Introduction to the Philosophy

of the Human Person

Quarter 2 – Module 6:
Understanding Death of the
Human Person
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 2 – Module 6: Understanding Death of the Human Person
First Edition, 2020

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 Introduction to the
Philosophy of the Human
Person

Quarter 2 – Module 6:
Understanding Death of the
Human Person

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Introductory Message
For the facilitator:

Welcome to the Senior High School core subject - Introduction to the Philosophy of
the Human Person Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) Module on the Understanding
Death of the Human Person. This module was collaboratively designed, developed
and reviewed by educators both from public and private institutions to assist you,
the teacher or facilitator in helping the learners meet the standards set by the K to
12 Curriculum while overcoming their personal, social, and economic constraints in
schooling.
This learning resource hopes to engage the learners into guided and independent
learning activities at their own pace and time. Furthermore, this also aims to help
learners acquire the needed 21st century skills while taking into consideration their
needs and circumstances.
In addition to the material in the main text, you will also see this box in the body of
the module:

Notes to the Teacher

This contains helpful tips or strategies that
will help you in guiding the learners.

As a facilitator you are expected to orient the learners on how to use this module.
You also need to keep track of the learners' progress while allowing them to manage
their own learning. Furthermore, you are expected to encourage and assist the
learners as they do the tasks included in the module.

For the learner:

Welcome to the Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person’s Alternative
Delivery Mode (ADM) Module on the Understanding Death of the Human Person.

The hand is one of the most symbolized parts of the human body. It is often used to
depict skill, action and purpose. Through our hands one may learn, create and
accomplish. Hence, the hand in this learning resource signifies that you as a learner
are capable and empowered to successfully achieve the relevant competencies and
skills at your own pace and time. Your academic success lies in your own hands!
This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful opportunities for
guided and independent learning at your own pace and time. You will be enabled to
process the contents of the learning resource while being an active learner.

This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

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 What I Need to Know This will give you an idea of the skills or
competencies you are expected to learn in the
module.

What I Know This part includes an activity that aims to

check what you already know about the
lesson to take. If you get all the answers
correct (100%), you may decide to skip this
module.

What’s In This is a brief drill or review to help you link

the current lesson with the previous one.

What’s New In this portion, the new lesson will be

introduced to you in various ways such as a
story, a song, a poem, a problem opener, an
activity or a situation.

What is It This section provides a brief discussion of the

lesson. This aims to help you discover and
understand new concepts and skills.

What’s More This comprises activities for independent

practice to solidify your understanding and
skills of the topic. You may check the
answers to the exercises using the Answer
Key at the end of the module.

What I Have Learned This includes questions or blank

sentence/paragraph to be filled in to process
what you learned from the lesson.

What I Can Do This section provides an activity which will

help you transfer your new knowledge or skill
into real life situations or concerns.

Assessment This is a task which aims to evaluate your

level of mastery in achieving the learning
competency.

Additional Activities In this portion, another activity will be given

to you to enrich your knowledge or skill of the
lesson learned. This also tends retention of
learned concepts.

Answer Key This contains answers to all activities in the

module.

At the end of this module you will also find:

References This is a list of all sources used in

developing this module.

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The following are some reminders in using this module:
a) Use the module with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part of the
module. Use a separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises.
b) Do not forget to answer What I Know before moving on to the other activities
included in the module.
c) Read the instruction carefully before doing each task.
d) Observe honesty and integrity in doing the tasks and checking your answers.
e) Finish the task at hand before proceeding to the next.
f) Return this module to your teacher/facilitator once you are through with it.

If you encounter any difficulty in answering the tasks in this module, do not
hesitate to consult your teacher or facilitator. Always bear in mind that you are
not alone.

We hope that through this material, you will experience meaningful learning and
gain deep understanding of the relevant competencies. You can do it!

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 What I Need to Know

This module entitled Understanding Death of the Human Person shall help you
recall moments in life that brought you sadness, pain, and happiness. It will also
help you reflect on the meaning of your life and the significance of death in the
existence of the human person.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. Explain different definitions of human death,
2. Enumerate the objectives he/she wants to achieve and to define the projects
he/she wants to do in his/her life.
3. Identify and explain the different features of human death regarded as an
inescapable possibility, and
4. Reflect on the meaning of his/her own life.

What I Know

Death is Inevitable: A Buddhist Short Story

by Sofo Archon

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 In life, one thing is absolutely certain: Death. From the moment we’re born,
we are, in a sense, dying, and the sooner we realize how impermanent this life is, the
less entangled we’ll get in superficial things that bring pain to our hearts.
Below is a Buddhist story that illustrates the inevitability of death, as well as
the importance of accepting the fact that every person alive — our loved ones
included — will draw their last breath one day.

