INTRODUCTION TO THE

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN

PERSON

TOPIC: AN EMBODIED
SUBJECT
PREPARED BY: KYLA LUZETTE A. HILA
PREPARED TO: MR. NORMAN BRYAN D.
BANAAG
Definition of Terms

Reflections – contemplation or serious

thought
Inquiry – the act of asking questions in
order to gather ot collect information
Objective – based on facts rather than
feelings or opinion
Primary and Secondary Reflection
 Gabriel
Marcel - A french existentialist who
considers two ways of reflection, which he calls
primary and secondary refelctions.
 Reflective
activity – is a consequence of a
disturbance in the chain of our daily routine.
 Primary Reflection – Occurs when we inquire
about things in a distant and objective manner.
This level of reflection will proceed with an
investigation of the problem at hand that will not
involve the subject making the inquiry.
 Secondary Reflection – cannot occur without
involving the inquirer into his inquiry. It
inevitably links the inquirer to tye subject of
his inquiry. The onebraising the inquiry is
intricately involved with the question. And the
inquirer is forced to face himself.
 BothPrimary and Secondary reflections stem
out of an existential break --- a disturbance in
our daily routine.
 Both
reflections are important and they are not
about petty things for the inquirer.
Areflection is exercised because it is
worthwhile for the inquirer.
Difference between Primary and
Secondary Reflection
 The difference is that primary reflection
has the character of detachment in terms
of the inquiring subject in relation to the
object of inquiry, while secondary
reflection cannot proceed without
involving the inquirer himself in the
inquiry.
Gabriel Marcel’s Embodiment
 Philosophers have inquired about human
beings in a detached manner.
 Marcel believes that this traditional
essentialist and dualistic manner of
thinking is proper to scientific inquiry but
not to philosophical inquiry. The solution
of traditional inquiry about what a human
being is, will always yield an abstract
answer because the process is either
inductive or deductive, or both.
Who am I?
 Not everything that we are is our body.
 Ourexperience tells us that we have
operations that go beyond the body.
 There are other different things that
point to our existence as more than just
bodies, like experiencing emotions of
fear, love, anger, jealousy, etc.
What does it mean to have a Body?
 Having a body implies omnership.
 Theimportant component in this analogy
according to Marcel is the idea of ownership ---
the experience of the ownership of my body
which cannot be formulated in intellectual terms.
It means that ownership does not simply refer to
mere possession.
 Asan embodied being therfore, i cannot simply
dismiss my body in my inquiry concerning who I
am. And even if I include my body as part of my
 The embodied subject necessarily faces
his own self, through his body, whenever
he inquires about ehat being human is.
Martin Heidegger’s Being-in-the-World
 Dasein – a German word which literary means being
there.
“ To be in the world “- means thatt our experiences are
always situated in our world. We cannot detach our selves
from our situation and ee will always look and understand
the world according to our Being-in-the-World.
 Being-in-the-Worldmeans that we live things, with other
people, and within a particular place and time.
 Heidegger’sconcept of Being-in-the-world informs us of
the very nature of who we are, that is, that we are
shaped by everything around us. Who we are is not a