SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

INTRODUCTION TO
THE PHILOSOPHY OF
THE HUMAN PERSON
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
DOING PHILOSOPHY
Lesson

1 What is Philosophy?
More than 2500 years ago a sage in South Asia named Gautama Buddha
declared that “Life is suffering.” This is the first of his Four Noble Truths. And indeed,
if you look at your life you will see that it is a series of challenges that you have to
overcome if you want to survive. It feels like you are competing in a race in which you
are required to successfully jump hurdles in order to win. And each challenge in life is
really a question or a bunch of questions that you have to answer. If you are not feeling
well for example you might ask, why am I feeling this way (cause)? How can I overcome
it (process)? How it will affect my life and the people around me (consequence)?

Philosophy, our subject matter for this course, is really all about questions
and answers. And since by now you already asked and answered hundreds of
questions your life experienced already prepared you to take our philosophical
journey starting now.

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 What is It

I. The Nature and Functions of Philosophy

DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY
Traditionally philosophy is defined as love of wisdom because it came from two
Greek words philos (love) and Sophia (wisdom). You might find it strange to connect
love to philosophy. You might think of philosophy as a purely intellectual discipline
which has nothing to do with love. You might believe love is romance, poetry,
intense passion in which you are willing to lay down your life. But you will see that
philosophy can also be pursued passionately. In fact, some people like Socrates died
for truth. It is this centrality of love to philosophy that we call people who engages
in philosophy as philosophers (lovers of wisdom).
ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY
Greece is the birthplace of philosophy in the West. To be more
precise it is the ancient Greek city of Miletus in the Western coast
of what is now Turkey that gave birth to philosophy. It is in this
city that the first philosopher in the West, Thales, lived. Thales is
the Father of Philosophy in the Western civilization. He lived
between 624 and 546 BCE a contemporary of the Lydian king
Croesus and the statesman Solon (Stumpf and Fieser,2008).
What made Thales a philosopher is his desire to know the
ultimate stuff that makes up the different things we perceived. You THALES

see when we look at the world, we encounter different things: people, trees, clouds,
mountains, rivers, etc. Now Thales believed that despite the different things we
encounter there is one underlying stuff or substance in which everything is
composed. He believes that there is One in the Many. Thales was the first individual
who tried to reduce the multiplicity in to a unity (Jones,1969).
But his explanation of natural phenomena is devoid of gods and goddesses of the
old religion of Greece. It is completely rational. It represents a departure from the
mythological religion of Greece. Thale’s approach highlights the difference between
religion and philosophy. Religion rests on faith while philosophy rests on reason.

PHILOSOPHICAL ACTIVITY
Thales greatest contribution to philosophy is not his identification of water as
the ultimate stuff of the universe. His greatest contribution is the problem he posed
“What is the ultimate stuff of the universe?” and his approach in solving that

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problem. Studying Thales makes us realize that philosophical activity is
characterized by three things:
First in terms of scope philosophy involves the widest generalizations (Rand,
1982). While people concern themselves with shoes and clothes, the latest gossip
about their favorite celebrities, their crushes, philosophers concern themselves with
big issues pertaining to the truth, the good, the just, the beautiful, and the existence
of practically all things. While scientists concern themselves with scientific
knowledge, historians with knowledge of the past, economists with knowledge of
supply and demand, philosophers concern themselves with the nature of knowledge
as such (which embraces all types of knowledge previously mentioned and more).

Second philosophy is all about fundamentals. A fundamental is the root cause

that explains almost everything in a given context. To understand this, imagine that
knowledge is like a building with levels. Now the higher level depends on the lower
levels (Peikoff, 1991). If somehow the lower-level crumbles, then all the higher levels
that rest upon it will collapse. A fundamental is like the lower floor that supports
everything above it. That kind of support is exactly what philosophy provides. If
somehow philosophical ideas like consciousness and existence disappear then
knowledge of any kind will not make any sense because there will be nothing to
know (existence) and no one to know (consciousness).

