the environment.
• As steward, human being has to take care of the environment,
and not to destroy it; responsible for the well-being and
harmony in the environment, and not to subdue it as an enemy.
Human Being as the Summit of Creation
As the summit of creation and image of the Divine Creator, he/she
has moral responsibility to take care and respect the environment.
He/she participates in the Divine Creator's creative acts in the
environment. In this context, he/she recognizes the "otherness" of
the environment.
In the Face of Ultimate Reality and the Truth
of Living and Dying
The Phenomenon of Death
• "Death is a mirror of life. To look at death is to see life itself."
• Death is a topic that does not get the interest of many people. It
connotes an inner feeling of fear, pain, grief, sadness, anxiety,
and sympathy.
• Death is part of the human person's jourey. Death is the
possibility of man, a "not yet" which will be. (Dy, 2001)
• Most Filipinos are not much open to talk about death. Some are
not comfortable listening to someone who makes jokes or fun
about it. But death is an inevitable reality; everyone cannot
escape from it.
• These mottos in life do not provide a concrete meaning of what
life is. They provide clues, insights, and suggestions about what
one must do to attain a meaningful life.
Inauthentic Attitude Towards Death
• Our knowledge and awareness of death is not of our own death
but the death of others. We do not want to talk about it. We do
not want to face it.
• However, evading our own death by not facing it squarely, by
not looking at it in its eyes, but talking about it from a distant
third person point of view is an inauthentic attitude towards
death. It is inauthentic because we do not recognize death as
our own. We do not confront it.
• Our notions of death are not our own; they are impersonal and
cultural. They have no depth because they are not borne out of
our own reflections about death. They are a third person point
of view rather than a deep-seated personal point of view.
• This is inauthentic attitude towards death, manifesting in three
ways by which we respond to it, namely, idle talk, curiosity,
and ambiguity.
Confronting Death
• According to Heidegger, death is a possibility of not being able
to be there in the world. It is a possibility of the impossibility
of life because we do not know what will happen when we die.
It is a possibility to which each of us is thrown into.
• Whether we like it or not, all of us will die. Sooner or later, we
will die; there is no escape; we must face it squarely so that we
may be able to understand it, leading us to live an authentic
existence
• A human person's death, according to Heidegger, has five
characteristics, namely: one's own most, non-relational, cannot
be outstripped, certain, and definite.
"My death is my own and my own alone. No one can die on my
behalf; proxy is impossible. I cannot invite my enemies to die for
me. No one can be with me either. My death is non-relational; I have
to face it alone. My death, too, cannot be outstripped; I cannot escape
it. No amount of prayers and elixirs can help me escape my death.
Science and healthy lifestyle may prolong my life, but there is no
way I can hold it forever. Death will certainly come though
indefinite as to when."
Death and Authentic Existence
• Being aware of the fact that my death is my own and my own
alone, that my death is something I have to face myself, leads
me to the realization that my existence is my own existence.
• Since my existence is my own existence as revealed through
my awareness of my own death, I have to live my life the way
I want to live it (authentic existence), and not according to what
others want me to live it (inauthentic existence).
• My awareness of my own death makes me aware of the fact
that my life is my own life and that it is my responsibility to
live it according to my plans and not according to the wishes of
the “they”.
Steve Jobs, the famous founder of Apple, advises: "Your time is
limited, so don't waste it Jiving someone else's life. Don't be trapped
by dogma-which is living with the results of other people's thinking.
Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner
voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart
and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to
become. Everything else is secondary."
Attitudes Towards Death
• Our attitude towards life determines life's attitude towards us.
(Earl Nightingale)
• "There is no cure for birth and death save to enjoy the interval.
The dark background which death supplies brings out the
tender colors of life in all their purity.” (George Santayana)
Stephen Cave: Stories We tell about Death
• We all live in the shadows of this personal apocalypse, and
we’re not built to handle that.
• "We do not know what lies beyond death.”
• "We resort to various ways of dealing with the terror of death.”
• Stories we tell about death according to Stephen Cave:
o The story of magical elixir
o The story of resurrection
o The story of the immortality of the soul
o The story of legacy
• They have no scientific basis but we believe in them because
we are afraid of death.
Know Thyself
• According to Socrates: "For this fear of death is indeed the
pretense of wisdom, and not real wisdom, being the appearance
of knowing the unknown; since no one knows whether death,
which they in their fear apprehend to be the greatest evil, may
not be the greatest good. Is there not here a conceit of
knowledge, a disgraceful sort of ignorance?“
• If ignorance is the cause of fear of death then wisdom is its
antidote; thus, according to Socrates: "Know Thyself.”
• Like Socrates, Buddha believes that fear of death is caused by
one's ignorance of the true nature of the self. But unlike
Socrates who believes in the immortality of the soul Buddha
believes in no-self.
• Live Fully in the Present Moment: Our awareness of death
makes us celebrate life. It makes us live in the present moment.
Steve Jobs states: "Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most
important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices
in life. Because almost everything - all external expectations, all
pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure - these things just fall
away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important.
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know
something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to
follow your heart.”
Ludwig Wittgenstein writes:
"Death is not an event in life: we do not live to experience death. If
we take eternity to mean not infinite temporal duration but
timelessness, then eternal life belongs to those who live in the
present.”
Marcus Aurelius writes:
"Everything that happens is as normal and expected as the spring
rose or the summer fruit; this is true of sickness, death, slander,
intrigue, and all the other things that delight or trouble foolish men.”
"If death is natural, then it must happen for a reason. If it happens
for a reason, we can say it is good. If it is good then "all is well"…”
