Introduction to the Philosophy of

the Human Person

Module 1:
Introduction to Philosophy
Etymological Definition

▪ Philosophy: Greek words- philo (‘love’ or ‘friendship’) and sophia

(‘wisdom’). ‘Love of wisdom’
▪ Love is an urge or a drive of a will towards a particular object. As a
drive, love always seeks unity with its object and desire to possess its
object.
▪ Wisdom cannot be dissociated with knowledge.
▪ Truth is the ultimate object of knowledge. Philosophy is committed to
the truth.
▪ If philosophy means ‘love of wisdom’, to philosophize is to be in quest
2 or to have a desire towards loving and living the truth (Babor, 2007).
Technical Definition of Philosophy
Technical Definition

▪ Philosophy is defined as ‘the science of beings in their

ultimate reasons, causes, and principles acquired by the
aid of human reasons alone (Bittie, 1984).
▪ Philosophy as science. Science is about acquiring
knowledge. Philosophy is a science because the questioning
is given more importance than the answers to the questions,
since answers can become questions themselves (Babor,
2007).
4
Technical Definition

▪ Philosophy is defined as ‘the science of beings in their

ultimate reasons, causes, and principles acquired by the
aid of human reasons alone (Bittie, 1984).
▪ Philosophy is a science of beings. As a science of beings, it
covers all the things that can be reached by the human mind.
This includes man, the world, God, everything that is, or
becomes, or is known.

5
Technical Definition

▪ Philosophy is defined as ‘the science of beings in their

ultimate reasons, causes, and principles acquired by the
aid of human reasons alone (Bittie, 1984).
▪ Philosophy searches for the ultimate reasons, causes and
principles of beings. This means philosophy studies the
‘whys’ and ‘wherefores’ of beings.
▪ Tol illustrate: Philosophy does not investigate plant life, but
rather it seeks an answer to the question: ‘What does it
6
mean to be a living thing as opposed to non-living thing?’
Technical Definition

▪ Philosophy is defined as ‘the science of beings in their

ultimate reasons, causes, and principles acquired by the
aid of human reasons alone (Bittie, 1984).
▪ Philosophy uses the power or natural light of reason.
Philosophy does not base its knowledge on authority but
solely on the reasoning power of the human mind. Divine
revelation can and should assist the mind of man by
pointing out the proper direction for the philosophical
7 solution along purely natural line.
Divisions of Philosophy
Divisions of Philosophy

▪ Philosophy is classified into Practical and Speculative.

Man’s philosophical questions tend to fall into any of this
fields.
▪ Practical: Logic, Ethics, Axiology, Aesthetics, and
Semantics
▪ Speculative: Epistemology, Theodicy, Cosmology,
Philosophical Psychology, and Metaphysics
9
Practical Divisions of Philosophy

▪ Logic (questions related to Reasoning). Science of correct

reasoning. “What makes good arguments good and bad
arguments bad?”
▪ Ethics (questions related to Morality). Ethics deals with the
development of a virtuous and moral character. “What
makes my action right or wrong, and how could I know it?”
“Is there a norm good and evil?”

10
Practical Divisions of Philosophy

▪ Axiology (questions related to Values). It is the study of the

origin, nature, functions, types, and interrelations of values.
“How are values experienced?” “What are the kins of
values?”
▪ Aesthetics (questions related to Beauty and Taste). Beauty
means the quality attributed to whatever pleases the
beholder: form, color, and behavior. “What are the essential
characteristics of beauty?” “Do arts provide knowledge?”
11
Practical Divisions of Philosophy

▪ Semantics (questions related to Meaning). It studies the

natural and artificial language scientifically. This includes
the relations of words to the object denoted by them, the
relation of words to the interpreters to them. “What sorts of
meanings do human grammars yield, and by what values are
these meanings assembled?” “How does grammatical
knowledge developed in children?”

12
Speculative Division of Philosophy

▪ Epistemology (questions reacted to Truth and Knowledge).

This includes statement and solution to the critical problem,
nature, origin, objectivity, and validity of knowledge, truth
and certitude. “What is knowledge?” ‘What is truth?”
▪ Theodicy (questions related to God). His nature, existence,
essence, attributes and operations. “Does God exist?” “Why
does God allow evil?”

13
Speculative Division of Philosophy

▪ Cosmology (questions related to the Universe). “How did

the world begun and where will it end?”
▪ Philosophical Psychology (questions related to the Soul).
This study deals man not only as sensing or thinking subject
but also as a being composed of body and soul. “Is here
really a soul?”

14
Speculative Division of Philosophy

▪ Metaphysics (questions related to Being and Existence). It

studies the nature of the mind, the self, and consciousness.
It is the science which deals with the nature of being, its
attributes, constituents, principles, and causes. “What is
being?” Whys there is being rather than non-being?” “What
is existence?” “What is essence?”

15
Why Philosophy is Important?
“ Philosophy enlarges our
understanding of the world. It
expands our intellecetaul horizons
and freedom of thought.

Philosophy raises public

awareness and helps in forming
engaged and responsible citizens.

17
“ Philosophy can increase our
sensitivity for universal moral
values, and stimulate our readiness
to stand up for the principle of
justice and fairness.

Philosophy can give one self-

knowledge, foresight, and sense of
direction in life.

18
Most Notable Ancient Greek Philosophers
The Milesian Philosophers

▪ Thales
▪ Described as the ‘first philosopher’ in the western
civilization, he was first to inquire and studied the
composition of things.
▪ He believed that despite all things are different to each
other, they have common elements.
▪ For him, the root all things is water.

