Senior High School Department

2nd Quarter, 1st Semester SY: 2019-2020 • Parents of cystic fibrotic kids reported the most special
Handout problem areas as well as the highest levels of family
in Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human importance.
Person • Parents of hearing impaired children have more behavior
INTERSUBJECTIVITY management issues.
• A study in North America shows that 50% of deaf children
Lesson Objectives read less than the normal children.
 Understand intersubjectivity • A spirited perceptive child will notice everything going on
 Appreciate the talents of persons with disabilities and around her but will be able to process that information
those from underprivileged sectors quickly and will be able to select the most important
information to listen to.
Key Questions • An ADHD child will find it difficult to focus or complete a
• What does it mean to be “humans”? task, despite her best efforts.
• How does one’s relationship with fellow human beings • Negative attitudes of the family and community toward
help him understand and enrich his own humanity? PWDs may add to their poor academic and vocational
outcomes.
Intersubjectivity • Community sensitivity, through positive and supportive
attitudes toward PWDs, is also an important component.
• We are part of society yet we are still different individuals Talents and Contributions of PWDs and Underprivileged
living in this society with different appearances or points On Underprivileged
of view. • Poverty is not one-dimensional but multidimensional.
• Labels could be negative or limiting but we could go • Each of these dimensions has the common characteristic
beyond the labels because as humans we are holistic. of representing deprivation that encompasses: Income,
• We can redesign the labels to something new and exciting. Health, Education, Empowerment, Working condition
• The most common measure of the underprivileged is
The Social Dimension of the Self income poverty.
• Martin Buber and Karol Wojtyla believed in the notion of • Another important measure of deprivation is poor health.
concrete experience/existence of the human person and • Human rights are also relevant to issues of global poverty
that one must not lose the sight of one’s self in concrete in its focus on shortfalls in basic needs.
experience. On the Rights of Women
• Martin Buber and Karol Wojtyla view the human person as • Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712) said that women should be
total, not dual nor a composite of some kind of educated to please and be useful to men.
dimensions. • For Mary Wollstonecraft, women must be united to men in
• For Wojtyla, the social dimension is represented by ‘We wisdom and rationality.
relation’ and for Buber, the interpersonal is signified by the • Women should be allowed to attain equal rights to
‘I-You relation.’ philosophy and education given to men.
• Buber conceives the human person in his/her wholeness, • Women must learn to respect themselves and should not
totality, concrete existence and relatedness to the world. allow others to determine their value in terms of their
• Wojtyla maintains that the human person is the one who physical beauty alone.
exists and acts (conscious acting, has a will, has self- • Women should oppose the gender role assigned to them
determination). by the social order (reinforced by dominant patriarchal
• For Wojtyla, action reveals the nature of the human agent institutions like the family, education, the law, and the
and participation explains the essence of the human media) and instead advance the alternative image of the
person. woman aspiring for liberation.
• The human person is oriented toward relation and sharing • Women actively participate in movements that not only
in the communal life for the common good. seek empowerment for their sector but for other
• Buber’s I-thou philosophy is about the human person as a marginalized groups as well.
subject, a being different from things or from objects, who Authentic Dialog
have direct and mutual sharing of selves. • According to Martin Heidegger, humankind is a
• In contrast, the I-It relationship is a person to thing, conversation, which is more than just an idle talk but a
subject to object relationship. dialog.
• A dialog is a conversation that is attuned to each other and
Talents and Contributions of PWDs and Underprivileged to whatever they are talking about.
• Conversation attempts to articulate who and what we are,
On PWDs not as particular individuals but as human beings.
• Reactions of parents of PWDs: shock, bewilderment, • For Buber, a life of dialog is a mutual sharing of our inner
sorrow, anger, guilt, feeling of impotence, fear of the selves in the realm of the interhuman.
future. • An authentic dialog entails a person-to-person, a mutual
• Realization and grief can blind parents to their child’s sharing of selves, acceptance, and sincerity (I-thou
uniqueness. relation).
