INTRODUCTION TO THE

PHILOSOPHY OF THE
HUMAN PERSON
COURSE OBJECTIVES

At the end of the lesson the learners will be able to;

• Recognize the different personages as the origin of

philosophy.
• Elaborate his/her understanding about philosophy
through picture analysis/interpretation, and;
Appreciate the importance of philosophy as a way
of developing one’s intellectual abilities.
MOTIVATION

• The class will be divided into 7 groups

• Pictures that represents philosophy will distributed

• 30 mins. Group discussion and elaboration of ideas

• Assigned a spoke person for the elaboration of ideas.

What to do?

• Examine the pictures thoroughly. Go into the details and different

elements in the pictures.
• Answer the question;

How does this picture represents philosophy based on

its definition?;
“Love of wisdom”.
PHILOSOPHY & ITS’ ORIGIN
WHERE?

During ancient times in Greek Ionia,

before the emergence of philosophy as a
formal discipline, any investigation
regarding the nature of things in general
falls under “phusis”.
“Phusis”= an English word of “Nature”
EXPLAINATION ON THINGS

• Relating , based on, appearing

in myths or mythology
FATHER OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

• THALES
• Fishing Village in Miletus
• Around 650 B.C

• Diverged from mythological tradition

in explaining things …
SOUGHT TO ANSWER QUESTIONS LIKE;

• What is the underlying substance that the reality is

made of?

• How do things come to be, change and pass away?

• Is there something that remains amidst all changes?

Facts

• It was emphasized that has dared to go against tradition

for the first time
• Assumed that it is within man’s rational ability to
abstract and explain reality.
• It was also assumed for the first time that there must
be an order in the universe and that universe must be;

• An orderly system known as “cosmos” & govern by laws or

“logos”-w/c explained by man through “abstraction”
Western Philosophy
The Melesians

➢Earth is flat
➢Shrewd business man & established monopoly of
the olive
➢Brought geometry to ancient Greece.
➢Have successfully predicted an eclipse.
➢Fundamental substances of reality is “water”

Thales 650 B.C

Anaximander ( 610-540 B.C.)

• Very good prose writer

• Earth is cylindrical and is suspended in
space
• First philosopher to first attempt to draw
a map
• Fundamental substance in reality is
“apeiron”-no precise
characteristics/attributes, ageless &
eternal, & encompasses all the world.
Anaximenes

• The earth is flat & round-earth and heavenly

bodies are like saucers floating in the air.
• Fundamental substance of reality is “Air”-
Holds our souls together; it encompasses the
whole world.
• Earthquakes-lack of moisture
• Lightning –violent separation of clouds by the
wind
• Rainbow- formed when densely compressed air
588-524 B.C. is touched by the sun.
Pre-Socratic Philosophers
• Leader of a religious cult “Pythagoreans”
• Philosophy is a way of life
• Philosophy & religion is one-Philosophy &
Mathematics as good for purification of
the soul.
• “Number”- is the primary constituents of
reality.
• Even #s-finite numbers
Pythagoras 531 B.C • Odd #s- infinite numbes
 Pythagoras

• #10- perfect number.

• Oblong, triangular, square numbers.
Added! • #5- is a number for marriage.
Number can • Beauty, balance & scale can be explained through
explain number.
everything..
Heraclitus

• Known for his mystical idea about “Change”.

• Change- is the only thing that permanent in
this world (also known as flux or becoming).
• Known to have said:
• “you cannot step twice into the same river,
we are & we are not”

500 B.C.
Parmenides

• Leader of Eleatic School.

• “Reality is made up of one continuous
object/plenum called “being”.
• Change & motion- is an illusion.
• Being- indestructible, immovable, complete &
without beginning or end.

450 B.C
Empedocles

• He believed himself to be immortal that he

had magical powers.
• He was known to have cured somebody who
was comatose for 24 months.
• He leaped into the mouth of Mt. Etna, an
active volcano in Sicily, southern Italy, that
had led to ultimate death.

• He added!
493-433 B.C.
Empedocles

• Reality is made up of four elements;

• Earth
• Air
• Fire
• water

493-433 B.C.
Anaxagoras

• There are many seeds of elements as there

are kinds of things.
• When you divide matter, each separated part
will contain elements of everything else.

• Another important contribution;

• The idea about “Nuos”

480B.C.
Anaxagoras

• “Nuos/mind”- external but is infinite & is

self- ruled and has the greatest strength &
power over all things.
• Famous Quotation:
• “All things have a portion of everything, while
& is self-ruled and is mixed with nothing, but
it is alone, itself by itself…it has knowledge
about all things.

480 B.C.
Zeno of Elea

• Loyal follower of Parmenides

• Reiterated the idea that reality is “being”
• Famous idea: “There is no motion”
• 4 arguments against motion but there are two
main ideas.
• Achilles & the tortoise.
• The arrow in flight is at rest.

490 B.C.
Warner

• Philosophy emerged as something revolutionary since

their mythological explanation about the nature of the
universe would be set aside in favor of more coherent
and rational one.
Friedrich Waismann (Austrian Philosopher)

• “Philosophy is a vision”. It is a new way of looking at

things.

• Therefore:
• Changing one’s perspective will give us a different and
broader perspective in understanding others.
Guide Question