***

Buddha was staying in a village. A woman came to him, weeping and crying
and screaming. Her child, her only child, had suddenly died. Because Buddha was
in the village, people said, “Don’t weep. Go to this man. People say he is infinite
compassion. If he wills it, the child can revive. So don’t weep. Go to this Buddha.”
The woman came with the dead child, crying, weeping, and the whole village followed
her – the whole village was affected. Buddha’s disciples were also affected; they
started praying in their minds that Buddha would have compassion. He must bless
the child so that he will be revived, resurrected.

Many disciples of Buddha started weeping. The scene was so touching, deeply
moving. Everybody was still. Buddha remained silent. He looked at the dead child,
then he looked at the weeping, crying mother and he said to the mother, “Don’t weep,
just do one thing and your child will be alive again. Leave this dead child here, go
back to the town, go to every house and ask every family if someone has ever died in
their family, in their house. And if you can find a house where no one has ever died,
then from them beg something to be eaten, some bread, some rice, or anything – but
from the house where no one has ever died. And that bread or that rice will revive
the child immediately. You go. Don’t waste time.”

The woman became happy. She felt that now the miracle was going to happen.
She touched Buddha’s feet and ran to the village which was not a very big one, very
few cottages, a few families. She moved from one family to another, asking. But every
family said, “This is impossible. There is not a single house – not only in this village
but all over the earth – there is not a single house where no one has ever died, where
people have not suffered death and the misery and the pain and the anguish that
comes out of it.”

By and by the woman realized that Buddha had been playing a trick. This was
impossible. But still the hope was there. She went on asking until she had gone
around the whole village. Her tears dried, her hope died, but suddenly she felt a new
tranquility, a serenity, coming to her. Now she realized that whosoever is born will
have to die. It is only a question of years. Someone will die sooner, someone later,
but death is inevitable. She came back and touched Buddha’s feet again and said to
him, “As people say, you really do have a deep compassion for people.”

Story source: The Book of Secrets, by Osho

Photo Credit: Alex Grey

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 Module
Understanding Death of
6 the Human Person
The perspective of the human person about life affects his/her views about
death. There is no universal definition of the notion of meaning of life.
For some human person, it could be something less or it could be something more.
For a rich satisfied person, life could be something more if compared to a poor old
dying person. Philosophically, the limitations of our lives only signal the possibility
of the beyond.

What’s In

https://www.quora.com/What-do-the-different-lines-and-colors-on-the-road-mean-in-India

A line drawn in a street is the representation of limit and limitations of our

lives, of what we can do and of what we cannot do. The line may indicate a certain
border or limit of a space, but paradoxically, it also indicates that beyond the line,
there is another space.
In the same way, the limits and limitations of our lives only indicate our
capacity to do more. Our inability to fly did not prevent us from inventing airplanes.
Our powerlessness to go outside our atmosphere did not prevent us from inventing
spacecraft and spacesuits. In short, limitations are also possibilities and
potentialities (Philonotes.com).

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 What’s New

A few experiences or achievements that a human person hopes to have or

accomplish during their lifetime is called bucket list. Your bucket list consists of all
the things you would really like to do or see in your life.

Direction: List down on your bucket list below ten (10) things you want to do or
see in your life.

Sample bucket list: My Top 10 Bucket List:

 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________
 ___________________________________

Human life has limits and limitations because of the reality and the experience
of inevitable death. Our lives might be limited because of death but this does not
curtail nor prevent us from living more and for being alive along with others.

What is It

Meaning of Death

Death refers to the separation of the soul and body. It defines the limit and
indicates the limitations of human life. Death reveals the mortality of a human
person. It allows us to reflect our ethical responsibility not only to our lives but also
to the lives of others. Death makes us think the whole spectrum of reality and
experience of human life. It is what also allows us to reflect the meaning of life
including responsibility, freedom, intersubjectivity, and human society.

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 3 Major Approaches in the Understanding of the Meaning of Death
(De Grazia, 2011)

a. Cardiopulmonary Approach/Heart-Lung Approach – explains that a person is

dead when the person’s heart and lungs or the cardiopulmonary organs have
irreversibly ceased to function. We could check the person’s pulse or use other
devices to check the person’s heart and lungs are still working.
b. Whole-Brain Approach – a person is dead when his/her entire brain has
irreversibly ceased to function. This means that a person is no longer breathe on
his/her own.
c. Higher-Brain Approach – Higher brain consists of cerebrum, the one primarily
responsible for consciousness and the cerebellum, the one primarily responsible
for the coordination and control of voluntary movements. Lower brain or
brainstem includes medulla, the one primarily responsible for spontaneous
respiration, and the reticular activating system. In this approach, a person is dead
when his/her upper brain has irreversibly ceased to function even though his/her
lower brain continues to function. This means that a person is no longer
conscious but still can breathe on his/her own. Examples are patients with
permanent coma.

