Philosophy of Man

new OBE
PHI 101
 1 st week
Course Description
 The course discusses the fundamental of the
Philosophical inquiry of man and his
dimensions as a person and as existed being
in the world.
 It covers and confronts the issues about man

as a being, his dignity, truth, freedom, love

and justice in relations with others and his
Supreme Being and death
Objectives of the Course
 To develop in the students the ability to reflect on the
individual man/woman who realizes his/her existence.
 To help the students learn the fundamentals of the

philosophical inquiry of man and his dimensions as

person and as existent being in the world.
 To give the students understanding of the nature of

man and how they as learner-philosophers, confront

the issues concerning man.
 To appreciate the being of man in relation to his

environment and his co-existent being

 To become oriented towards a constant philosophical

evaluation of man.
 PHILOSOPHY?
 Familiar with the real connotation of the term
or word “Philosophy”?

 What is your philosophy in life?

 How to philosophize?
 Definition of Philosophy
 A definition is a statement that gives the
meaning of a term.
 It comes from the Latin word ‘definire’ – to

enclose within limits.

 2 common kinds of definition;

- etymological
- real
 Etymological Definition of
Philosophy - PHILOSOPHIA
 Philia (Greek word) – meaning LOVE
 Sophia (Greek word) – meaning WISDOM

 THE LOVE OF WISDOM

 The Philosopher – lover of wisdom

 PHILOSOPHIA
 LOVE  WISDOM
◦ Agape – highest form of love
(GOD’s love to humanity –
unconditional)
◦ Philia – Brotherly love
(appreciation)
◦ Eros – Erotic/Romantic love

 John 21:15-17
 Jesus and Peter
◦ Do you love me?
◦ Family/Brotherly love

PHILIA SOPHIA
 THE LOVER OF WISDOM –
FRIENDSHIP OF WISDOM
 Philosophers are lovers
of wisdom according
to Pythagoras
(Fremantle 1954, 13)
◦ Ancient Greek
Mathematical formula
(Pythagorean Theorem)
◦ Pythagoras preferred to
be called philosophers
rather than sophist (wise
man or one who knows)
 SOPHIST - one who is wise
sophisticated - fancy
 Group of intellectuals who taught oratory (art of public
speaking) for a fee to individuals aspiring to have a
successful career in politics. ELOQUENT SPEAKERS
 The belief then was that a successful career in politics

would require skills in public speaking and influence.

 Believe that all truths are relative in that all truths are

determined by or based on human interests – human

interest vary from one person to another or from group
of person to another, there is no truth that holds for
all humans. (The goal is to win or to be truthful – use of
fallacious arguments) TO DECIEVE THE PEOPLE - Plato
 PRACTICAL TEACHERS
 The sophists
 PHYTAGORAS 6th century BC
 PRODICUS 465 – 395 BC
◦ theory on the origin of religion (we used to worship
useful things – paganism)
◦ We worship the inventors (Greek goddess)
 HIPPIAS (late 5th century)
◦ Law is contrary to our nature
◦ Law is our tyrant (dictator)
 GORDIAS (485-380 BC)
◦ Nothing exists because nothing is eternal and
nothing can come into being – YOU ARE NOTHING!
 LOVE OF WISDOM

 The Greek Philosophers

Socrates and Plato also
noted for their early usage
of the term philosophers –
lover of wisdom

 Socrates (Gadfly / annoying

person of Athens) go to
Agora listening and keep
asking questions to the
people.
 LOVE OF WISDOM
 The kind of love directed to wisdom
 Philosophy is not purely intellectual activity

for it is a kind of attitude or emotion.

 But isn’t just a simple desire to know to be

wise.
 Being characterized as love, the pursues of

wisdom with great passion and seriousness.

 What is Wisdom?
 Socrates – “men can  Distinction between
acquire wisdom but knowledge and
never accomplished wisdom
 We can know many
complete wisdom”.
things but we cannot
always be wise
 We can know how to

develop certain
technology but do we
know how to use it
(wisdom) ex. weapon
 The Nature of Philosophy
 Philosophy as WISDOM
 The desire to know is innate in man because of his
intellect (capacity to know truth – the meaning of life –
act in an upright way) and his happiness is closely
linked to wisdom.
 The term “wise man” is usually applied to a person who
has certain and well founded knowledge of the deepest
truths, for wisdom, in general terms, is defined as a
certain knowledge of the deepest cause of everything.
 It helps man the truth in the deepest causes and
reason of reality.
 Differences of love of knowledge and love of wisdom
 LEVELS OF WISDOM
 Natural Wisdom – It is a level of wisdom
which acquired by reason alone. Natural
wisdom is classified as internal and external
senses.

 Supernatural Wisdom – It is a level of wisdom

which is acquired by reason illumined by
faith. This is the wisdom that transcends
natural wisdom and fully understands the
spiritual truths of God.
 WISDOM
 Essentially includes knowledge of the truth
 The elements of wisdom can be gathered

from the traits that someone would have if he

or she were a wise person.
 Summary: TRAITS OF A
WISE PERSON
 Knows one’s ignorance
 Have justified true beliefs
 Knows what is valuable in life
 Puts knowledge into practice/actions
 Knows what should be done and acting

accordingly
 Seatwork 1
 Who do you considered as a wise person?
 What are his/her characteristics that make

him/her wise?
Real meaning of Philosophy refers to:

◦Ideas, views, principles,

perspective s or beliefs

◦The activity of reasoning

◦An academic course or

degree
 PHILOSOPHY
 The search for knowledge
 The source of knowledge
 The source of belief
 Using of reason and logic

◦ Stages of knowledge / beliefs

 Philosophy as Ideas, views, principles,
perspective s or beliefs
 Held either by individuals or groups of individuals,
regardless of the specific nature of these ideas, views,
principles, perspectives, or beliefs.
 By their specific nature, we mean whether they are
religious, cultural, scientific, historical or psychological
among others
 These beliefs and principles are conveniently referred to as
constituting a person’s philosophy of something, regardless
of the specific nature of these beliefs and principles.
 eg. The formula of success
 “Philosophy of Life”
 “Philosophy of management”
 “Philosophy of coaching”
Philosophy as The activity of Reasoning

 Relates to the way, we Filipinos, originally use or

understand the meaning of the word “pilosopo”
or “philosophers” is the one who likes to reason
out or to engage in the activity of reasoning.
 Philosophers is the one who likes to reason.

 Reasoning or pamimilosopo is part of a defensive

strategy.
 Pilosopo is one engages in reasoning for the

purposes of covering up an obvious truth,

annoying someone and engaging someone in an
unwelcome argumentation.
Real Definition of Philosophy
 Searching for meaning and  Is a discipline in
truth
 Is the knowledge of all
which questions
things through their are more
ultimate causes acquired important than
through the use of the answer and
reason.
 The science of things when every
naturally knowable to answer leads
man’s unaided power further questions
insofar as those things are
known or studied in their – KARL
ultimate cause and reason. JASPHERS
Philosophy as an Academic Course or Degree

 Refers to an academic subject or course that is

taught usually in colleges, universities and
seminarians.
 The course studies reasoning skills and

different theories about the nature of reality,

morally, society and justice, religious beliefs
and knowledge among others.
 The academic degree in philosophy can be

pursued either on the bachelor’s master’s or

doctoral level – intention of becoming a lawyer,
a priest or a teacher in philosophy.
 The Term Philosophy
 It dealt with neither as a personal belief nor a
simple reason for something,
 But as a particular field of

DISCIPLINE or as a
QUEEN OF SCIENCES (natural and social)
 The Nature of Philosophy
 Philosophy as SCIENCE
 It is a science in an eminent (well known) way
 Which inquires into ultimate causes,
reasons and principles of all things in the
light of human reason alone.

 Science may be defined principally in 2 ways;

a. As a certain knowledge through causes
b. As a knowledge attained by way of
demonstration, starting from some principle
 PHILOSOPHY - SCIENCE
 ALL SCIENCES ARE BUILT IN PHILOSOPHY
◦ Math
◦ Grammar/rhetoric
 PHILOSOPHY - DISCIPLINE
 IT TEACHES WHAT IS RIGHT FROM WRONG
◦ Ethics
 PHILOSOPHY
The fundamental nature of human existence
◦ Certain questions that philosophers searching for:
 who are we as human being/person?
 Why human beings are different from other creation?
 Where did we come from?
 Who and What is God?
 How do we know what we know?
 What is right from wrong?
 Is lying is wrong? Killer looking for your classmate….
Asking where is she…. And you said I don’t know even
though you know where is she… is it a sin?
 PHILOSOPHY
REASON VS FAITH
 Genesis 17:4-4
◦ Story of ABRAHAN to sacrifice his son
 Philosophy – Reason it is non sense
 But faith make sense

 John 6:35, 41, 48, 60-66

◦ Jesus said I am the bread of life… those who will
eat my flesh will live forever..
 Philosophy make no sense – cannibalism
 But faith make sense
 PHILOSOPHY IS BASED ON
SKEPTICISM (always in doubt)
 Like a persistent child that always ask the
question WHY? WHY? and WHY?
 Digging and digging to know the real answer

and to believe on it.

2 nd
and 3 rd
week
 Types of Philosophy
 Speculative/Theoretical Philosophy
 Practical Philosophy
 DIVISION OF PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy
Practical
Logical…Logic
Ethics
Knowledge
General
Special
Nature
God
Man
Bio Ethics
Ethics
Cosmology
Ethics
 Speculative Philosophy
 Cosmology (Greek word Cosmos and Logos) means
philosophical study of being in the nonliving world.
 Metaphysics (Greek word Meta-ta-fusia) means
something that goes beyond or philosophical study
of being in its most general form.
 Theodicy Greek word God) philosophical study of
being in its highest form
 Anthropology (Greek word Antropos means man)
philosophical study of being with its body and soul
 Rational Psychology (Greek word Psyche means
soul) Philosophical study being with its soul.
 Speculative Philosophy
in relation to man
 Logic (Greek word Logos means thought)
science and art of correct thinking
 Epistemology (Greek word Episteme means

human knowledge) philosophical study of

human knowledge with regard to value of
thought
 Ethics (Greek word Ethos mans man’s will)

Philosophical study of the morality of the

human act that distinguishes good from evil
and right and wrong
 Applied Philosophy
 Specific topics and discussion in the different aspects
of individuals life such as society, history, education,
religion, etc.
◦ Philosophy of Man – the metaphysical dimension of man as a
person
◦ Social Philosophy – the study of interpersonal relationship
between man and society
◦ Philosophy of Religion – the meta-personal study of man with
God
◦ Axiology – philosophical study of man’s value
◦ Aesthetics – philosophical study of man’s beauty and
perfection
◦ Oriental Philosophy – philosophical study of Oriental ways of
life
◦ Philosophy of Education – Philosophical and methodological
approach of teaching and procedural learning process
 Branches of Philosophy
 Branches of Philosophy and Disciplinal
Philosophies
 Branches of Philosophy classified according to

the major topics of philosophical investigation.

 Areas of Philosophy

 The list of branches of Philosophy vary from

one scholar to another.

 Disciplinal Philosophies – classified according

to the discipline or areas of learning whose

foundations are being examined.
BRANCHES OF TOPIC OF SOME MAIN CONCERNS
PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHICAL
INVESTIGATION
1. LOGIC Reasoning The distinction between correct
and incorrect forms of reasoning
2. EPISTEMOLOGY Knowledge The kinds, sources, and
conditions of knowledge
3. METAPHYSICS Reality, existence Whether reality consist of
physical objects only or of both
physical and non physical
objects.
4. ETHICS Morality The appropriate moral
principles, meaning of moral
judgment
5. AESTETICS Beauty Criteria for judgment about
beauty
BRANCHES OF TOPIC OF SOME MAIN CONCERNS
PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHICAL
INVESTIGATION
6. SOCIAL AND The State Legitimizing the state, limits of
POLITICAL the state’s political power, social
PHILOSOPHY and distributive power
7. PHILOSOPHY OF Science Difference between scientific and
SCIENCE non-scientific statements,
induction
8. PHILOSOPHY OF Religious Belief Meaning of religious statements,
RELIGION existence of God, problem of evil
9. PHILOSOPHY OF Meaning of Meaning of proper names
LANGUAGE Linguistic definite descriptions and
Expressions psychological statements
10. PHILOSOPHY OF Mind Whether the mind is physical or
MIND not, properties of the mind,
possibility of artificial
 THE REGIONAL TYPES
 The most general level – REGIONAL or
GEOGRAPHICAL types of philosophy
 The 2 major kinds
THE REGIONAL TYPES
 WESTERN  EASTERN
PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY
 THE REGIONAL TYPES
 Under each of these 2 major kinds are the
NATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES
 Referring to philosophical activities

happening in a particular countries or nations

 The 2 major kinds
THE REGIONAL TYPES - NATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES

 WESTERN  EASTERN
PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY
◦ German Philosophy ◦ Indian Philosophy
◦ French Philosophy ◦ Chinese Philosophy
◦ Greek Philosophy ◦ Japanese Philosophy
◦ British Philosophy ◦ Filipino Philosophy
◦ American Philosophy
 THE REGIONAL TYPES
 It refers to philosophical activities that occurs
or flourish in a particular regions
 Some attach to regional types of philosophies

or some other that characteristic or belief in

unique to each of these philosophies
◦ They are brought about by;
 Culture
 Religions
 Nationalistic
 Ideological considerations or sentiments.
 Some distinguishes
features that considered unique to each type
 It emphasized  It emphasized
◦ Commonalities ◦ Distinction
◦ Harmonies ◦ Oppositions

EASTERN PHILOSOPHY WESTERN PHILOSOPHY

 NATIONAL PHILOSOPHIES
 Believe that a particular national philosophy has
certain unique features that differentiate it from
other national philosophies.
 This has made it possible to regard rightly or

not, certain types of philosophies that happen

in a certain region as alien or as not really
belonging to that region as when one say,
 Sample

◦ East is non eastern

◦ West in non western
◦ Philippines is non Filipino
 THE HISTORICAL TYPE
 The history of Philosophy in the WEST
◦ Divided into 4 period
 4 PERIOD OF WESTERN
PHILOSOPHY
1. ANCIENT PERIOD
Ancient Philosophy that flourish during the Ancient
Period
2. THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
Medieval Philosophy flourish during the Medieval
Period
3. THE MODERN PERIOD
Modern Philosophy flourish during the Modern Period
4. CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
Contemporary Philosophy flourish during the
Contemporary Period
BRIEF HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
 WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
 ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY - Cosmo centric
 MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY - Theo centric
 MODERN PHILOSOPHY - Anthrop centric
 CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY – Post modern
 ANCIENT PERIOD
 ANCIENT GREEK  ANCIENT ROMAN
Philosophers Philosophers
◦ Pre Socratics ◦ Seneca
◦ Socrates ◦ Marcus Aurelius
◦ Plato
◦ Aristotle
 The Greek Philosophy
 How did philosophy come about?
◦ According to tradition of the western philosophy
◦ Birthplace – seaport town of Miletus located across the
Aegean Sea from Athens on the western shores of Ionia
in Asia Minor
◦ The first philosophers called MILESIANS or IONIANS
◦ Miletus was the center for commerce
 People gave them the luxury of time for thinking and
reflection
 Later on the merchants and the rich people did not only
trade their merchants but also their ideas and their beliefs
brought about by their own reflections
 The caused of arts and philosophy to flourish
 Milesians
 They gathered and talk about their curiosity
 Started to ask question

◦ Where does everything come from?