Third philosophy is driven by the desire to integrate things in to a one coherent

whole. As the celebrated philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said
“The true is the Whole (Peikoff, 1991).” If you notice Thales wants to reduce the
multiplicity of things into a single stuff. He desires to find the One in the many.

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

Since philosophy’s concern is vast, we have to divide it into different branches.

Each branch will focus on a specific area of philosophy. To understand the branches
of philosophy let us return to the three central philosophical questions we explored
earlier.
First the question, Where am I? By the time we reached adulthood we believe we
know the answer to this question. In fact we believed that the answer is obvious that
we don’t bother to look closely at the question itself. Where am I? Well let’s say I’m in
Manila. You don’t need philosophy to answer that one. But if you ask a series of
where questions (Where is Manila? Where is the Philippines? etc.) which at first
seems childish you eventually end up with the universe. And here we have to
stop asking the where question (Where is the universe is an absurd question. The
universe does not exist in a place). What kind of place is the universe? Is it governed
by laws? If so what laws? The study of the universe as a whole is the province of
metaphysics. Metaphysics is further subdivided into ontology which studies
existence as such and philosophical anthropology which deals with the
fundamental and essential characteristics of human nature (Gotthelf and Salmieri,
2015).

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 The second question, How do I know it? concerns the nature of human knowledge
and the way to obtain it. How do we obtain knowledge? Do we obtain knowledge by
revelation, intuition, instinct or reason? Can we achieve certainty or are we doomed
to suffer perpetual doubt? Is knowledge based on the things we perceive or from
something else? This is the concern of epistemology which can be defined as the
“branch of philosophy that studies the nature and means of human knowledge.” We
need epistemology to guide us in knowing since we make mistakes from time to
time.
The first two branches of philosophy, metaphysics and epistemology, are called
cognitive branches. These branches provide a description of being (existence) and
knowing. They are the foundations of understanding any philosophical system.
The next three branches of philosophy (ethics, politics and aesthetics) can be
classified as the normative branches of philosophy because they are concerned with
the standard of the good. If the cognitive branches are concerned with what “is” the
normative branches are concerned with what “ought” to be.
The most basic normative branch of philosophy is ethics or morality (I used
these two concepts interchangeably). It is concerned with the last of the three
questions central to philosophy: What should I do? Ethics can be regarded as the
technology of philosophy (I owe this analogy to the philosopher Ayn Rand) because
it tells us how human beings ought to function as a human being. But in order to
describe how human beings ought to act we must first know what a human being
is. These last is provided by metaphysics and epistemology. (This is especially true
of philosophical anthropology a sub-branch of metaphysics which studies the
metaphysical nature of man (see discussion above). Metaphysics and epistemology
are the foundations of ethics.
What then is ethics or morality? According to Ayn Rand ethics or morality is a
branch of philosophy that provides a human being with a “code of values to guide
man’s choices and actions - the choices and actions that determine the course of
his life (Rand, 1964).” It is concerned with the values man ought to pursue, the
interrelationships of those values and the means to obtain them (virtue).
The last two normative branches of philosophy, politics and aesthetics, are
derived from ethics. Ethics is concerned with the good for human being as a
human being. If we apply ethics in a social context then it becomes politics. The
concern therefore of ethics is broader than politics. It studies the “good” for human
beings in any setting (whether society is present or not). An individual who is alone
in an island still has to follow ethical principles if he wishes to survive (Peikoff,
1991).
So what then is politics? Again following Rand’s definition politics is a branch of
philosophy “which defines the principles of a proper social system.” According to
Rand “proper” means proper for human beings which presupposes that one knows
what a human being is. Since knowledge about human being is provided by the
cognitive branches of philosophy, the foundation of politics ultimately rests on
metaphysics and epistemology.
The last of the normative branch, aesthetics studies the nature of art. It is
concerned with the nature and the objective judgement of beauty.

