The Sisters of Mary of Bannuex, Inc.

– Social Sciences Department

Introduction to
PHILOSOP
the
of the Human Person
HY Mr. Edson L. Vicente, LPT, MAT -SS
Mr. Jhonry Vanzuela – Caalim
 TOPIC OUTLINE
Definition of Philosophy
-------------------------------------
Branches of Philosophy
-------------------------------------
Essence of Philosophy
What is
Philosophy?
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
It is a method used in search for the answer about
the origin of all things
This definition of “philosophy” originated from the common thoughts or arguments
of the ancient philosophers like Thales, Anaximenes, Anaximander, and Heraclitus.

The ancient philosophers are concerned about the origin of anything in the physical
environment that we have like moon, stars, single celled organisms, multicellular
organisms

The Ancient philosophers are also concerned with the very existence of human
beings
Ancient philosophers had a quest for knowledge and truths about
the physical world and human existence. THEY POSTED
INTELLIGENT MEANINGFUL QUESTIONS WHICH THEY
TRIED TO FIND ANSWERS THROUGH GATHERING FACTS
OR EVIDENCES
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
It is significant in pondering rational explanations
about the doctrine of faith

This definition of “philosophy” originated from the

common thoughts or arguments of the Medieval
Philosophers like the famous St. Thomas and St.
Augustine.

They have seen the significance of philosophy in

pondering on the rational explanations or reasonable
explanations about the teaching of our faith.
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
It is significant in pondering rational explanations
about the doctrine of faith

In the thought of St. Thomas. He came up with the truth

“man is created before God’s image.” The meaningful
question of Medieval philosophers like him about human
existence clearly shows that they are in the quest for
truths regarding man’s faith. They attribute the meaning
of human nature to faith, which is to a Supreme Being.
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Used in intensifying the foundations of all branches of science
(Rene Descartes)

Without philosophy all branches of science

including social sciences will not grow
stunting its development because it is based
on the nature of philosophy, the concern for
creating meaningful questions and arrive at
answers or truths.
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Used in intensifying the foundations of all branches of science
(Rene Descartes)
The importance of philosophy in the branches of science
makes it the “parent science.” Actually, branches of sciences
like sociology, psychology, economics, political science,
anthropology, history in social science or soft science or
botany, zoology, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics in
hard science originated from philosophy or philosophizing
activities of the great philosophers in the past.
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Etymological Definition

PHILOSOPHY?
From Greek Word: “Philien” or “Philla” - Love
&
From Greek Word: “Sophia”- Wisdom

Love of Wisdom
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
Philosophy is an endeavor of finding for truth by means of reason

Philosophers create meaningful questions as

search for truth regarding human existence,
human experiences, things that can be reached
by the mind but could not be grasped by our
senses like belief about God or Supernatural
Beings, and anything in the physical world.
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
A science that discusses all things through the use of reason (Aristotle)

How did Aristotle define “reason”?

a. It is a faculty that differentiate
human beings from brutes. We are
different from other animals or living
creatures in this world because of our
faculty of reason.
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
A science that discusses all things through the use of reason (Aristotle)

How did Aristotle define “reason”?

b. It is a mental activity that enticed one to
investigate some facts and eventually arrive to a
conclusion. Reason is an exercise and nature of
human mind. Human mind was created to think,
search for explanations and truth about anything
that the mind can think of making humans
different from brutes.
 WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
G. A field whereby question is more important
than the answers (Karl Jaspers-1883-1968)

In philosophy, an individual that came up with answers to

his/her question is not contended on having the answer to
his/her question. This individual would create another
question or set of questions. Also, in the process of quest for
truth, the mind exercises its nature which is reason that makes
man rational beings and different from lower forms of animals
or brutes.
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
A science of all things in their ultimate cause
through the aid of human reason alone.
The quest for truth resulting to knowledge or wisdom is not done on the
basis of hunches, assumptions, educated guess or hypothesis. It is based on
gathering evidences or facts to arrive at an answer to the meaningful
question. Everything that is studied in philosophy is supported by evidence
that makes it a science. The meaning tells that philosophy covers all things
that the human mind can understand because the objective of
philosophizing is the attainment of truth
 02
What are the branches of philosophy
from where the recognition of
various human activities emanated
from deliberate reflection and
dialogues?
METAPHYSICS
Metaphysics is really only an extension of a fundamental and necessary
drive in every human being to know what is real. The question is how to
account for this unreal thing in terms of what you can accept as real.
Thus, a very big part of the metaphysician’s task is to explain that part of
our experience, which we call unreal in terms of what we call real.
 Everyhing is Water
- THALES
He claims that everything we experience is water-which we call “reality.”
Everything else is “appearance”. We then set out to try to explain everything
else (appearance) in terms of water (reality). Clouds, for example, or blocks
of ice do not look like water, but they can be explained in terms of water.
When water evaporates, it becomes a cloud, and when water freezes, it
becomes ice.
Reflections, Meditations, and Conversations that Rocked the World:
By What Values Shall I Live in the World?
Plato
This leads up to the famous simile of the cave or den. According to which, those who are destitute of
philosophy may be compared to prisoners in a cave who are only able to look in one direction because they
are bound and who have the fire behind them and the wall in front. Between them and the wall, there is
nothing; all that they see are shadows of themselves and of objects behind them casted on the wall by the
light of the fire. Inevitably, they regard these shadows as real and have no notion of the objects to which
they are due (Price 2000). At last, a man succeeds in escaping from the cave to the light of the sun; for
the first time, he sees real things, and becomes aware that he had hitherto been deceived by shadows. He
is the sort of philosopher who is fit to become a guardian; he will feel it is his duty to those who were
formerly his fellow prisoners to go down again into the cave, instruct them as to the sun of truth and show
them the way up.
However, he will have difficulty in persuading them, because coming out of the sunlight, he will wee
shadows clearly that they do and will see to them stupider that before his escape.
Plato seeks to explain the difference between clear intellectual vision and the confused vision of
sense perception by an analogy from the sense of sight. Sight, he says, differs from the other senses,
since it requires not only the eye and the object, but also the light. We clearly see objects on which the sun
shines; in twilight, we see when the sun illumines the object; while the world of passing things is a confuse
twilight world. The eye is compared to the soul, and the sun, as the source of light to truth or goodness
(Mitchell 2011).
ETHICS
Ethics is the branch of philosophy that explores the nature of moral
virtue and evaluates human actions. Ethics is generally a study of the
nature of moral judgments. Philosophical ethics attempts to provide an
account of our fundamental ethical ideas.
Reflections, Meditations, and Conversations that Rocked the World:
What Constitutes a Human Person?

For Socrates, to be happy, a person has to live a virtuous life. Virtue is not something to be taught or
acquired through education, but rather, it is merely an awakening of the seeds of good deeds that lay
dormant in the mind and heart of a person. Knowing what is in the mind and heart of a human being is
achieved through self-knowledge. Thus, knowledge does not mean only theoretical or speculative, but a
practical one. Practical knowledge means that one does not only know the rules of right living, but one
lives them.
Hence, for Socrates, true knowledge means wisdom, which in turn, means virtue. The Greek word
arete, which we translate as virtue, seems originally to have been associated with valor in battle and may
be connected with the name of the Greek god of war, Ares, who we know better under his Roman name,
Mars. Both the Greek word arete and its English equivalent, virtue, have connotations of machismo and
manliness. So, when Socrates came to define virtue, he thought of courage as one of its prime
components, and he came up with the proposition that courage, therefore, as virtue is also knowledge
EPISTEMOLO
GY
How do we acquire reliable knowledge? Human knowledge may be
regarded as having two parts:
1. INDUCTION METHOD - Some philosophers think that the
particular things seen, heard, and touched are more important. They
believe that general ideas are formed from the examination of
particular facts

- philosophers who feel that knowledge is acquired in this way are

called empiricists (Empiricism is the view that knowledge can be
attained only through sense experience. )
EPISTEMOLO
GY
How do we acquire reliable knowledge? Human knowledge may be
regarded as having two parts:
2. DEDUCTION METHOD - it is more important to find a general law
according to which particular facts can be understood or judged

- its advocates are called rationalists (in the rationalist view, real
knowledge is based on the logic, the laws, and the methods that reason
develops.)
Reflections, Meditations, and Conversations that Rocked the World:
Women’s Equal Rights

The spirit of modern philosophy is an outburst of discovery. Rationalism (17th century) and empiricism
(18th century) both relied on human discoveries such as of the world, of thought, and of humanity in all
sorts of conditions. Knowledge, however, was male-dominated. Mary Wollstonecraft envisioned an
education for women. In her work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1972), Wollstonecraft dictated
that women were to be more than just wives and caretakers; they were to educate children, and to act not
as slaves to their husbands, but as companions (Rifkin 2009).

As technology enters the larger conversation of humanity, students should understand that education is not
just simply browsing the Internet but emphasizes the concept of progress, which asserts that human
beings are capable of improving their constantly changing environment.
LOGIC
The term “logic” comes from the Greek word logike and was coined by
Zeno, the Stoic (c.340-265 BC). Etymologically, it means a treatise on
matters pertaining to the human thought. It is important to underpin
that logic does not provide us knowledge of the world directly, for logic
is considered as a tool, and, therefore, does not contribute directly to the
content of our thoughts. Logic is not interested in what we know
regarding certain subjects. Its concern, rather, is the truth or the
validity of our arguments regarding such objects.
Reflections, Meditations, and Conversations that Rocked the World:
Artificial Intelligence

Turing was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He was highly
influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalization of the concepts of “algorithm”
and “computation” with the Turing machine, which played a significant role in the creation of the modern
computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial intelligence. (AI)
(Carr 2009).
AESTHETICS
Aesthetics is the science of the beautiful in its various manifestations-
including the sublime, comic, tragic, pathetic, and ugly. To experience
aesthetics, therefore, means whatever experience has relevance to art,
whether the experience be that of the creative artist or of appreciation.
As a branch of philosophy, students should consider the importance of
aesthetics because of the following:

1. It vitalizes our knowledge

2. It helps us to live more deeply and richly.
3. It brings us in touch with our culture.
 What is the
03 General
Purpose of
PHILOSOPH
Y?
 General Purpose of PHILOSOPHY
General Problem Persuasive Powers
Solving
It helps one to analyze It thereby helps one
concepts, definitions, develop the ability to be
arguments and problems convincing.

Communication Writing Skills

Skills
Philosophy also Writing is taught intensively in many
contributes uniquely to philosophy courses, and many
regularly assigned philosophical texts
the development of
are unexcelled as literary essays.
expressive and
communicative powers
Activity: Self-Check: What Must Be Done before the Action
Direction: complete the information in the table below.
Actions What must be done before the action?
Buying new clothes  
Choosing friends  
Joining an organization in school  
Deciding where to study for college  
Attending classes in the afternoon  
Going to school  
Visiting a friend during vacation  
Asking permission  
Helping a stranger  
Traveling without your family  
Going to mass or any religious activities  
Watching movies that are not suitable for you  
Expressing your opinion or feelings  
Communicating to your significant others about a  
conflict
Giving opinions  
Going out with the opposite sex  
Confronting a person who verbally hurt you  
Activity: Understanding the Text
Direction: Watch the short clip entitled: The Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant and
answer the following question:

1.What were the six different ideas about the elephant? Were any of the men right
about the elephant? Were any of them were completely wrong?
2.What did the blind men learn from the Rajah? What does the storyteller want us to
learn from this parable?
3.Do problems like this happen in real life? Think of times when arguments or
misunderstandings have occurred because people saw situations from different
points of view. Describe what happened.
4.How does it feel when another person doesn't "see" something the way you do?
How can you address those differences in perceptions?
Activity: Understanding the Text
Direction: Watch the short clip entitled: The Parable of the Blind Men and the Elephant and
answer the following question:

5.What if the men in this story were not blind? Would they still have different
perceptions about elephants? Why or why not?
6.Does the story give you ideas about how these problems can be solved? What are
some steps you can take to understand why another person doesn't see things the
way you do?