◦ What is the source of the existence of everything
 It answer by the different Greek philosophers
 Philosophy
searching for meaning
 MAN Obsession: an attempt to understand
himself and the world he lives
 The start of inquiry MAN
 The study of man – philosophical

Anthropology
 Martin Buber – study of unique in sense that

man is the subject as well as the object of

knowledge

Earlier Ionians
This group includes Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes, with whom the history of 
philosophy in Greece begins.
 Philosophical enquiry to the problem of the origin and laws of the physical universe.
 They taught that the world originated from a primitive substance, which was at once
the matter out of which the world was made and the force by which the world was
formed. 
 Thales said that this primitive substance was water; Anaximander said that it was "the

boundless" (to apeiron); Anaximenes said that it was air, or atmospheric vapour (aer).

 They agreed in teaching that in this primitive substance there is an inherent force, or

vital power.
 Hence they are said to be  the doctrine of animated matter, and Dynamism the doctrine

 that the original cosmothetic force was not distinct from, but identical with, the matter
out of which the universe was made.
 From the scanty materials that have come down to us — a few fragments of the writings
of the early Ionians, and allusions in Aristotle's writings — it is impossible to determine
whether these first philosophers were Theists or Pantheists, although one may perhaps
infer from their hylozoistic cosmology that they believed God to be at once
the substance and the formative force in the universe.
 THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
529 A.D. – 1450 A.D.

 St. Augustine
 Boethius
 John Duns Scotus
 St. Thomas Aquinas
 MODERN PHILOSOPHY
1450 – 1799
 Grouped into 4 systems;
1. the renaissance
2. Subjectivism which includes rational and
empirical (gaining knowledge – direct or
indirect observation or experience)
subjectivism
3. The Enlightenment and the German
Idealism.
 RENAISSANCE
 Literally translated as re-birth
 Period that opens its horizon to free

intellectual enterprise.
 This period focused on the quest for the

origin of knowledge – an epistemological

quest.
 Philosophers; Nicholas Copernicus, Galileo

Galilee, Nicolo Machiavelli

 2 OPPOSING SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT
DURING THE MODERN PHILOSOPHY PERIOD
 RATIONALISM ( the  EMPIRICM (the theory that
philosophical view that
emphasizes the ability of
human reason to grasp
fundamental truths about
the world without the aid
of sense impression)
experience is the source of
all knowledge, which there
by denies that human beings
possess inborn knowledge
or that they can derive
knowledge through the
exercise of reason alone)

 Rene Descartes  Francis Bacon

 Nicholas Malebranche  Thomas Hobbes
 John Locke
 Benedict Spinoza
 George Berkeley
 Gottfried Leibniz  David Hume
 KINDS OF TRUTH
EMPIRICAL TRUTH
◦ Established by means of sense
experience
◦ Technically describe as A POSTERIORI
 It can only be known after some
relevant experience
 Sample
 It’s raining – use of sense of
sight
 KINDS OF TRUTH
RATIONAL TRUTH
◦ Established by means of reason
◦ Technically describe as A PRIORI
 It can be known before some
relevant experience
 Sample
 Triangle has tree sides
(mathematical truth)
 Five and five are ten
Period of Enlightenment during the
Modern Philosophy era
THE AGE OF REASON
 Francis Voltaire
 Jean Jacques

Rousseau
 Christian Wolff
 German Idealism the view that mind is the ultimate
reality in the world . It opposed materialism , which views material
things are the basic reality from which mind emerges and to
 Johann Fitchte
which mind is reducible.
 Friedrich Schelling
 Goerge Hegel

Immanuel Kant Metaphysical Idealism

 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 19th – 20th century –
PRESENT TIME
 Philosophical system

emerge
- The Dialectical
Materialism;
1. Ludwig Feuerbach
2. Karl Marx
3. Friedrich Engels

Marxism - communism
 CONTEMPORARY
 The Positivism
PHILOSOPHY
 The positivist have no
knowledge of anything but
phenomena, and our knowledge
of phenomena is relative, not
absolute/complete
 They know that not the essence,

not the real mode of production,

of any fact, but only its relations
to other facts in the way of
succession or of similitude.
 These relations are constant,

that is, always the same in the

AUGUST COMTE
same circumstance.
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
refers to the viewpoint
that laws of nature (as
opposed to
supernatural ones)
operate in the universe,
and that nothing exists
beyond the natural
universe or, if it does, it
does not affect the
natural universe.

THE NATURALISM Charles Darwin

 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 In this view, an action is
considered good or right
if its consequence is the
greatest happiness
(pleasure) of the greatest
number.
 In that case, the action is
useful in producing as
much or more good than
any alternative behavior.

JEREMY BENTHAM &

THE UTILITARIANISM
JOHN STUART MILL
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 The death of God will
unavoidably be followed by
the rejection of absolute
values and the rejection of
idea of an objective and
universal moral law.
 The rejection of all
religious and moral
principles, often in the
belief that life is
meaningless.

ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER &

NIHILISM
Friedrdrich Nietszche
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 Phenomenology

 Edward Husserl
 Max Scheller
 Paul Ricoer
 Carl Rogers
 PHENOMENOLOGY
 Phenomenology, in Husserl's conception, is primarily
concerned with the systematic reflection on and
study of the structures of consciousness and the 
phenomena that appear in acts of consciousness.
 Phenomenology is a broad discipline and method of
inquiry in philosophy, developed largely by the
German philosophers Edmund Husserl  and Martin
Heidegger, which is based on the premise that
reality consists of objects and events ("phenomena")
as they are perceived or understood in the human
consciousness.
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 Existentialism
 Soren Kierkegard
 Jean Paul Sartre
 Martin Heidegger
 Karl Jasphers
 Maurice Merleau
Ponty
 Gabriel Marcel
 Martin Buber
 EXISTENTIALISM
 Existentialism is a philosophy that
emphasizes individual existence, freedom
and choice.
 It is the view that humans define their own

meaning in life, and try to make rational

decisions despite existing in an irrational
universe.
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 Analytic
Philosophy / Logical
Positivism
 Bertrand Russell
 Ludwig Wittgenstein
 Alfred Ayer
 Karl Popper
 Analytic philosophy/
Logical Positivism
 A broad philosophical tradition characterized
by an emphasis on clarity and argument
(often achieved via modern formal logic and
analysis of language) and a respect for the
natural sciences.
 CONTEMPORARY
 Is a method ofPHILOSOPHY
solving
various types of problems
such as; does God exist? or
is man’s will is free? By
looking at the practical
consequences by accepting
this or that answer.
 The pragmatic method tries
to interpret each notion
or theory by tracing its
respective practical
consequences.
WILLIAM JAMES &
THE PRAGMATISM
JOHN DEWET
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
is a theoretical paradigm that
emphasizes that elements of
culture must be understood in
terms of their relationship to a
larger, structure.
Structuralism is "the belief that
phenomena of human life are
not intelligible except through
their interrelations. These
relations constitute a structure, and
behind local variations in the
surface phenomena there are
constant laws of abstract culture

The structuralism Claude Levi-Strauss

 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 is any change across
successive generations
in the heritable
characteristics of
biological populations.

Henri Bergson &

evolution
Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
 CONTEMPORARY

PHILOSOPHY
free association, dream
interpretation, and analysis of
resistance and transference are
used to explore repressed or
unconscious impulses, anxieties,
and internal conflicts, in order to
free psychic energy for mature
love and work.
 The theory of personality

developed on repression and

unconscious forces and includes
the concepts of infantile sexuality,
resistance, transference, and
division of the psyche into the id,
ego, and superego.
Sigmun Freud &
psychoanalysis
Carl Jung
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 is the philosophical
school that arose as a
legacy of the work and
thought of
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Etienne Gilson &

Neo thomism
Jacques Maritain
 CONTEMPORARY
PHILOSOPHY
 Hermeneutics
 Jurgen Habermas
 Hans George
Gadamer
 Paul Ricouer
 Jacques Derrida
 HERMENUETICS
 the study of the interpretation of written texts,
especially texts in the areas of literature, religion
and law. A type of traditional hermeneutic is
Biblical hermeneutics which concerns the study of
the interpretation of The Bible.
 Modern hermeneutics encompasses everything in
the interpretative process including verbal and
nonverbal forms of communication as well as prior
aspects that affect communication, such as
presuppositions, pre understandings, the meaning
and philosophy of language, and semiotics
THE EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
Have their own ways of  INDIAN
delineating their PHILOSOPHY
own historical  CHINESE
period.
PHILOSOPHY
 ISLAMIC

PHILOSOPHY
 OTHERS
 FILIPINO PHILOSOPHER
FR. Roque J. Ferriols, S.J.
 Promoting the study of philosophy
in Filipino, translate, edit, and
write various books. Among those
published are Mga Sinaunang
Griyego, a translation of selected
texts from the Pre-Socratics to
Aristotle; Magpakatao, a collection
he edited, containing translations
of texts exploring the theme of
being human; and his original
writings Pambungad sa Metapisika
and Pilosopiya ng Relihiyon. These
four books earned him National
Book Awards from the Manila
Critics' Circle. In 1989, the Ateneo
de Manila University conferred him
with the Gawad Tanglaw ng Lahi.
 "In six years, one comes to
know that, for human
thinking, North
Sampalokese is better than
Plato's Greek." And this
seems to be the spirit that
has animated Ferriols all
these years--the desire to
propagate real thinking and
to do away with the
misconception that thinking
is the ivory tower of the
elite--a spirit that his
students hope to keep alive.
FR. Roque J. Ferriols, S.J.
 The Nature of
Philosophy
A Quest for an explanation
What, why and how of philosophy
 Searching can be taken
into 2 types
 Searching or looking into taken slightly by
merely asking. To obtain answer to an
inquiry.
 Intense search that the philosopher gets too

engaged in his quest for finding what he

wants to know and does not stop at merely
knowing but has to go deeper into his search.
Elements of Philosophical search
 Search refers to the person who conducts an
inquiry and looks into the matter deeper and
wider at every angle.
 The manner of search pertains to the traits,

the searcher has, the intense desire and his

unquenchable thirst for his never ending
pursuit for meaning.
 The object in quest is one of the real worth to

the searcher.
THE VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY
THE CHANGE OF FUTILITY
 PHILOSOPHY
 Why we should philosophize or study
philosophy?
 What good will philosophizing do considering

that we are living in a world where life is hard

and largely dictated by scientific and
technological advances.
 What is the point of doing philosophy?
Importance of philosophy
To show that the arguments supporting
view that philosophy is a useless or futile
activity are mistaken
 The value of philosophy
Bertrand Russell – essay 1980
 Russell’s ideas;
◦ 2 main reasons behind the change that philosophy
is a futile activity.
 1. indefiniteness of philosophy which regards to
answer that it provides to philosophical questions
 Philosophy does not provide final answer s to the
questions that it deals with, for the answers it differs from
one philosopher to another.
 Philosophizing would just lead to nowhere, and would be a
waste of time and energy.
 The value of philosophy
Bertrand Russell – essay 1980
 Russell’s ideas;
◦ 2 main reasons behind the change that philosophy is a futile
activity.
2. Impracticality of philosophy
* The activity of philosophizing has no practical benefits
* It does not help us in our efforts to satisfy our
material needs – the nourishment of our
body.
* Why waste our time then on something that will
not help us survive in this world?
 2 CHARACTERISTICS ATTRIBUTED TO
PHILOSOPHY – CONTRATS WITH SCIENCE
 Science – provides definite answers to the
questions that it deals with or an
objective/purpose means of resolving issues
that it handles.
◦ Through its inventions and technologies provides
with more efficient ways of satisfying our material
and survival needs.
◦ It is the ideal model of a valuable understanding
which philosophy fails to achieve or even
approximate.
 2 CHARACTERISTICS
ATTRIBUTED TO PHILOSOPHY – CONTRATS WITH SCIENCE