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II. Philosophical Tools and Processes
Philosophy as a science is also a systematized body of knowledge but unlike other
sciences which employs observation and experimentation to prove their theories,
philosophy uses reason to arrive at a certain knowledge or truth. At the onset
Greek philosophers gave us a hint on how to use our
intellect to understand realities around us. The tools
that they frequently utilized are the following:
1. Philosophical Questions. Philosophy was born
because of ignorance. If one is ignorant, he asks
questions and if he keeps on questioning the more
knowledge he acquires. Once a person stops
questioning, he cease to become a philosopher. In our
daily struggles, one needs to ask questions simple,
serious and deep questions that we have to grapple
with. A philosopher is like a child who has an
inquisitive mind who never stops asking questions
and finding answers.
SOCRATES

Socrates went further not just asking questions for himself but poses questions
to people which is the beginning of series of questions and responses from
participants. This philosophical questioning can be best described from an excerpt
from Plato’s apology of Socrates below:
“…But let us examine each one of the parts of this charge. Now he asserts that
I do injustice by corrupting the young. But I, men of Athens, assert that Meletus
does injustice, in that he jest in a serious matter, easily bringing human beings
into trial, pretending to be serious and concerned about things for which he never
cared at all. That this is so, I will try to display to you as well. Now come here,
Meletus, tell; do you not regard it as most important how the youth will be the best
possible?” (Plato’s apology of Socrates, 24C)
His method is called dialectics. The Socratic Method, also known as method of
elenchus, elenctic method, or Socratic debate, is a form of cooperative
argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and answering
questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying
presuppositions. (Google.com/search) Aristotle said that it was the pre- Socratic
philosopher Zeno of Elea who invented dialectic, of which the dialogues of Plato
are the examples of the Socratic dialectical method. According to Kant, however,
the ancient Greeks used the word "dialectic" to signify the logic of false appearance
or semblance. Dialectics is a term used to describe a method of philosophical
argument that involves some sort of contradictory process between opposing sides.
As a dialectical method, it is a discourse between two or more people holding
different points of view about a subject but wishing to establish the truth through
reasoned arguments.

18th century philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel expounded dialectics

which later influenced Karl Marx, the father of communism.

2. Logical Reasoning. In philosophy reasoning is the process of thinking

about something in a logical way in order to form a conclusion or judgement. It has

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 been the method institutionalized by the triumvirate Greek philosophers specially
Aristotle. Philosophy is about answering questions. Reasoning is the method we
use in doing philosophy. However, although it is necessary for any competent
engagement with philosophy, it is not the end all and be all of philosophy. All
branches of philosophy employ reasoning in explaining their arguments. For
example the concept of right or wrong which is the domain of Ethics based their
arguments in human reason alone in contrast with theology which is dependent
from the Bible as the source of its moral teachings. Reasoning however is the
domain of one branch of philosophy which is Epistemology. One type of logical
reasoning is the deductive reasoning:
Example: Premise 1: All human beings are mortal
Premise 2: But the President of the Philippines is a human being
Conclusion: Therefore, the President of the Philippines is mortal.
Here we are taught to arrive at a certain truth or knowledge in a logical process. In
contrast, Inductive reasoning begins with a particular to universal argument.

Example: Premise: Student A, B, C, D, E, F….. are wearing School ID.

Conclusion: Therefore, All students are wearing ID
The above examples show the logical process wherein by reasoning one arrives at a
certain truth or knowledge. Logic starts with the origin of ideas, terms, propositions or
premises, syllogism, etc. These terms are the basic structure of argument.
Unfortunately, this branch of philosophy is equivalent to one-subject requirement
in any course in the tertiary level.

III. Philosophical Reflection

In the midst of our present crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, consistently, the
government kept on reminding us the ‘essentials’ of things and concerns that are
necessary during the quarantine period whether under ECQ, GCQ, or MECQ. In
our case, we changed our competencies and emphasized the most essential ones.
This is the essence of philosophy. It tries to separate the essences of things versus
accidentals and necessary versus contingent. It is concern of what is the substance
and ultimate causes of things.
When we venture into philosophizing we see the greater perspective of all
things and see the ultimate purpose or reasons for our existence. Most of us are so
engross with individual trees and we miss the whole forest as the saying goes. We are
always predispose to attend to the details of the problem rather than look at the
situation as a whole. This is true in our understanding of the objects, events,
realities and situations around us. Reflection is the process that would aide in
understanding the holistic point of view of what is going on around us.

