LISING, SARAH DANE B. DR.

JUAN BIRION
DPA 732 PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS OF PA SATURDAYS: 1:30-4:30

1. Socrates said "the unexamined life is not worth living" apply in your work as a government
employee.
Socrates believed that living a life where you live under the rules others imposed unto
you is a life not worth living. At some point, one must need to ask and critically think of how his
life is turning and how does it significantly affect the “others”. Life is about making decision
whether it may be right or wrong, journeys, and making discoveries. As civil servants
particularly related to the academe wherein we are tasked to mold young minds, oftentimes we
are challenged as to how are we able to develop and instill values into our young generation. To
be able to do this, we as teachers and facilitators of knowledge must first allow ourselves to
examine our life’s purpose. To do this we must answer specific questions such as, “what do I
want my students learn from me?”, ‘will I be able to convey my message well?”, “will I be able
to create significant impact to the lives of my students?”
I strongly believed that once I am able to have a clear answer to my questions, only then
will I be able to be an effective teacher and a civil servant at the same time. One’s retrospect will
allow him/her to view his future and this is what Socrates implied when he mentioned about the
unworthiness of unexamined life. For me its all about retrospection, assessing where we have
been to be able to plan the future ahead of us and be more effective person regardless of which
profession we choose.

2. Renee Descartes said "cogito ergo sum" explain fully the message. What does it means?
Cogito Ergo sum or translated as “I think, therefore I am” argues that thought and
sensation are what makes real life and it is the ability to think that makes people different from
animals. It is being rational that separates human from other creatures. He did not believed that
philosophy should be abstract that we can no longer understand it, or that it should make people
question what was real or what was imagined.
Cogito Ergo Sum was perhaps the simplest method for Descartes to express his thesis
about individuals knowing they were alive and experiencing reality as they were able to reason.
Instead of long and intricate argumentation, it summarizes his views on reality in three sentences.
People know they are still alive as long as they can think and sense and feel the world around
them. When thought and experience are joined, all the proof that the world we live in is genuine
and not just a fabrication of our imagination, and hence not real at all, is provided. The term was
a clever way of conveying his thoughts in a way that even those with limited education could
comprehend.

3. Desiderata select one line which appeals to you most and what is its relevance to your work in
the government?
“Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story”.
It has been my life’s principle to avoid lies, hence, I value speaking truth in all occasions.
It has worked out for me ever since and it made me my life peaceful in some cases. Listening to
others is always good but then you have to discern which things from “others” will you keep and
believe. For there are dangers also in listening to others that is why you have to have a clear
thought and your own set of values.