INTRODUCTION TO THE

PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

The Philosophy course for students seeks to  The discussion revolves around the
respond to the challenges of human related structures of man’s
becoming as presented by the following phenomenological(personal
components: experience) experience: one’s
 Reflective: This calls for a kind of relationship with oneself, with others,
formation that nurtures capacity to and with the Absolute You. At the end
arrive at value-laden insights toward a of the course, students are expected to
broad perspective on life. It engages have gained a deeper and dynamic
one to observe personal and social understanding of themselves as
responsibility by reflecting and working individual human persons and as
with people to attain a synoptic vision of members of the society.
the good life imbued with justice,
freedom, and unity. Introduction to the Philosophy of the
 Holistic: This focuses on developing the Human Person aims to:
capacity to effect meaningful integration  Instill appreciation of the process of
of learnings in one’s daily experiences doing philosophy as a discipline that
from a holistic point of view. The permeates with interdisciplinary
cultivation of humanity is made up of avenues for the pursuit of knowledge
and can be realized by the thorough  Deepen moral life by learning life-long
process of self-introspection, values and virtues imbedded in the
intersubjectivity, and genuine dialogue. daily experiences of the human person
 Enrich ones understanding of the
 Critical and Analytical: This seeks to importance of wondering as element of
transfer and create avenues towards the human becoming and a path towards
acquisition of critical and analytical human transcendence
thinking skills.  Deepen understanding of the
COURSE DESCRIPTION formation of human relationships and
 This course examines the human how individuals are shaped by their
person’s search of the self and one’s social contexts
identity within the totality of his  Encourage a mode of living that
experiences, using various writings in demonstrates a capacity for a critical
the philosophy of man as the point of and analytical reflection from the
departure for personal reflections. This perspective of a holistic and profound
course includes thematic discourses vision of life.
regarding the different facets of human 
experiences, which are fundamental in The Process of Doing Philosophy
the understanding of man.
Philosophy - is coined from the Greek  Reflection requires a person to be
word “philein” which means love, and willing to examine one’s
“Sophia”, which means to love. thoughts, feelings, and actions
 It is mainly defined as the science and to learn more about one’s
of beings in their ultimate reasons, life and experiences.
causes and principles, acquired by  Reflection allows you an
the aid of human reason alone. opportunity to think more deeply
 HOLISTIC AND PARTIAL THINKING IN about your action, your motivation
PHILOSOPHY for doing such an action, and even
a. Holistic thinking refers to a its possible consequences.
perspective that considers large-  Reflection also helps us understand
scale patterns in systems ourselves and our actions better.
 This is often described as  When we reflect, we can judge
looking at the “big picture” when whether our actions or decisions
describing and analyzing a are reasonable or not.
situation or problem.  Taking time to analyze your decision
 A holistic perspective requires an and actions is one vital skill that will
individual to have an open greatly help you as you encounter
mindset and an ability to get the more challenges in life.
general sense or impression
regarding a situation. METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING
 A holistic view also means that
one does not confine one’s Opinion, fact & truth
understanding of the world to • opinion - an expression of feelings
one’s own perspective, but also based on facts, beliefs, emotions, or
includes the perspective of views. It is not based on evidence.
others.
b. Partial thinking focuses on Examples: Filipinos are the most
specific aspects of a situation. resilient and hospitable people in the
 The partial view is an important world.
component of analytical thinking,
• fact - a statement that can be
as an individual focuses on
certain areas or aspects of a checked and backed up with
problem in order to understand evidence. It is often used in
it. conjunction with research and study.
 Though partial thinking is useful, Example: According to the Philippine
philosophy utilizes holistic
Statistics Authority, the country's total
thinking in making sense of
population is 92,337,852. It is based on
problems and issues related to
the human experience the recent May 2010 census.
 • truth - something that has actual Western systems of philosophy and
and proven existence scientifically logic.
and spiritually regardless of one’s
• In this process, statements are
opinion and beliefs. It is undisputed,
deconstructed or questioned to
objective, universal, constant, exact,
come up with the actual truth
and factual.
that is believed to rest on the roots
Examples: All things that can be seen of the argument. Conflicting ideas
are temporal. (undisputed) are seen as invalid sources of the
truth,
Criteria of Evaluating an Argument
• EXAMPLES: A psychologist is trying
• Fairness- Is the argument fair and
to dig deeper into the story of his
balanced, or does it contain bias? Is
patient who only mentions vague
the argument overly emotional and
and general ideas
filled with loaded language?
• A mother is questioning her son’s
Is the argument one-sided? Are there
real reason for his excessive
alternative points of view not
absences from school.
addressed?
The dialectic method' - comes
• Evidence – Are the given premises
from the Greek word dialektike
reliable and relevant?
which means 'the art of
• Logic- Are the arguments conversation.'
thoroughly explained? Do they
• In philosophy, it is a method of
contain gaps in reasoning or logical
