Reviewer in Introduction to Philosophy intrinsically satisfied with life regardless of physical and tangible
Second Quarter factors.
Lesson I: The Human Body Imposes Limits and Possibilities for
Transcendence & The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
HUMAN COMPOSITION OF MAN
MAN (from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) The English term
“man” isderived from a Proto-Indo European root *man - (see
Sanskrit/Avestan Manu-,Slavic mǫž "man, male"). It is the general
term commonly used to refer to the entire human race. Other
related terms, humanity, mankind, and humankind.
HUMAN refers to man as species – HOMO SAPIENS or
MODERN HUMANBEINGS. The term human being is also used
to differentiate man from other animals.
PERSON is the personality of a human being so called “SELF”.
Refers to a human being granted recognition of certain rights,
protection, responsibilities and dignity above all. Philosopher refers
to the human person as the totality of an individual, possessing
awareness, self-determination and capacity to interact with others
and with himself/herself. Personhood refers to the state of being a
person.
HUMAN NATURE defines as the nature of humans especially the
fundamental characters and traits of humans. It refers to the
characteristics that distinguish humans from all other creatures.
These traits are expected to arise independent of the influence of
culture and society. Examples: Thinking, Feeling and Acting.
What is the human person?
Self-awareness refers to the person having a clear perception of
oneself, including his thoughts, emotions, identity and actions.
Self-determination refers to the capability of persons to make
choices and decisions based on their own preferences, monitor and
regulate their actions, and be goal-oriental and self-directed.
Consequence is the result or effect of an action or condition.
Philosophers believe that a person acts freely and with due regard
for the consequences of his actions.
Externality refers to the capability of a person to reach out and
interact with others and the world.
Dignity refers to the innate right to be valued and respected.
Philosophers consider all humans as having an inherent worth or
value. “You’re worthless!” is an insult since it attacks the very
notion of a person having value or worth.
Limitations of the Human Person
Human persons are naturally deficient beings. This means that we
are not prepared with the best physical aspects among all the
beings. Human persons do not have the natural ability to fly.
Limitations can lead to Possibilities
Transcendence is the ability to change, be dynamic, and
continually redefining one’s self which works without facticity to
create change.
How do limitations lead to transcendence?
Facticity refers to the things in our life that are already given.
EXAMPLE: LIFE. We are free to define who we are and who we
are to be.
Transcendence originated from the words Trans, meaning “go
beyond”, and scandare, meaning “climb”. In the example, fulfilling
a dream requires transcendence because it opens a state of thinking
and feeling that there is something more in life than just physical
and material things. Much like Abraham Maslow’s self-
actualization concepts, transcendence is a state of being
Limitation is something that does or may not extend to pass
Possibilities the absence of contradiction or thing that may happen.
Transcendence is surpassing our limits or going beyond my
physical being.
Lesson III: Freedom and Responsibility
HUMAN ACTIONS VS ACTS OF MAN
An act that is performed only by a human being and thus is proper
to man. Not every act that a human being does is a distinctively
human act. Some acts that human
beings do are performed also by animals, e.g., vegetative acts and
acts of perception and emotion. When a human being does such
acts, they are called acts of man but not human acts.
Acts of man are actions shared by humans and other animals while
human acts refer to the appropriate actions of human beings. What
makes an act performed by a human being distinctively a human
act is that it is voluntary, that is, an act in some way under the
control or direction of the will, which is proper to man. One can
therefore identify the human activity with the voluntary act. A
voluntary act continues either by the will - like an act of love or
choice - or from another human power that may be motivated by
the will, either by an act of intellect or by the sense of reasoning or
emotion; even a gesture commanded by the will can be a voluntary
act.
Aristotle’s Distinction of Voluntary and Involuntary Actions
Voluntary Actions - these are acts originating from the individual
performing the act using knowledge about the situations of the act.
Classifications of Voluntary Actions
A. Voluntary – actions are performed from will and reason.
B. Related to Compulsion - it is considered as mixed of
voluntary and involuntary. It is more voluntary if the desire
and choice has been performed and involuntary if it has
considered preferences or alternatives. Example: You are asked to
perform a crime and your options are; either you do it and your
family survives or you don’t do it but they will be murdered.
2. Involuntary Actions – are acts done under a) force or coercion
and b). ignorance where the doer failed to understand the effect and
feels sorry on the result.
Classifications of Involuntary Actions
A. Under Compulsion – circumstances which are beyond the
control of the agent and contributes none to the action. Example: A
person was kidnapped, hence impossible to resist.
HUMAN FREEDOM AND OBLIGATION
According to John Mothershead, freedom and obligation are two
indispensable conditions for morality to occur. Freedom is
understood to be present when one is choosing a course of action,
and he or she is taking full responsibility for consequence of his
actions. Importantly, this is anchored to the individual’s moral and
rational capacity to discern what is right and wrong.
Freedom can be said to be present if the human person is free in
making choices in the realm of morality – that is, in making
choices with regards to determining what is the right thing to do in
situations and circumstances in his own life. This can be
summarized in our Filipino saying,
“Buntot mo, hila mo!” It is taking full responsibility for your
actions and being obliged to do so. Hence, an action is not in the
full extent of morality if a person does something while his or her
freedom and rationality is altered or modified. This event can
happen if the person’s environment highly affects his judgement.
Kinds of Freedom
1. Physical Freedom – it refers to the absence of any physical
restraint. The person has the freedom of mobility to go where he or
she wants to go.
2. Psychological Freedom – is innate and cannot be denied a
person. No outside force or influence can compel a person to take
an action against his or her will.
3. Moral Freedom – it refers to using freedom in a manner that
upholds human dignity and goodness. Freedom is not an object that
a person may use in whatever way he or she pleases.