• Categories of PWD or persons with disabilities: hearing
impaired, diabetic, asthmatic, or cystic fibrotic persons. The Person in the Environment
• A study shows that mothers of asthmatic children scored Lesson Objectives
consistently more positively than any other groups of
mothers; fathers of asthmatic and cystic fibrotic children  Probe into a distinct frame about gaining valuable insights
had higher parent attitudes and were more sociable than regarding the human person in the environment
the other fathers; and parents of hearing impaired  Demonstrate the virtues of prudence and frugality toward
youngsters had the highest problematic scores. his/her environment

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Key Questions with it in terms of biophilia (love of other living things) and
cosmophilia (love of other living beings).
 What is the relationship of man with his environment? • Chinese cosmic conception, on the other hand, is based on
 How can human beings live harmoniously with their the assumption that all that happens in the universe is a
environment? continuous whole like a chain of natural consequences.
• The universe does not proceed onward but revolves
The Environment without beginning or end.
• Happiness lies in his conformity with nature or tao.
• Philosophers in both East and West were asking questions
about the universe we live in and our place in it. Modern Thinkers
• Eastern sages probed nature’s depths intuitively through • Immanuel Kant expresses that beauty is ultimately a
the eyes of spiritual sages. symbol of morality.
• Greek thinkers viewed nature through cognitive and • We must ignore any practical motives or inclinations that
scientific eyes. we have and instead contemplate the object without being
• Pre-Socratic philosophers represent the first intellectual distracted by our desires.
and scientific attempt to understand the origins of the • The beautiful encourage us to believe that nature and
universe. humanity are part of an even bigger design – an ultimate
• A change from the mythical explanation of the origins of goal in which every aspect of the sensible world has its
the cosmos to a more rational explanation. place in a larger purpose – that draws our thoughts toward
• There are different views or concepts on nature or the a supersensible reality.
environment from which debates or researches can be • Kant believes that the orderliness of nature and the
framed and reframed. harmony of nature with our faculties guide us toward a
• Anthropocentric model – humans are superior and central deeper religious perspective.
to the universe. • Understanding our relationship with the environment can
• Ecocentric model – the ecological or relational integrity of also refer to the human beings with ecology and nature.
the humans provides meaning of our morals and values. • Herbert Marcuse believes that there can only be change if
• Our limited understanding of our environment opens for a we will change our attitude towards our perception of the
need for philosophical investigation of nature, applying environment.
aesthetic and theological dimensions, as well as • For George Herbert Mead, human beings do not have only
appreciating our philosophical reflections with the concept rights but duties as well.
of nature itself. • How we react to the community we live in and our
• reaction to it, change it.
Disorder in the Universe
Caring for the Environment
• The domination of humanity is linked to the domination of
• Theories that show care for the environment aside from
nature based on the anthropocentric model.
the ecocentric model: deep ecology, social ecology, and
• An unfair or unjust utilization of the environment results
ecofeminism.
to ecological crisis.
Deep Ecology
• Researches exposed the environmental consequence of
• Ecological crisis is an outcome of anthropocentrism.
international politico-economic specialization for specific
• Deep ecologists encourage humanity to shift away from
countries and global regions as well as the implications for
anthropocentrism to ecocentrism.
both abuses of natural resources and of the generation of
Social Ecology
waste and emissions.
• Ecological crisis results from authoritarian social
• The Ecocentric model puts the ecosystem first and
structures.
assumes that the natural world has intrinsic value.
• Social ecologists call for small-scale societies, which
• Nature is not valued for the future survival of human
recognize that humanity is linked with the well-being of
species per se, but is invaluable in itself.
the natural world in which human life depends.
• Human made changes threaten the health of nature.
Ecofeminism
• Unlike changes in the evolutionary process, human
• Ecological crisis is a consequence of male dominance.
interventions have swift and even, violent effect on
• In this view, whatever is “superior” is entitled to whatever
nature.
is “inferior.”
• The damage is not inevitable but a consequence of human
• For the ecofeminists, freeing nature and humanity means
choices, thus, humanity needs to develop an “ecological
removing the superior vs. inferior in human relations.
conscience” based on individual responsibility.
• The three theories mentioned value the care,
• The right to live and blossom should not just be for human
conservation, preservation of nature, and humanity.
beings but must be valid to all forms of life because
• The search for the meaning of life must explore not just
humans are dependent to other forms of life.
our own survival but calls for a new socio-ecological order.
• Erich Fromm believes that humanity ought to recognize
Putting Order into Disorder
not only itself but also the world around it.
