MAN AND THE

SOCIETY
Chapter 7
 THE HUMAN PERSON AND THE
SOCIETY
• What is Society?
• Communal situatedness
• Experience of your community
• Interplay between the individuality of the person and their
social context.
• Social skills
• Particular social belongingness
• Intimate connection between a person to a larger context
SOCIETY ACCORDING TO PHILOSOPHERS

1. Plato and Aristotle

• “Homo Socialis”
• Man as a “Political Animal”
• Tripartite soul of a human being=social
structures/classes
 TRIPARTITE
SOUL=SOCIAL
STRUCTURES
1 : Appetitive Soul=Merchants and Commoners
st

(Those who produce)

2nd: Spirited Soul= Soldiers/Warriors
(Those who protect)
3rd: Rational Soul= Leaders/Rulers
(Those who rule)

*A well-ordered society is one whose classes do what they should do, without
interfering with or disrupting the functions and powers of the other classes.
 TRIPARTITE SOUL=SOCIAL
STRUCTURES

• Those functions, powers, and goals of an

individual, who is part of a larger whole, should be
in accordance with those of the society.
• Things belonging where they belong, doing what
they are supposed to be doing=JUSTICE (Plato)
 SOCIETY ACCORDING TO
PHILOSOPHERS
2. Karl Marx (Early version)
• Society=Collective Effort
• Historical Analysis of Society
• On the development of Social Relations and the
Modes of Production
• Emphasis on Transformation
 TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIETY

Society and Economics

• 1st: Primitive Communities (Nomadic, Hunting, Agricultural)

• 2nd: Slave Society (Domination of City States, Slavery)

• 3rd: Feudal Society (Feudal Lords/Land Owners, Tenants)

• 4th: Capitalistic Society (Industry, Profit)

 TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIETY

• Transformations of societies caused by contradictions

of the present society.
• These contradictions may cause armed
struggle/violence… (if necessary)
• The status of the society may either go up/down
because of these contradictions but the present is not
the present status, thus the transformation is
continuous.
EFFECTS OF THESE SOCIETIES ON THE
INDIVIDUAL, ACCORDING TO MARX…

• “Homo Faber”
• Man lives to work
• Work serves as an extension of Man’s creativity,
innovation, ingenuity, hence his identity.
• Work as a collaborative effort
• *Work can cause alienation to oneself
 ALIENATION ACCORDING TO MARX…

• Alienation
• Estrangement of oneself

• Kinds of Alienation according to Marx

• Alienation from his nature (himself)
• Alienation from other people
• Alienation from his product
• Alienation from his productivity
 ALIENATION ACCORDING TO MARX
• Alienation is based from the present Economic structure of the
society which also has a direct effect to our Cultural structure
and thus to our present Political structure...
• Capitalism is somehow exploitative in the relationship between
the owner/capitalist and its worker.
• In Capitalism, workers are treated
as commodities.
 SOLUTION TO THIS ALIENATION
• Transformation of the present society…
• A CLASS-LESS society.
• Recognition of man by man
• Society with no gap between the relation of the
owner and the workers. (Marx as a Humanist)
• Sharing of a common vision
• Removal of Greed in the society
 ACCORDING TO MARX…

• In the present time, everything has a monetary value and work is one
of it… thus having unjust wages.
• This monetizing act causes exploitation to the workers.
• A classless society can be humanistic. (fairness, justice, and equality)

“The proletarians have nothing

to lose but their chains. They have a
world to win. Working Men of
All Countries, Unite!”
(Communist Manifesto)