Two Kinds of Death: Natural and Unnatural Death

Natural death is a normal death or biological death. An example of this kind

of death is when people die of old age. This is when our bodies cannot sustain
anymore the rigor of being alive. In this sense, death is a matter of fact. Natural death
will happen to all of us. Whatever the circumstance is, death awaits at the end of the
road. It is part of the cycle of human life.

Unnatural death is a human-made death. Death is when people die due to

human decisions and actions. During World War II, for instance, people suffer and
died because political leaders decided to go to war against other nations. Lives were
prematurely taken away because of human action. In other words, unnatural death
is a consequence or a (by)product of human decision and action. Dying in an accident
due to driver’s recklessness is an example unnatural death.

Death comes too soon for poor people. Their inability to buy medicines and
their helplessness to access to quality health care means that life will be prematurely
cut short. Not only poor people suffer from the reality and experience of death but
also other group of people who suffer the same fate. The LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) youth’s societal discrimination and marginalization
due to their different sexual orientation and gender identity and expressions invites
to cut their lives soon, many LGBTQ youth commit suicide, physically or socially or
psychologically, just simply because of who they are as a human person. Suicide is
a sudden death committed to end life abruptly.

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 Death is not only a reality and experience in the individual level. Death is also
a societal reality and experience. Thus, taken in this sense, death of others heightens
our awareness of our responsibility to and for others.

Source: Philonotes.com

Discussion Questions:
1. Why do you think people attempt suicide?
2. What should you do if someone tells you they are thinking about suicide?
3. If you were given a chance to choose the kind of death you will have to experience,
what would it be? Natural death or unnatural death, why?

Death and Responsibility towards a Meaningful Life

It is in this context that we can think that death reminds us of our
responsibility not only to ourselves, but more importantly, to others. This is what
makes death a philosophical question. Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher
whose work inquired on the fundamental structures of our existence, suggests that
what holds our life together is death. It is a constitutive part of human existence,
indeed, an essential element to it. In his famous philosophical phrase “being-
towards-death,” Heidegger describes this human existence as “way of being” in the
world. Death is in the horizon of our existence. What this means is that our being is
finite—thus, an authentic human life can only therefore be found by confronting
finitude and trying to make a meaning out of the fact of our death (Heidegger, 1962).

In a different vein, Athanasius, one of the great patristic theologians of

Christianity, also thinks death as the fundamental of our existence (Athanasius,
1962). Unlike Heidegger, however, he considers death as one that corrupts life. It
makes human life mortal. For him, this is the problem of our human existence
insofar as death limits our ability to live a holy and just life.

Thus, while they vary in their respective opinion on death, what these two
thinkers suggest is an idea that death is undeniably at the heart of human existence.
Thinking about life necessarily entails thinking about death. For Heidegger, it holds
the existential structure of life. Death underlines the finitude of such life and hence
the way to live an authentic life. For Athanasius, death is the problem of our
existence. Mortality prevents us from living a holy life. In other words, it is precisely
for these reasons that death is a very important matter for thought and thinking.
Death holds answer to some of the most basic and important philosophical questions
about life.

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 Looking at the “meaning of life” through this perspective, we can draw few
insights to what “meaning of life” could mean:
First, the question is not anymore about the meaning of life but what is the
meaningful life. The meaning of life is not found in the deepest core of our soul
neither in the highest heavens. Neither could it be outside the life with others and
beyond their call. Meaning of life can only be found in, with, and for others—thus,
the measure of life has more to do with the meaningful life insofar as it relates to
others.
Along this line, second, a meaningful life is a life qualified on the basis of how
one becomes part of a community and how one is responsible to them. Put differently,
one can have a meaningful life with others and in responding to their call.
And third, a meaningful life therefore is not about accumulation of things,
treasures, achievements, and accolades. Rather, a meaningful life is a life with others
and a life for others; indeed, it is a life of companionship and friendship.

Philosophically, we place this experience and reality of death as constitutive

of human life and human existence, as that which makes life authentic.

Source: Philonotes.com
Discussion Questions:
1. What makes a meaningful life?
2. What lessons in life did you learn to hard way?
3. If you knew that you would die tomorrow, what questions would you ask
yourself?

What’s More

Reflecting on Your Life Timeline!

Direction: Identify each impactful event in your life along the timeline. Then,
taking each into consideration, have them write what you have learned
from labeling these events and to list clues about who they are and
what is important to you. Reflect on the following questions:

1. What happened? What were some surprises, gifts, or challenges that shaped or
impacted your life?
2. What did you learn about yourself? What clues emerged about who you are as a
unique individual?

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 What I Have Learned

Self as Gift!