Ancient Thinkers
• For Fromm, human beings have biological urge for survival
• Early Greek philosophers, the Milesians, regarded Nature
that turns into selfishness and laziness as well as the
as spatially without boundaries, that is, as infinite or
inherent desire to escape the prison cell of selfishness to
indefinite in extent.
experience union with others.
• Anaximander employed the term “boundless” to mean
• Which of these two contradictory strivings in human
that Nature is indeterminate―in the sense that no
beings will become dominant is determined by the social
boundaries between the warm and cold or the moist and
structure currently existing in society.
dry regions are originally present within it.
Prudence and Frugality towards the Environment
• Evolution of the world begins with the generation of
• Fromm proposed a new society that should encourage the
opposites in a certain region of Nature that eventually
emergence of a new human being that will foster
burst and formed the universe.
prudence and moderation or frugality toward
• Pythagoras described the universe as living embodiment of
environment.
nature’s order, harmony, and beauty and our relationship
• Functions of Fromm’s envisioned society:

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 The willingness to give up all forms of having, in • Unless the individual exerts real efforts to break away or
order to fully be. liberate one’s spirit from the monotonous cycle, there will
 Being fully present where one is. be no end to the cycle.
 Trying to reduce greed, hate, and illusions as • Ultimate liberation, that is, freedom from rebirth, is
much as one is capable. achieved the moment the individual attains the stage of
 Making the full growth of oneself and of one’s life emancipation.
fellow beings as the supreme goal of living. • Hindu’s view of reality places a lot of emphasis on the
 Not deceiving others, but also not being attainment of self-knowledge.
deceived by others; one may be called innocent • The goal of human life as conceived by the different
but not naïve. Upanishads is to overcome congenital ignorance.
 Freedom that is not arbitrariness but the • True knowledge (vidya) consists an understanding and
possibility to be oneself, not as a bundle of realization of the individual’s real self (atman) as opposed
greedy desires, but as a delicately balanced to lower knowledge that is limited to an interpretation of
structure that at any moment is confronted with reality based solely on the data offered by sense
the alternatives of growth or decay, life or death. experience.
 Happiness in the process of ever-growing • One concept common to all expressions of Hinduism is the
aliveness, whatever the furthest point is that oneness of reality.
fate permits one to reach, for living as fully as • When we realize this unity with the absolute, we realize
one can is so satisfactory that the concern for our true destiny.
what one might or might not attain has little • Also common to all Hindu thought are the four primary
chance to develop. values: wealth, pleasure, duty, and enlightenment.
 Joy that comes from giving and sharing, not from • To understand enlightenment, one must
hoarding and exploiting. understand the law of karma, the law of sowing
 Developing one’s capacity for love, together with and reaping.
one’s capacity for critical, unsentimental • The wheel of existence turns until we achieve
thought. enlightenment.
 Shedding one’s narcissism and accepting that Buddhism
tragic limitations inherent in human existence. • Another major Eastern tradition which sprang from the life
• The ideals of Fromm’s society cross all party lines; for experience and teaching of Siddhartha Gautama or the
protecting nature needs focused conservation, action, Buddha, the highborn Prince of the Sakya clan in the
political will, and support from industry. kingdom of Magadha, who lived from 560 to 477 B.C.
• Gautama’s life was devoted to sharing his “Dharma” or
Law of Salvation – a simple presentation of the gospel of
The Person as Embodied Spirit inner cultivation of right spiritual attitudes, coupled with a
Lesson Objectives self-imposed discipline whereby bodily desires would be
• Recognize own limitations or possibilities for one’s channelled in the right directions.
transcendence • The teaching of Buddha has been set forth traditionally in
• Evaluate own limitations and the possibilities for one’s the “Four Noble Truths” leading to the “Eightfold Path” to
transcendence perfect character or arhatship, which in turn gave
Key Questions assurance of entrance into Nirvana at death.
• What spiritual philosophies deal with the topic of • Four Noble Truths
transcendence? • Life is full of suffering.
• How can human beings attain transcendence? • Suffering is caused by passionate desires, lusts,
cravings.
Transcendence • Only when the causes of suffering are
• According to Thomas Merton (1948), there is no other way obliterated will suffering cease.
to find who we are than by finding in ourselves the divine • Eradication of desire may be accomplished only by
image. following the Eightfold Path of earnest endeavor.
