The Philosophy of the

Human Person
 A BEING IN THE WORLD
What are the essential features of a human person
being in the world?
2 FUNDAMENTAL FEATURES
1. Human person exist in the world, that is to say, the
human person does not exist in vacuum, for there is
always a context or a situation in which he/she exist.
2. Human person has a self that he/she exist in the
world; that is to say, a human person does not exist
as a nobody for he/she has a self which he/she
defines as he/she exist in the world.
Martin Heidegger identifies Ways by which
human person gets involve in the world.
1. A human person is being alongside or being
with these things or entities.
2. In being with other entities, a human person's
involvement has the character of
considerateness which are best shown in
moments when the human person
empathizes with his/her fellow human person.
-In sum, human person exist in the world not
just a matter of location in space, like how
mere objects are in a certain place, but
primarily as involved or engaged in various
things.
- A very important dimension of the human
person's being-in-the-world is its temporality.
Temporality - reffering to the fact that a human
person's existence in the world has a
dimension of having past, present, and future.
* A human persons past called facticity.
Facticity - refers to everything about the existence of
a human person that can no longer be changed.
- this includes all the givens that a human person
finds himself/herself as already having the
moment he/she becomes conscious of his/her
own existence, such as the fact that he/she
already exist, his/her given physical features,
genes, and parents, and the historical period
he/she was born into.
- this includes a human person's previous
experiences and decisions which a human person
can no longer change as well.
- A human person's future is called existentiality.
Existentiality- refers to all the possibilities that a
human person has and can choose to have.
- it will be observed that how human person
exist is the present is affected by its facticity
and existentiality.
- that is to say, what a human person is
involved in doing at the present is determined
both by the things and circumstances he/she
did not choose for himself/herself.
- this is the sense in which a person's sense of
reality is defined by the unity of his/her past,
future, and present.
- A human person's present is called falleness.
Falleness- is the state a human person is in when
he/she lives in inauthentic existence.
Inauthentic existence- refers to the kind of existence
in which a human person is not the one making
decisions for himself/herself.
- it means that human person is always living or is
bound to live an inauthentic existence; meaning,
most human persons for the most part of their
existence are living an inauthentic existence.
Falleness is thus a general description of the state of
existence that human persons live in the present.
TRANSCENDENCE AND LIMITATIONS
Guide Question:
How is a human transcendence possible and what
limits it?
Transcendence- going beyond limits.
- Another unique characteristic of human persons in
their natural capacity for transcendence, generally
referring to their capacity to go beyond their correct
situation in life.
Jean-Paul Satre (1956)- he explains that the human
capacity for transcendence is rooted in the property
of human consciousness called intentionality.
TRANSCENDENCE AND LIMITATIONS
Intentionality- is a fundamental and inherent property
of consciousness.
- it is a fundamental property of consciousness
because it is more basic than the reflexivity of
consciousness in contrast to self-consciousness
referring to the ability of consciousness to be about
itself.
- the consciousness that is directed at the things
outside of itself is called intentional
consciousness in contrast to self-consciousness
which is the consciousness that is directed toward
itself.
TRANSCENDENCE AND LIMITATIONS
- In sum, the ability to transcend the present situation
of a human person is part of the nature of a human
person being a conscious individual.
- being conscious, a human person is always directed
at something outside himself/herself.
- this means that he/she is free in that he/she has the
ability to make choices for himself/herself.
- in positive light, this means that there is always hope
for human person, through the power of his/her
choice, to transcend whatever situation he/she is
currently in.