Introduction to

Philosophy

DANILO F. MARIBAO
FACULTY
Paliparan 3 Senior High School
Paliparan III, Dasmarinas City, Cavite
Course objectives: At the end of the course, the student should
be able to:
1. Reflect on their daily experiences from a holistic
point of view
2. Acquire Critical and Analytical Thinking skills
3. Apply their critical and analytical thinking skills
to the affairs of daily life
4. Become truthful, environment-friendly and
service-oriented
5. Actively committed to the development of a
more humane society
6. Articulate their own philosophy of life
What is philosophy?
• Oldest discipline (if you want to call it a discipline)
• Love for wisdom
• “Man’s search for meaning” –Vitaliano R. Gorospe, SJ (in Bernardo,
2016, p.6)
• Man (x)
• People (sexist!)
• Asking questions (the manner and act as sometimes more important
than the answer)
Sangkatutak ang tanong natin
sa buhay…

• Bakit natalo si Pacman?

• Bakit mukang addict si
Lady Gaga?
• Bakit kailangan ng
Algebra?
• Bakit mahal kita?
Seryosong mga tanong…
• Bakit may
kahirapan?
• Saan nagmula
ang lahat?
• Sino ako?
• Anong kahulugan
ng buhay ko?
What is philosophy?
• Philosophy as a science: study of the processes governing
thought and conduct (Zulueta et al., 2000, p. 2)
• Philosophy is the art of rational thought
• It teaches not what to think, but how to think
• Better world view
Sophistry/Pamimilosopo
Merriam-webster
ACTIVITY:
1. Divide the class into 5 groups
2. Each group will formulate one
philosophy in life.
3. Give meaning to it.
4. Present to the class.
ANALYSIS:
Read and analyze the following conversation between a
high school teacher ad her student in class:

Teacher: “Junjun , what would you like to be when you

grow up?”
Junjun: “Ma’am, I wan to be happy”
Teacher: “Junjun, you did not understand my question,”
Junjun: “Ma’am, you do not understand what life is all
about”
1. Do you think that Junjun answered his teacher’s question
correctly?
2. What do you think was Junjun’s interpretation of his
teacher’s question?
3. Based on his responses, what kind of student do you
imagine junjun to be?
4. If you were junjun’s teacher, how would you respond to
him?
5. How is Philosophy related to this situation?
ABSTRACTION:

Who should study Philosophy?

• Who needs it? We are
all philosophers.

–Aynd Rand
 Why engage in philosophy?
• Encounter with friends or people close to us
• Beauty of nature / the world
• Challenges in the everyday life
• Diverse human experiences

(Bernardo, 2016, p.1)

Holistic philosophy
Recall objective number 1
• Not necessarily dualistic but holistic
• An embodied subject
• Existential phenomenological approach (the person as a
whole and undivided)
• Love for wisdom
• Wisdom is not divorced from the being of the truth-seeker
• “Everything becomes and that everything is in constant change” -
Heraclitus
• However, this and the CG is debatable

(Bernardo, 2016, p.2)

Holistic philosophy
• How philosophy changed
• Seeing human existence: from traditional rationalistic and
dualistic to existential

(Bernardo, 2016, p.2)

 Holistic philosophy
Reality or ideas?
• Reality not for what it is in itself but as “a person
situated in the transitory world of things”
• Philosophy can’t stand on its own without the
subject/object
• Hence, rooted on reality and not ideas

(Bernardo, 2016, p.2)

More of holistic philosophy
• Hence, the inseparability of reality “Consciousness is
and knowledge shows how always a
impossible it is to think of consciousness of
philosophy outside reality something”
• Responsive philosophy for the –Edmund Husserl
person
– Do not seek truth in isolation
– Seek truth that embodies the
sensible person

(Bernardo, 2016, pp.2-3)

 The aesthetics of existence
• Living meaningfully is contingent
upon self-concept
• Self/selves (the salience of
philosophy/CG)
• The individual’s freedom to
design / conceptualize the self
• The self-image as a product of
his/her freedom and
determination
• Life is a project (Jean-Paul Sartre)

(Bernardo, 2016, p.1)

 Of self-determination and freedom
Self-determination
• Or the process of
subjectivization (Foucault)
• Foucault on “subjects” and
subjugation / interpellation
• A deliberate (agency) act of
freeing ourselves
• To achieve is to strip oneself
from the chain of self-
alienation

(Bernardo, 2016, p.4)

 Of self-determination and freedom
The self / superman
• For the person to embark on the
“project” of self
• Overcome the self (Nietzsche)
• Against forces impeding his/her
growth and development
• Enslavement vs. constant self-
overcoming (Bernardo, 2016, p.4)
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
• Epistemology
• Metaphysics
• Axioms

(Zulueta et al., 2000, pp. 3-4)

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
Epistemology
• Study of the origin, structures,
methods, nature, limit, and
veracity (truth, reliability,
validity) of human knowledge
• Includes
• Logic
• Linguistic concerns
• Philosophy of science

(Zulueta et al., 2000, pp. 3-4)

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
Epistemology
• From Greek words “episteme” (knowledge) and
logos
• Theory of knowledge
• Asks fundamental questions about knowledge,
forms, formulation, application, how they are
expressed and communicated
• Sense of experience and how knowledge is
acquired

(Zulueta et al., 2000, pp. 3-4)

 BRANCHES OF
PHILOSOPHY

Metaphysics
• Deals with reality
• Its nature, meaning, and existence
• From Greek word “meta” (beyond) and “physikon”
nature
• Nature of mind, self consciousness, nature of
religion (existence of God as metaphysical
question), the soul
• Examination of time, space, cause, and chance
(Zulueta et al., 2000, pp. 3-4)
 BRANCHES OF
PHILOSOPHY
Axioms
• Study of values
• Analyzes the origins,
types, and characteristics,
criteria, and knowledge
of values
• Hard, relativity (what may
be ethical for you may not
be…)

(Zulueta et al., 2000, pp. 3-4)

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
Axioms
• Includes the analysis of human
conduct, the nature and justification
of social structures and political
systems
• The question of value is so
pronounced and important also for
ordinary people and the everyday life

(Zulueta et al., 2000, pp. 3-4)

APPLICATION:
The Trolley Problem
GROUP ACTIVITY
•Verbally present your answers (preferably three
different people from the group)
•You have 15 minutes to brainstorm as a group
•Each group gets 3-5 minutes to present
AGREEMENT/ASSIGNMENT:
GROUP ACTIVITY
Reflect on the following:
1. Explain why you agree or do not agree with the
assumptions of “holistic philosophy”
2. How can you best integrate / frame the lesson using
holistic philosophy?
3. Choose one branch of philosophy (epistemology,
metaphysics, axiom) and explain its practical
importance to the everyday lives as a students
REFERENCES
• Bernardo J.V. (2016). Introduction to the Philosophy of
the Human Person. JFS Publishing Services,
Philippines, Pasay City
• Zulueta, F. et al. (2000). Philosophy Made Easy.
National Book Store, Philippines, Mandaluyong City.