• We have to struggle to regain spontaneous and vital  right belief in and acceptance of the
awareness of our own spirituality. “Fourfold Truth”;
• Transcendental and transcendence convey the basic  right aspiration for one’s self and for
ground concept from the words’ literal meaning (from others;
Latin), of climbing or going beyond, with varying  right speech that harms no one;
connotations in its different historical and cultural stages.  right conduct, motivated by goodwill
Three Main Spiritual Philosophies on Transcendence toward all human beings;
Hinduism  right means of livelihood, or earning
• At the heart of Hinduism lies the idea of human beings’ one’s living by honorable means;
quest for absolute truth, so that one’s soul and the  right endeavor, or effort to direct one’s
Brahman or Atman (Absolute Soul) might become one. energies toward wise ends;
• Human beings have dual nature: the spiritual and immortal  right mindfulness in choosing topics for
essence (soul) which is considered real; and the empirical thought; and
life and character.  right meditation, or concentration to
• Hindus generally believe that the soul is eternal but is the point of complete absorption in
bound by the law of Karma (action) to the world of matter, mystic ecstasy
which it can escape only after spiritual progress through an  The eightfold path enjoins us to develop wisdom, urges us
endless series of births. to practice virtue and avoid vice, and tells us to practice
• Humanity’s basic goal in life is the liberation (moksha) of meditation.
spirit (jiva).  The way to salvation lies through self-abnegation, rigid
• Hinduism holds that humanity’s life is a continuous cycle discipline of mind and body, a consuming love for all living
(samsara) where the body goes through a transmigratory creatures, and the final achievement of that state of
series of birth and death, even though the spirit is neither consciousness which marks an individual’s full preparation
born nor dies.

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for entering the Nirvana (enlightened wisdom) of  The progress in knowledge and wisdom is not only
complete selflessness. speculative, it is more fundamentally practical and moral.
 First steps that one can take after reading, hearing, and  For St. Thomas Aquinas, human beings have the unique
pondering Buddhist teaching and establishing some power to change themselves and things for the better.
confidence in it:  Aquinas considers the human being as moral agent who is
 Refrain from destroying life; both spiritual and body elements.
 Refrain from taking what is not given;  The unity between both elements indeed helps man to
 Refrain from a misuse of the senses; understand his complexity as human beings.
 Refrain from wrong speech (do not lie or
deceive); and
 Refrain from taking drugs or drinks that tend to Limitations and Possibilities for Transcendence
cloud the mind
• Buddhist practice the four states of sublime condition: Forgiveness
love, sorrow of others, joy in the joy of others and
equanimity as regards one’s own joy and sorrows.  It frees us from our anger and bitterness caused by the
• After Buddha’s death, a need was felt for putting the actions and/or words of another.
sayings of Buddha into writing, or at least for getting them  On the other hand, the hardness of our heart is reinforced
fixed in the oral tradition. by whole series of rational arguments.
• First Council at Rajagaha (ca. 477 B.C.) – about Beauty and Nature
500 disciples gathered and together recited and
 There is perfection in every single flower.
chanted the precepts now found in the Tripitaka.
 A hug, sunrise and sunset, eating together as a family are
experiences of miracles which can be truly moments of
grace that touch us deeply and spontaneously lift our
• Second Council at Vesali (ca. 383 or 377 B.C.) – it
hearts.
was found desirable to make changes to ease the
Vulnerability
burden of Buddhist discipline.
• Third Council (245 B.C.) – serious effort was
 To be vulnerable is to be human.
made to reform and reorganize the Order and
 We need to acknowledge the help of other people in our
embarked upon a program of expansion.
lives if we want to be true with ourselves and live with
• Buddha insisted on freedom of thought and intellectual
meaning and direction.
independence in following his teaching.
Failure
Christianity  Failures force us to confront our weaknesses and
limitations and to surrender to a mystery or look upon a
 In the beginning, Christians do not see the need to prove
bigger world.
God’s existence.
 Acceptance of our failures makes us hope and trust that all
 Looks at the reasonableness of belief in God’s existence.
can be brought into good.
