o Develops a limited view of the
INTRODUCTION TO THE
PHILOSOPHY OF THE
HUMAN PERSON
Lesson 1: Nature of Philosophy
Philosophy
o Queen of sciences
o The term emanated from two Greek words:
philo meaning love, and Sophia meaning
wisdom, hence, philosophy is the love of
wisdom.
o A discipline that provides the human person
a holistic perspective that serves as a key
instrument in looking and understanding
thing and situations in the world.
➢ Philosophy as a Second-order Inquiry
o It questions and scrutinizes other
disciplines like the hard sciences.
o Assists the hard sciences towards an
enhanced body of knowledge and
disciplinal practice.
➢ Holism
o Jan Smuts (1926).
o The term holism was derived from the
Greek word, “holos”, which means
whole or total.
o Refers to or deals with the whole
reality with due consideration of the
relationship and interaction between
and among its parts.
o Represents philosophy.
➢ Holistic Point of View
o Considers all circumstances related to
a particular condition.
o Develops an overview of the present
condition.
o Acts based on the overall
understanding of the condition.
➢ Reductionism
o Emanated from the Newtonian
outlook of the world as a machine
which postulates that the whole
reality could be comprehended by
understanding its parts.
o A system of thinking that understands
the complex whole by reducing them
into the relationship of its parts.
o Reflects the particular point of view
commonly followed by the hard
sciences.
➢ Particular Point of View
o Considers only a limited number of
circumstances related to the present
condition.
present condition.
o Acts based on limited understanding
of the condition.
Lesson 2: Origins and Developments
of Doing Philosophy
➢ Western Philosophy
Refers to various schools of thought which were
conceived and practiced in Europe and North
America.
It attempts to grasp universal explanation of
things with the use of natural human reason.
GENERAL HISTORICAL PERIODS OF
WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
❖ Ancient Philosophy
o With the use of natural human reason
alone, philosophers concerned
themselves about the nature of things
in the world in order for them to
understand and give guidance to their
life experiences.
❖ Medieval Philosophy
o The Middle Ages is neatly associated
with theology.
o Reason is used to analyze the nature
of God and His relation the human
being and the rest of creation.
❖ Modern Philosophy
o During the renaissance or the era
when Europe went into the process of
“Rebirth”.
o This era put into motion the humanist
movement of promoting the idea of
the human person as the center of the
universe, and people should focus
their gaze to human achievements.
❖ Contemporary Philosophy
o From the 20th to 21st century
highlighted by the professionalism or
the academic-based practice of
philosophy.
➢ Eastern Philosophy
First emerged from West Asia until these beliefs
were shared to Southeast Asia.
Eastern philosophical schools of thought are
either related to one or several supreme beings or not;
no distinction between philosophy and religion.
Eastern philosophies are a compendium of
literature that inspire people to live a harmonious life
with others and nature.
PHILOSOPHIES IN EASTERN PHILOSOPHY o Believes in four noble truths: there is
suffering, suffering is caused by
❖ Judaism
misplaced desire, cessation of
o Oldest monotheistic religion.
suffering to achieve liberation, and
o God is worshipped in synagogues.
follow the eight-fold path to
o Spiritual leaders are the rabbis.
enlightenment.
o Believers look at God who revealed
himself to the people through the
prophets.
o texts are Torah and TaNak.

❖ Hinduism
o Indian religion that hosts many gods
and goddesses.
o Three big gods: Brahma, Shiva, and
Vishnu.
o Doctrines of samsara (continuous
cycle of life, death, reincarnation, and
karma)
o The sacred animal is the cow.
❖ Confucianism
o Chinese philosophy by Confucius.
o Focuses on the order of society.
o Three Confucian values: filial piety,
humanness, and conduct of rituals.
❖ Taoism
o Chinese philosophy
o Unity and harmony of the opposing
elements of nature yang-yin.

❖ Shintoism
o Japanese indigenous religion.
o Worships Kami or spirits.
❖ Islam
o Thrives as a practice from generations
o Second biggest monotheistic religion
to the next.
o Allah is the supreme being.
o Rituals and shrines.
o Began with the Prophet Muhammad
o Quran as its sacred book
o Five pillars: shahada, salat, zakat,
sawm, pilgrimage to Mecca or hajj.

❖ Jainism
o Indian non-theistic religion.
o Perceives the universe as eternal and
never-ending.
o Journey to spiritual purity and ❖ Sikhism
enlightenment. o God created everything and is present
in everything.
o Union with the supreme being.

❖ Buddhism
o Siddhartha Gautama; Buddha
 Lesson 3: Philosophy and the
Human Person
DIVISIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy, in the tradition of Aristotle and Aquinas,
is divided into two namely: speculative & practical.
➢ Speculative Philosophy
The systematic study of the ultimate nature or
essence of reality; a theoretical treatment of abstract
subject matter.
Branches: metaphysics, epistemology, theodicy,
and cosmology.
➢ Practical Philosophy
The systematic study of truth as applied to areas
of human concern; the application of theory to
concrete human situations.