20
The Milesian Philosophers

▪ Thales
▪ Described as the ‘first philosopher’ in the western
civilization, he was first to inquire and studied the
composition of things.
▪ He believed that despite all things are different to each
other, they have common elements.
▪ For him, the root all things is water.

21
The Milesian Philosophers

▪ Thales
▪ Described as the ‘first philosopher’ in the western
civilization, he was first to inquire and studied the
composition of things.
▪ He believed that despite all things are different to each
other, they have common elements.
▪ For him, the root all things is water.

22
The Milesian Philosophers

▪ Anaximander
▪ He followed Thales knowledge that all things are
connected to each other due to commonality of one
thing but did not believed that they came from water.
▪ He said that root of all things could not be ascertained
since all things are continuously changing.
▪ Thus, all things were product of an indefinite or
boundless situation.
23
The Milesian Philosophers

▪ Anaximenes
▪ Agreed all things are related to each other but strongly
rejected the ideas of Thales and Anaximander.
▪ He believed that the root of all things is air.
▪ He asserted that air gives life to things.

24
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

▪ Pythagoras
▪ He believed that all things are represented by numbers.
▪ The best purifier of the soul is number.
▪ There were three kinds of life due to thee existence of the three
kinds of soul:
▪ Those who are concerned in gaining profits
▪ Those who are fond of competition due to honor or recognition
▪ Those who prefers giving observation or analyzing the
situation – those who love wisdom, ideas and knowledge
25
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

▪ Heraclitus
▪ He was called the ‘weeping philosopher’ because he was weeping
over what he claimed as ignorance of mankind.
▪ He asserted that the things around us are in constant flux –
continuously flowing or changing.
▪ Fire was the basic reality which he identified as the One.
▪ All thoughts of human beings are thoughts of God due to the unity
of God and man.
▪ Sleep is a manifestation of man’s thoughtless or ignorance.
26
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

▪ Parmenides
▪ He believed that world is composed of only one things, he called as
One that has no parts, never change and could never be destroyed.
▪ He came up with the framework ‘something is, something is not’
which actually meant that the supposed changes that happen in a
thing is not really a change since the essence or reality of a thing
could never change nor destroyed despite the changes that happens
in appearance.
▪ This is the philosophical basis of truth and opinion. The essence of
a thing is the truth (or reality) while the appearance is an opinion.
27
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

▪ Empedocles
▪ Opposed to the idea that world is composed of One thing but is
composed of Many things.
▪ These many things or particles which are ‘roots’ of an object are
eternal not changing: earth, air, fire, and water.
▪ He believed that matter’s physical appearance is changing but not
its four elements.
▪ He believed that there are two forces that drive the changes of the
object’s appearance. Love (harmony, unity, compatibility) and Hate
(discord, disunity, incompatibility, separate, destroy)
28
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

▪ Anaxagoras
▪ He believed on the existence of matter formed by separation not
though love and hate.
▪ He asserted the concept of mind (nous) which is different from
matter. The ‘mind is something infinite and self-controlling, and
that is has been mixed with no things, but is alone itself by itself.’
▪ Mind, according to him, is the one that moves, changes or controls
matter.
▪ Mind is his greatest contribution in philosophy.
29
The Pre-Socratic Philosophers

▪ Leucippus and Democritus

▪ Atomist philosophy. They asserted that the things in the universe are composed of
indefinite number of particles called atoms.
▪ Democritus offered philosophy on ethics stressing that man should look happiness
which is an important goal. This happiness could eb realized in moderation in all his
activities together with the practice of good culture.
▪ Democritus advanced philosophy on gaining knowledge through perception. There
are two kinds of perception
▪ Through the senses – illegitimate knowledge
▪ By means of understanding – trueborn knowledge
▪ Trueborn knowledge can be manifested by saying that two persons were able to taste
mango. Illegitimate knowledge is seen by saying that the first one said that the mango
taste sweet while the one said it was not good.
30
The Sophists

▪ Protagoras
▪ Most influential among the sophists.
▪ He offered this philosophy ‘man is the measure of all
things.’ Man (who ever he is, how far would his
knowledge be) would serve as the standard of any
judgement he makes on anything. Since each man is
different, there is no single correct or good standard.

31
The Sophists

▪ Thrasymachus
▪ He believed on the correctness of injustice than justice.
Thus, an unjust person has a superior character and
intelligence.

32
The Greek Philosophers

▪ Socrates
▪ Knowledge and virtue are closely related to each other so that
improper attitude or wrong acts are product of ignorance of values
or virtue. This means to know good, one has to do good things.
▪ In quest for true knowledge, a man should humble enough to accept
his ignorance about the topic or problem being discussed.
▪ He developed the idea of psyche or soul. Soul’s role is to know,
influence, direct and govern man’s activities towards goodness.

33
The Greek Philosophers

▪ Plato
▪ Knowledge is one and firm regardless of the situation.
▪ The state is a instrument in a society to function the various needs
of the people. The state must be ruled by a philosopher-king
(someone who is knowledgeable in such functions, have the
abilities to think and act in accordance with the function of the
philosopher-king.

34
The Greek Philosophers

▪ Aristotle
▪ The framework of good and right are already inside the human
being, man is basically good and right. What needs to be done is to
think and do good and right things.
▪ For him, all ideas and views are based on perception and our reality
is based on what we can sense and perceive.

35
 Thanks!
Any questions?
You email me at:
radungo@tsu.edu.ph

36