Reflection is an activity that requires a person to examine his or her thoughts,

feelings and actions and learn from experience. (Abella, 2016). . Philosophers
always search for the essence of things and the ultimate reasons for our existence.

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Its trajectory is to see the bigger picture about everything. This process is called
philosophical reflection. According to Gabriel Marcel, philosophical reflection is
the act of giving time to think about the meaning and purpose of life. He mentioned
two types, namely: Primary Reflection- which is the ability to think logically. The
ability of the mind to construct and evaluate arguments. It examines its object by
abstraction, by analytically breaking it down into its constituent parts. It is
concerned with definitions, essences and technical solutions to problems. The
second type is Secondary reflection. According to Marcel this type of reflection
enables us to look deeper into our experiences and see the bigger picture of reality.
It integrates the fragmented and compartmentalized experience into a whole. It is
the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as
wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holism
In effect we see the broader perspective of life.
Reflection is not exclusive for philosophy in fact it is employed in any
endeavour, research or disciplines. In research it is called methodological
approach. Moral theology employs the STOP sign as guidepost of moral decision
making. S= Search out the facts. It is necessary that all means should be
exhausted to better understand the issue. T=Think, reflect and analyse the facts,
its negative or positive effects, advantages or disadvantages. O= How it affects
Others. We should always consider others in every decision that we make. Every
action that we take has always a social dimension. It affects ourselves, others and
community where we belong. Lastly P= stands for Pray. We are human beings
with limitations. If our best effort are not enough, then there is no way but look up
for divine or God for enlightenment and guidance. Praying is a unique tool of
theology which is in the realm of faith but philosophy’s reasoning helps in
undergoing a theological reflection as St. Anselm said, “its faith seeking
understanding.” St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the great theologian of the church quoted
in latin the relationship between philosophy and theology; ‘philosophia ancilla
theologiae’ or philosophy is the handmaid of theology the former is there to
serve theology. Reason is also important in theology not just faith. Whether in
philosophy, sociology or other sciences, reflection is very useful in understanding
our daily experiences to broaden our perspective of life.

In order to reflect philosophically we need to use a framework. A framework is

a conceptual map consisting of our views and beliefs which affects the way we view
the world (Abella 2016). The framework were going to used is called AQAL. It is an
acronym that stands for All Quadrants All Levels first formulated by an American
philosopher/psychologist Ken Wilber. Wilber first introduced AQAL to the world in
his book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality.

According to Wilber everything can be analysed using a vertical line.

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 The line above divides space into two sides: left and right. The left side
represents the interior, subjective, aspect of everything. The right side represents
the exterior, objective, aspect of everything. The interior (or “loob” in Filipino) if
applied to human beings, includes one’s values, dreams, ideas, emotions, beliefs. It
basically consists of one’s inner life. It cannot be seen or measured but can be
experienced directly. The exterior side of everything are the things that we can see,
measure and touch. They include the physical objects around us including our own
bodies.
A simple example of this inside/outside distinction is when a person smiles at
you. You see the big smile so it is the exterior aspect of an event. But at the same
time there is a subjective meaning behind that smile: let’s say the person is happy.
This is the interior, subjective, aspect of the event. So you see two strands are
interwoven behind any human event: the objective and the subjective, the interior
and the exterior.
Another basic distinction was introduced by Ken Wilber using a horizontal line
that divides space into above and below:

Above the line represents what is singular, individual, one. The space below
represents what is plural, collective, many. For example you are an individual but
you belong in a family, community, class (all instances of the collective).
An interesting thing happen when we combine the two lines.

We created what Wilber calls the quadrants. According to Wilber quadrants are
“the inside and outside of the individual and collective (Wilber 2006).”

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 There are many ways to describe the quadrants. We can use the simple
location of each of the quadrant. So the interior of the individual is the upper left
quadrant (UL), the exterior of the individual is the upper right quadrant (UR), the
interior of the collective is the lower left quadrant (LL) and the exterior of the
collective is the lower right quadrant (LR).