 Asks whether or not the existence of God provides the
Loneliness
best explanation of the existence of the world, as we know
it.  It is our choice to live in an impossible world where we are
 Later, Christian missionaries felt the need to argue always “happy” or to accept a life where solitude and
philosophically for the existence of God when they were companionship have a part.
confronted by various naturalistic philosophy.  Our experience of loneliness can help us realize that our
 For Augustine (354–430 CE), philosophy is amor sapiential dependence on other people or gadgets is a
(the love of wisdom) whose aim is to produce happiness. possessiveness that we can be free from.
 Wisdom is substantially existent as the Divine Logos, Love
hence, philosophy is the love of God.
 For Augustine, Christianity, as presenting the full  To love is to experience richness, positivity, and
revelation of the true God, is the only full and true transcendence.
philosophy.  Love can open in us something which takes us beyond
 Knowledge of God begins with faith and is made perfect by ourselves.
understanding.
 Faith supplements and enlightens reason that it may
proceed to ever richer and fuller understanding. The Human Person in Society
 There are three levels of existence which has been
Lesson Objectives
established, not by turning outward through sensation to
the external world, but by turning inward to the soul itself: Understand the interplay between the individuality of
human beings and their social contexts
o mere being;
 Evaluate the formation of human relationships and how
o living being; and individuals are shaped by their social contexts
 Compare different forms of societies and individualities
o rational being. Key Questions

o The lowest form of knowledge is that of sensation yet as  How does a human person’s social context influence his
we ascend higher to knowledge of rational principles, it is individuality?
the will which directs the mind’s eye to truth, first invading  How do social systems help shape our human relations?
to the mind itself, then upward to the eternal Truth.
Individuals and Society
 For Augustine, “man is a rational substance constituted of • We now live in a society where transfer of information is
soul and body.” fast and efficient that we can easily link and connect with
other people through social media.

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• Social media and social networking sites might lead to  This period belongs almost wholly to the 17th
depression and disconnect users instead of connecting century.
them.  Nature is full of facts which conform fatally to
• As Soren Kierkegaard has put it, we tend to conform to an exact and irreversible law.
image or idea associated with being a certain type of  Human beings live best under a strong,
person rather than being ourselves. benevolently dictatorial civil government.
• The modern age remains an era of increasing dullness, • The characteristic tendencies of the second period is
conformity, and lack of genuine individuals. frequently called the Age of Empiricism:
• Our totality, wholeness, or “complete life” relies on our  The second age of modern philosophy turned
social relations. curiously back to the study of the wondrous
• Aristotle said that friends are two bodies with one soul. inner world of humanity’s soul.
• For Buber, the human person attains fulfillment in the  The human being became the most interesting in
realm of the interpersonal, in meeting the other, through a nature.
genuine dialog.  The attention is turned more and more from the
• For Wojtyla, through participation, we share in the outer world to the mind of human being.
humanness of others.  The second period is a sort of a new humanism
where reflection is now more an inner study, an
Societies and Individualities analysis of the mind, than an examination of the
Medieval Period (500-1500 CE) business of physical science.
• The early Medieval Period is sometimes referred to as the • The third period, generally known as critical idealism, was
Dark Ages but it was nonetheless a time of preparation. brought by Immanuel Kant’s philosophic thoughts.
• Many barbarians had become Christians but most were  Humanity’s nature is the real creator of
condemned as heretic due to their Arian belief. humanity’s world.
• Christianity’s influence widened when the great  Copernican revolution has also affected the
Charlemagne became King of the Franks. attitude of the mind and thinking in general.
• The way of life in the Middle Ages is called feudalism,  Copernican innovation’s questioning attitude
which comes from medieval Latin feudum, meaning toward the activities of nature, spirit of rebellion
property or “possession.” against things accepted solely on the basis of
• Peasants built their villages of huts near the castles of their authority and tradition, and search for new
lords for protection in exchange of their services. standards of truth has affected philosophic mind.
• With the growth of commerce and towns, feudalism as a  The rapid growth of the increasingly
system of government began to pass and shaped a new cosmopolitan cities of Europe, with their global
life in Europe. reach, their extensive colonies and their national
• Amid the turmoil of the Middle Ages, one institution stood and international rivalries, required a new kind
for the common good—the Roman Catholic Church— of philosophy, intensely self-questioning but
whose spirit and work comprised the “great civilizing arrogant as well.
influence of the Middle Ages.”  Enthusiasm for the new science ushered in a
• The Middle Ages employed pedagogical methods that deep-seated philosophical trend, whose
caused the intercommunication between the various adherents stressed the importance of universally
intellectual centers and the unity of scientific language. compelling science for philosophy.