Lesson IV: Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity is a coined word from the prefix “inter” which
connotes “among and between” and the philosophical term
“subject” that is equivalent to a conscious being. Thus,
intersubjectivity would mean in the general sense as “sharing of
subjective states by two or more individuals.” (Scheff 2006)
What Philosophers Say About Intersubjectivity
Intersubjectivity is universal. It exists when and where humans
exist. It is an undeniable reality which thinkers could not help but
discuss. Here are some philosophers who took philosophical
inquiry on intersubjectivity:
1. Confucius (551-479 B.C.E.) – one of the main ideas of
Confucianism is Ren or “human-heartedness.” It is a virtue central
to man that can be found in his sociality or intersubjectivity. In his
philosophy, Confucius stresses order and harmony in the world.
His aims can be achieved through practical, concrete, particular,
and perceptual ways. This means Confucian thinking on
intersubjectivity is practical humanism. There is an emphasis on
human actions in sociality. He calls every man to love the other
through actions, not through thoughts.
2. Martin Buber (1878-1965) – is a Jewish philosopher who
introduced the “I-Thou” and “I-It” relationships to embody his
philosophy of intersubjectivity. For Buber, we have to treat another
person as a subject (a being different from things or objects).
Persons are not inanimate objects to be used. They have their own
mind and free will; thus, we have to respect others as we respect
ourselves. “I” refers to the self and “Thou” or “You” refers to
others. This “I-Thou” relationship is the most meaningful
relationship in the realm of humanity. The “I” is the same with the
“Thou” and there should be mutual
relationship between them. We can only recognize the self in the
context of the other. This is a “person-to-person” relationship,
“subject-to-subject” relation. We need to accept, respect, be
sincere, and have dialogue with the other.
3. Karol Wojtyla (1920-2005) – He is also St. John Paul II but as
a philosopher, we use his real name. For Wojtyla, human action is
the foundation of our being. But human reality is also about being
with others, so our actions are also directed towards others. This
form of action is now called “Participation.” In the theory of
participation, man has the capacity to share himself to others. This
affirms the reality that man acts and exists with others. He is a
member of the community of persons, a community of “I-You” or
“We.” Since man is a member of this community, his experience
with others gives him meaning and allows him to create meaning
with others.
Lesson V: Human Person and Society
A. Pre-Industrial Societies
a. Tribal Society - the term “tribe” denotes a group of peoples
living in a primitive setting under a leader or chief. The term ‘tribal
society’ associates it to other meaning such as “primitive society”
or “preliterate society.” The word ‘tribe’ has become an important
technical term which pertains to a political unit in a certain
territory. The term’s use is rooted from Latin which is associated to
the political divisions or orders of the Roman empire. Tribal
societies are small in scale; bound to their spatial and temporal
range of relations in terms of society, law, and politics; and possess
a moral code, cult, and wide range of belief system. The language
systems of tribes are unwritten which provides a narrow
extent of communication. At the same time, tribal societies show a
self-sustaining structure which is absent in the modern society.
b. Feudal Society - Feudalism refers to the economic, political,
and social system that prevailed in Europe from about the ninth to
the fifteenth century. Due to the lack of effective centralized
government during this period, kings and lords granted land and
provided protection to lesser nobles known as vassals. In return,
these vassals swore oaths of loyalty and military service to their
lords. Peasants known as serfs were bound to the land and were
subject to the will of their lords. For the urban or town
environment, merchants, artisans, and customers formed the core
of the society. They saw manufacture as the most important
business to produce goods for sale and buy in the local market
economy.
B. Industrial society is the one which uses advance technology to
drive a massive production industry that will support a large
population. For example, the United States is an industrial society
because a huge portion of its economy is tied to jobs that involve
machine work, like factory farming or auto-assembly plants, that
has a combination of machine and human employees to produce
goods. The objective of an industrial economy is the fast and
efficient manufacturing of standardized products. The same goes if
one avails a car, there is a chance that the car was mass produced
because it operates similarly to other models, and its parts can be
replaced with other parts because they are identical.
C. Post Industrial Society - is marked by a progress from a
manufacturing-based to a service-based economy. Post
industrialization is most evident in countries and regions that were
among the first to experience the Industrial Revolution, such as the
United States, western Europe, and Japan.
DIGITAL SOCIETY AND THE INFORMATION AGE
Digital technologies have wildly affected our interactions and
activity in the 21st century. They have significantly changed our
way of learning, working and socializing. In this modern world we
rely with the use of modern technology which has led to
considering the possible outcome for the society, concerning how
we would take part in interaction, and how we can use these digital
tools and communication channels.
Having our heads of digital society in our minds, we first have to
think of the information society; which are correlated with the
progress and development of digital information and
communication technologies to the internet at least. Information
society plays a vital role with regards to the circulation and control
of made-up ideas which affects political, economic, social and
cultural aspects.
A digital citizen is a person who is knowledgeable and responsible
enough to effectively use different social
platforms in the internet. They often engage in useful topics and
issues that will help build a better society, politics and government.
Lesson VI: Human Person and Death
Phenomenological Notion of Death
According to Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) in his book Being and
Time, death is (a) certain, (b) indefinite, (c) one’s property, (d)
non-relational, and (e) not
to be outstripped.
Death is certain. As part of humanness, we are all born (in
Heideggerian sense, we are “thrown”) in the world. The world is
governed by time. We, humans, are existing in time, thus, as being
thrown in the world, we have beginning and since we are finite
beings, we also have end – death. Birth and death are two things
we cannot remove from our existence. Whether we like it or not,
we will die.

