Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
of Philosophy
The tvord philosoplty can be looked at from two aspects: its etymological and its rcal
dcfinition.
.,
1<irrc
E-$mologically, philosophy comes from trvo Greek rvords , philo and sophia, n{rich nrcan
@r%r "*.**'*"-!'
a philosopher is a lover of t'isdom.
of wisddt7fTJtus,
It is in the very nature of philosophy that man searches for thc meaning of himscl f and his
rsorld. [n fact. it can be said that philosophy rvas bom Lhe vcry first tirnc man startcd s'ondcring at
rvhat hc sarv around him.
*r
infrtffiV[l.
We may say nmn has trvo faces: that of the West and that of thc East. Far too long and too
oftcn, ottly thal. of the West is exposed and scrutinized. lndeed, our vicrv of rnan is usualll.
onc-sided in favor of the West. Hon'cver. looking at man irom thc pcrspcctivc of thc East is a
nclconre treat that is doubly signi{icant for the Filipino. After all, he is a part of thc Oricnt morc
lhan hc rcalizss.
Cuided by the same vision, this chapter is devotcd to botlr aspccts: thc Western and thc
Eastcrn vicw of rnan.
l. Socrates (470-399
B.C.)
Socrateswas the son of a sculptor and a midwife" His wift, Xantippc, said to bc an ugll
lvsnraR, tlore him thrm childrcn. He wmrld go !o tlre rua*etp{acc, th* agora, sficrc hc urxold discuss
things. using thc qucstion and &nsu,er method. Hs wes arrestcd and conde,rnncd to dcath bccausc
of tlro clrarges: {a} irnpieq," because of not woshipping the gods of thc statc and introducing ncrv
and unfamiliar rvalt of norship, and (b) cornrption of the minds of the 1,ourg, rvho {lock arctrnd
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him.
He did not adnrit any guilt, he refused to be set frce by fricnds, and he dicd aftcr drinking
a
glass of hcmlock in the presence of friends. His last day on earth, according to
Plato \\'as spcnt on
lalking about the immortaliS of the soul.
(a) He employed "inductive arguments and universal definitions." callcd his "practical
(b)
(c)
(d) To Socrates,
hinl
onq in the scnse that thc rvise man. hc rvho larcv's rvhat is right, rvill also do s'hat is rigtrt."
Socrates, Plato. also had a bias against dcrnocracv. llc had an aristocraric
upbringing and rvas imrncrsed in the culture of his day. Horveyer, his plan. cncouragcd b1. rclatir.cs.
to cnter politics rt'as abandoned after he sarv rvhat rvas done to socratcs.
' 3. Aristotle
(334-322 B.C.)
Aristotle at seventecn rvas Plato's student at the Academy wherc hc also taught until his
da:rth. Then he werit to Asia Minor, rvhere he became the tutor of Alcxardcr of
tc:achex's
It{acedonia- rvho bmame Alexander the &eat. Upm his rstum to Athens, ho foundcd thc school hc
cillcd thc'L-vceum. Hc le{t only rvhen he feared persecution kom Athcnians consumed bv
ahti-Macedonian feelingp upon thedeath of Alexander. He dicd at thc agc of 62.
'
Ariststle u'as the nrost prolific of the Greek philosophcrs. His philosophy rvas largclv
ill{luenced by tlrrce factors in his life: (l) his father, a court physician, frorn riho,n hc golhis
24
intcrest in biolory and science in goreral; (2) Plato and his stay at the Acadcml';
and (3) Alcxgdcr
the Great, rvho furthered his interest in botany and zoology rvhich he
studicd to knorv nran bcttcr
and rvho got him involved in the constitution and tlre gorr.n*ent
of the Greck statcs. Such bcirrg
thc case, he was scientist and philosopher, as well as researcher, rwitcr,
and tcachcr. It rcrnains
for Arisnoile, to delure nurn as a rotional animal. His ideas on alinost cvcrything
tlrat conccrns man
have influenced Thomas Aquinas as well as philosophers beyond ure
tuiaalci g... ioi,i,rr, n1on
is not the center of the u3iverse. Man is only a part of it; it is the cosrnos
that is thc focal point.
Tltis is Aristotle's so-called "geocentric spherical system."
(c)
(d)
(e)
becoming.
There is a First Cause, source of all change, but is unchangcablc itself. This.
for him, is
God.
Tlre goal of human life is happiness. This can be reached through nrodcration
or
extrcmss.
-.
tlc
avoidancc of
q
Logic rvould enable man to perceivc that thc ideal state is onc governed b1.
a rulc of larr.,
a statc ruled by the middle class.
l.
tlglpgoisfuds,-Thc
fundarr"rcnral crmccpr
is Bralrman and that rvhich underlies the essence of man is Atman. Thc
main rciching of thc
Upanishads is that Atman is Brahman. What is Brahman? Brahrnan
is ttrc ground of all things.
It is the Absolute (Pure Consciousness) that goes beyond the heart of nran.
lVhat is Atman?
Atman is the higher aspect of the "soul," the principle of life. It is
thc inmost cssencc in man.
Horvever, man is seen as consisting of five sheaths:
(a) Annamayatman, &e self dependent on food- This is the rnatcrial laycr
of man bcltcr knorrr
as the physical or corporeal self.
ib) Pranarnayatman, the self as vitar breath.. This is the biological la1cr.