• The practically unlimited trust in reason’s powers of  This marks the rationalistic intolerance that is so
illumination is based, first and foremost, on faith. widespread in the modern world.
Modern Period (1500-1800)
• The title “modern philosophy” is an attack on and a
rejection of the Middle Ages that occupied the preceding Globalization and Technological Innovations
thousand years. • Globalization began in the West in the 15th century as an
• Modern period is generally said to begin around the accompaniment to the new ideas of the Renaissance and
backdrop of: then the Enlightenment.
 Christopher Columbus’ landing in the “new • Globalization comprises the multilateral interactions
world” which altered not only the geography but among global systems, local practices, transnational
the politics of the world forever. trends, and personal lifestyles.
 Martin Luther’s protest which caused several • New inventions in science eventually led to the industrial
centuries of upheaval in Europe, change the revolution in the 18th century, and since then, Western
nature of Christian religion, and eventually, society has taken off on a journey through the endless
change conceptions of human nature. world of science to bring society into the developed
• Reformation brought not only the rejection of medieval conditions that can be seen today.
philosophy but also the establishment of the “Protestant • Industrial Revolution came gradually in a short span of
ethic” and the beginnings of modern capitalism. time that grew more powerful each year due to new
• During the Renaissance period leadership in art and inventions and manufacturing processes that added to the
literature reached their peak which resulted in the revival efficiency of machines.
of ancient philosophy and European philosophers turning • Significant changes that brought about Industrial
from supernatural to natural or rational explanations of Revolution:
the world. • the invention of machines in lieu of doing the
• Experimentation, observation and application of work of hand tools;
mathematics in the natural sciences set standards for • the use of steam, and other kinds of power vis-a-
philosophic inquiry which led to the growth of modern vis the muscles of human beings and of animals;
philosophy. and
• The widespread use of money and the consequent spread • the embracing of factory system.
of commercialism and growth of great cities also • Sweeping changes made some observers of the
influenced the growth of philosophy. contemporary scene proclaim the advent of a new kind of
• Modern philosophy itself divides readily into periods. society, in which the production of material goods through
• The first period was one of what we may call naturalism: the expenditure of mechanical energy no longer serves as

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the basis for the technological system, where the • The world is becoming more and more unified (a single
importance of media communication in which computer as system) but it is not becoming more and more integrated
a tireless process of energy is a vital link is paramount. (driven by conflict and there is by no means universal
• They see the central functions required for human agreement on what shape the single system should take in
existence or amenities audited and controlled by the future).
information transmitted by energy in its electronic form. Technology
• Globalization, as facilitated by technology, can be • The more society is influenced by technology, the more we
beneficial if it will lead to improved society and intellectual need to consider the social, ethical and technological, and
growth; but can be divisive if it will erode local cultures scientific aspects of each decision and choice.
and national sovereignty. • Science has greatly influenced the picture we have of
• Technology most certainly leads to globalization but, in the human existence and what is essential to humanity that
emerging global society, economy, and culture, does not the difficulty to the period of rapid change challenges us to
encompass all equally. discover more about what is fundamental to our existence.
• Human success is measured by success in mastering
Human Relations and Social Systems science and technology.
• As industry changed, social and political conditions • Science and technology have become the most distinctive
transformed. symbol of human autonomy.
• The revolutionary change in our way of life in modern • Science and technology is not a single phenomenon;
times, which for several centuries was confined principally Technology is not an object but our whole attitude toward
to the Western people, has in our lifetime come to affect the human world; Science and technology are the culture
all of humanity. itself.
• Human relations are transformed by social systems On (Women’s) Friendships
specifically, on knowledge, laws, economics, and • Women’s friendship has a unique quality that may only
technology. exist between women—a quality of friendship between
New Knowledge women offering sympathy, learning, validations, and
• “Knowledge is virtue; ignorance is vice” is the summary of advices.
what Socrates wants to teach about how human beings • True friendships allow each other to be completely
should live a good life. themselves.