 Philosophy – is indefinite in its answer to

philosophical questions
◦ It is not the goal of philosophy to deal with the kind
of questions that science deals with.
 QUESTIONS IN SCIENCE
 The scientific questions
◦ Those questions that already known with some
degree of certainty to be capable of being answered
in a precise and definite way.
◦ Those questions that already been established that
there is a precise and objective means of answering
these questions
 QUESTIONS IN PHILOSOPHY
 The philosophical questions
◦ Questions in which it has not been established yet
whether there is a precise and objective means of
answering these questions .
 WHY PHILOSOPHY DO THIS?
WHERE IS THE VALUE IN THIS?
 Scientific questions starts with philosophical
questions, questions that were thought to be
indefinitely answerable.
◦ Reason for this unavailability of technology that
could test hypothesis.
 Prior to the invention of telescope – hypotheses about
the stars and the universe could not be tested.
◦ The imprecise formulation of the questions
 It was only when mathematics was used as the
language of science that certain questions have
become clearly scientific.
 WHY PHILOSOPHY DO THIS?
WHERE IS THE VALUE IN THIS?
 When philosophy deals with unscientific
questions (indefinitely answerable questions)
– primary goal is to determine whether such
questions can eventually become scientific
◦ Whether they could eventually be answered in some
definite way.
HOW DOES PHILOSOPHY DO THIS?
 Philosophy examines all possible angles to
these questions;
◦ Possible formulations of these questions
◦ Possible answers to these questions
 It engages;
 debates
 advancing
 criticizing arguments
 answering objections
 In order to ascertain which perspective is the most
promising or offers the best possible explanation (in terms
of coherence, comprehension and predicate power).
HOW DOES PHILOSOPHY DO THIS?
 The moment the philosophical question is
proven to be answerable in some definite way
, the question becomes scientific questions
and finishes to be a philosophical one.
 The questions is thus relegated to science to

conduct more detailed and methodical

researches to find the definite answer.
 Bertrand Russell
 Part of philosophy – science of psychology
 Recent times;

◦ Discipline of artificial intelligence – a branch of computer

science dealing with construction of intelligent machines)
◦ A question of whether there could be machine that could
think like humans was originally a purely philosophical
question
◦ Scientist started conducting researches on how to actually
construct those machines.
◦ At preset, the said question is still partly philosophical and
partly scientific.
◦ Philosophers and scientist are predicating that it will just be
a matter of time that it will be a purely scientific question.
BERTRAND RUSSELL
 PHILOSOPHY
waste of time
 The preliminary work for science – finding the
definite answer to certain questions
 If we value science for the definiteness of its

answer to the questions that it deals with the more

we should value philosophy for making it possible
for science to deal it with such questions.
 Simply wrong to think that just because there are

no definite answers to the philosophical questions

or that philosophers do not seem to agree on how
to answer philosophical questions, then
philosophy is just a waste of time and energy.
 Russell’s Philosophy
impractical activity
 It does not directly satisfy our material needs
◦ This is only because philosophy is focused on
satisfying another kind of valuable human needs,
the needs of mind – kind of needs that we value.
◦ Material needs is shown by the fact that once most
or all of our material needs have already been
satisfied we still have questions about how to
further improve the quality of our lives.
 RUSSELL’S EXAMPLE
REASON AND FAITH
 Supposed our society has already provided our economic
needs such as nobody among us is living in poverty, still we
will be confronted with questions about how to improve
quality of our lives.
 Such questions must surely then be about our non-physical
needs, the needs of our mind, which we value.
◦ non-physical needs concerns;
 better human relationship
 better spiritual life
 better and deeper understanding of our place or purpose in the world we
live in.
 These are the kinds of questions that religion and philosophy
address with their own particular means
◦ Faith and divine inspiration for religion and human reason for
philosophy
PHYLOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS
 Are human choices free or determined by natural laws?
 Are human embryos and fetuses moral persons?
 Is there really a God?
 Lot of important consequences will follow from how
these questions will be answered, which will greatly
affect the value that we give to human life.
◦ If human choices are not really free but are only determined by
the past events and natural laws, then we are not really
responsible for our actions and there really no good or bad
actions.
◦ If human embryos and fetuses are not moral person then there
would not nothing morally wrong in killing then as in cases of
abortion and scientific experimentation.
 PHILOSOPHY
 Addressees the needs of the mind – which are
valuable
 Some tools of philosophy

◦ Logic – skills of critical thinking – used to address

questions directly related to the satisfaction of our
material needs.
 A more efficient use of scientific inventions and
technologies to address our material needs would
require good decision making that turn to good
reasoning skills
 PHILOSOPHY CHARGES
EXERCISE IN FUTILITY
 IMPRACTICALITY – mistaken in 2 following ways
 1. Simply wrong to limit what is valuable in life to

the satisfaction of our material or practical concerns.

◦ Non-physical needs is the needs of our mind are valuable
 Material needs concerns physical existence and survival
 Non-material needs concerns the quality of our life and human
relations.
 2. Wrong to think that philosophy, though focused
on addressing our mental needs, cannot contribute
to how we can best satisfy our material needs.
◦ Satisfying our material needs would also require adequate
reasoning skills which can be provided by philosophy.
 RUSSELL’S CONCLUSION
 The idea that philosophy is a futile activity is
a consequence of a lack of understanding of
the goals of philosophy and a limited view of
what is valuable in life.
 GOALS OF PHILOSOPHY
◦ Provide a holistic view of life
◦ Supplements what is lacking in scientific
explanations
◦ Come up with holistic explanations of things or
events in the world.
 THE NECESSITY/IMPORTANCE OF
THE STUDY OF PHILOSOPHY
 Philosophy leads us to a broader understanding
of man and experience.
 Philosophy gives man pleasure or satisfaction.
 Philosophy serves man a better understanding of
himself and hi fellow human beings.
 Philosophy acquaints a person to the various
philosophical thinkers of the past and of his time.
 Philosophy will guide him in making day to day
decision of life and experiences.
 Philosophy gives other sciences a sense of
meaning.
KNOWING THE TRUTH
4th week
 LEARNING COMPETENCIES
 THE NATURE OF TRUTH
◦ Explain the nature of truth in terms of
 A. being property of beliefs or statements
 B. the consideration that have given rise to different kinds of truth
 TRUTH AND KNOWLEDGE
◦ Distinguish between the different ways or methods for
knowing determining or establishing the truth of a statements
or beliefs
◦ Explain the conditions of knowledge and how disagreement s
about truth and knowledge can be resolve
 REASONING AND FALLACIES
◦ Distinguish the kinds of reasoning used to arrive at or justify
truth and identify some common errors in reasoning.
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
TOPICS TO BE COVERED
1. THE BEARERS OF TRUTH
2. KINDS OF TRUTH
 KEY CONCEPTS
 Beliefs and statements are the bearer of truths
 Empirical and rational truths
 Universal and relative truths
 Subjective and objective truths
 Private and public truths
 Necessary and contingent truths
 A priori and a posteriori truths
 Analytical and synthetic truths
 Certain and probable truths
 Religious, scientific, physical and psychological
truths
 EXPECTED LEARNING
COMPETENCIES
 Explain the nature of truth as a property of
beliefs and statements
 Identify the different ways of distinguishing

certain kinds of truth

 Explain the differences among certain kinds

of truths
 THE BEARER OF TRUTHS
 Traitsof a WISE PERSON
 Aware of his/her ignorance
 What is it that we know or do

not know?
◦TRUTH
 THE BEARER OF TRUTHS
 PHILOSOPHY

 Love of Wisdom
 Search for TRUTH
 WHAT IS TRUTH?
 How do we know it?
 When can we say that what we know is

the truth?
 What are the ways by which we can

know the truth?

 WHAT ARE THE KINDS OF THINGS

THAT WE CAN PROPERLY SAY TO BE

TRUE?
 TRUTH
 Understanding about truth;
◦ Kind of property whose opposite is falsity
◦ Something that is said to be true
 We express as THE TRUTH or A TRUTH
 To have the property of TRUTH or BEING TRUE
 Sample;
 THE TRUTH HURTS
 What is being declared is that things that are true
 The property of being true – hurt
 PROPERTY OF TRUTH
BEARER OF TRUTH
Which we can properly
attribute the property of
truth
Philosophers referred as the

BEARERS OF TRUTH
 3 CANDIDATES
FOR THE BEARERS OF TRUTH
BELIEFS
STATEMENTS
SENTENCE
 SENTENCE
◦ Not all sentences can be either true or false
◦ When we say that sentences can be true, what we
have in mind are the declarative sentence only.
◦ We do not say of a question, an exclamation or
essential that is either true or false.
◦ Declarative sentence
 to issue command
 Grammatical form of sentence – meaning is urgent
 Sample;
 Your mother tells you that the floor is dirty
 Most likely your mother wants you to clean the floor
 Not just to inform you that the floor is dirty
 STATEMENTS
not sentences are properly speaking the bearer of truth

 Philosophers called it PROPOSITION

 Refers to linguistic expression whose function
is to advance a claim about the world.
◦ Claims may be about the things or events in the
world about relations of ideas.
◦ Claims can be true or false – statements is either
true or false
 Express as declarative sentences
◦ To describe a things in the world
◦ Say to issue a command
◦ It express claim
 STATEMENTS
 Truth bearers – they make
claims
◦In terms of describing the
world
◦Asserting/declaring ideas
◦Linguistic expression of our
claims
 BELIEFS
 Mental expression of our claims – made in the
mind
 Statements are expression of beliefs – which

makes as more basic than statements

 Determine the truth of a statement without

associating it with belief.

◦ Sample;
 THE TABLE IS BROWN
 Observe whether the table the statement is referring to is
actually brown.
 Belief determine its truthfulness without associating its first
to the statement.
 BEARERS OF TRUTH
 Statement and beliefs are bearers
of truth.
 Sentences are bearers of truth

only when function as statements

and statements and beliefs can be
treated independently when
determining their truth.
 CONFUSION BETWEEN
TRUTH AND A FACT
 FACT

◦ something that occurs in the

world
◦ makes certain statement true
 Sample
◦ There is a table at back
 It is true that there is a table at the back (existence)
 There is a table at the back but in reality there’s not -
falsity
 KINDS OF TRUTH
 Statements and beliefs are either TRUE or
FALSE
 Certain questions or considerations about

certain aspects of the truth or falsity of

statements and beliefs, which have given rise
to different kinds of truth.
 KINDS OF TRUTH
 1. Truth of a belief or statement is
established or arrived at by means of;
◦ SENSE EXPERIENCE
 Experience through the use of five
sense organs
◦ REASON
 Through inference or analysis of
concept
 KINDS OF TRUTH
EMPIRICAL TRUTH
◦ Established by means of sense
experience
◦ Technically describe as A POSTERIORI
 It can only be known after some
relevant experience
 Sample
 It’s raining – use of sense of
sight
 KINDS OF TRUTH
RATIONAL TRUTH
◦ Established by means of reason
◦ Technically describe as A PRIORI
 It can be known before some
relevant experience
 Sample
 Triangle has tree sides
(mathematical truth)
 Five and five are ten
 KINDS OF TRUTH
 2.Truth of a statement or belief
extends our KNOWLEDGE OR ADDS TO
WE ALREADY KNOW
◦ Question is technically express by
some philosophers in terms of
whether the predicate of a true
belief or statement is already
contained in the information
provided by its subject.
 KIND OF TRUTH
SYNTHETIC (FAKE) TRUTH
 The information provided by the predicate is
not contained in the information provided by
the subject
◦ All empirical truth are synthetic truths
 Sample
 THE TABLE IS BROWN
 Subject
 Predicate
 Are all table is brown?
 KINDS OF TRUTH
ANALYTIC TRUTH
 The information provided by the predicate is
contained in the information provided by the
subject.
◦ Definitions and identity statements are good examples
of analytic truths
 Sample
 THE TRIANGE HAS THREE SIDES
 Information about having three sides is contained in the
information of being a triangle
 MAN IS A RATIONAL BEING
 Subject
 Predicate
 Conformity to the essence of man
 THERE IS NO EXTENSION OF KNOWLEDGE THAT HAPPENS
 KINDS OF TRUTH
 3.The question of whether or
not the statement or belief is
true in all possible situations
 KINDS OF TRUTH
CONTINGENT/CONDITIONAL TRUTH
 Is not true in all possible situations
 Empirical truth are contingent truth

◦ Sample
 THE TABLE IS BROWN
 Only true in a situation where there is a table that happens
to be brown in color - TRUE
 Another situation where there is table that is black in color
– FALSE

 Hot chocolate
 Not all the time the hot chocolate is always hot
 KINDS OF TRUTH
NECESSARY TRUTH
 Rational truths are necessary truths
 Always true

◦ Sample
 A TRAINGLE HAS TREE SIDES
 True in all possible situations in which it is said or
expressed
 KINDS OF TRUTH
4.Truth of a belief or
statement can only be
known by the person who
has belief or makes the
statement.
 KINDS OF TRUTH
PRIVATE TRUTH
 Can only be known by the person who has the
belief or makes the statement considered to be
true.
 The truth of psychological statements or
statements about one’s own mental states.
 Empirical and rational truths are both private
truths
◦ Sample
 MY SKIN IS CUT AND BLEEDING – public truth
 I feel great pain , I can directly know that I am in great pain -
result of private truth
 Everyone in principle that my skin is cut and bleeding
 KINDS OF TRUTH
PUBLIC TRUTH
 The principle be known by everyone (by in
principle we mean that occurrence or
presence of the necessary conditions like the
knowing person is a normal adult)
 KIND OF TRUTH
 5.The truth of a belief or
statement is dependent on;
◦Attitudes
◦Preference
◦Interest of a person or a
group of person.
 KIND OF TRUTH
SUBJECTIVE TRUTH
 Dependent on the attitudes, preferences or
interests of a person or a group of persons
 Value judgment – aesthetic judgment

