Group Presentation: DO NOT INCLUDE THOSE

WHO WERE ABSENT LAST THURSDAY

Your skit should be for a maximum of 5 minutes,
medium should be ENGLISH, showcasing (20 pts.):
The Shadow(s) of my life (Experience inside Journey to the truth (outside the cave experience
the cave):
1.What is your shadow? (2pts.) 6.Seeing the shadows as shadows (2pts.)
2.What is the puppet? (2pts.) 7.Reflection of oneself as free (2pts.)
3.Who are the puppeteers? (2pts.) 8.Little sources of light (enlightenment) that showed the
truth (2pts.)
4.What is the firelight? (2pts.) 9.Main source of light that showed the truth (2pts.)
5.The resistance to freedom (struggles) (2pts.) 10.Persecution of blinded men (2pts.)
11.SHOW THE PERSON’S DELIBERATE CHOICE TO LIVE IN THE TRUTH AND ITS RESULT. (BONUS 2PTS.)
As respect for our neighbors (other classes):
• No howling;
• No shouting;
• No noisy laughing;
• No unnecessary noise;
• JUST:
•If you’re happy and you know it,
Shake your hands up high!!!
•Shake, shake, shake, if you like the
presentation!
CLARIFICATION ON SHADOWS AND TRUTHS
NOT SHADOWS SHADOWS TRUTH (PASSED THE THREE CRITERIA
(PERSONAL) NOT PERSONAL)
ONE’S PAST NO MATTER HOW WHAT WAS THE LIE IN THE PAST: INTELLIGENCE IS UNIQUE IN EACH
AWFUL. (e.g. I had been E.G. “THEY TOLD ME I AM DUMB AND PERSON. THERE ARE DIFFERENT TYPES
bullied by my classmates) HAVE NO HOPE.” OF INTELLIGENCES. BALANCE IS
ESSENTIAL FOR WHOLISTIC
INTELLIGENCE.

ONE’S IND’L PROCESS
(e.g. They told me I cannot
dance because I used to have
difficulty following the
movements.)
THE LIE REGARDING THE PROCESS: SKILLS CAN BE IMPROVED. PRACTICE,
“I USED TO BELIEVE THAT I COULD FOCUS, TIME, SACRIFICE ARE
NEVER IMPROVE IN MY SKILLS AND I ESSENTIAL FOR SELF-IMPROVEMENT. I
SHOULD JUST GIVE UP.” CAN IMPROVE AND DEVELOP.

ONE’S INSECURITIES and
FEARS; MENTAL AND
EMOTIONAL STATE
(I feel so depressed, anxious,
alone, scared, left-out.)
THE LIE THAT BROUGHT THE EVERYONE CAN BE LOVED AS LONG AS
INSECURITY ONE IS WILLING TO BE LOVED AND
“NO ONE CAN LOVE ME.” WILLING TO LOVE TRULY.
OPINIONS vs. TRUTH
Knowing the Truth as Rising above Opinions
Height
10

8 Philosophical Truth
6
Strength Breadth
4
Mathematical Truth
2

0
Scientific Truth

Certainty Depth
Opinion

Clarity
Truth Opinion
 Knowing the Truth as Rising above Opinions
Universalizations of mathematical
formulations (all realities, BEING, passes the 3
criteria) Philosophical Truth

Formulaic expressions of scientific

generalizations (limited to actual, probable, Mathematical Truth
and possible formal realities, FORMS)

Scientific Truth
Generalizations of concrete experiences
(limited to actual and probable empirical
realities, CONCRETE REALITIES)
Opinion
Observations of concrete experiences (limited
to actual experiences, APPEARANCES)
 BASIS FOR ABSOLUTE TRUTH
• OPINION? VALUE OF MONEY: • NEED TO UNDERSTAND
NOMINAL VS. REAL PHILOSOPHICAL TRUTHS
• SCIENTIFIC TRUTHS: BOILING • BEING
POINT? PLUTO? • GOD
• MATHEMATICAL TRUTH: THESIS, • MORALS
STUDIES, STATISTICS
• PASSES THE 3 CRITERIA

The Philippines ranked lowest out of 39 countries in reading comprehension of teenagers.