• The origins of the modern age may be seen in the • Female friends are extremely important to our emotional
phenomenal growth of knowledge that can be traced to and physical health.
the revival of Greek science. • Women may, unconsciously, have negative attitudes
• The process of intellectual growth still continues and toward themselves and other women.
changes in our understanding in the years ahead may well • Mothers customarily carry the moral obligations of
be greater than those that we have seen in our own providing safe environment for their daughters.
lifetime. • Daughters relationship with their mothers could be
• One of the most important consequences of the profound or disabling.
application of knowledge from Plato’s Republic to human • Knowing and accepting ourselves are important
affairs has been increased integration of policy making. ingredients in establishing boundaries in friendship.
• As life has become more complex, the legal system has
also grown to the point where almost all human activities The Human Person and Death
come in contact with the law in one form or another. Lesson Objectives
• This integration of policy making has brought people into • Reflect on the meaning of one’s life
an unprecedentedly closer relationship and has resulted in • Explain the meaning of one’s life
a greater complexity of social organization. • Enumerate the projects or goals one wants to accomplish
Economic Sphere in life
• Technical improvements have made possible a Key Questions
mechanization of labor that has resulted in mass • What is the meaning life?
production, the rapid growth in per capita productivity, • How can humans attain a meaningful life?
and an increasing division of labor.
• The contrast today between the level of living in relatively Recognize the Meaning of One’s Life
modern countries and that in traditional societies is a clear Socrates
manifestation of this. • Socrates believes that knowing oneself is a condition to
Social Realm solve the present problem.
• Modern knowledge and the technology it has created have • For Socrates, for a person to be happy, he has to live a
had an immense impact on the traditional societies’ way of virtuous life.
life. • Virtue is not something to be taught or acquired through
• The complex and interrelated series of changes in education, but rather it is merely an awakening of the
humanity’s way of life has changed the power seeds of good deeds that lay dormant in the mind and
relationships among societies by rapidly strengthening the heart of a person.
position of some at the expense of others. • Knowing what is in the mind and heart of a human being is
• Societies have also become more interdependent, and the achieved through self-knowledge.
conduct of their relations has been transformed. • True knowledge means wisdom, which in turn, means
• Modernization is seen as part of the universal experience, virtue.
and in many respects, it is one that holds great hope for • Socrates’ major ethical claims:
the welfare of humanity and yet, it has also been in many • happiness is impossible without moral virtue;
respects a destructive process. • unethical actions harm the person who performs them more
• The rise of global consciousness, along with higher levels than the people they victimize.
of material interdependence, increases the probability Plato
that the world will be reproduced as a single system. • For Plato, contemplation means that the mind is in
• Due to the thriving process of science and technology, we communion with the universal and eternal ideas.
see a universal civilization emerging that would reign from • Contemplation is very important because this is the only
New York to Seoul and from Moscow to Jakarta. available means for a mortal human being to free himself

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from his space-time confinement to ascend to the heaven of Meaning of Life

ideas and there commune with the immortal, eternal, the
infinite, and the divine truths. Friedrich Nietzsche
• The body, for Plato, causes us turmoil and confusion in our
inquiries. • Nietzsche analyzed the art of Athenian tragedy as the product of
• To see the truth, we must quit the body—the soul in itself the Greeks’ deep and non-evasive thinking about the meaning of
must behold things in themselves. life in the face of extreme vulnerability.
• Knowledge, however, can be attained (if at all) after death: • Athenian tragedy reminded its audience of the senseless horrors
for while in the company of the body, the soul cannot have of human existence but at the same time provided an
pure knowledge. experiential reinforcement of insights that we can nonetheless
Aristotle marvel at beauty within life, and that our true existence is not
• Aristotle’s account of change calls upon actuality and our individual lives but our participation in the drama of life and
potentiality. history.
• Everything in nature seeks to realize itself—to develop its • Morality was based on healthy self-assertion, not self-abasement
potentialities and finally realize its actualities. and the renunciation of the instincts.