◦ Sample
 THE ROCK MUSIC IS THE BEST KIND OF MUSIC
 Subjective –depend on one’s musical preferences
 There are others;
 Pop
 Rap
 KINDS OF TRUTH
OBJECTIVE TRUTH
 Based on value judgment – factual/accurate
judgment
◦ Sample;
 ROCK MUSIC IS ONE OF THE MAJOR KINDS OF MUSIC
 Objective for whether one likes rock music or not the
statement.
 Rock music is one of the major kinds of music remains to
be true.
 KIND OF TRUTH
6.Question of whether a
belief or statement is
acknowledged to be
true by everyone or
only by some people.
 KINDS OF TRUTH
UNIVERSAL TRUTH
Universally true if its true is
acknowledge by everyone.
Objective truths are

universal truth
 KINDS OF TRUTH
RELATIVE TRUTH
Relatively true if its truth
acknowledge only be
some people.
Subjective truth are

relative truth
 KINDS OF TRUTH

The truth of a belief is
7.

arrived at through the

process of deductive
reasoning or inductive
reasoning
 KINDS OF TRUTH
CERTAIN TRUTH
 The truth of statement arrived at through the
process of deductive reasoning is certain.
◦ Sample
 ALL HUMANS ARE MORTAL
PEDRO IS MORTAL

 PEDRO IS MORTAL
 Inferred from the truth of statement that
ALL HUMANS ARE MORTAL
 KINDS OF TRUTH
PROBABLE TRUTH
 The truth arrived at through the process of
inductive reasoning is merely probable.
◦ Sample
 MOST FILIPINOS ARE HOSPITABLE
JUAN IS HOSPITABLE

 JUAN IS A FILIPINO? is a probable truth

 KINDS OF TRUTH
 8.The question of under what
area of study does the topic
or content of a belief or
statement that is held to be
true falls.
◦This gives us the rise number
of truth, as many as there are
different areas of study.
 KINDS OF TRUTH
DISCIPLINAL KINDS OF TRUTH
 Religious truth
◦ Concerns the truth of religious statements or
beliefs
 Scientific truth
◦ The truth of scientific statements or beliefs
 Psychological truths
◦ The truths of psychological statements
 Biological truths
 Economic truths
 KINDS OF TRUTH
 Some of these kinds of truth interact with or
closely related to one another
◦ EMPIRICAL TRUTH
 Synthetic and contingent truth
◦ RATIONAL TRUTH
 Analytic and necessary truth
 Deductive or certain truths are necessary truth
◦ OBJECTIVE TRUTH
 Universal and subjective truth
THE TRUTH AND
KNOWLEDGE
TOPICS TO BE COVERED
1.WAYS OF KNOWLEDGE
2. CONDITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE
 KEY CONCEPTS
 Theories of truth  Mystical experience
 Methods of truth  Opinion

 Correspondence of  Knowledge of

truth acquaintance
 Practical knowledge
 Coherence of truth
 Propositional knowledge
 Pragmatic of truth
 Justified true belief
 Internal observation
 Disagreement
 External observation
 Disagreement in belief
 Reasoning
 Disagreement in attitude
 Intuition
 Merely verbal
 Authority disagreement
EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES
 Explain the differences among the correspondence, coherence
and pragmatic theories or methods of truth
 Distinguish and explain the particular methods of observation,
reasoning, intuitions, mystical experience and the appeal to
authority
 Distinguish between knowledge by acquaintance, practical
knowledge and propositional knowledge
 Explain the nature of knowledge as justified true belief
 Explain the conditions of beliefs, truth and justification of
knowledge
 Distinguish between knowledge and forms of non knowledge
(opinion and guess)
 Distinguish between disagreements in belief, attitude and
merely verbal .
 CULTIVATING
KNOWLEDGE AND
SKILLS
 WAYS OF KNOWING
 Determining the truths of a
given statement or belief
 METHODS OF TRUTH

◦Distinguish into general and

particular kinds
 GENERAL METHODS OF
TRUTH
 Methods of truth described in what
philosophers usually call theories of truth
 Consisting of the

◦ . Correspondence
◦ Coherence
◦ Pragmatic theories
 Theories of truth are actually ways of
explaining the truth or what makes the
statement or belief true
PARTICULAR METHODS OF TRUTH
 Refers to a specific ways of applying of the
general methods of truth
 These are the

◦ Observation
◦ Reasoning
◦ Intuition
◦ Mystical experience
◦ The appeal to authority
 GENERAL METHOD OF
CORRESPONDENCE
 To know the truthfulness of a statement/belief
◦ Examines whether the statement/belief
 Corresponds to
 Represent a fact in the world
 If the statement/belief does correspond to a fact then the
statement is true
 If the statement/beliefs does not correspond to the
statement, then it is false
 Sample;
 THE SKY IS BLUE – TRUE represents or correspond to the
fact that the sky is blue
 WATER IS NOT WET – FALSE it does not correspond to a
fact that there is no form of water that it is not wet.
GENERAL METHOD OF COHERENCE
 To know the truthfulness of the
statement/belief
◦ Examining whether the statement/beliefs
 coheres with the rules of the relevant system.
 If the statement/belief coheres with these rules – TRUE
 If does not - FALSE
 Sample
 THREE AND THREE ARE SIX – TRUE it coheres with the
rules of the mathematical system
 BACHELORS ARE MARRIED MALES – FALSE it violates the
rules of language
 GENERAL METHOD OF
PRAGMATISM
 The truthfulness of a statement/belief
◦ Examining the consequences of holding or
accepting the statement/belief to be true
 Holding of the statement/belief to be true result of
beneficial consequences – TRUE
 If does not – FALSE
 The statement/belief which we hold to be true though
there are no objective (universal) means to verify their
truth.
 Sample
 Some people think that there are ghost or vampires base their
belief in the fact that they find it useful to hold such a belief –
like explaining unusual phenomena and dealing with fears
 TRUTHFULNESS OF
STATEMENT/BELIEF
 Generally examine whether or
not;
◦ They correspond to fact
◦ Coherence with the rules of a
system
◦ Result of beneficial
consequence
 THE TRUTH AMONG THE
3 GENERAL METHODS
 Depending on which is appropriate given the
kind of statement/belief that we are
considering.

◦ Sample
 Believe in VAMPIRES
 They believe because they think that there are vampires in the
world
 These people, what makes their belief about vampires is true
that correspond to or represents actual creatures in the world
 They justify by some kind of experience that they had or
accounts by some people.
 QUESTION ABOUT THE GENERAL
METHOD OF TRUTH
 How does one know whether a
statement/belief does;
◦ Correspond to the fact
◦ Coherence with the rules of a system
◦ Result in beneficial consequence
 We shall briefly examine the particular methods of
 Observation
 Reasoning
 Intuition
 Mystical experience
 Appeal to authority
 OBSERVATION
The method used if an
empirical statement
A statement an observable

fact in the world

Correctly represents a fact
 INTERNAL OBSERVATION
INTROSPECTION
 Observation of our own
thoughts and feelings
 To determine the truth by

psychological statements
 Statements about the mental

or conscious states
 OBSERVATION – EXTERNAL
 Observation of things outside our mind or
consciousness
 The physical objects using the five organs of

sense
 Done with or without the aid of sensory

extending devices such as telescope and

microscope
 To verify the truth of physical statements

 Statements about physical or material

objects
 REASONING
 The process of knowing or establishing truth
by means of our reason.
 Varity of ways;

◦ Testing for coherence

 Use of 2 statements are contradictory or cannot be
held to be true at the same time
◦ Using of inference (depending on whether the truth
being proven is regardless to be certain or merely
probable).
 Inductively
 Deductively
 INTUITION
DIRECT GRASPING OF TRUTH
 The way by which we directly grasp the truth of
something
 Immediately know that something is true
without going through the process of
observation and reasoning
 Direct access to the truth that bypasses the
processes of observation and reasoning
 Intuition in the areas of ethics, arguing
◦ Sample
 Immediately know what our moral duties are in a given
situation
 MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
 Provides the person having the experience of
knowing something which cannot be known
using the usual methods of observation by
our sense organs and reasoning.
 The assumption is that there are some

aspects of reality
 Forms of truth that cannot be accessed or

known using our normal ways of knowing

MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE ARE;
◦ Spiritual – dealing with non physical
aspect of life
◦ Religious – dealing with divine or
sacred
 Experience of our union with God
 Receiving messages and instruction
from God
 Interrelatedness of things
 Religious truth are known
 APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
 Form of testimony of a reliable eyewitness
 Information provided by an appropriate
expert truth
 Reliable documents
 Required observation of reasoning to know a
truth may have already been done and
documented by someone else
 Knowing this person’s testimony, the
information that they provides as well as a
documents is also a way of knowing the truth.
 APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
SAMPLE
 Wants to know whether a particular movie is
already being shown in SM Cinema
◦ We can rely a testimony of someone who has
already seen the movie at SM Cinema
◦ Check in the newspapers or internet
◦ Call the authority in the management in SM Cinema
 FALLACY IN APPEAL TO
AUTHORITY
 When we appeal to a wrong authority
◦ Sample ;
 TV Ads
 Basketball player endorsing some product which is not
connected in the game of basketball.
 Toothpaste – dental product
CONDITION OF KNOWLEDGE
 Referring to the thing that should occur so
that we can rightly say that we know
something.
 Distinguish the kind of knowledge that deals

with truth from other kinds

 Specify the condition of knowledge
 Distinguish between

◦ knowledge and certain dorms of non-knowledge

(opinion or guess)
◦ Kinds of disagreement
 KNOWLEDGE
 How we use the word KNOW in different
situations
 KNOW

◦ KNOWLEDGE OF ACQUINTANCE
 To mean acquaintance or familiarity with a place or
person
 Expressing familiarity with the person or things
◦ PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE
 Asserting their knowledge of skills
 SAMPLE OF
KNOWLEDGE OF ACQUAINTANCE
 I know this place, this is the National
Museum.
 I know this person, he is Ms. Tina our

principal in St. Columban Montessori School

in San Felipe Zambales.
 SAMPLE OF
PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE
 I know how to cook Chicken Adobo
 I know how to operate the washing machine
 I know how to use the computer
 I know how to play Piko
KNOW – KNOWLEDGE OF THE FACT
PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
 A situation or anything that can either be true
or false
 What I claim to know are things that can

either true or false

 Truthfulness and falsity started in the form of

a proposition of statement
◦ Sample
 I know that the clinic closes at 5:00 in the afternoon
 I know that you like to eat spicy food
PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
 To determine whether indeed KNOWLEDGE
and not AN OPINION OR A GUESS
 Specify the conditions for knowledge
 PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
JUSTIFIED TRUE BELIEF
◦ We can only correctly say that X, if only if
 1. we believe that X to be true
 2. X is indeed true
 3. we are justified in believing X to be true
 Problem;
 Supposed Jose claims that he knows that Manila is the
capital city of the Philippines.
 For Jose to really know that Manila is the Capital City of
the Philippines
 The following conditions should occur:
 PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
JUSTIFIED TRUE BELIEF
 1. Jose believes that Manila is the capital of
the Philippines
 2. It is true That Manila is the Capital of the

Philippines
 3. Jose is justified in believing that Manila is

the capital of the Philippines

3 CONDITIONS FOR KNOWLEDGE

BELIEF
TRUTH
JUSTIFICATION
ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSITIONS
 1ST If Jose does not believe that Manila is the
capital of the Philippines
 Either Jose doubts it or he has other reasons
for saying that he knows it
 If Jose doubts that Manila is the capital of the
Philippines then he does not really know
whether Manila is the capital of the Philippines
 If he has other reasons for saying that he
knows it, like to express a joke or to deceive
his listeners
ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSITIONS
 2ND Suppose what Jose claims instead is that he
knows that Quezon City is the capital of the
Philippines
 That he is convinced of the truth of what he
claims to know
 But we know that what Jose claims to know is
false (for Manila is the capital of the Philippines)
 Jose is mistaken in believing the Quezon city is
the capital of the Philippines
 And because Jose is mistaken in his belief then he
does not really know what he claims to know
ANALYSIS OF THE PROPOSITIONS
 3 rd Maintaining that Jose claims that Manila is the capital
of the Philippines, and that he believes it, which happens
to be true
 Is it enough to say that Jose knows that his evidence for

saying that he knows that Manila is the Capital of the

Philippines or what led him to think that he knows it
 Jose will tell us that he got this information from the

conversation in a cartoon comedy movie that he saw in

Youtube, can we say that Jose really knows it? I think not
 That is just by luck or coincident that Jose gets to know it
 The information must be justified by having a

sufficient evidence in believing that Manila is the

capital of the Philippines.
 CONDITION OF JUSTIFICATION
Distinguish knowledge form an opinion and from
guess
 OPINION  GUESS
◦ is simply unjustified ◦ a person claims to
belief that may turn know something
out to be true without any evidence
◦ A person claims to at all
know a certain event
based on little or
insufficient evidence.
 CONDITION OF JUSTIFICATION
Distinguish knowledge form an opinion and from
guess

Opinion and guess could be

true
But still they are not

knowledge
What I know to be true is true

not by mere luck or

coincidence.
 DISAGREEMENT/DISPUTES
OF BELIEFS
 What we believe to be true or
false.
 How do we resolve these

agreements?
 How does this type of

disagreements differ from

other types?
 KINDS OF DISAGREEMENTS
1. Disagreements in Belief
2. Disagreement in Attitude
3. Merely Verbal

Disagreement
 DISAGREEMENTS IN BELIEF
 Disagreement about the facts which are
properly resolved by verifying the facts at
issue.
 The verification of fact can be done either by;
◦ directly observing the facts
◦ Examining relevant documents
◦ Appealing to appropriate authorities
 SAMPLE
 Disagreement of this kind is the one over whether a
certain politician stole money form the government.
DISAGREEMENT IN ATTITUDE
 Disagreement over preferences
 They usually resolve by persuasion if not by

compromise
 Persuasion done either
◦ logically one’s arguments are consistent with the
valid rules of deduction
◦ Illogically one’s arguments commit the informal
fallacies
 Sample
 Disagreement of this kind of issue of divorce and same
sex marriage should be legalized in our country
MERELY VERBAL DISAGREEMENT
 Disagreement that arise out of the
misunderstanding of the meanings of our
linguistic expressions
 Properly resolved by clarifying the meanings

of the misunderstood linguistic expression

◦ Sample
 Two friends are arguing over which movie to watch
together only to find out later that they have the same
movie in mind.
 DISAGREEMENT
 Truth involves disagreements in belief
◦ Conditions for knowing something to be true
 Disagreement in belief and attitude
considered genuine and real disagreement
 Merely Verbal disagreement are not real

disagreement, it is just a though that they

are.
◦ It is a waste of time and energy
◦ Needless
◦ It is pity that some relationships are ruined
FALLACIES
Chapter IX
 Plato

