Where do we use philosophy?
General uses of
Philosophy
What is Philosophy?
- “Philosophy comes from Greek words
meaning “love of wisdom”. Philosophy
means reason to analyze.
- In a broad sense, philosophy is an
activity people undertake when they
seek to understand fundamental truths
about themselves, the world in which
they live, and their relationships to the
world to each other.
- Philo: means love
- Sophy: means wisdom
- Philosophy uses the tools of logic and
reason to analyze
- enhances our problem solving ability
- Wisdom - application of your
knowledge. Knowing to know how to
make use of the knowledge that you
have. Aristotle considers wisdom as a
virtue. A gift from God. Ask for wisdom,
book of Proverbs.
- Knowledge – acquisition of facts
- Rational thinking – based on reason
rather than emotion
Why is Philosophy Important
- Philosophy is the foundation of critical
thinking
- enhances our problem solving ability
- Philosophy brings the important
questions to the table and works
towards an answer. It encourages us to
think critically about the world; it is the
foundation of all knowledge and when
utilized properly, can provide us with
huge benefits.
- Sense of sin – when you do something
immoral, but for you is moral.
- Study of underlying things. Tries to
understand the reasons or basis for
things. It also tries to understand how
things should be.
- Philosophy overall aims to question
assumptions we make about our lives
Philosophy
- General problem solving. The study of
philosophy enhances one’s problem-
solving capacities. It helps one to
analyze concepts, definitions,
arguments and problems.
- As early as August 1920, Hitler
compared the Jews to germs. He stated
that diseases cannot be controlled
unless you destroy their causes. The
influence of the Jews would never
disappear without removing it cause,
the Jew, from our midst, he said. These
radical ideas paved the way for the
mass murder of the Jews in the 1940s.
- The Germans belonged to the high
peoples and the Jews to the low ones.
He also had specific notions about other
people. The Slavic people, for instance,
were cast as inferior, predestined to be
dominated. Hitler felt that the German
people could only be strong if they
were ‘pure’. As a consequence, people
with hereditary diseases were
considered harmful
What Is Doing Philosophy? Meaning and
Process
- Engaging oneself in “matters of utility”
(useful, profitable) and methodologies
to eliminate any practical problem or
abstract ideas (existing in thought as an
idea but not having physical or concrete
existence).
- Speculations without facts
Methods of Philosophizing
- Speculative and critical thinking
- Find the truth. Finding the truth is the
aim of philosophy Balanced point of
view that reflects both criticism and
speculations
Example of Philosophy
- Philosophy is a set of ideals, standards
or beliefs used to describe behavior and
thought.
- ETHICS
- 2 Greatest commandments: Love God,
Love your neighbor
- The Beatitudes
The Great Questions of Philosophy
- What is knowledge?
- How should we govern ourselves?
- How should we conduct ourselves?
THEORIES OF THE HUMAN NATURE
- When you use lens, you will see better,
if you use sunglasses, the color will
adjust or change.
- What lens are you using to look at
things?
ARISTOTLE
- For Aristotle, having a soul, is the
source of a human person’s being alive.
- The natural body is “ensouled”
- Moved us to do actions that are suited
to being a Human.
- Hence, the body can’t be separated
from the soul because the soul form the
natural body, and he can’t exist without
it.
- Implication: without the soul, the body
does not have a life
- Spiritual Nutrition -
- Physical Nutrition – food etc.
- Human Person (Aristotle)
- Body (Matter) – has life
- It means to have self-nutrition, growth
and decay
- The human being is materials
WHAT MAKES HUMAN DIFFERENT FROM THE
REST OF CREATION
- Aristotle said “to be human being
means to practice its highest function”,
and that is THINKING, INTELLECT
- A good knife is a knife that cuts because
it functions as what an eye should be.
- So, good refers to the practice of his
function. However, it is not just a
practice of any of its functions, but
practice of its highest and distinctive
function, ex. Intellectual Function.
- Without the practice of intellectual
functions, the quality of being human is
always put into questions
- Ex. If a person whose daily routine is
just to look for food ans survive. We say
their condition is hindi makatao or if a
person kills somebody without reason,
we, say “hayop siya”
Proverbs 23:19
‘Listen, my son, and be wise, and set
your heart on the right path”
- Knowledge
- Hierarchy of values
- Family is your home
- You will grow to become a wise person
PLATO
The concept of Human Being
What is Plato’s concept of the soul?
- Soul came from the world of ideas
- For Plato human being is composed of body and
soul. Prior to human being’s existence in the
physical world (of the senses) the soul is
residing in the world of ideas, so that the
original condition of human being is that of
the soul. And when we acquire bodies during
birth in the physical world, we are subjected
to different kinds of limitations. We are
inhibited grasping the truth. Plato look at the
body with contempt because it is the source
of our errors. The body according to Plato
has no value at all.
- The body prevents us from knowing the reality
and we often submit to its limitations, as
when we trust more our senses than our
reason and eventually realized that we are
deceived by our senses. Plato even consider
the body as prison of the soul, which prompt
him to set the ideal of liberating the soul from
the body. The soul is immortal while the body
is mortal. So, when we die, our body will
decay but our soul will return to the world of
 ideas. Thus, a human being is essentially his perfectionist exist can be compared to the idea
soul. of heaven where we are supposed to find peace
and happiness.