Branches: logic, ethics, and aesthetic.
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
❖ Metaphysics
o Studies the nature of reality and
existence.
❖ Epistemology
o studies the nature of knowledge.
o episteme is knowledge, logos is study.
o “To know what you know, and to
know what you do not know is
knowledge” – Confucius.
❖ Theodicy
o Studies the nature of God in the light
of human reason alone.
o Theo means supreme being.
❖ Cosmology
o Studies the nature of the material
universe.
❖ Logic
o Deals with the art and science of
correct thinking.
o Guides the human being in the search
of truth because of its clarity and
validity of reasoning.
❖ Ethics
o Deals with values and correct action.
o Provides ethical principles and
frameworks that serve as guides to
human actions.
❖ Aesthetics
o Deals with art and beauty.
o It provides a guide to the appreciation
of beauty and noble emotion.
PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
➢ Interpretive Knowledge
Associated with the speculative division of
philosophy that which tells or affirms what is.
➢ Prescriptive Knowledge
Associated with the practical division of
philosophy that which tells or affirms what ought to
be.
Studying philosophy of the human person could:
1. Provide a broader understanding.
2. Develop a thorough appreciation of the
human person.
3. Comprehend the relationship of the human
person in relation to others.
4. Offer a better understanding of the human
person.
Lesson 4: Doing Philosophy
Philosophy
➢ Systematized body of knowledge that uses
natural human reason alone to unravel the
ultimate causes of beings or things.
FOUR METHODS IN PHILOSOPHIZING
➢ Socratic Method
o Socrates
o It is usually a dyadic discussion
where one picks a subject matter and
asks clarificatory questions, the other
makes responses, and from which
responses, another clarificatory
questions are thrown.
o It is a form of dialectics as the process
involves examination and cross-
examination of a subject matter to
arrive at a certain truth.
➢ Formal Logic
o Founded by Aristotle in his book,
“Organon”.
o It refers to the process of utilizing
systematic scrutiny of the validity of
arguments and statements.
➢ Systematic Doubt
o Developed and popularized by Rene
Descartes.
o Method of doing philosophy by
taking the skeptical attitude towards
anything presented.
o “Cogito ergo sum” – I think,
therefore, I am.
o Systematically doubting any opinion,
idea, truth, or fact that is presented
leads one to systematically evaluate
everything before one accepts
something that is true or otherwise.
➢ Dialectical Method
 o Originated from the Greeks and
adopted by some renowned
philosophers like Georg Wilhelm
Hegel and Karl Marx.
o The process of arriving at a synthesis
or a new truth from two opposing
views of reality.
o Dialectics is the process of seeking a
synthesis of two or more seemingly
opposing viewpoints.
TYPES OF KNOWLEDGE
➢ Formal Knowledge
– postulated by the rationalists or
philosophers who believe on the theory that
reason is the foundation of true and correct
knowledge.
➢ Empirical Knowledge
– postulated by the empiricists or
philosophers who believe that knowledge is
derived from experience through the senses
like taste, smell, touch, hearing, and sight.
SOURCES OF KNOWLEDGE
➢ Reason – the human analytic faculty used to
decipher truth; provides the human person to
perform rational functions like the act of
thinking and analysis.
➢ Experience – where the use of the five senses
and other enhanced-technological apparatus
to verify knowledge claim is employed to
generate knowledge.
➢ Intuition – refers to the ability of the human
being to immediately understand something
or establish the truth of something without
the benefit of sense experience or deliberate
reasoning.
Lesson 5: On the Nature of Truth
Opinion
➢ A subjective statement about something that
expresses an unverified idea and/or belief.
Fact
➢ Something that exists independently from the
mind and could remain in the same state for a
period of time.
THEORIES ON THE NATURE OF TRUTH
➢ Coherence Theory
o Means logical consistency; an idea or
belief is true when we could integrate
it in a logical and consistent manner
into larger and often complex system
of beliefs or ideas without any
contradictions.
➢ Correspondence Theory
o Most commonly used reference in
asserting and affirming what is true
from what is false.
o An idea is true when there exists a fact
that corresponds to it.
➢ Pragmatic Theory
o An idea is true when it provides good,
beneficial, and practical results to the
human being.
ERRORS OF REASONING/FALLACIES
1. Appeal to Pity – uses emotion like pity or
sympathy instead of focusing on the truth.
2. Appeal to Force – employs threat or
coercion to force others to accept their
argument.
3. Appeal to Personal Attack – attacks the
person instead of dealing with the topic of the
argument.
4. Appeal to Popularity – claims that
something is true because most people say so.
5. Appeal to False Authority – misuses
authority, without factual evidence, to prove
a point.
6. Fallacy of Equivocation – uses a term
ambiguously in the argument that results to
an erroneous conclusion.
7. Begging the Question – forwards an
argument where the premises assume the
truth of the conclusion, instead of supporting
it.
8. Cause and Effect – uses one as cause or
effect of the other without any concrete and
proven evidence.
