PHL01 – Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person - Reviewer
CO1 - History and Development of
Philosophy
Thales of Miletus- Theorized that the cosmos is
entirely made up of the Universe.
Anaximander – Invented the pointer on the
sundial, which tells time; he believes that
infinity or Apeiron is the beginning of
everything.
Anaximenes – He believed that air is the
beginning of the Cosmos.
Anaxagoras – He believed that there was no
pure stuff in the universe but that everything
shared a part of everything else.
Pythagoras – He theorized that the universe is
entirely reducible to geometrical triangles.
Heraclitus of Ephesus – He stated that “No man
ever steps in the same river twice” in which, he
meant that change is inevitable and is a
continuous process.
Democritus - Believed that the universe is
ultimately composed of atoms and the void. He
is known as a pluralist
Socrates – Teacher of Plato and known to
develop the Socratic Method, which aims to
eliminate contradictory hypotheses.
Socratic Method – a method which involves
eliminating contradictory internalized
hypothesis. It is also an art of questioning.
Plato – A student of Socrates that is famous with
Idealism which he stated that the universe has an
alternate which he called the “World of Forms”.
Aristotle – Probably the most scientific among
the 3 ancient philosophers. He is known as the
star student of Plato in his academy. He
originated the scientific method under the
adaptation of the Socratic Method.
Lao Tzu – He is considered as the father of
Taoism which taught about the concept of Yin
and Yang that represents balance.
Siddhartha Gautama – The founder of Buddhism
who theorized that the soul is distinct from the
body. He also did not consider this as a religion
but more of a belief and lifestyle.
St. Augustine of Hippo – He is known for
believing in the Immaterial Reality in which
case, there is no evil in this world but only lack
of goodness.
St. Anselm of Canterbury – was known for his
“Ontological argument” in which he tried to
prove the existence of God by stating that
“Something will exist if it is on our mind”. He
also described God as the “best” thing you could
ever think of.
St. Thomas Aquinas of Italia – Among the three
Medieval philosophers, he was the elite, since he
grew up in a rich family. He tried proving the
existence of God using 5 arguments (Motion,
Causation, Degree, Contingency, and Design)
 PHL01 – Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person - Reviewer

John Locke – was considered an Empiricist and
known for his concept of the “Tabula Rasa”
which means that our mind is a blank sheet of
paper, because for him, we start with nothing
and through experiences, we gain knowledge.
Rene Descartes – A rationalist who argued that
the truth does not require experiences. He was
also famous for his quote “I think, therefore I
exist”
Immanuel Kant - Balanced the idea between
Empiricism and Rationalism. He said that we
gain knowledge through sense perception, but
our mind still plays a major role in processing
knowledge.
- Ontology – deals with the nature of
existence
- Cosmology – deals with the origin
and Organization of the Cosmos.
Epistemology – deals with the nature of
knowledge, in which, logic is the key dimension.
It is divided into 2 sub – branch. Inductive and
Deductive Logic.
- Deductive Logic – from general
knowledge down to a specific
knowledge.
- Inductive logic – deals with specific
knowledge upwards to general
knowledge.

Bertrand Russel – A contemporary philosopher Axiology – pertains to the nature of values. It is

