“INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON”

ABM 2 – C
HUMSS 2 – D

WEEK 1: The learner understands the meaning and process of doing philosophy

SIX COMMONLY ACCEPTED AREAS OF PHILOSOPHY

- METAPHYSICS
o Greek word “meta”, a prefix meaning “after” or “beyond”, and the noun phusi,
meaning “nature”. Metaphysics is philosophy, understood in its strictest
meaning, since its studies reality, seeking its ultimate causes in an absolute
sense.
o metaphysics seeks to understand the nature of reality and existence.
o an idea, doctrine, or posited reality outside of human sense perception
seeking out the definition of our purpose.

Physics asks the question how we exist, whereas metaphysics ask the
question why we exist. Physics studies matter, force, and energy, as well as
their interaction with the world. Metaphysics studies the fundamental nature
of reality and its purpose.

Ex:
What is existence and reality?
What is the nature of space and time?

- EPISTEMOLOGY
o Derives from the Greek words: episteme, meaning “knowledge”, and “logos”
meaning “study of” or “theory of”.
o In English, it means “Study or theory of knowledge”.
o how we know things and how we can be sure if something is true or not.
o It fact checks whether the knowledge that we have gained is to be true.

Ex: Telling the truth and making sure it’s the truth without any lies
whatsoever.
- VALUE THEORY
o The investigation of something worth significant
o “What is value?”
o Meaning of Value - relative worth, utility, or importance. It asks of this
o No specific kind of value, but all kinds of value (whether person, idea, object
or anything else)
o German philosopher Rudolf Hermann Lotze (helped develop value theory in
the 19th century) who sharply distinguished fact and value, dividing the value
theorists into 2 strands:
 Strand 1: Conceptual
 Franz Brentano (1838–1917) argues that values are rooted in
human emotions, in the contrast between favorable (love) and
unfavorable (hate) intentional attitudes toward objects and
events.
Ex: A person watching a sunset has a positive emotional
feeling, which the person claims is because of the sunset
 Strand 2: Empirical
 Those who want value theory to be a scientific enterprise
therefore turn from feelings to "interests," from intentions to
"behaviors," from introspection to "motor-affective responses.

Ex: The object need not in fact lead to such experiences, but
only have the potentiality for doing so: Where one object is a
means by which to come into the presence of another object
that has inherent value, the first object has "instrumental" and
possibly "contributory" extrinsic value.

- ETHICS
o Ethics (or Moral Philosophy) is derived from the Greek word “ethos”, which
means customs and is therefore concerned with a particular kind of value. It is
a branch of philosophy that specifically deals with questions of morality and
how humans should conduct themselves in their interactions with others and
the world. Ethics is concerned with determining what is morally right or wrong,
good or bad, and how we should make decisions that affect ourselves and
others.
Ex:
What is right?
What is morally good?

Metaethics 
 investigates where our moral values, language, and principles come
from and what they mean; it is concerned with “what is morality?”
rather than “what is moral?”

Ex: what it means to say something is right or good, whether there are
any objective moral facts, whether morality is (culturally) relative, and
whether there is a psychological basis for moral practices and value
judgements.

Applied ethics
 seeks to apply philosophical tools to examine specific controversial
issues and provide practical solutions to moral problems. 

Examples: the moral issues regarding…

abortion
euthanasia
giving to the poor
sex before marriage
the death penalty
gay/lesbian marriage (or other rights)

Normative ethics
 investigates the moral standards that regulate right and wrong
conduct.
 concerned with criteria of what is morally right and wrong.
 basically, the guidelines we use to live our lives. They help us
determine what is right and wrong, and they shape our decision-
making.
 Ex: Some common examples of normative ethics include things like
honesty, respect, and fairness. We often learn these concepts from
our families, friends, and other social groups.

- AESTHETICS
o Aesthetics is derived from the Greek word aisthetikos, or “one who is
perceptive of things through his sensations, feelings, and intuations.
o Can be considered a ‘Philosophy of beauty.
o Experiencing good art or seeing true beauty is a source of value and meaning
in human life. The notion of beauty can be applied to nature as well as to
works of art.
o tries to figure out the principles behind what we find attractive, how we judge
things as good or bad in terms of appearance, and why some things evoke
emotions in us. Objectively or Subjectively
Ex:
 What is art?
 It's like pondering why you enjoy a sunset, feel moved by a painting,
or get lost in a mesmerizing melody.

- LOGIC
o It is the study of principles by which we distinguish sound from unsound
reasoning and of different types of reasoning.
o It is the formulation of the standards of right thinking.
o It does not study reality directly, it seeks to know the condition for valid
knowledge hence, it is an instrument that in a general way affects all rational
knowledge of reality.

Ex:
Is the reasoning valid, or not?

TLDR:

1. "What is the nature of reality and existence?"

(Metaphysics)
 2. "How do we acquire knowledge and justify beliefs?"
(Epistemology)

3. "Is beauty purely subjective, or are there objective standards?"

(Aesthetics)

4. "What is the difference between right and wrong behavior?"

(Ethics)

5. "Can a statement be valid without being true?"

(Logic)

6. "What is the nature of value and what makes something valuable?"

(Value Theory)

ROLE PLAY:
- Group yourselves into 2 and I want you to choose 1 of the following branches that we
have discussed today and use that as a theme in creating a situation that involves
that branch in your high school life or in a high school setting, where you will role play
in the span of 20 mins (max).