Is this absolutely true?
Knowing the Truth as Verifying & Validating Opinions

• Admission of • Commitment
uncertainty to empirical
Requires
Requires
evidences
transformation
• Openness to verification and
of opinions to
validation
hypotheses have one’s • Commitment
opinions put to logical
to the test arguments
REVIEW
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY 1000?
WHAT IS ITS PURPOSE AND AIM?
WHAT DID EACH BLIND MAN “SEE”?
WHAT ARE THE OBSTABLES IN SEEING THE
WHOLE?
 WHAT IS TO SEE THE WHOLE?
IS IT JUST SEEING THE SUM OF ALL PARTS?
 WHAT IS A PROPOSITION?
CAN YOU MAKE SAMPLE PROPOSITIONS?
“Thales on the Beginning of Philosophy”
in Aristotle’s Metaphysics A, Chapter 3
As expressed in
Aristotle’s report, what
is Thales’s important
proposition?

“Thales says the principle

[of all things] is water.”
This Photo by Unknown Author is licensed under CC BY-SA
 “Thales on the Beginning of Philosophy”
in Aristotle’s Metaphysics A, Chapter 3

What did Aristotle

propose as the
possible bases of
Thales’s proposition?

“… getting the notion perhaps from seeing that the nutriment of all
things is moist, and that heat itself is generated from the moist and
kept alive by it (and that from which they come to be is a principle
of all things). He got his notion from this fact, and from the fact that
the seeds of all things have a moist nature, and that water is the
origin of the nature of moist things.”
“Thales on the Beginning of Philosophy”
in Aristotle’s Metaphysics A, Chapter 3
What could have been
the research question
Thales was answering
with his proposition?
What is the principle of
all things?
Sample:
• Not: • But:
• What is the principle of all things • What is meant by “principle” of
according to Thales? all things?

• Not: • But:
• What is the conclusion of • How did Thales arrive at this
Thales? conclusion?
“Thales on the Beginning of Philosophy”
in Aristotle’s Metaphysics A, Chapter 3
Given the possible What is the principle of all things?
research question, how
could Thales have • That from which they come to be is a principle
proceeded from possible of all things.
bases to proposition?
• The seeds of all things have a moist nature.
• The nutriment of all things is moist.
• Water is the origin of the nature of moist
things.
Therefore, the principle of all things is water.
WHAT IS THE PROCESS TO REACH A
CONCLUSION/GENERALIZATION?
“Thales on the Beginning of Philosophy”
in Aristotle’s Metaphysics A, Chapter 3
•That from

Generalization or Conclusion
Seeds of all Water is the
Question

What is the

Theory

Analysis
Data
All things
principle of which they (treated things have principle of
all things? come to individually) moist nature. all things.
be is a Nutriment of
principle of all things is
all things. moist.
•That from Origin of
which they nature of
come to be moist things
= seeds, is water.
nutriments,
origin.
 DO YOU KNOW HOW TO ANALYZE?
• NOT:
• WHAT IS ANALYSIS?

• BUT:
WHICH AMONG THESE STATEMENTS SHOWS THE PROCESS OF ANALYSIS?
A. What is the principle of all things? (Question)
B. Water is the principle of all things. (Generalization)
C. The seeds of all things have a moist nature. (Data)
D. The nutriment of all things is moist. Water is the origin of the nature of moist
things. (Analysis)
Juan’s Insight
Take another example.
1. Juan is standing beside the coffin of his grandfather who has just died at the age of ninety-five.
2. As far as Juan can remember the old man was always weak and already seventy-seven when Juan was
born.
3. Juan comes home from the funeral and his mother hands him his grandfather’s memoirs. There Juan
sees his grandfather as he was during the revolution: young and full of vigor and high spirits.
4. Then he hears from old maiden aunts who heard from their old maiden aunts that in his youth his
grandfather used to be dashing and quite popular with the ladies.
Juan gradually begins to realize: My grandfather as a young man was exactly like me. For Juan likes to think of
himself as full of high spirits, dashing, and quite popular with the ladies. Then Juan begins to think more
deeply. He is full of high spirits now, but high spirits are not inexhaustible. It will be exhausted. It will be his
turn to become old and shriveled and to be contemplated in the coffin by his grandson.
5-10. Juan thinks to himself: This is the way it is with the generations of men. They start life full of vigor and
high spirits then wither away and die. But not before they have left behind sons who also begin full of vigor
and high spirits then wither away and die, after they have given life to their own sons. Juan has an insight into
the rhythm of rise and fall in the life of the generations of men.
Sample:
• Not: • But:
• Enumerate the experiences of Juan. • Which part of the experience or who
(already asked for the quiz.) were the characters which has the
most significance for Juan’s insight?
WHAT ARE THE TWO MEANINGS OF INSIGHT?
 What are the two meanings of
“Insight” “insight” found in the text?
Roque Ferriols, SJ