Death is indefinite. While death is sure to come, it is however

indefinite as to when it will come. Death is impending, meaning to
say, it can happen anytime. We do not know exactly when. That is
why, we should try to live the best life that we can for we never
know the day of our end.

Death is one’s property. The death of the person belongs to him.

Nobody can experience his death except himself. There can be no
proxies or substitutes for a person in experiencing death.

Death is non-relational. This means that when we die, we die

alone. We have no choice but to face it on our own. Death also
removes all our relations to others. In contemplating death, we
realize our own individuality and independence from the world.

Death is not to be outstripped. Death cannot be taken away from

a person. Even the person himself cannot remove the possibility of
death in his life. One cannot make himself live forever. Even
though we see in fiction movies the idea of immortality, death, in
real life is a definite reality which we nothing can be done
to be outstripped.

Death and Authenticity

What does death really mean? Is it just a reminder that human
existence has a limitation? We may accept the reality of death as it
is, but it also reminds us that we have to value life while we have
it.

Since we cannot control it, things that remain within our control are
those which belong to life. While still alive, we have choices to
take. The question now is not focused on death but on how we live
in the world. Let us ask ourselves before we die. Did we ever truly
live?

Authenticity is an idea mostly used in existentialism which means

having true and meaningful existence. According to Soren
Kierkegaard, we have to avoid the
crowd – the majority of the society which we think that should be
the pattern of our lives. For example, we see people marrying,
therefore, we also have to marry. But
authenticity is not like that. We have to freely choose marrying.
The intention to marry should not come from the crowd as we
usually hear but it should come from
our deliberate choice. Another reason why we fail to lead an
authentic life is fear. Just because we are afraid of the possible
consequences and what others might say, we fail to pursue what we
truly want in life. This challenge of authenticity is one of the
important messages of death. As we accept death, we realize the
value of having a true life – an authentic life!

Death is the end of bodily functions which signals the end of a

person’s life. It also refers to the separation of the body and the
soul.

Happiness is a state of being, not just an emotional experience or a

chosen mental attitude. We do not choose happiness; we choose the
means to achieve it.

Suffering takes place when we patiently endure unpleasantness,

discomfort, and pain. It can be experienced physically or mentally.