(c) Manonrayatman, the self consisting of will. This is ttrc psfchotogical la1cr.
(d) Vijnamamal'atman, the self oriconsciousness. This is the intcllcctual
(e)
lar.cr: and
g*jtd rurrld.
lrt
'
25
f"ffi,cffiffiE;iio" hich-Eiirffi
nfryflf}glqp$.
(b) Scnsation.
(c) Pcrccption.
(d) Mental constructs,
(c) Consciousrless.
These arc:
arrd
None of thesc eletnents is pcmrauent, hence, man has no abiding support undcrl;-ing thc
sEcaln. Thcre is no soul. Whcn [re livc aggrqgatcs come togcthcr, thcy takc a ccrtain fonn or shapc
and rvhat is fbrnred is given a namc. Thus, wc have nanrs and fornr but uhcn thc elctrrcrrts
disintegratg Lhere is no "nama-rupa,u no pcrson, no cgo. "These ph-vsicnl fornr arc likc foanr:
s$tsatiotts, like bubbles; pcrceptions,like mirage; mental mnstructs, like thc flimsy trunk of banalra
plant: and consciousness, like phantonrs" (Samyutta Nikaya lll).
The conccpt of no soul (anatta) is tied up with thc concept of inrpcrmancncc (anicca) and
has a direct bearing sn the concept of suffering (dutrkha). The thrce go togcthcr. Thc s.ord
su{fering is an inadequate translation of &e term "dukkha.n lt is a n'ord thrlt dcscribcs thc
prcdicament in udrich man is bound by conditional cxistence. trt is the dcsire to exist, to rc-mrist. anrl
to continue to exist rvhich arises as a result of the belief in a permancnt self or soul. This is,
thereforg bassd on ignorance. It is by ignorance tlrat one dcsireq or thirsts to exist. llcncc, to
eliminate odukkhd' which in effect meaos the elimination of the notisn of tlre sel;; it is ncccssary
that ore comes to a uue urrderstarding of the real nature of {he sclf - that is, {hcrc;is no pcrmancnt
sclf.
i
I
So, what
corrxpose
\'ic$',nlansufIbrs.Heis.boundbyignorance,sothefinalgoalof@
'f"
chiefly;r.d; n*"rr"rrrri.,
shouiil-lffi,rvhat
,ra
,o
chinese ideal' Confucianism is essentialty
i"
from politics' Thus, rnan is regarded as
"ihicut;.and
ainoral
being and u r&J'J u.ing. For confucius, a
rruc
man is a noble rnan (chun-tzu| a superior
man, a man of utt .ounJ u?rtr..'
.o
posscss the four virtues of Confucianism,
namely:
*"
ffil
tr,itryli.il];;il'jffi;il"'iil*r*o
irir"l,l.*"d
(b)
rvish o{rcrS to do
tO
3,Ou.
proht.
prftrthing
(d) wisdorn
and
(c)
The"
*rong
q.rlldgt
"{1"!"r
jr.lighll
=**"*xffitr*',,lf:ffiffiil,
27
"]uo.'l
The "Tao" is generally understood as the Porver or the Principlc behind a.ll thin&s.
lt
is
isTffiffis
@xrodumd.
nnilfrffi*
Thc fint thing that man must know is that things are ever changeable and changing but
thc
laws that govern this charrge of things are not Lhemselves changeablc. Taoisnr rnaintains
that
thc
sagexho has a complete understanding of the nature of things thcreby has no cmotiorrs. This is to
sa.v
'lhe sage is
no longer a{Iected by ttre changes of the world. ln this rvay, hc is not dcpcndcnt
upon external things and hence tlrey do not limit his happiness. As such, he is said lo harc
actrio ca
absolute happirress. He is perfectly happy because he transcends lhe ordinary distinctions
betrvccn
the sclf and the u'orld, the''nle" and the "non-me." Therc is nolv an idcnti{ication of man
rvitlt thc
uoiverse. To acirieve this,frilleeds k ro*i-J$lnd understanding of still a highcr lcvcl.
Taoisur
speaks of tr,r'o levels of knorvlcdgg namely:
(a) TheJ"qverlevel the finitc point of vierv r,vhen rnan sees distinctions bctnccn rigtrt and
u"rong; and
(b)
The.Hi.gher lcr':.!, thc highcr point of vierv s,hen man sees things in the light o[Hear.cn,
Thc task of knowledge in thc ordinary senso is to makc distinctions; ro knou,a thing
is to
knorv the di{ferencc bctrywn it and other things Thercfore, to discard knox;ledgc
mcans to torgct
these distinctions. This is to say that at first sagcs had knowldge,
Ihc),kngv dislinctions, but la{cr
Iranscsnded this knowldge to go kyond distinctions. This kno\r!'ledg.
bqo,.d distinctiors is *.hat
Taoists called'No'L-norvledgd'or "latorvledge u,hich is not knolrlcdie."
In surn, Taoisrn statcs tlrat
evcry man can bc a sage.
Thus, rve realizc tltat rvhether Indian or Chinesg the conccpt
of man is the same, that is,
to bc*omc a pcrfmt man. The four systems difter only in thc approach
torvards the attainmcnt of
thcir goal.
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