Insight as
Insight as “what is seen
“seeing with with the
the mind” mind”
(concept)
WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE
TWO MEANINGS OF INSIGHT?
 What is the relationship between
“Insight” the two meanings of “insight”?
Roque Ferriols, SJ
• First meaning: the act of thinking the
mind has to perform.
• Second meaning: the thought, the idea,
the concept which is the object of
thinking the mind has to achieve.
• The relationship between first and
second meaning, therefore, is that
between means and end.
 How do these meanings of “insight” help the
“Insight” blind men “see” the elephant as elephant?
Roque Ferriols, SJ
• The second meaning teaches us that the
elephant to be “seen” as elephant, must
be “seen” as a unified and ordered
whole, not as parts nor as sum of parts.
• The first meaning teaches us that the way
to “see” the elephant as elephant is not
to “see” with the senses the multiplicity
of parts nor the sum of parts, but to “see
with the mind” beyond them to the
unifying “point” that gathers them all
together.
 The Insight of Juan:
An insight into the rhythm of rise and fall in the life
of the generations of men. (photo credit to the owner. )

Is an insight just a sum of all things experienced and sensed?

The insight is NOT just about Juan and his grandfather,
It covers a GENERAL TRUTH ABOUT THE HUMAN RACE.
HOW DO WE DIFFERENTIATE INSIGHT FROM
SIMPLE “DISCOVERIES?”
CAN YOU GIVE SAMPLE INSIGHTS?
 The Insight of Juan:
An insight into the rhythm of rise
and fall in the life of the
generations of men.
METAPHOR: FALLING LEAVES

CAN YOU THINK OF YOUR OWN METAPHOR

FOR THE INSIGHT OF JUAN?
HOW DO WE EXPLAIN THE TWO MEANINGS
OF INSIGHT IN THALES?
 “Insight” How do these meanings of “insight” help us
understand how Thales derives principles out of
Roque Ferriols, SJ observations?

• The second meaning teaches us

that the principle of all things is a
whole greater than even the total
enumeration of all things.
• The first meaning teaches us that
the way to arrive at the principle of
all things is to find what is common
among everything (to generalize)
not just to be satisfied with
gathering all things.
Plato’s Allegory of the Cave

• Journey from shadows to light

• Criteria for the Absolute Good
• Rising above opinion to the truth
• Symbolisms and its meaning
Test Question Example:
Which among these will best be represented by the shadows-truth symbolism of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave?
a. “I used to clamor for the honors, now I realized, learning should be utmost goal of a good student.
b. “I used to be so afraid of the standing in front of people, but now I am a public speaker in
symposiums.”
c. “I thought love is all romance and excitement, I was wrong. Love is a slow, steady and consistent
process of commitment.”
d. “Being rejected brings so much pain and suffering, now I do not care about other people
anymore.”
d.
Choices:
i. a & b
ii. b & c
iii. c & d
iv. d & a
What is Philosophy?
PRELIM OUTLINE
• Philosophy is seeing the whole with the mind.
• Philosophy is seeing the whole that is not the sum of parts, but that which is
greater than the sum of parts.
• Philosophy is seeing not with the senses, but with the mind.
• Philosophy is knowing the truth.
• Philosophy is knowing the truth not opinions.
• Philosophy is knowing the truth by rising above opinions.
• Therefore, Philosophy is mentally seeing the whole truth.