coming up with a conclusion from an
fallacies?
exchange of contradicting logical
• Tone- the attitude of the writer arguments.
appropriate for the content?
• The aim of dialectics, is the
4 Methods of Philosophizing clarification of controversial
notions and arguments with other
The Socratic method – also known by
people. In this process, personal and
the Greek term elenchus that means "to
shared conceptions should be
inquire or to cross-examine”, is an
considered and corrected.
exchange of ideas using Socratic
questioning. • Many philosophers, such as Hegel,
Aristotle, and Socrates, had their
• It was developed by Socrates, a
own beliefs but the basic concept
Greek philosopher and teacher,
remains to be the same.
who laid the groundwork for
• Examples: discussing the pros and • In this approach, history has a
cons of a variety of human resource “divine order” or a large “cyclical or
strategies as forms of managing progressive” pattern that enables
employees in the workplace, then events to repeat themselves and
choosing the best option record information through
historical accounts. History is seen
The scientific method - also called
as more important than logic and a
empirical method, is a process of
more valid source of the truth.
determining truth or knowledge
through experimentation, inductive and • Examples: You are going to Baguio
deductive reasoning and hypothesis or for the first time with your family.
theory testing. You have the option to use one of
two routes. You look for reviews
• The term "science" is derived from
published in the internet to
the Latin word scientia that means
determine which of the two routes is
“to produce knowledge.”
better.
• The process begins with an idea
• An entrepreneur wants to open a
about any given topic.
café in a middle class residential area
Hypothesis testing is done to
in the city. Before buying the
prove the validity of this idea.
property, she looked first at
previous business ventures that
were established within the area
Examples: exposing one plant to
to determine the feasibility of her
sunlight while limiting the
plan.
exposure of another is done to
test which setting promotes better The Human Person as an Embodied
plant growth Spirit
• testing and quantifying morality, Man commonly used to refer to the
love, mercy, justice, or compassion entire human race.
which are all realities that do not
Human refers to man as species – Homo
dwell in the realm of materialism.
sapiens sapiens.
The historical method - the process of
Human Being used to distinguish man
gathering evidences, examining them,
from another animal.
and formulating ideas about the past to
come up with present truths. Person refers to a human being granted
recognition of rights protection,
• The term "history" is from the
responsibilities, and dignity.
Greek word iotopia which means
“to investigate" or "to find out.”
Personhood refers to the state of being thoughts, emotions, identity, and
a person. actions. It is also driven by
rationality or human thought
Human nature refers to the
characteristics that distinguish human “self” – a person who perceives and
from all other creatures. experiences interiority, which is the
quality of being focused on one’s inner
general kinds to distinguish a human
life and identity.
person:
 Self-determination is the
A. The Cognitive Self - (something
capability of persons to make
within and cannot be physically
choices and decisions based on
seen) is the essential components of
their preferences, monitor, and
a human persons that deals with
regulate their actions, and be
THE WHAT OF A PERSON
goal-oriented and self-directed.
B. The Physical Self - (something can be
Free will - enables us to act willfully
seen in his/her physical appearance)
which deals with the essential Consequence - the result or effect of an
features of the human way of life or action or condition.
THE WHO OF A PERSON
Morality refers to the goodness or
THE HUMAN PERSON IS AN EMBODIED badness of an act
SPIRIT
 Externality is the capability to
• refers to the inseparable union of reach out and interact with
body and soul others and the world. Our
interaction with others and the
world is externality.
• human person - is the point of  Dignity is the innate right to
convergence between the material be valued and to be respected.
and spiritual entities, that is, As human persons, we have an
between the body and soul. innate worth or value.
• human body also stands as the  Limitation - “something that
mediator between the material and controls how much of something
the spiritual world is possible or allowed”. This
means that though the nature of
QUALITIES OF EMBODIED SPIRIT the person as an embodied spirit
 Self-awareness refers to the provides numerous opportunities
person’s clear perception of to explore everything around us
oneself, which includes her and even within us, our human
nature imposes limitations.
 Three Categories of Limitations Arguments on how body imposes limits
and possibilities for Transcendence

1. Factic refers to the things in our

lives that are already given and
did no choose them.
facticity is the things already
given to us the moment we are
born
2. Spatial-Temporal is about being
limited due to our being
temporal.
Finitude - This means that we will The essence of transcendence is to
not live forever because we have acknowledge our limitations, identify
a limited period of stay in this possibilities for development, and change
world ourselves for the better. Another aspect of
spatial individuals - we are transcendence is opening yourself to new
limited by our bodies to be experiences and ideas.
present in two or more places at
the same time.

3. Body as Intermediary is about

having a body that links us to the
world appears to be a source of
limitation because we can never
really directly and fully
experience the world,
Transcendence - is the ability to explore
and surpass limits. This means overcoming
oneself or being in control even if the body
reminds us of certain tendencies.