• Entelechy means that nothing happens by chance. • Realizing one’s “higher self” means fulfilling one’s loftiest vision,
• Nature not only has a built-in pattern, but also different noblest ideal.
levels of being. • The individual has to liberate himself from environmental
• For the world of potential things to exist, there must first be influences that are false to one’s essential beings and draw a
something actual (form) at a level above potential or sharp conflict between the higher self and the lower self,
perishing things (matter). between the ideal aspired to and the contemptibly imperfect
• All things in the world are potentially in motion and present.
continuously changing; there must be something that is Arthur Schopenhauer
actual motion and which is moved by nothing external • Schopenhauer begins with the predicament of the self
(Unmoved Mover). with its struggles and its destiny: What am I? What shall I
• The Unmoved Mover is eternal, immaterial, with pure do with my life?
actuality or perfection, and with no potentiality. • Schopenhauer utilized Kant’s distinction between the
• Objects and human beings move toward their divine origin noumenal (the world-in-itself, which is Will) and the
and perfection as they strive to realize themselves. phenomenal (the world of experience and inclination)
• Reason finds its perfection in contemplating the Unmoved realms.
Mover. • Schopenhauer departs from Kant both in denying the
• The Unmoved Mover is the form of the world moving it rationality of the Will and in claiming that we can have
toward its divine end. experience of the thing-in-itself as Will
• The highest human activity is contemplating about the • For Schopenhauer, there is but One Will, and it underlies
Unmoved Mover. everything.
• Every being in the phenomenal world manifests the Will in
Goals One Wants to Accomplish its own way: as a natural force, as instinct or, in our case,
as intellectually enlightened willing.
• These self-examination activities will bring more • Will is ultimately without purpose, therefore, cannot be
understanding about you and the project/s you may want to satisfied and this led Schopenhauer to see the willful
accomplish. nature of reality—a reality that has no point and cannot be
satisfied.
A. Know thyself. Write your strengths and • Schopenhauer contends that all of life is suffering which is
weaknesses. caused by desire.
• Our desire make us see other people as separate and
opposed beings in competition for the satisfactions we
crave leading us to harm each other.
• We can alleviate suffering by “putting an end to desire.”
Martin Heidegger
• In Heidegger’s analysis, human existence is exhibited in
care, a finite temporality which reaches with death.
• Care’s threefold structure:
 Possibility. Humanity constructs the
instrumental world on the basis of the persons’
concerns.
 Facticity. A person is not pure possibility but
factical possibility: possibilities open to him at
any time conditioned and limited by
B. Before you itemize what you want to achieve, circumstances.
first, ask questions regarding what you want to  Fallenness. Humanity has fallen away from one’s
achieve. authentic possibility into an authentic existence
of irresponsibility and illusory security.
• Heidegger claims that only by living through the
nothingness of death in anticipation do one attain
authentic existence.
• Death is not accidental, nor should be analyzed rather it
belongs to humanity’s facticity (limitations).
Jean-Paul Sartre
• the human person desires to be God; the desire to exist as
a being that has its sufficient ground in itself (en sui causa).
• The human person builds the road to the destiny of his/her
choosing; he/she is the creator.
• Sartre’s dualism:
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 en-soi (in-itself ) – signifies the permeable and

dense, silent and dead.
 pour-soi (for-itself) – the world only has meaning
according to what the person gives to it.
• The person, first of all exists, encounters himself, surges up
in the world, and defines himself afterward.
• Freedom, therefore, is the very core and the door to
authentic existence.
• The human person who tries to escape obligations and
strives to be en-soi is acting on bad faith (mauvais foi).
Karl Jaspers
• Jasper’s philosophy places the person’s temporal existence
in the face of the transcendent God, an absolute
imperative.
• Transcendence relates to us through limit-situation
(Grenzsituation).
• To live an authentic existence always requires a leap of
faith.
• Authentic existence (existenz) is freedom and God.
• Human beings should be loyal to their own faiths without
impugning the faith of others.
Gabriel Marcel
• Philosophy has the tension (the essence of drama) and the
harmony (that is the essence of music).
• Marcel’s Phenomenological Method
 Primary Reflection. This method looks at the
world or at any object as a problem, detached
from the self and fragment.
 Secondary Reflection. Secondary reflection is
concrete, individual, heuristic, and open. It is
concerned not with object but with presences
and recaptures the unity of original experience.
• Secondary reflection is an ingathering, a recollection, a
pulling together of the scattered fragments of our
experience.
• Beyond one’s experience, beyond the circle of fellow
human beings, one turns to the Absolute Thou, the
unobjectifiable Transcendent Thou.

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