We can also use pronouns to label the quadrants as shown below:

Quadrants expressed in language

But what we are interested is when we apply this to human beings. The inside
of the individual becomes the mind, the outside of the individual becomes the body,
the inside of the collective becomes culture and the outside of the collective
becomes society.

Quadrants as applied to human beings

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 Now when we reflect on the nature of any concrete issue like poverty,
corruption, prostitution, global warming we can just put the issue at the center of
the quadrant and analyzed its mental, physical, cultural and social components.
This is looking at an issue from an all quadrant, multiple and holistic perspective.

Multiple Perspectives

Let’s take for example the issue of poverty. How do we reflect on the issue
using the AQAL framework? Well we know that poverty has a psychological aspect
(UL quadrant) to it. It affects the way we think, feel and even what we value. But it
does not stop there. Poverty also affects bodies (UR quadrant). It affects our
nutrition, our medication and immune system. Some children have stunted growth
due to poverty. And who could deny that poverty also affects the culture such as
arts, religion and even the way we dress. Religious feast such as the procession of
the Black Nazarene is in part motivated by poverty. And of course it is obvious that
poverty has an economic, political and even technological components (all parts of
the social LR quadrant).

Self- pity Malnutrition

POVERTY

Collective aspiration for a better life

Inflation

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 Assessment
Direction: Choose the letter that corresponds to your answer from the statements
below. Write your answers on the sheet of paper.
1.It is an activity that requires a person to examine his or her thoughts,
feelings and actions and learn from experience.
A. reflection C. wondering
B. questioning D. reasoning
2.What is the science and art of correct thinking?
A. Ethics C. Metaphysics
B. Aesthetics D. Logic
__ 3. The type of philosophical reflection which trains the mind to think
logically. Also it is the ability of the mind to construct and evaluate
arguments
A. Secondary reflection C. Primary reflection
B. Tertiary reflection D. all of the above
__ 4. One of the triumvirate Greek philosophers who pioneered a method of
argument called dialectic.
A. Plato C. Pythagoras
B. Socrates D. Aristotle
__ 5. It is considered as the process of thinking about something in a logical
way in order to form a conclusion or judgement.
A. reasoning C. argument
B. Proposition D. Reflection
6. In our daily lives we encounter events, situations or issues that we need to
ponder and think deeply. This activity which requires a person to examine
his or her thoughts, feelings and actions and learn from experience is related
to the concept of:
A. philosophical reflection C. philosophical wondering
B. philosophical questioning D. philosophical reasoning
7. Imagine that you are in Boracay walking with Thales. He is convincing you
that the only reality is water. Would you believe in him?
A. No, because I had my own belief.
B. Yes, because Thales belongs to the school of monists which believes that
only one kind of stuff exists.
C. Either yes or no, I will have my own investigation that is based on the
data and reason presented.
D. Neither yes nor no until it is proven true.
__ 8. According to Gabriel Marcel this type of reflection enables us to look
deeper into our experiences and see the bigger picture of reality.
A. Secondary reflection C. Primary reflection
B. Tertiary reflection D. all of the above

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 9. Identify which statement describes the difference between holism and
partial thinking.
A. Holism is a perspective that looks at the “big picture” while partial
thinking focuses on the specific aspect of the situation.
B. Holism is a perspective that looks at the specific aspects of the
situation while partial thinking looks at the big picture.
C. Holism requires us to focus on a certain aspect of the problem
while partial thinking requires us to have an open mindset.
D. All of the above
10. According to the importance of studying philosophy, what can it offer us?
A. Know the different philosophers and their philosophies in life?
B. See the downs and lows in the development and history of philosophy.
C. Survey the achievements of the different philosophers in various
periods of history.
D. Enhances our minds, understand what we encounter every day, and
value our judgement.

Additional Activities
Direction: Choose a topic below and formulate up to 9 questions. Classify these
questions using the table below:

a. “Covid-19 pandemic”
b. “New Normal” culture
Simple/silly
Serious Questions Deep Questions
Questions
1. 1. 1.
2. 2. 2.
3. 3. 3.