Direction: Reflect upon and answer the following questions:

Take a moment to imagine yourself as a gift. Describe what kind of gift you are in
the world.

For whom you consider yourself as a gift? What is your meaning or significance for
them?

How does the way you understand yourself to be a GIFT in connection with the
needs of the communities of which you are a part? What effect can this gift have on
others?

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 What I Can Do

My Secret to A Meaningful Life!

Direction: Using a pyramid below. Show your secret and write your own steps in
reaching towards a meaningful life.

Meaningful
Life

http://jarbasagnelli.com/1337/blank-pyramid-template/free-transparent-pyramid-download-free-clip-art-free-clip-throughout-blank-pyramid-template/

Leave a short message to your loved ones.

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 Assessment

Direction: A. Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answer on a
separate answer sheet.

1. It refers to the separation of the soul and body.

a. happiness c. sadness
b. life d. death

2. A Buddhist story that illustrates the inevitability of death, as well as the

importance of accepting the fact that every person alive — our loved ones
included — will draw their last breath one day.
a. Death is Inevitable: A Buddhist Short Story
b. The Inevitable Death
c. The Uninvited Guest of Buddha
d. A Shorty Story of the Inevitable Death

3. In the story, why did the woman became happy after talking to Buddha in
spite of the death of her son?
a. Because she was given a stone of life
b. Because she was given hope that miracle was going to happen
c. Because her son was given another life by Buddha
d. Because she was given a chance to correct her mistakes

4. It consists of all the things you would really like to do or see in your life.
a. Motivational list c. Bucket List
b. Brocket List d. Bakit List

5. An approach that explains that a person is dead when the person’s heart and
lungs or the cardiopulmonary organs have irreversibly ceased to function.
a. Cardiopulmonary Approach/Heart-Lung Approach
b. Whole-Brain Approach
c. Higher-Brain Approach
d. Unnatural Death Approach
6. What approach in the understanding of the meaning of death where a person
is dead when his/her entire brain has irreversibly ceased to function. This
means that a person is no longer breathe on his/her own.
a. Cardiopulmonary Approach/Heart-Lung Approach
b. Whole-Brain Approach
c. Higher-Brain Approach
d. Unnatural Death Approach

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 7. In this approach, a person is dead when his/her upper brain has irreversibly
ceased to function even though his/her lower brain continues to function.
This means that a person is no longer conscious but still can breathe on
his/her own.
a. Cardiopulmonary Approach/Heart-Lung Approach
b. Whole-Brain Approach
c. Higher-Brain Approach
d. Unnatural Death Approach

8. It refers to a normal death or biological death. An example of this kind of death

is when people die of old age. This is when our bodies cannot sustain anymore
the rigor of being alive.
a. Natural death
b. Unnatural death
c. Ordinary death
d. Inevitable death
9. It refers to a human-made death where people die due to human decisions
and actions.
a. Natural death
b. Unnatural death
c. Ordinary death
d. Inevitable death

10. It is a sudden death committed to end life abruptly.

a. Homicide
b. Suicide
c. Parricide
d. Euthanasia

Direction: B. Write TRUE if the statement is correct. If it is FALSE, change the

underlined word(s) to make the statement correct on the space
provided.
_________________ 1. Martin Heidegger, a German philosopher inquired on the
fundamental structures of our existence, suggests that what holds our life together
is death.
_________________ 2. Athanasius, one of the great patristic theologians of Christianity,
thinks death as the fundamental of our existence.

_________________ 3. Death underlines the finitude of such life and hence the way to
live an authentic life.
_________________ 4. A meaningful life is not about accumulation of things, treasures,
achievements, and accolades but with others and a life for others or a life of
companionship and friendship.
_________________ 5. Human life has limits and limitations because of the reality and
the experience of inevitable death. Our lives might be limited because of death but
this does not curtail nor prevent us from living more and for being alive along with
other.

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12
Assessment
A.
1. D
2. A
3. B
4. C
5. A
6. B
7. C
8. A
9. B
10. B
B.
1. TRUE
2. TRUE
3. TRUE
4. TRUE
5. TRUE
Answer Key
References

Dangcalan, Meriam. Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person. Quezon

City: ERC Publishing House, 2018

Mabaquiao Jr, Napoleon. Making Life Worth Living: Introduction to the Philosophy of
the Human Person. Quezon City: Phoenix Publishing House, 2017

Philo.notes. Existentialism. The Human Person and Death.

https://philonotes.com/index.php/the-human-person-and-death/

wikiHow. How to Make Your Bucket List (with Pictures)?

https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Your-Bucket-List

http://jarbasagnelli.com/1337/blank-pyramid-template/free-transparent-
pyramid-download-free-clip-art-free-clip-throughout-blank-pyramid-template/

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