Confucius, 551 B.

Confucius, also known as Kong Qui or K’ung Fu-tzu, was born probably in 551 B.C.
(lunar calendar) in present-day Qufu, Shandong Province, China. Little is known of his
childhood. Records of the Historian, written by Ssu-ma Chi’en (born 145 B.C.; died 86
B.C.) offers the most detailed account of Confucius’ life. However, some contemporary
historians are skeptical as to the record’s accuracy, regarding it as myth, not fact.
According to Records of the Historian, Confucius was born into a royal family of the
Chou Dynasty. Other accounts describe him as being born into poverty. What is
undisputed about Confucius’ life is that he existed during a time of ideological crisis in
China.

Confucius is credited with writing and editing some of the most influential traditional
Chinese classics. These include a rearrangement of the Book of Odes as well as a
revision of the historical Book of Documents. He also compiled a historical account of
the 12 dukes of Lu, called the Spring and Autumn Annals. Lunyu, which sets forth
Confucius’ philosophical and political beliefs, is thought to be compiled by his disciples.
It is one of the "Four Books" of Confucianism that Chinese philosopher Zhu Xi, a self-
proclaimed Neo-Confucian, published as Sishu in 1190. Far-reaching in its
influence, Lunyu was later translated into English under the title The Analects of
Confucius.

Convinced that his teachings had not made a significant impact on Chinese culture,
Confucius died on November 21, 479 B.C. in Qufu, China, a year after losing his son,
Tzu-lu, in battle. His followers held a funeral and established a mourning period in his
honor. As of the fourth century B.C., Confucius was regarded as a sage who had
deserved greater recognition in his time. By the second century B.C., during China’s
first Han Dynasty, his ideas became the foundation of the state ideology. Today he is
widely considered one of the most influential teachers in Chinese history.
 Holy Child College of Davao – Jacinto Campus

E. Jacinto St., Davao City

8000 Philippines

Individual Performance Task in

Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Submitted by: Merinissa A. Manligoy

Grade 12 – Carmel STEM

Submitted to: Jesus S. Galleto

Subject Teacher
 October 2017
Voltaire, 1694

Born in 1694, in Paris, France, Voltaire established himself as one of the leading writers
of the Enlightenment. His famed works include the tragic play Zaïre, the historical
study The Age of Louis XIV and the satirical novella Candide. Often at odds with French
authorities over his politically charged works, he was twice imprisoned and spent many
years in exile. He died shortly after returning to Paris in 1778.

Widely considered one of France's greatest Enlightenment writers, Voltaire was born
François-Marie Arouet to a prosperous family on November 21, 1694, in Paris, France.
He was the youngest of five children born to François Arouet and Marie Marguerite
d'Aumart. When Voltaire was just 7 years old, his mother passed away. Following her
death, he grew closer to his free-thinking godfather.

In 1704, Voltaire was enrolled at the Collége Louis-le-Grand, a Jesuit secondary school
in Paris, where he received a classical education and began showing promise as a
writer.

Voltaire wrote poetry and plays, as well as historical and philosophical works. His most
well-known poetry includes The Henriade (1723) and The Maid of Orleans, which he
started writing in 1730 but never fully completed.

Among the earliest of Voltaire's best-known plays is his adaptation of Sophocles'

tragedy Oedipus, which was first performed in 1718. Voltaire followed with a string of
dramatic tragedies, including Mariamne (1724). His Zaïre (1732), written in verse, was
something of a departure from previous works: Until that point, Voltaire's tragedies had
centered on a fatal flaw in the protagonist's character; however, the tragedy
in Zaïre was the result of circumstance. Following Zaïre, Voltaire continued to write
tragic plays, including Mahomet (1736) and Nanine (1749).

Immanuel Kant, 1724

Immanuel Kant,  (born April 22, 1724, Königsberg, Prussia [now Kaliningrad, Russia]—
died February 12, 1804, Königsberg), German philosopher whose comprehensive and
systematic work in epistemology (the theory of knowledge), ethics, and aesthetics
greatly influenced all subsequent philosophy, especially the various schools of
Kantianism and idealism.
Kant was one of the foremost thinkers of the Enlightenment and arguably one of the
greatest philosophers of all time. In him were subsumed new trends that had begun with
the rationalism (stressing reason) of René Descartes and the empiricism (stressing
experience) of Francis Bacon. He thus inaugurated a new era in the development of
philosophical thought.

In 1781, Immanuel Kant published the Critique of Pure Reason, an enormous work and
one of the most important on Western thought. He attempted to explain how reason and
experiences interact with thought and understanding. This revolutionary proposal
explained how an individual’s mind organizes experiences into understanding the way
the world works. 
Kant focused on ethics, the philosophical study of moral actions. He proposed a moral
law called the “categorical imperative,” stating that morality is derived from rationality
and all moral judgments are rationally supported. What is right is right and what is
wrong is wrong; there is no grey area. Human beings are obligated to follow this
imperative unconditionally if they are to claim to be moral.
Though the Critique of Pure Reason received little attention at the time, Kant continued
to refine his theories in a series of essays that comprised the Critique of Practical
Reason and Critique of Judgement. Kant continued to write on philosophy until shortly
before his death. In his last years, he became embittered due to his loss of memory. He
died in 1804 at age 80.
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