Arguments,
like men,
are often
pretenders
.
 FALLACIES
Fallacyis an erroneous
reasoning that comes
from false premises or
irrelevant conclusion
which seems to be
correct.
 FALLACY
 FALLERE (Latin)
 To deceive or to lead astray.
 This is a form of deception coming from an

argument that is lacking in the basis or

evidence which we sometimes cannot easily
detect without paying close attention to it.
 They are created either intentionally or

unintentionally in order to deceive other

people.
 FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY
 It is committed when the meaning of words
or phrases created a different meaning in the
conclusion.
 This may happened, if the words that are

used or structurally presented in the premise

are not properly expressed grammatically or
syntactically.
 An argument is called ambiguous when the

meaning of a certain statement or argument

is not clearly stated.
 KINDS OF FALLACIES
 FORMAL FALLACIES
◦ Are errors in reasoning due to an incorrect form or
structure of an argument
◦ It correspond to invalid deductive arguments
 INFORMAL FALLACIES
◦ Known as material fallacies
◦ Errors in reasoning due exclusively to an anomaly
or defect in the content of an argument
◦ This is usually psychologically influential and
commonly committed
 3 GROUPS OF
INFORMAL FALLACIES
FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY
FALLACIES OF RELEVANT
FALLACIES OF

PRESUMPTION
 FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY
 It is committed when the meaning of words
or phrases created a different meaning in
the conclusion.
 This may happened, if the words that are

used or structurally presented in the

premise are not properly expressed
grammatically or syntactically.
 An argument is called ambiguous when the

meaning of a certain statement or argument

is not clearly stated.
 FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY
 FALLACY OF AMPHIBOLY
This kind of fallacy of ambiguity is
committed when the expression
of statements are not properly
constructed grammatically.
These statements created problems
in the clarity of meaning for they
become open to different
interpretations.
 FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY
 FALLACY OF EQUIVOCATION
This fallacy of ambiguity appears
when the meaning of a particular
word in a premise is different in
use as given in the other premise.
A word is ambiguous when used in
two different senses in an
argument.
 FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY
 FALLACY OF ACCENT
This fallacy of ambiguity is
committed due to the different
ways a word is emphasized or
accented in a premise.
This misplaced emphasis
causes misinterpretation by
the listener.
 FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY
 FALLACY OF COMPOSITION
This fallacy is committed due to the
assumption that the whole has the
characteristics of its parts.
This happens when one transfers the
characteristics of the parts unto the
whole, by arguing that since the part
has this, the whole must necessarily
have also this.
 FALLACIES OF AMBIGUITY
 FALLACY OF DIVISION
The fallacy of division is committed when
one assumes that the parts have the
characteristic s of the whole.
The qualities of a whole to the qualities
of the parts of the whole.
This is the opposite of the fallacy of
composition which asserts the whole as
having the characteristics of its parts.
 FALLACY OF RELEVANCE

It is committed due to the premises

that are not significant to their
conclusion in an argument.
This happens when premises have
no relationship to the conclusion,
therefore, this argument cannot
establish its truth.
ARGUMENTUM AD IGNORANTIAM

This is called ARGUMENT OF

IGNORANCE because this one
argues that an argument is
wrong since it has not yet
been proven as true, or it is
true since it is not yet proven
to be false.
ARGUMENTUM AD VERECUNDIAM

This is called the APPEAL TO

INAPPROPRIATE AUTHORITY
because this is committed when
one appeals to an authority
whose field of expertise does
not include the nature of the
conclusion being establish.
ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINEM
 This is called the ARGUMENT AGAINST THE MAN,
wherein one uses an argument that focuses on
attacking the person or the opponent in the
issue rather than on the issue.
 This happens when one argues that since this
man is like this (by attacking his character,
personality status or belief) and so his
argument should be dismissed.
 It is known to us, as black propaganda character
assasination, mud slinging, expose, bomba,
mura or kabastusan.
ARGUMENTUM AD POPULUM
 This is called the APPEAL TO PEOPLE
because this is committed when one
argues using expressive language or
other devices to excite passion
(enthusiasm, happiness, anger, hate,
lust or fear) of the people or the
crowd.
 An argument ad populum is the

conviction of the heart. As such, it is

not entirely groundless and whimsical
(fanciful).
ARGUMENTUM AD MISERICORDIAM
 Thisis called the APPEAL TO MERCY,
because this is committed when
someone instead of proving his
argument relies in soliciting the
sympathy or pity of the listener.
 Shedding tears and showing

sadness are examples of this fallacy.

ARGUMENTUM AD BACULUM
 This is called the APPEAL TO
FORCE since this is committed
when one resorts to using force or
threat in trying to push others to
accept the issue.
 Its purpose is to scare people to

accept or to be convinced about

something.
Argumentum ad Crumemam
 This is called the ARGUMENT TO THE MONEY
this fallacy when we appeal to the sense of
greed or cupidity of an individual
 When instead of reasoning out of an

argument, we use money to bribe the

opponent to concede
 Argumentum ad
Auctoritatem
 This is called ARGUMENT TO THE
AUTHORITY, this fallacy related to the
argument to the customs and traditions
 We commit this fallacy when instead of

showing the intrinsic merit of the issue at

hand, we appeal to the authority of some
prominent person to support our contention
 Argumentum Pansarilum
 This is called ARGUMENT TO ONE’S OWN
ADVANTAGE, this fallacy ignore an issue and
appeal to a person or a group of persons to
adopt a belief or policy which the person or
group of persons concerned would heed
unless the advantage offered were given
especially if such belief or policy is contrary
to the person’s accepted sense of morality
FALLACIES OF PRESUMPTION
 Referring to a fallacies in which
error in reasoning brought
about by the occurrence of
complex or loaded expressions
whose assumptions are
questionable or have not yet
been proven to be true
PLURIOM INTERROGATIONUM
Thisfallacy is called MANY
OR COMPLEX QUESTIONS
because this is committed
when an argument
demands a simple answer
to a complicated question.
 PETITIO PRINCIPII
 This is called BEGGING THE QUESTION
because this is committed when an
argument has not reached the
conclusion by presenting
questionable or weak premises.
 This happens when the argument is

not proving anything about the

conclusion.
POST HOC ERGO PROPTER HOC
 This fallacy is called FALSE CAUSE in that
this is committed when an argument
assumes that the effect is attributed to an
inadequate cause.
 This happens when one argues that since

this event happened before the other or in

the next event, this must be the cause of
that event.
 Oftentimes, this fallacy is accompanied by

superstitions and presumptions.

 IGNORATIO ELINCHI
 This fallacy is also known in Latin, the
NON SEQUITOR or it is called the
ARGUMENT OF IGNORANCE OF
REFUTATION or irrelevant conclusion.
 This fallacy is committed when the

conclusion is drawn from premises

which are not related of proving the
issue, it rather ignores, kisses the
point, or evades it.
FALLACY OF BEGGING QUESTION

Iscommitted when
reasoning is circular in
that the conclusion is
already assumed in
the premises
 FALLACY OF ACCIDENT
Committed when one applies
a general rule to individual
cases, which because of their
special or accidental nature
The general rules does not

properly apply
 FALLACY OF HASTY
GENERALIZATION
 Iscommitted when one makes a
generalization from a special or
accident case or simply from
insufficient number of cases.
 Converse accident is a case of

weak inductive reasoning.

Practical Applications of
Logic to Argument and
Debate
 Argumentation and
Debate Differentiated
 Argumentation
 The art of influencing others through the
medium of reasoned discourse to believe or
act as we wish them to believe or act
 It is the process of changing the belief or

behavior of the bearer or reader, through the

use of spoken or written speech by
persuading him with reasons and by strring
up his feelings
 Debate
 Is a formal and direct oral contest in
argumentation between two or more persons on
one single definite proposition at a definite time
 It is the art of persuasive communication
◦ It requires skill in performance
◦ Uses a systematized body of principles intended to
enhance skill in the application of that process
 An oral controversy on a definite question
between opposing speakers (the 2 sides are the
affirmative “accept“ and the negative “reject”)
 The Value of
Argumentation and Debate
 BASIC SKILL IN THE PROCESS INFLUENCING
OTHER TO ACCEPT OR REJECT BELIEFS
◦ It trains men in a democracy in quick and accurate
thinking
 Democracy becomes useless if the democratic processes
are not prepared to weight the logic and reasonable
propositions it becomes an exercise of futility
 DEVELOPS THE HUMAN QUALITIES OF SELF
RELIANCE AND ASSURANCE
◦ Man lives in the society and is endowed with the gift
of his communicating his thoughts and ideas
 Teacher – student (use of language)
 The 2 Approaches in the work of
Argumentation and Debate
 Conviction which appeals to reason
 Persuasion which appeals to human emotion or feeling

 MAN as
◦ Rational
◦ Emotional (emotion can dominate reason)

CONVICTION
* it is an aspect of argumentation whereby the debater direct
his words to the reasoning faculty of man
* it makes the truth clear and makes it more interesting
* Opinion leads one to embrace the truth
 The Four Process of
Argumentation
 Invention
◦ Determining ideas whose truth the arguer or debater
whishes his listener to believe
 Selection
◦ `gathering of data and information needed to serve as a
proof
 Arrangement
◦ The materials are supposed to be arranged according to
a pre established plan which can clearly, effectively and
forcefully presented as proof
 Presentation
◦ To communicate ideas, invented, selected and arranged
The Subject of Argumentation: The
Proposition
 The proposition in a debate enables the
debater to understand the issues and how to
discuss them
 It prevents using his time and effort uselessly

in arguing about the matter wholly outside

the real question and issue and proving
things that are considered as BESIDE THE
POINT AT ISSUE
 2 classification of
Propositions
 Proposition of the fact
◦ Is the one whose chief concern is the truth or falsity of
an act of judgment
◦ It aims to belief
◦ It addresses itself to the question: IS THIS AFFIRMATION
TRUE OR FALSE?
 That the Duterte Administration deserves to be supported
 Proposition of policy
◦ It aims at action and only at belief
◦ It addressed the question of SHOULD OR OUGHT THIS
TO BE DONE
 That the US maintain its military presence in the Philippines
The Forms of the Proposition
 Association/ Organization/Class (School) as form of
resolution
 Lawmaking body (Senate or House of
Representative) in making some bill, resolution or a
motion
 Sanguniang Panlunsod or Panlalawigan ( in making
some ordinance)
 In a court of law (form of pleading)
◦ Complaint
◦ Information
◦ Petition
◦ motion
Qualities of Good Propositions for
Debates
 The proposition should be debatable
 The proposition must be simple and concise
 The proposition must be free from any ambiguity
 The proposition must not be biased
 The proposition must not use abstraction and vague

generalizations
 The proposition must be in the form of

assertion/allegation
 The proposition must result in only one act of judgment
 The proposition must be so worded in a manner that the

burden of proof will fall on the affirmative side

 The proposition must be interesting
 Nature, Function, and Kinds of
issues in a Debate
 Issues in a debate are essential points,
segments, elements or smaller propositions
affirmed by the affirmative or denied by the
negative
 Issues are of 3 types

◦ Potential issues
◦ Admitted issues
◦ Stock issues
 Evidence, Proof and
Argument
 Evidence
◦ Anything that tends to prove or disprove something. It
must pass the parameter of acceptability in regard to
conviction and opinion
 Proof
◦ To convince the mind of truth or falsity of any
proposition (presentation of evidence/fact that sought
to be proved –principal fact “factum probandum”)
 Argument
◦ The arguer infers the existence of other facts from
knowing the existence of one or more facts in order to
establish the reality of a point
 Outline of Debate
 Title
 Preliminary introduction
 Main introduction
 Statement of the issues
 Brief of the argument
 conclusion
 Rules
 The brief must be presented in the form of heading
and sub headings
 The brief must be partitioned into 3 parts
(introduction, discussion and conclusion)
 Each heading and sub-heading must be shown in the
form of a complete sentence
 Each heading and sub-heading must embody only
one sentence except when it includes a lifted but
properly acknowledge quotation
 Every series of sentences must follow the principles
of rhetoric/public speaking
 All sources of materials and other information should
be properly acknowledged, stating the bibliographic
information
 The 1st part of the introduction must embody
all the information needed for a clear
comprehension of the discussion
 The last portion of the introduction must

embody the statement of the different issues

and of the portion of the main body
 The main body of the argumentative speech

must contain all the evidences and arguments

to be used on the given side of the
proposition
 In the main body of the main speech, each

broad heading must be treated as a reason

for the truth or falsity of the proposition
 Each sub-heading or series of coordinate sub-
headings must be treated as a reason for the
truth of the heading immediately above it
 Possible objections to be proved false must be

recorded and the possible denial must be noted

 In phrasing the denial, the heading must clearly

state the argument to be answered and the

character of the answer to be made
 The conclusion must embody a summary of the

essential points of the proof

 The debater must in the entire course of the

debate, think and act logically

 The Interpellation and the
Rebuttal Rules
 The interpellator and the one interrelated must stand near the
front part of the platform and should speak aloud while giving
the remarks to the other
 Question as well as the corresponding answer must be brief
and concise
 Question must be so designed as to force the opponent to
accept the strength of the interpellator ‘s reasoning or
evidences
 Questions must be asked in such manner as to show the
opponent's absence or reasoning and evidences, the weakness
of his evidences or simply illogical reasoning
 Question must be directed to the arguments of the opponents
 In his denial speech the interpellator must unveil the
insignificance of his opponent’s answer
 The Points of Difference Between
the main and the rebuttal speech
 The debate characterized as a friendly
encounter of minds in the arena of the
academe
 There are 2 kind of speech
◦ CONSTRUCTIVE SPEECH
 The debater show a direct proof for the truth of one
side of the proposition
◦ REBUTTAL /DENIAL SPEECH
 The intention of the debater is to destroy the proofs
previously presented by the opposing side
 Special Problems Encountered in
the Making of the Rebuttal Speech
 Rule of thumb
◦ THERE SHOULD ABSOLUTELY BE NO NEW PROOF TO
BE INTRODUCED IN THE REBUTTAL/DENIAL SPEECH,
EXCEPT WHAT IS REQUIRED TO GOVE AN
APPRORIATE REPLY TO THE PROOF OF THE
OPPONENT
Human Personhood
Midterm
6th week
Cultivating Knowledge
and Skills
AN EMBODIED
SPIRIT
Approaches to Philosophical Study
of Human Person
 METAPHYSICAL APPROACH - what
◦ Focuses on the kinds of substances (or
materials) and capacities that uniquely
make up a human person.
 EXISTENTIAL APPROACH - who