The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
(recognize Own limitations and possibilities) - The lower value given to the world of the
senses is also evident in Christianity, which look
- The body is the source of errors
at the physical world as temporary and
- The body has no value
- Plato even consider the body as prison of the
preparative to eternal life. Plato considered the
soul, which prompt him to set the idea; of body as the source of error, while Christianity
liberating the soul from the body considers the body as the source of sin.
Plato splits the human soul into 3 parts
1. The Rational: reason - Prior to human being’s existence  the soul is
2. The Spirited: honor residing in the world of ideas  original
3. The Appetite: Desire condition of human being is that of the soul.
Plato’s Analogy of the State to the Individual
“Better the man who masters himself than the
State Individual Function Virtue conqueror of cities’ – Proverbs 16:24
Rulers Head Rational Wisdom
Soldiers Chest Spirited Courage - What was the idea of Plato about
Workers Stomach Appetite Moderation / human being?
Temperance - Why did Plato say that the body has no
body?
-For Plato the ideal relationship among the parts - The body prevents us from knowing the
is for the reasoning part to rule over the reality? Why did he say this?
appetite and the spirited type. If our lives are - How did Plato describe a life ruled by
ruled by our stomach -our appetites, then it emotions?
would be difficult for us to live a good life
because we will be enslaved by our appetite
not only food but all kinds of appetite including - What’s a slave trader
money, power, sex, fame, etc. we have seen
how many people’s lives were destroyed when
they let their actions be controlled by their
appetites. It is the same with the spirited part.
A life ruled by feelings and emotions will not
be a good life. Things will go wrong when we
let our feelings override our reason-when we
let anger, jealousy, pity, and other strong
emotions dictate our actions.
- Plato’s idea of good life is a life ruled by
reason. The rational part knows what is good,
it must be able to control and direct its
appetite and spirited part.

- Plato’s ideas heavily influence Christianity. His
idea of two worlds is evident in the Christian
distinction between this physical world and the
world after life. More specifically the concept
of the world of ideas where eternal truth and
- better the man who masters himself
than the conqueror of cities (proverbs
16:32)
- life ruled by appetite is not good
PLATO’s IDEA OF A GOOD LIFE
- RATIONAL  Control and direct its
appetite
Ex.
- Same sex marriage must be approved
- Freedom of speech allows us to say
whatever we want to say no matter
what happen
- We are obliged to do good to our
enemies
- We are free to do anything with our
body
- Source of our Beliefs and Traditions
- The rational part knows what is good, it
must be able to control and direct its
appetite and spirited part
- Power
- Sex
- Money
“For if you live according to the flesh you will
die, but if you live by the Spirit you put to
death the deeds of the body, you will live’ –
Romans 8;13
SAINT AUGUSTINE
- Genesis; we are created in the image
and likeness of God
- Born at Tagaste, in Numidia, Northern
Africa, in A.D. 354
- His mother, Saint Monica, was a
Christian but his father, Patricius, was a
pagan
- Augustine’s baptism was delayed until
he was in his thirties, though he was
reared as a Christian
- At 17, he went to Carthage for higher
education
- Though he was a good student, he
continued to practice evil habits he had
already begun
- He took a mistress, and soon had a son,
Adeodatus
- He entered the monastery
- Later he became a priest in the town of
Hippo and in 395, he was made its
bishop
- As the bishop of Hippo, he spent the
next thirty-five years preaching, leading
a religious community and writing
On the Human Person:
- Saint Augustine is the real founder of
the study of the person
“the first thinker who brought into
prominence and undertook an analysis of
the philosophical and psychological
concepts of person and personality”
Augustine worked to understand God by
using the human mind as an example, but
he ended up understanding the human
person by using God as an example
Trinity
- Augustine believed that the human
person, through his or her mind, is an
image of God
- The very notion of a divine person is a
relational notion
God is ….
- A person is not just a substance that
simply possesses intellect and will, in
its deepest reality, related to other
persons
- Human person as essentially a
relational being.
- A human being is “constituted a person
only insofar as he is related to other
persons”
- to be a person is to be “for
others.” And, of course, others are
likewise “for us” Since other human
persons are relational also, we must
recognize that we are “for them” as
much as they are “for us”, Human
beings are made for each other.
To be a person is to be a relational
being, and the task of our will is to
complete our person by
building our personality, that is, by
developing relations. Since person is a
relational notion, personality has to do
with relationships we develop with
 God, with other human beings, and
with material things
- The word personality comes from the
Latin word persona. In the ancient
world, a persona was a mask worn by
an actor.
- A persona can refer to either the public
image of one's personality, or the social
role that one adopts, or a fictional
character.
What is personality in simple words?
- Personality is a term that describes
traits a person shows consistently at
different times and in different
situations.
- Genesis 1:26-27
What does it mean to be made in the
image of God?
- Catholics believe that human beings
were created in the likeness and image
of God. This does not mean that
humans are like God in appearance, but
that they have been given the same
mental, moral and social qualities of
God. ...