9. Appeal to Tradition – argues that something
is true because it has been accepted to be true.
10. Fallacy of Composition – asserts that the
whole is true because some parts are true.
11. Fallacy of Division – asserts that what is true
for the whole is also true for its parts.
Lesson 6: The Human Person:
Limitations and Possibilities
GENERAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE HUMAN
PERSON
➢ Biological Perspective – physical attributes;
presents the human person as an entity with a
flesh and blood living like any other
organism and subject to the laws governing
the earth and the universe.
➢ Psychological Perspective – looks at the
human person as possessing a mind (psyche)
within the corporeal body that is rational.
➢ Socio-economic Perspective – socialization;
presents the human person as a body entity
 who interacts and lives in relation to other
human persons.
➢ Theological Perspective – looks at the
human person as somebody in relation to a
supernatural being.
THE HUMAN PERSON FROM THE EYES OF
SOME PHILOSOPHERS
➢ Plato
o postulated the theory of forms indicating
the existence of two worlds: intelligible
and sensible.
o postulated his notion of the human being
as having body (sensible) and soul
(intelligible).
Intelligible world – invisible; contains universal
things/forms; unchanging, permanent, perfect; exists
beyond the physical world; and soul.
Sensible world – sensible; contains particular things,
subject to change, temporal and imperfect; exists in
the physical world; and senses.
o According to Plato, the soul has 3
components: reason, spirit, and appetite.
➢ Aristotle
o Postulated that the human being is made
of body and soul; the body and soul do
not exist from each other but are co-
principles that form a unified person.
Vegetative function – facilitates growth among all
living things.
Sensitive function – facilitates the exercise of the
senses.
Rational function – facilitates thinking properly.
➢ Thomas Aquinas
o Looks at the human person who
possesses body and soul; the human
being is a union of body and soul.
Body – the physical component of the person,
something material, corruptible and subject to the
flux of time; animated or given life by the soul.
Sensitive soul – proper for non-rational animals.
Rational soul – immaterial and constitutes the
substantial form of the body.
Lesson 7: Philosophy and the
Environment
THREE ENVIRONMENTAL DISORDERS
➢ Deforestation
The main culprit of deforestation in the Philippines
is logging, both illegal and legal.
It caused problems like water scarcity, flash flooding,
and soil erosion.
It has weakened riverbanks; hence, affected the areas
and its living organisms.
➢ Mining in the Philippines
Mining is the act of extracting valuable minerals
from the ground; Philippines if the fifth richest
country in the world when it comes to mineral
deposits.
Large-scale mining is destructive which negatively
impacts the lives of the Filipino citizens with the
grave disregard for their right to health, life, food
security, livelihood, and a clean environment.
Mine tailings, forests, and mountains were destroyed
by open-pit mining which caused significant loss of
biodiversity.
➢ Loss of Biodiversity
Biodiversity refers to the various forms of lifeforms,
plants and animals, in a particular habitat or
ecosystem.
Some of the causes of this biodiversity loss are:
overexploitation, climate change, pollution, and
habitat loss.
PHILOSOPHY AND ECOLOGY
Ecology
- Emphasizes the notion that the earth is a
common home for everybody.
- Study of the interrelationships of organisms
with their environment and each other.
- The term ecology comes from the Greek term
oikos meaning household, home, a place to
live.
Environment
- Refers to the physical world with all its biotic
and abiotic entities and often perceived to be
created for human domination.
Ideological causes
- First: Lynn White, Jr. argued that the
dominant Western form of Christianity is
deeply guilty of the current ecological
impasse.
- Second: Philosophy provides a system of
thought that guides the human being to
dealing with the environment ; philosophy of
Rene Descartes has provided the human
being the framework to dominate and exploit
the environment.
 PHILOSOPHERS
➢ Pythagoras – coined the term philosophy
and formulated the Pythagorean theorem.
➢ Thales of Miletus – Father of Philosophy;
proposed that the primary substance of earth
is water.
➢ Anaximenes – proposed that the primary
substance of earth is air.
➢ Heraclitus – stipulated that fire is the
primary substance of earth; “One cannot step
on the same river twice”; change is the only
permanent thing in this world.
➢ Socrates – teacher of Plato; developed the
Socratic Method.
➢ Plato – teacher of Aristotle; dualism
➢ Aristotle - teacher of Alexander the Great
➢ Anaximander – earth is spherical and afloat
in the vast universe.
➢ Parmenides – change in the world is an
illusion and the permanent thing in this world
is being.
➢ Anaxagoras – postulated that the substance
of nature is the atom.
➢ Thomas Aquinas – towering figure of
Medieval Philosophy; a theologian and
philosopher; his greatest work is Summa
Theologiae.
➢ Rene Descartes – Father of Modern
Philosophy; representative of the period;
methodic/systematic doubt; rationalism
➢ John Locke – Tabula Rasa; blank slate
➢ John Dewey – pragmatism
➢ Jean Paul Sartre – existentialism; human
being is condemned to be free.
➢ Edmund Husserl – phenomenology;
subjective perspective of the individual.