◦ Focuses on the kind of life or style of

existence, that is unique to a human
person
◦ It examines the essential features of the
human way of life.
MARTIN HEIDEGGER
1962 -149-153

 Metaphysical approach
 Dealing with the what of a human
person
 Sample
 Fictional Character – TARZAN
 Physical features and metal capacities
 Existential approach
◦ Dealing with the who of a
human person
 Sample
 Living with the apes WHO OF AN APE
 He lives the way of life of an ape
 Human Person - Body
 Biology studies that the body has
certain physical properties.
 The believe of some “Human

person just body and nothing

more” other believe that it also
has a non-bodily component
(additional to the body) –
SOUL/MIND/SPIRIT
 SOUL/MIND/SPIRIT
 SOUL
◦ Emphasizes its life-giving function
 MIND
◦ Emphasizes its consciousness
 SPIRIT
◦ Emphasizes its non bodily, non biological or non
physical nature
◦ General term for referring to this non bodily human
components
WHAT ESSENTIALLY MAKES UP A HUMAN PERSON
OR WHICH COMPONENTS THE BODY OR SPIRIT

1. Human person is essentially just body

and nothing more
The position naturally results from the
belief that humans do not have a
spiritual component
If there is no such thing as a spirit
then a human person is essentially just
a body
UNSPIRITED BODY VIEW
WHAT ESSENTIALLY MAKES UP A HUMAN PERSON
OR WHICH COMPONENTS THE BODY OR SPIRIT

2. Human person is essentially just a spirit

This view maintains that the human person has
body and spirit but claims that it is the spirit that
essentially defines a human person
Body is non essential component of the human
person
The body is dependent to the spirit, and spirit
dependent on the body. The body will die if there
is no spirit, the spirit will survive even there is no
body
DISEMBODIED SPIRIT VIEW
WHAT ESSENTIALLY MAKES UP A HUMAN PERSON
OR WHICH COMPONENTS THE BODY OR SPIRIT

 3. Human person is essentially the

unity of these two components
◦ The body and the spirit cannot exist
independently of one another
◦ Each will not survive with the
absence of the other
 EMBODIED SPIRIT VIEW
 PHILOSOPHY OF MIND
 Supporters of the unspirited views
◦ MENTAL STATES
 Physical states as our thoughts and emotions
◦ MIND-BRAIN IDENTITY THEORY
 Claims that what we call the mind - brain, call
 Mental states refers as NEURAL STATES of the brain
◦ BEHAVIORISM
 Mental states refers as INCLINATION/TENDENCIES to
show certain behaviors
 Sample
 Believe that it is raining, inclined to bring umbrella
 DISEMBODIED SPIRIT VIEW
Supporters of SPIRIT
 PLATO  RENE DESCARTES
 Soul  Mind
 DISEMBODIED SPIRIT VIEW
Plato and Descartes
◦ Body2 different kinds of entities
or substances
 Body – physical
 Spirit (Soul or Mind) – non
physical
 The view called THE PHILOSOPHY

OF MIND
◦ Substance to DUALISM
 DUALISM of
PLATO and DESCARTES
 Believe that spirit is independent of the
body
 Spirit can survive without the body, while

body survive without the spirit

 Believe in the immortality of the spirit
 PLATO

◦ Believes in REINCARNATION
 The soul travels from one body to
another
 PLATO’S ARGUMENT
Belief in Immortality of the soul
 Soul must be immortal otherwise we can never
explain the nature of knowledge as
RECOLLECTION
◦ To learn is to remember
◦ Learn from remembering what one knew but have
somehow forgotten
 This can only possible if the soul had existed in a state
prior to its union with the body where it acquired
knowledge of everything (version of GOD from the
Demiurge), but which is forgot when it occupied a body.
 Once soul leaves the body, what it has learned through
recollection in the lifetime will again forgotten the moment
it occupies another body.
 PLATO’S ARGUMENT
Belief in Immortality of the soul
 Anotherargument
◦SOUL ARE IMMATERIAL (non
physical)
◦They are not composed of
parts
◦They cannot decompose
◦They cannot die
 RENE DESCARTES VIEWS
 Reality as composed of 2 different types of
substances
◦ MIND (non physical kind)
 Conscious but no extended in space (not observable and
quantifiable)
 Being non physical
 Not determined by such laws and thus is free and has free
will
◦ MATTER (The physical kind)
 Extended in space but not conscious
 Being physical
 Matter is determined by the laws of nature and not free and
has no free will
DESCARTES CLASSIFICATION OF VARIOUS TYPES OF
ENTITIES ACCORDING TO MATTER AND MIND

 Matter includes  Minds include

◦ Plants ◦ Imperfect minds of
◦ Animals humans
◦ Human bodies ◦ Perfect mind of God
◦ Rest of nature
 DESCARTES ARGUES
 We can doubt that we have body, along with
the physical world, but we cannot doubt that
we have a mind, for to doubt is to be
conscious and to be conscious is to have a
mind.

 Famous remarks
◦ COGITO ERGO SUM
◦ I think therefore I am
EMBODIED SPIRIT SUPPORTERS
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS AND
 ARISTOTLE
ARISTOTLE
◦ Soul as the principle (or cause) of life.
◦ It gives life to something
◦ Non-living things thus have no soul
◦ All living things have souls
 Plants
 Animals
 Humans
 ARISTOTLE
BODY AND SOUL
 Different aspect of human
person
◦BODY
 The person material aspect
or matter.
◦SOUL
 The formal aspect or form
 ARISTOTLE
RELATIONSHIP OF MATERIAL AND FORMAL
◦ MATTER
 Refers to the kind of material that it is made up of .
 Material aspect
 Sample
 KNIFE made of metal or metallic material
 BODY
◦ FORM
 Refers to the natural capacity, ability or function of
something
 Formal aspect
 Sample
 KNIFE has the capacity to cut
 SOUL
 HEIRARCHY OF BEING
MINERAL
PLANT
ANIMAL
MAN
SPIRIT
GOD

 Body+Life+Senses+
Reason
 Body+Life+Senses
 Body+Life

 Body
 ARISTOTLE - SOUL
 Is a set or system of capacities or abilities that
gives life to something
 Distinguishes of the souls

◦ PLANT – VEGETATIVE OR NUTRITIVE SOULS

 Enables to perform activities necessary for nourishment,
growth and reproduction.
◦ ANIMAL - SENSITIVE SOUL
 Enables to perform activities necessary for growth,
nourishment, reproduction, sensation and locomotion.
◦ HUMAN – RATIONAL SOUL
 Enables to perform activities necessary for nourishment,
growth, reproduction, sensation, locomotion, intelligence or
rational thinking and freedom or free will
 EXTENSION

SUBSTANCE Substance Angel Mineral Plant Brute

Man
BODY
Corporeal substance Mineral Plant Brute Man
ORGANISM
Animate corporeal substance Plant Brute Man
ANIMAL
Sentient animate corporeal substance Brute Man
MAN
Rational sentient animate corporeal substance Man

COMPREHENSION
 ARISTOTLE SOUL
 FORM cannot exist
independently of matter (the
soul needs the body to exist)
 Does not believe in the

immortality of the soul

(including human souls)
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
agreement with the ideas of ARISTOTLE

That the human body and

soul are matter and form
respectively of the same
reality that makes up a
human person.
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS
 Adds something to the idea of ARISTOTLE
 The rational soul of humans has a dual nature

 There is a part of it that is independent on the body,

but a part that is not dependent on the body.

 The rational souls vegetative and sensitive abilities

(the abilities it shares with the souls of the plants and

animals) are all dependent of the body
 Rational ability to think is not dependent on the body.

 Vegetative and sensitive abilities necessary need the

body to operate but the ability to thinking does not

need any organ of the body to operate .
 AQUINAS - SOUL
Vegetative and
Sensitive souls are
mortal
Rational souls are

immortal
 AQUINAS
HUMAN PERSON – UNITED OF BODY AND SOUL
 The soul survives after death of the human
body is no longer a human person
◦ Human soul as SUBSISTENT rather than substance
to indicate that the human soul, though immortal is
incomplete in nature and which can only be
complete again once the body is resurrected to
unite with the soul
 3 REASONS WHY THE EMBODIED SPIRIT
VIEW SHOULD BE THE MOST PREFERABLE
1. It maintains human freedom
1. Negated by the unspirited view (being just a body,
all actions of human person will be determined by
natural laws)
2. It gives importance to the soul
1. It also acknowledges the value of the body which
the disembodied spirit view neglects
3. It can accommodate opposing views
1. Opposing views of Aristotle and Aquinas
regarding immortality of soul of the human
person.
Eastern Philosophy of
Human Person
7th week
 Confucianism and Confucius
Philosophy of Human Person
 Confucius, transliterated Kong Fu Zi or
K’ung-fu-tzu or frequently referred to us as
Kongz
 He was a Chinese born BC in the city of Qufu

located in the Chinese State of Lu, now part

of present-day Shadong Province
 Confucius Teaching –
Philosophy of Man
 Practical and ethical
 Not a religious matter
 Confucius has a little belief in supernatural
 Early Childhood
 Confucius was believed to have been
convinced out of wedlock
 His father was seventy and his mother only

fifteen when he was born.

 His father died when he was three and he was

brought up in poverty by his mother

 Confucius Life
 Most of his life, he travelled from state to
state getting government jobs and teaching
his disciples
 He was one time a Justice Minister in the State

of Lu but resigned after several years because

he disapproved of the politics of his king
 He lived to be quite old, died at the age of

72in 479 BC
 Teaching
 Embodied in;
◦ Analecto of Confucius
◦ Classic of Rites and Spring
◦ Autumn Animals
 The Teachings of
Confucianism
 The family is the basis for an ideal government
 Being an ideal government, there should be a strong

solidarity among family members

 Children should respect their elders, living or dead

 Husband should respect their wives

 Politicians and rulers should be good models of the

citizens “what the superior man seeks is in himself,

what to man seeks in other” Likewise, Confucius
stated: “if right principle prevailed through the
empire, there would be no need for me to change its
state” (Anacleto XVIII,6) They should lead exemplary
lives and be guided with moral principles
 Human nature is essentially good. Man can
become honest and trustworthy and humane
towards others
 Do not do to others what you do not want

others done to yourself (The Golden Rule)

 All men should observe carefully their duties

toward the State

 Every man must possessed five (5) virtues:

kindness, uprightness, decorum, wisdom and

faithfulness
 Lao Tzu and Taoism
 The promoters of the school of Tao and the
Father of Taoism/Daoism - Lao-Tzu
 Lao Tzu sometimes spelled as Lao-Tzu, Lao

Tsu, Laozi, Laotze

 Lao Tzu was not his real name but an

honorific name given to him meaning – old

venerable master
 Childhood
 Date of birth unknown but legends say that
scholars place his birth between 600 and 300
BC in China
 He held a number of public offices such as a

curator of the royal library in Loyang

 As an old man, he retired from government

service and traveled on buffalo-back to

region of the Gabi desert
 Lao-Tzu and Confucius
Conversion
 When LAO-Tzu was still a keeper or curator of a library
in the capital city, a young man Confucius nervously
walked towards the great scholar Lao-Tzu, the most
respected thinker of this day
 Confucius spoke about his duty to make the lives of the

people much better.

