STUDY GUIDE BAST

Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Grade 11, Quarter 1
APPROACHES IN DOING PHILOSOPHY:
REDUCTIONIST AND HOLISTIC

MELC
- Recognize human activities that emanated from deliberate
reflection
The presented activities or exercises and texts are developed in
order to meet the following objectives:
1. Differentiate reductionist from holistic approach in philosophy
2. Deliberate reflections in holistic perspective
3. Appreciate the smallest details of life and the larger picture as a
whole

PLAYING THE CONCEPT

Let’s now proceed with the other two approaches in philosophy: REDUCTIONIST and
HOLISTIC!
 Reductionism
- is the belief that human behavior can be explained by breaking it down into simpler
component parts.

 Holism
- is a theory that parts of a whole are in intimate interconnection, such that they
cannot exist independently of the whole, or cannot be understood without reference to the
whole, which is thus regarded as greater than the sum of its parts.

Examine this simple example.

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The figure above is called gunpla, a short term for Gundam plastic model.
Figure 1 shows a part by part disassembled gunpla while figure 2 is a whole fix toy model.
In simple words, these can be used as model on how reductionist and holistic approach
work. Reductionist in a sense that the parts are important to create a full assembled toy
model; it is so important that you need to know every single detail of each parts to
understand the whole. Holistic in a sense that what matters most is the significance of the
wholeness of this gunpla, yet it can only be understood as a whole if we look closer to its
parts. Makes sense? Let’s have the activity!

PAUSE AND TRY AN ACTIVITY

Draw your face!

1. Draw your preferred face in complete details as you can.

2. After drawing yourself, answer the following questions:
a. Which part of your face has the most important function? Explain your answer.
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b. Which part of your face is the most used part? Explain your answer.
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c. Is there a connection among the parts of your face? Explain why yes or no.
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Let’s Learn!

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This module maybe adopted, modified and reproduced for educational purposes with
appropriate credit to the author. For inquiries, feedback and suggestions, please contact the
author through the Division Learning Resource Supervisor at Tel. No. _________________
and/or email address ________________ @deped.gov.ph.

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