The Human Person as Oriented towards Impending Death
Martin Heidegger and the Notion of Being-Towards-Death
• One notable philosopher who made a great contribution to the
discussion of death is Martin Heidegger.
• Heidegger is known for his book Being and Time. This book
introduces a unique perspective on the daily experiences of the
human person.
• Humans, should live with authenticity. This authenticity means
Dasein's understanding of the world to something that exists
and potentially does not exist.
• Being-towards-an-end - none can speak of what life is after the
cessation of breath. From birth, man is expected to live his life
to the fullest as he journeys towards his death. To hone his/her
potentials, the human person has to be in the world, for he/she
has the power to be with it. To be in the world means
involvement with other things and being with others. In this
way, the human person can actualize his/her potentials and
possibilities of existence (Dy, 2001).
Human Being Dasein
• Dasein "literally means being-in-the-world: A human person as
a dasein means he or she is in the world and being-in-the-world
means that he or she is related and involved with other things
in the world.
• Dasein as a Being in the World: "Being-in" therefore does not
refer to the fact of being located in a particular place. "Being-
in" in the Heideggerian sense is not a spatial concept; it rather
signifies an involvement, engagement, or preoccupation with
entities in the world. Dasein's being-in-the-world is an
engagement alongside with other things in the world like
hammer, computer, laptop, book, shovel, car, trees, bed, ball or
anything significant to it. It encounters these entities not only
for utility’s sake, but also, for other reasons.
• Copleston: "Man is a being who is set towards the realization
of his possibilities, not as an isolated ego, but as a being who is
 necessarily interrelated with the world of things and the world Indeed, different contexts cause different ways of viewing the
of persons.” meaning of life.
• Dasein as a Being in Time: A human person has past, present, • The meaning of life can be interpreted based on one's existence.
and future, which is characterized as facticity, fallenness, and This implies that life has significance and purpose. The choices
existentiality. made by the human person is geared towards a certain goal. The
o Facticity refers to the givens of his or her existence. choice one makes should always be authentic because that is
o Fallenness is entrapment in the world of the "they, " the what defines him. We may not arrive at a single or universal
world of convention, tradition, doctrine, and conformity. definition of the meaning of life, but what is certain is that the
o Existentially includes all the projects and possibilities that process of searching for the meaning of life is a philosophical
a person intends to accomplish in life. Given the adventure.
conditions that he or she cannot change (facticity) and
taking into consideration his or her present (fallenness)
into the world of the "they," a human person has to define
The meaning of life does not have one definition. It can be seen
himself or herself by creating and realizing plans in the
either objectively and subjectively, depending on the person
future. But he or she has to create his or her plans with the
defining it. It is noteworthy that as we try to learn the meaning of
awareness of his or her own impending death.
life, we must be conscious of its varied manifestations and
• One should exert all his/her efforts to realize such ambition.
expressions.
However, efforts will be useless without the use of other things
that are necessary for the person to realize his potentials. The Looking at these approaches in understanding the meaning of life
potentials of the human person while living in this world are does not imply that each is independent of the other. Rather,
never exhausted. With the attainment of one ambition or goal, combining these themes provide a more concrete and clearer
another one awaits. As the human person continues his/her understanding of life.
journey in this world his/her ambitions never cease.
The meaning of life is not only exclusive to history, context, or
existence. However, combining these approaches makes us gain a
wider perspective of what life is.
Impending Death
We may not arrive at a single or universal definition of the meaning
• "Impending" is not something that one expects like expecting a
of life, but what is certain is that the process of searching for the
family member to go home from abroad, or a friend visiting
meaning of life is a philosophical adventure.
your house, or waiting for your girlfriend to arrive at your
rendezvous. It is not something that happens to man. Impending Ladislaus Borros, S.J.: “A man who knows death, also knows life.
is something distinct only to the individual man. The converse is true, too: the man who is forgetful of death, is
• "Death" is something of an objective experience. We may have forgetful of life also."
an idea of what death is, but we do not know what it is like.
This death is own most.
• Authentic living is a necessary response to man’s awareness of
facing the possibility of his death. This possibility does not
mean actualizing and calculating it, for it forfeits the very
purpose of his potentiality.
• For example, since the person could no longer bear the pain of
depression or that the world is already against him/her, he/she
willingly takes his/her life.
o This is not what Heidegger suggests because calculating
death would mean that it only comes to older people, and
young ones still have a long life to experience.
o This possibility is anticipating that man comes close to
death to understand the possibility of the measureless
impossibility of existence.
• Dasein is not (Dasein) whenever it has realized its potential for
its being. Heidegger understands death as the ability of
Existence to die at any moment. Existence means that any
moment could be its own.
• "Death is a self-possibility of Existence; if one is able to Exist,
he can absolutely own it.”

History, Context, and Existence

• Life has a historical character, for it is time-bound. The kind of

life in different generations are very different from each other.
That is why people cannot help but compare the experiences
they have had. People born in their era would always prefer to
say that their time was better than the other.
• The meaning of life can be viewed according to context. This
means that life has an intrinsic value which depends on the
location. This objectivity of experience has exclusivity. That is
why the experience of one person is different from another even
if they live in the same location. We may be living in the same
world, but it is absurd to think that our experiences are the
same.
• The reason why we differ in experiences is because of the life-
context. They differ in language, social value, and many other
things that make their respective lives distinct from each other.