 Lao Tzu, with humility answered: Just like mosquitoes

will keep you awake all night, this talk about duty to
your fellowmen drives me crazy. Don’t worry about it.
Just try to keep your world as simple as possible.
Remember-just like the wind blows whenever and
wherever it wants to, goods times will come and
sometime and somewhere. Be natural. Go with the wind.
 Similarity between
Lao-Tzu and Confucius
 They are troubled by the violence and conflict
of his times, but it was a mistake to try to
change people
 Attraction of other people
 Lao-Tzu’s wise counsel attracted more
followers, but he refused to set his
philosophical ideas down in writing because to
him written words signify formal dogma
 Leaving this, he resumed his journey to an

unknown destination until he was seen no more

 Lao-Tzu within the matter of centuries was

even worshipped as a god and his masterpiece

was engraved on a stars at the capital of every
Chinese state
 Tao Te Ching or
Dao-De-Jing
 His small book
 One of the world’s great philosophical and

religious classic
 Is referred to as – Maps of the way or book of

virtues
 Tao – way of all life
 Te – fit use of life by men
 Ching – text or classic (way of life)
 Ching - Classic
 It was previously known by Lao-Tzu after the
name of the mysterious master traditionally
said to have been its author
 The ancient Chinese text is the world’s most

translated classic next to the Bible

 This classic was dictated to a man named

Yin Xi (the Guardian of the Mountain Pass)

◦ in the 6th century BC, who was responsible for
writing or craving it down on bamboo slips and
handed it down to future generation
 TAO TE CHING
inscribed in this book:
Live a simple life, be free, be yourself, and close to

nature. Do these things and you will be wise and happy

 It consists of 81 chapters among which
◦ 37 first part (Book of the Way-Tao)
◦ 44 second part (Book of Te)
 the philosophy of this book focused on the following
concepts;
 wu (emptiness)
 wei (non-doing)
 fu (return of all things to their origin)
 Wu-wei (non obstruction or non-doing, action without
deeds or actionless activity
 Explanation of the book
 The Taoists did not mean, of course that one should never
act but one should be fluid and changing so as to always
adjust oneself to any circumstance
 It is said in the book;
 What is of all the things most yielding (water)

Can overwhelm that which is of all things most hard (rock)

Being substanceless it can enter even where there is no
space
that is how I know the value of action that is actionless
But that there can be teaching without words,
Value in action that is actionless
Few indeed can understand
 Heraclitus
 Heraclitus of Ephesus
 535 - 475 BCE
 Heraclitus Theory of Reality

 1. Everything is in flux
◦ "Everything flows, nothing stands still."
◦ “Everything flows" or "everything is in flux/change,”
◦ “Constant harmony of flux and change”

 2. The world is an ever living fire

 3. War is the father of all
◦ We must recognize that war is common and conflict is justice, and
all things happen according to conflict and necessity.
(DK22B80)
◦ War is the father of all and king of all, who manifested some as
gods and some as men, who made some slaves and some
freemen. (DK22B53)
 Famous for saying: "No man can cross the
same river twice, because neither the man
nor the river are the same.“
◦ River changes
◦ Reality always change
◦ Life something happened again (experience) but
not because time has change what really happened
before is different form now.
 Taoism as a
Philosophy of Human Person
 The Tao (path or way) is the first cause of the
universe. It is a force that flows through all life
 The Tao is a power that envelops, surrounds and
flows through all things, living and non-living.
 Each human being’s goal is to harmonize
themselves with the tao because the tao
regulates natural processes and nourishes
balance in the Universe. It embodies the
harmony of approaches, such that there would
be no love without hate no light without
darkness; no male without female
 There is no God to hear man’s prayer, or to act upon
them. Man should seek answer to life’s problems
through inner meditation and outer observation
 Time is cyclical not linear
 Men should promote their health and vitality
 The five main organs of the body correspond to the
five parts of the sky: water, fire, wood, metal and
earth
 Each person must nurture the Chi (air) that has been
given to him
 Man should follow the art of wu wei which is to let
nature take its course
◦ Sample (one should allow a river to flow towards the sea
without hindrance such that no one should erect a dam
which would interfere with the natural flow of the river)
 A person should plan in advance and
consider carefully each action before making
it
 Be kind to other individuals because such

action tends to be communal

 people are compassionate and good by

nature and if left to their own nature, they

will show compassion without expecting a
reward
 Taoism as a Theology
 As a spiritual way or discipline, the Taoist master
did not have a school, no curriculum, no
examinations that have the feature of putting the
people under a lot of stress, no systematized
doctrine
 The master spoke using metaphors and

comparisons – same as in the New Testament where

there are parable or saying of Jesus
 The Taoism way could be learned only by the

following and emulating the teaching of the masters

as well as their behaviors and attitudes to a certain
point
Graphic Representation
 The most common of Taoist theology is the circular Yin
Yang figure
 The balance of opposites in the universe
 They believe that human are often intervene in nature and
upset the balance of Yin and Yang
 When both opposites are equally balance all s calm
 When the other outweighs one, there is confusion and
disarray
 Yin and Yang is an aid that allows each person to
contemplate the state of his life
 Yin / Ying – female, negative, moon, dark, below, earth,
water, cold
 Yang – male, positive, sun, light, above, heaven, fire, heat
 Development of
Taoism as Religion
 2nd century AD approaching a variety of
spiritual techniques associated with the
objective of immortality
 When one is in harmony with the Tao through

spiritual techniques one is believed to achieve

physical immoratality and admission to
heavenly realms inaccessible to the spirit of
mere mortals
 Techniques for achieving
Mortality are
 Dietary regimens
 Breath control and meditation
 Sexual discipline
 Alchemy (It was concerned particularly with

attempts to convert base metals into gold or

to find a universal elixir)
 Use of magical talismans (agimat)
 Search for the Fabled Isle of Bliss (concept of

heaven)
 Dietary regimens
 Focused on nourishment that is abstaining
from foods that will only benefit the “three
worms” in the body
◦ Disease
◦ Old age
◦ Death
 Breath control and meditation
 Finally achieved by nourishment of the
developing body which become immortal self
after death
 In meditation, the tao must visualize the

thousands of gods that inhabited the human

body (microcosm) as they inhabited the
universe (macrocosm)
 Sexual discipline
 The person must avoid ejaculation of semen
during the sexual act
 It was believe that semen (seminal fluid)

could be mixed with breath to further nourish

the “embryonic body” or be formed back
through the spinal passage to repair the brain
 Alchemy
 It can be obtained by both chemical
experimentation (wai-tan) and a theoretical
internal alchemy (nei-tan)
 Old age can be energized by marriage of the

cosmic Yin and Tang forces within the body

 Use of magical talismans
 Talisman (fu) could be used for healing,
protection from demons and communication
with the immortal beings
Search for the Fabled Isle of Bliss
 Taoism evolved into a religious faith in 440 BC when it was
adopted as a state religion
 Taoism along with Buddhism and Confucianism, became one of
the three great religions of china
 With Ching Dynasty ending in 1911, the State support for
Taoism ended
 Much of the Taoism heritage was lost or destroyed during the
next period of warlordism
 In 1949 after the communist victory, religious freedom was
strictly prohibited
 The communist government put monks to natural labor
confiscated temples and plundered treasures
 In 1960 several million monks were reduced to a number to
about 50,000, some even fled to other places
 Some religious tolerance has been restored under Dong Xia-
ping from 1982 to the present time
 Currently 2012 census about 50,000 o
60,000 Taoists live in North America 3,000 to
5,000 in Canada;
◦ 45 to 60 million is primarily centered in Taiwan
◦ Taoism has had a significant impact in these
countries in areas of acupuncture, herbalism,
holistic meditation (Yoga) and martial arts
 Buddhism
 It is a major
religion, found in
Northeastern India
 It is based on the

teaching of
Siddhartha
Gautama, who is
known as Buddha
which means the
Enlightened One
 Siddhartha Gautama
 Born around 580 BCE in Lumbini, Nepal
 Belongs to a Royal Family- he was a PRINCE
 When He was 29 years old, he had mid life crisis : He went
outside the palace and saw an old man, sick man and a
corpse after which He realized that fate of human beings are
inevitable/unavoidable - NO ONE COULD AVOID- age,
sickness, death.
 Found the path to Enlightenment- saw the Truth about the
world is like; nothing is perfect.
 Buddhism
 Rejected some aspect of Hindu Philosophy,
challenged the authority of priesthood,
denies that an individual’s spiritual worth is a
matter of birth and opened this movement to
all members of all castes
 It is very significant in India, Sri Lanka,

Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), China, Japan,

Taiwan, Tibet, Nepal, Mongolia, Korea and
Vietnam
Buddhist Monk in Tibet
Doctrines of Buddhism in General
 The doctrine of;
◦ Anatman
◦ Karma
◦ Nirvana
 Anatman
 It holds that human beings has stream of renewed
existence or a repeated rebirth in the cycle of
phenomenal existence (samsara)
 Human existence is made of five aggregates or bundles

(skandhas)
◦ Material body
◦ Feelings
◦ Perception
◦ Predisposition
◦ Karmic tendencies
 An individual is only a temporary combination of these
aggregates which are subject to continues change
 They believes in rebirth without transmigration
 Karma
 The individual’s acts and their ethical
consequences
 Human action lead to rebirth that is good deeds
are rewarded and evil deeds are punished which
is a Universal justice
 It operates as a natural moral law rather than a
divine judgment
 It determines a person’s species (a rebirth as a
human, animal, ghost, a god, etc.) beauty,
intelligence, longevity/long life, wealth, social
status, etc.
 Enlightenment is only for human beings, not
to gods
 God are not creators of the universe
 They are not control of human destiny
 Since they are engrossed in their own

pleasures in heaven, they are in the same

predicament as human beings and other
creatures, being subject eventually to death
and further rebirth in lower states of
existence
 Thus prayer and sacrifice to them by man is

no value
 Nirvana
 It is an individual that released from the cycle of
continued existence with its inherent sufferings
by attaining nirvana
 It is an enlightened state of consciousness in

which greed, hatred, ignorance etc. that makes

a person suffers, may be eliminated
 After attaining nirvana, the enlightened

individual may continue to live, burning off any

remaining karma until the final nirvana called
parinirvana is attained at the moment of death
 The final nirvana is attainable by any human
being but for those who cannot pursue the
ultimate goal (final nirvana) the proximate
goal of better rebirth through an improved
karma would be in option
 To attain the final goal of nirvana, an

individual must cultivate four virtues

◦ Loving kindness
◦ compassion
◦ sympathetic joy
◦ equanimity
 These are known as the Palaces of Brahma
 To attain the proximate goal
of nirvana
 The individual should fulfill his duties in
society by, observe acts of charity and comply
with the five precepts constituting the basic
moral code of Buddhism, the provision of
killing stealing, harmful language, sexual
misbehavior and the use of intoxicants
 The four noble truths
 Life is suffering
 Suffering is caused by ignorance
 Suffering can be ended
 Fulfillment of the noble eightfold path
 Life is suffering
 Human existence is essentially painful from
the moment of birth to the moment of death
 Death does not bring releif to a person since

life is cyclical with death leading to further

rebirth
Suffering is caused by ignorance
 Man ignorance to the nature of reality
including his craving, attachment and
grasping of worldly pleasures can cause his
suffering
 Suffering can be ended
 By overcoming ignorance and attachment to
worldly pleasures, man’s suffering can be
ended
 Fulfillment of the
noble eightfold path
 The path to the suppressing or ending of
suffering is to observe the noble eightfold
path
◦ Right views
◦ Right intention
◦ Right speech
◦ Right action
◦ Right livelihood
◦ Right effort
◦ Right mindedness
◦ Right contemplation
 The noble eightfold path
 Categorized into 3 cornerstone of Buddhist
faith
◦ Morality
◦ Wisdom
◦ Concentration (somadhi)
Hinduism
 It is the 3rd world’s largest religion
 It does not have a single founder,

a specific theologian system, a

single system of morality, or a
central religious organization
because it consists of thousands
of different religious groups that
have evolved in India since 150
BC
 900 million followers
 Dominant religion in India, Nepal,

Sri Lanka and significant increase

in Canada
 Hinduism Philosophers
 Mahatma Gandhi (famous philosopher)
 Romakrishna
 Sarasvati
 vivekananda
Renaissance Period
The Hindu Major Concept of Man
 The universal belief of Hinduism is that reincarnation (to
be born again) and in the eternity of the soul or self
(Atman)
 In human beings, eating, sleeping fear and sex are
common to man as well as animals. Without dharma
(restrain through moral codes) men are no better than
animals
 Man is divine. To become divine, man must embrace
dharma. In embracing dharma, man must renounce all
worldly desires and selfish actions by resorting to
spiritual practice to attain liberation
 Man rises from a beast to a human level until he ascends
to godhood and become divine by also accepting dharma
Islam
Means submission to the will
of God
 Muslim Philosophers
 The youngest of the world religion
 Established by Mohammed died in 632 AD
 He did not claim to be the savior nor

messiah, but a prophet of Allah

 Koran / Qur’an – Islam Bible and other

religious writings
The Koran emphasis 2 doctrines
1. There is only one God
2. There is the last judgment: the delights of
Heaven for the good and the terrors of Hell
for the bad
 5 Pillars of Islam
1. Profession of faith: there is no God but
Allah and Mohammed is His prophet.
2. Prayer, performed 5 times daily, facing
Mecca, whenever one might be; and on
Friday in the mosque
3. Almsgiving, as an offering to Allah and an
act of piety
4. Fasting during Ramadam
5. Pilgrimage to Mecca, at least once in a
believer’s lifetime
 Western Philosophical
Thought of Human Person
8th week
 Hedonism
 A school of thought that argues that pleasure is the primary
or most important intrinsic good.
 A hedonist strives to maximize net pleasure (pleasure minus 
pain).
 Ethical hedonism is the idea that all people have the right
to do everything in their power to achieve the greatest
amount of pleasure possible to them.
 It is also the idea that every person's pleasure should far

surpass their amount of pain.

 Ethical hedonism is said to have been started by Aristippus of

Cyrene, a student of Socrates.