- 1702 - The divine image is present in
every man. It shines forth in the
communion of persons, in the likeness
of the unity of the divine persons
among themselves (cf. chapter two).
- These relationships are the core of our
personality, and they should be the
fulfillment of our nature
DESCARTES
Descartes claimed that:
- Mind – indivisible
- Body – divisible into parts
(you will always arrive at the distinct
idea that you are, indeed, oneself
because the mind is indivisible)
Human nature is characterized only by
the immaterial thing called mind.
- Descartes conceives the human person
as a conscious and embodied agent,
whose essential nature is mind or soul,1
a substance whose essence is to think,
that controls the mechanically working
body and is also influenced by its
movements.
- The nature of a mind, Descartes says, is
to think. If a thing does not think, it is
not a mind.
- The nature of a mind, Descartes says, is
to think. If a thing does not think, it is
not a mind.
What are you capable of doing being created
in the image and likeness of God?
- God is forgiving
- God is generous
- God is holy
- God is loving
- God is gentle
HUMAN FREEDOM
- Realize that all actions have
consequences
- Evaluate and exercise prudence in
choices
- Realize that choices have
consequences
- Realize that some things are given up
while other are obtained in making
choices
- “God willed that man should be left in
the hand of his own counsel” – Sirach
15:14
- Freedom is God’s most precious gift to
man.
- FREEDOM IS ROOTED IN REASON AND
WILL
- “Freedom is not worth having if it does
not include the freedom to make
mistakes” – Mahatma Gandhi
- FREEDOM IS NOT LICENTIOUSNESS
- Freedom is always going what is good
- Freedom could be misused and abused
- Nature of Human Freedom, Are we
totally free?
- Many things happened that is
determined by external factors
 - COLOSSIONS 1:13 - Because of this, one’s action is
determined by his/her character
- Therefore, people are still
Nature of Human Freedom
responsible for their action
Is Man really free?
- Libertarianism – maintains that
Many things happened that is determined
people have freedom and it rejects
by external factors.
the position of determinism which is
freedom is illusion.
Theories and doctrines that says people
- William James – American
are not free
philosopher. Actions cannot be
predicted (prophesied) from past
Determinism and Libertarianism
events.
- you cannot change the past, but you
Every action of human being is
can choose hoe you react to it. Ex.
predictable Ex. Choice of food, sleeping at
Your father porn poor, so no choice
night…
you will be poor forever
Determinism denies that human person is
- Emphasis: Freedom is Choice
free because actions are influenced by
- the main goal of libertarianism is to
external factors hence,
help individuals assume control of
freedom to choose is just
their lives
an illusion.
- Marxism vs capitalism
- Libertarianism is a political
- Marxism is the direct opposite of
philosophy that focuses on the
capitalism as “an economic system
rights of individuals
based on the private ownership”
- It is the core belief in libertarianism
that individuals have the right to do
- Before one decides on what career
whatever they want with their
to follow, there may have been
person or possessions, as long as
many available choices.
they do not intrude upon the same
- If the world and one’s action are
rights of others
determined, then her feelings of
- The main goal of libertarianism is to
regret will not make sense.
help individuals assume control of
- That means they were free to make
their lives
decisions, then that means he
John Stuart Mill – English Philosopher
recognizes that he could have
One’s actions is always the predictable
decided against it.
product of his behavior
A person may act according to his character
Existentialist Notion of Freedom
Ex. He can choose to work harder…
- Our nature as human person is not
fixed like human objects.
- People are not force to do
- We have the capacity to choose and
something because it is from their
determine our actions and our self.
character that they do certain
- Absolute freedom means nothing is
things.
simply “given” and since nothing is
 “given” decides whatever we make
of our selves. Self-determination -Pope John Paul
- It does not mean that we do what freedom is the transition from
we like; it means that we do the “I can do” to “I will do”
whatever we believe we can do. Self-determination is the ability of the self
- We are totally free; we are not to decide and choose for itself.
determined by our past. Freedom as self-determination is based on
- Our own personality is our future two things.
project or creation and therefore we 1. People are the doer of the act.
are totally responsible for what we 2. People are free because they are not
do for ourselves. compelled by external objects.
- John Paul Sartre, a French - They can detach themselves from the
philosopher influence of external objects.
We possess our own self and we are the - 1 Corinthian 6:12
one who determined what kind of
person we will be.
Since we are the one who defines who we
are, there is nobody who will create our
essence or individual subjectivities for
us.
- Sartre – our essence is freedom and
we cannot separate our being
human with our freedom.
- We alone can decide at each
moment the meaning of the past for
ourselves.
- It is we who will determine
whether the past is constraint or the
past will help us in the future.
- So, it is us who will decide on how to
look at our past and the meaning of
this past for us.
 We carry the whole world on our
shoulders; we are responsible for the
world and for ourselves as our way of
being.
 So, if there is absolute freedom,
there is absolute responsibility.
 Sartre also warns us against falling
into the trap of labeling ourselves for
this only denies our freedom.
 As free individuals, we must exercise
our freedom or create or invent our
own essences.