who believed that our world is composed of subdivided into 2 sub-branches.
atomic facts. He focused on language and
- Ethics – deals and examines human
statements.
conduct and morality.
Ludwig Wittgenstein – Just like Russel, he - Aesthetics – values beauty, nature,
focused on language. He conceptualized the and aesthetic experiences.
Picture theory of meaning or 1:1 ration (for his
Philosophy of Language – Deals with language
early philosophy) and the Language games (for
and reality. It refers to topics that other field
his latter philosophy)
cannot explore such as Psychology and
CO2 – Branches of Philosophy and Methods Linguistics.
of Philosophizing
Social Philosophy – Deals with the
Metaphysics – a major branch of Philosophy philosophical study of questions about social
that deals with the nature of reality. It is behaviors.
composed of 2 sub-branch, Ontology and
Logic – it refers to the science of correct
Cosmology
reasoning. It came from the word “Logos”
which is sometimes translated as “reason”
 PHL01 – Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person - Reviewer
Political Philosophy – the philosophical study
that deals with the government and politics.
Fallacy – is referred to as an erroneous form of
thinking and/or argument. The purpose of a
fallacy is to weaken an argument in order to win.
Argumentum ad Hominem – is a logical fallacy
which attacks the person instead of the main
argument.
Argumentum ad Baculum – a type of fallacy that
uses force in order to win an argument.
Argumentum ad Populum – A type of fallacy
which accepts the idea because a lot of people is
going with the idea.
Argumentum ad Misericordiam – A type of
fallacy that deals with emotions and pity. You
are using it to win an argument.
Cherry Picking – refers to picking the bits of
evidence that support your argument and ignore
those that goes against it. Example is “My
political candidate gives 10% of his income to
the needy, goes to church every Sunday, and
volunteers one day a week at a homeless shelter.
Therefore, he is honest and morally straight.”
Ignoratio Elenchi (Red Herring) – is when a
person in the middle of an argument introduces
another topic to distract from what’s being
discussed.
False Dilemma/Dichotomy – is when there are
only two options, but when in fact there should
be many.
Straw Man – this type of fallacy occurs when
someone argues that person holds a view that is
not what the other person believes. Instead, it is
a distorted version of what the person believes.
Example is “Biology teacher begins teaching
evolution by stating that all things evolve.
Student says she just can't accept that humans
came from bugs”
Petitio Principii - also known as begging the
question. It is a fallacy that uses circular
reasoning.
Slippery Slope – it is a type of logical fallacy
that extrapolate a simple argument to an
unrealistic extreme. It is usually a statement that
seems to be overreacting.
CO3 – Human Person as an Embodied as a
Soul and Spirit
Dualism – is concept of Plato in which he
referred the soul and body as a separate matter.
He said that your soul is just trapped in your
body and once your physical body is dead, your
soul is still alive, and it becomes free. According
to this theory, our soul has 3 parts:
- Logos - refers to our logical mind
which is represented by our head
- Thymos – refers to our motive for
our behavior which is represented
by our heart
- Pathos – refers to our physical
needs which is represented by our
stomach and genitals.
 PHL01 – Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person - Reviewer

Hylomorphism – This is an opposite concept of St. Anselm of Canterbury – attempted to prove

Dualism. This is originated by Aristotle in which the existence or God using the ontological
it is stated that our soul and body is one. Once argument
your body dies, your souls will also be dead.
St. Thomas Aquinas – attempted to prove God
According to Aristotle, just like Plato, he
using the cosmological argument of infinite
thought that the soul has 3 parts:
regress.
- Rational Soul – refers to our
Blaise Pascal – The belief in God is the logical
intellective cognition (Intellect:
position considering cost risk – analysis.
concepts, propositions, chains of
reasoning) Different Beliefs that do not believe in God
- Sensient Soul – Sensient cognition
Pantheism – Belief that the universe and God are
or sensation, memory, ang
the same.
imagination. Also. Sensient appetite
like desire, pleasure, pain, fear, Atheism – a disbelief of the existence of deity –
audacity, etc.) Locomotion. there is no deity or all – powerful being.
- Nutritive/ Vegetative – Nutrition,
Agnosticism – belief that the existence of God is
and reproduction.
unknown and probably unknowable.
God’s Qualities and Characteristics
Humanism – A philosophy that usually rejects
Omnipotent – God is perceived doctrinally all- supernaturalism and elevates man.
powerful
Omniscient – God is all – knowing
Omnipresent – God is ever- present.
Transcendental – God exist outside of space and
time
Eternal – God exist at any moment of time
Benevolent – God is all good.

3 Philosophers who argued the existence of

God: