“Introduction

to Philosophy
of the Human
Person”
 “The Human
Person as an
Embodied Spirit”
Module 3
 “Limits and
Possibilities for
Transcendence”
Lesson 1
At the end of the lesson,
students are expected to…
● Identify the components of the human person
according to the different philosophers.
● Describe the Human Person as an embodied spirit
according to Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity.
● Develop a good relationship to oneself and others
Knowing My Limitations
● What are your limitations as a person?
What are the things that you consider as
difficult or hard for you to accomplish or
believe in?
● What are your strengths? What are the
possible things or status that you can reach
or achieve in the future?
 The Human Person as an Embodied
Spirit.
According to St. Thomas of Aquinas in his
Summa Theologia, “the body is not of the essence
of the soul; but the soul by the nature of its essence
can be united to the body, so that, properly
speaking, not the soul alone, but the “composite,”
is the species.
 The Human Person as an Embodied
Spirit.
The very fact that the soul in a certain way
requires the body for its operation proves that the
soul is endowed with a grade of intellectuality
inferior to that of an angel, who is not united to a
body.
What is the
characteristic of the
human person as a self
with an immortal soul
and as a composite of
body and soul?
The Union of Body and Soul

● Aristotle's claim that the soul is the

actualization of the body; he states,
From this it indubitably follows that
the soul is inseparable from its body.
 The Union of Body and Soul
● The soul is not an independently
existing substance. It is linked to
the body more directly: it is the
form of the body, not a separate
substance inside another substance
(a body) of a different kind.
 The Union of Body and Soul

● The soul has the power of communicating its

existence to the body not just through
movement (locomotion) but also through
understanding or thinking (knowledge).
 Human Nature as Freedom

○ Sartre asserted: “I am condemned to be free”

○ As stated, freedom is not about wanting to do things
but the being-for-itself acting upon autonomous
choices.
 Human Nature as Freedom
You make your choice, and you take responsibility for your
choice. Blaming others is not a possibility for a human whose
actions were guided by his or her freedom. To be totally free opens
you to a multitude of possibilities, yet it may limit you because the
future project is not yet your being.
 Hinduism
● Brahman Is Self-Hood
● Generally, Hindus believe that the soul is eternal but is
bound by the law of Karma (action)
● God allots rewards and punishments to all beings
according to their karma
(Puligandia 1997).
 Hinduism
● Hinduism holds that humanity’s life is a continuous
cycle (samsara).
● It is the spirit is neither born nor does it die, the body,
on the other hand, goes through a transmigratory
series of birth and death.
 Hinduism
● Transmigration or metempsychosis is a doctrine that
adheres to the belief that a person’s soul passes into some
other creature, human, or animal.
● If the person has led a good life, the soul goes upward the
scale. The soul of an evil person, on the other hand, may
pass into the body of an animal.
Buddhism: From Tears to Enlightenment
Gautama’s life was devoted to sharing his “Dharma” or
Law of Salvation- a simple presentation of the gospel of
inner cultivation of right spiritual attitudes, coupled with
self-imposed discipline whereby bodily desires would be
channeled in the right directions.
Buddhism: From Tears to Enlightenment

According to Buddhism, the goal of every person

is to reach nirvana or the state of freedom from
suffering caused by worldly desires.
Buddhism: From Tears to Enlightenment

In the Four Noble Truths, Gautama taught:

(1) life is full of suffering.
(2) suffering is caused by passionate desires, lusts, cravings.
(3) only as these are obliterated, will suffering cease.
(4) The way to end desire is to follow the noble eightfold path which
includes right belief, thoughts, conduct, speech, living, ambition,
pleasures, and effort.
Buddhism: From Tears to Enlightenment
These steps are:
(1) right belief in acceptance of the “Fourfold Truth”.
(2) right aspiration for oneself and for others.
(3) right speech that harms no one.
(4) right conduct, motivated by goodwill toward all human beings.
(5) right means of livelihood or earning one’s living by honorable
means.
Buddhism: From Tears to Enlightenment
These steps are:
(6) right endeavor, or effort to direct one’s energies toward wise
ends.
(7) right mindfulness in choosing topics for thought; and
(8) right meditation, or concentration to the point of complete
absorption in mystic ecstasy
Buddhism: From Tears to Enlightenment
For Velasquez (1999), “Items 1 and 2 enjoin us to develop
wisdom, items 3-5 urge us to practice virtue and avoid vice, and
items 6-8 tell us to practice meditation. We do this essentially by
following three short axioms: cease to do evil, learn to do good, and
purify your own mind.”
 Questions /
Clarifications
SLIDESMANIA
Thank you for
listening!
Do you have any questions?
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