 He held the idea that pleasure is the highest good.
 Hedonism (Pleasure over Pain)
Concept
 Pleasure is the sole or chief good in life and
the pursuit of it is the ideal aim of conduct
 All action can be measured on the basis of

how pleasure and how little pain they

produce
◦ Action is good if it gives worldly pleasure or
temporal happiness to men; action is bad; if it is
not.
◦ The good action is the pleasant action; the bad
action is that which produces pain
 Hedonistic Philosophy
 Has a sexual or libidinal connotation
 It is an ethical theory that expounds on the

pursuit and enjoyment of pleasure as the

man’s goal in life
 Types of Hedonism in
Ancient Greece
 Egoistic or Cyrenaic Hedonism
◦ It stressed gratification of one’s immediate personal
desires, without regard for other people, as the supreme
and of human existence
◦ It also stressed that knowledge is rooted in the transitory
sensations of the moment and is futile to attempt the
formation of a system of moral values in which the
desirability of present pleasure is weighed against the
pain they cause in the future
 Rational Hedonism
◦ It points out that true pleasure is attainable only by
reason.
◦ They stressed the virtues of self control and prudence
2 schools of thought in Hedonism
 Quantitative Approach – Jeremy Bentham
◦ This means that it is not just the number of pleasures, but
their intensity and how long they lasted that must be
taken into account (sample; sexual sadism)
 Qualitative Approach – John Stuart Mill
◦ 2 different levels
 Lower quality pleasure
 These are the simple beings like pigs, that have easier access to
simple pleasure since they do not see other aspect of life. They
can simply indulge in their pleasure
 Higher quality pleasure
 the more elaborate beings like men, tend to spend more on other
matters and hence lesser time for simple pleasure. They
experience difficulty to indulge in a simple pleasure.
 Epicurianism
 Founded around 307 BC.
 EPICURUS was an atomic materialist, following in the steps of 
Democritus.
 His materialism led him to a 
general attack on superstition and divine intervention
 Believed that what he called "pleasure" was the greatest good, but that
the way to attain such pleasure was to live modestly, to gain
knowledge of the workings of the world and to limit one's desires .
 This would lead one to attain a state of tranquility ( ataraxia ) and
freedom from fear as well as an absence of bodily pain ( aponia ).
 The combination of these two states constitutes happiness in its highest
form.
 Epicureanism is a form of hedonism in so far as it declares pleasure to be
its sole intrinsic goal, the concept that the absence of pain and fear
constitutes the greatest pleasure, and its advocacy of a simple life, make
it very different from "hedonism" as it is colloquially understood.
 Basic Concept of

Epicurianism
The pleasure of the individual is the sole or chief goal in
life.
◦ To arrive to the goal, man must live in such a way as to derive the
greatest amount of pleasure possible during one’s lifetime, yet
doing so moderately in order to avoid the suffering incurred by
over-indulgence in such pleasure.
◦ This pleasure emphasizes the pleasure of mind rather than a
physical pleasure
 A moderate pleasure can result to a state of serenity and
freedom from fear (ataraxia) and absence of bodily pain
(aponia).
◦ Freedom from fear and absence of bodily pain constitute happiness
in the highest
 The highest pleasure (peace of mind and freedom from
bodily pain) can be obtained through knowledge, friendship
and using virtuous and temperate (modest) life
 Man can enjoy simple pleasure by abstaining from
bodily desire such as sex and appetite
◦ Sample; when eating one should not eat too richly, for it could
lead to dissatisfaction later, such as the severe realization that
one could not afford such delicacies in the future. likewise sex
could lead to increased lust and dissatisfaction with the
sexual partner
 God’s are neutral to men. They do not interfere in the
world we live
 God are mere physical being like men. But they are up

a distant place of the cosmos (universe) without

thought for what happens to mankind
 Humans and gods souls are made from atoms.

◦ God souls adhere to bodies without escaping but in the case

of human souls, the forces surrounding the atoms do not
possess the fortitude to hold the soul forever
 Man has free will
 Humans thoughts are merely atoms that serve

randomly due to the fact that ever curious minds of

people wonder anxiously about their sole in the
universe
 Artificially produces desires must be suppressed.

◦ Learning, culture, civilization, socio-political involvement

are artificially produced desires that should be discourage
because they give rise to desire that are difficult to satisfy
thus resulting in disturbing one’s peace of mind
 While every pleasure is in itself good, not all
pleasure are to be chosen, since certain pleasures
are produced by means which entail annoyances
many times greater than the pleasure themselves
 There can be no life to come, since the soul is
of such a nature as to be dissolved
immediately on leaving the body into the
primordial tombs to which it was
compounded
 Death is a threat to one’s peace of mind
 Marriage is a threat to one’s peace of mind
 Virtue in itself ha no value if it does not serve

as a means to gain happiness

 Feelings (pathe) can tell the individual what

brings about pleasure and what brings about

pain
 Misconceptions Towards
Epicureanism
 There is largely a misunderstanding of the Epicurean due
to the fact that it posits pleasure as the ultimate good
(telos)
 It is commonly misunderstood as a doctrine that

advocates the partaking pleasures such as constant

partying, orgasmic sexual excess and expensive food,
which should not be the case
 It is regarded as ataraxia (tranquility or peace of mind,

freedom from pain) and aponia (absence of bodily pain)

combined to be the height of happiness
 Sample; excess drinking is contrary to the attainment of

ataraxia and aponia, prudence is therefore an important

virtue in seeking pleasure
 Utilitarianism
 An ethical doctrine that the moral worth of an
action is solely determined by its contribution to
overall utility/value
 Utility thus have a form of consequentialism
 The term utility has been thought of various
thinkers as happiness, pleasure, or well-being,
while there is tendency to consider only the well-
being of humans when interpreting utilitarianism;
utilitarians count the interest of any and all sentient
beings when asserting overall utility.
◦ Consequently the well being of animals and possibly even
extraterrestrial beings have importance to utilitarians
Development of the moral theory
of utilitarianism

Jeremy Bentham John Stuart Mill

1748 - 1832 1806 - 1873
 Jeremy Bentham
 Advocator of hedonism
 Hs work Principle of Utility promotes the greatest good for

the greatest number

 He stressed that an action is good if it increases pleasure,

bad if it increases pain

 an action is good if it produces the greatest happiness for

the greatest number

 He developed a happiness calculus as a tool for weighing

up the consequential pleasure and pain of an action in

order to deduce the moral course of action
 He designed a prison where punishment would be

measured out according to the amount of pain caused by

the offender
 John Stuart Mill
 His father James Mill was the supporter of
Bentham, a significant philosopher in his day
 John Stuart Mill was educated according to

Bentham’s principles and much of his father’s

work was summarized by him while still in his
teens
 His famous short work, Utilitarianism, he

stressed that cultural intellectual and spiritual

pleasures are of greater value than mere
physical pleasure
 Basic Concepts of
Utilitarianism
 The doctrine of utility is that the good is of
pleasure whatever brings the greatest happiness
to the greatest number of people
 The only purpose for which political power can
be rightfully exercised over any member of a
civilized community, against his will, is to
prevent harm to others
 The moral thing to do is the maximization and
minimization of pain
 It is immoral to harvest healthy people’s organs
to be given to sick people
 The well being of all sentient things (to
include the animals) deserve equal
consideration with that given to human
beings, thus it is often immoral to harm an
animal even if the animal itself is not given a
moral status
 All societies are equally important. Viewing

oneself as equal to others in one’s society

and at the same time viewing one’s society as
fundamentally superior to other societies may
cause an uncomfortable disagreement
 The core tenet of
utilitarianism
 Everybody’s interest should be considered
equally when making decision
 Empiricism Philosophy of
Human Person
 Etymological root of the term empiricism
◦ Latin word experiente
 experience
◦ Greek and Roman usage empiric
 physician whose skill was derived from practical
experience as opposed to instruction in theory
 History
 Until 20th century, the term empiricism was
applied to the view held chiefly by the
English philosopher of the 17th, 18th and 19th
century
 The doctrine of empiricism was formulated by

John Locke in the 17th century

◦ Argued that the human mind is a tabularasa on
which experiences leave their marks
◦ It denies that human have innate ideas or that
anything is knowable without reference to
experience
Basic Concept of Empiricism
 All knowledge is based on experiences, not
on spontaneous ideas or priori thought
(innate ideas). Experience becomes the sole
basis of real knowledge and reason is only
secondary
 Empiricism does not hold that we have

empirical knowledge automatically. Rather for

any knowledge to be properly inferred or
deduced, it is to be gained ultimately from
one’s sense-based experience
 Philosophers Associated with
Empiricism
 John Locke
 Aristotle
 St. Thomas Aquinas
 Francis Bacon
 Thomas Hobbes
 George Berkeley
 David Hume
 John Stuart Mill
 George Berkeley
1685-1753
 In his work Treatise Concerning the Principles of
Human Knowledge
 He stressed a very extreme form of empiricism
 He stressed that things only exist either as result of

their being perceived or by virtue of the fact that

they are an entity the perceiving
 He hold that God fills in for humans by doing the

perceiving whenever humans are not around to do

it.
 He further pointed out that any order humans may

see in nature is the language or handwriting of God.

 David Hume
1711-1776
 He was a Scottish Philosopher who maintained that all
knowledge, even the most basic beliefs about the natural
world, cannot be conclusively established by reason
 He maintained that man’s belief are more a result of

accumulated habits, developed in response to accumulated

sense experiences
 He argued that there is no certainty that man’s future will

resemble his past.

 He stated that such things as belief in an external world

and belief in the existence of the self were not rationally

justifiable
 These beliefs were to be accepted nonetheless because of

their profound basis in instinct and custom

 Thomas Aquinas
1225-1274
 The father of Thomistic school of philosophy
and foremost classical proponent of natural
theology
 He is one of the 33 Doctors of the Church

and considered as the greatest church

theologian
 St. Thomas Aquinas
 The angelic doctor
 Italian Catholic theologian and philosopher
 Member of Dominican order
 A student of Albert the Great
 Lecturer at University of Paris and at the court

of Pope Alexander IV at the University of

Naples
 A great thinker and writer and one of the

popular scholasticism of the Middle Ages –

Golden Age of the Church
 Works
 Summa Contra Gentiles – a defense of
Christianity against the Arabs
 Summa Theologica – greatest work,

unfinished when he died

 As a Philosopher
 He makes a clear distinction between philosophy
and theology
 In his theory of knowledge, he is firm on the fact

that there are no innate ideas, but that all

knowledge must be proceed first from the senses
 In his metaphysics, he talks of man as the

existent being in his private world and of God, in

whom essence and existence are one.
 He assumes Aristotle’s distinction between the

potential (man can be perfected) and the actual

(God who is already absolutely perfect)
 In his Theodicy, he presents proof of God
existence whom he calls the Unmoved Mover
and the Final Cause
 He develops a complete moral system in the

Summa Theologica
 His world on the science has brought home

the dependence of the universe on its creator

 His philosophical method perfect the method

of medieval scholar.
◦ He makes both deductive and inductive reasoning,
is unsurpassed in his power of synthesis and proves
in his arguments that reason and faith can lead to
truth.
 Basic Concept of Aquinas on the
Nature of Man
 Human beings have the natural capacity to know things
without special divine revelation even though such
revelation occurs from time to time
 We are able to know about God through his creation.
Thus we can speak of God’s goodness only by
understanding that goodness as applied to humans is
similar to, but not identical with, the goodness of God
 Man must observe 4 cardinal virtues as
◦ Prudence
◦ Temperance
◦ Justice
◦ Fortitude
 These virtues are revealed in nature and are binding on everyone
 There are 3 theological virtues should also be
observed by every man;
◦ Faith
◦ Hope
◦ Charity
 There are 4 kinds of law
◦ Eternal law
 Governs all creation on earth
◦ Natural law
 Governs man participation in the eternal law and can be
discovered by human reason
 It states that good is to be done and promoted and evil is to be
avoided
 The desires to live and to procreate are based on human values
◦ Human law
◦ Divine law
 Human beings have no duty of charity to
animals because they are not persons but it
would be unlawful to use them for food, but
this does not give men license to be cruel to
them
 Rational thinking and the study of nature like

revelation, are valid ways to understand God

for God reveals himself through nature so for
a man to study nature is to study God
 Man uses his reason to grasp the truth about

God and to experience salvation through the

truth
 The goal of human existence is union and
eternal fellowship with God. This goal can be
achieved through beatific vision – an event
which a person experiences perfect, unending
happiness by comprehending the very
essence of God. This vision which occurs
only after death is a gift from God to those
who experienced salvation and redemption
through Jesus Christ while living on earth
 A person’s will must be ordered toward right

things, such as charity, peace and holiness as

a way to happiness
 Aristotle
 384 – 322 BC
 Born at Stagira in northern Greece
 Scientist, Philosopher, Researcher, Writer and

Teacher
 At 17th was Plato’s student at the academy
 Where he taught until his teacher’s death
 Went to Asia Minor where he became the

tutor of Alexander of Macedonia who became

the Alexander the Great
 Athens
 Upon his return to Athens he founded the
school – Lyceum
 He left only when he feared persecution from

Athenians inspired by anti-Macedonian

feelings upon death of Alexander
 Died at the age of 62
 Most productive/creative of the Greek
philosopher
 His philosophy was largely influenced by 3

factors in his life

◦ 1. his father is a court physician from whom he got
his interest in biology and science in general
◦ 2. Plato and his stay at the Academy
◦ 3. Alexander the Great who advanced his interest in
botany and zoology which study to know man
better and who got him involved in the constitution
and the government of the Greek states
 It remains to Aristotle, to define man as a
rational animal
 His ideas on almost everything that concern

man have influenced Aquinas as well as

philosophers beyond the Middle Ages
 Man is not the center of the universe but

Man is only a part of it

◦ It is the cosmos that is the focal point
◦ Aristotle called it as geocentric spherical system
 Basic Concept of Aristotle
 Ultimate/final reality in ideas is knowable only
through reflection and reason. Ultimate reality in
physical object is knowable through experience.
 In living creatures, from is identified with the soul;
plants had the lowest kinds of souls, animals had
higher souls which could feel and humans alone had
rational, reasoning souls
 The universe had never had a beginning and would
never end; it is eternal
 Everything in nature has its end and function, and
nothing is without its purpose. Man is created for a
purpose
 If there were no change in the universe, there
would be no time since the counting of
motion depends for its existence on a
counting mind. If there were no human minds
to count, there could be no time
 Mind and body are unified but they are not

the products of psychological conditions of

body. The soul manifest its activity in certain
faculties which correspond with the stages of
biological development. In humans, the soul
manifest its activity in human reason
 There are five special senses.
◦ Touch is the rudimentary
◦ Hearing, the most instructive
◦ Sight, the most enabling.
 The organs in these senses never acts directly, but
they are affected by some medium such as air.
◦ Even touch, that seems to act by actual contact, probably
involves some vehicle of communication.
 The heart is the central sense organ because it
recognizes the common qualities which are involved in
all particular objects of sensation.
◦ It in the sense which being us conscious of sensation.
 It acts before the mind, that means it hold up the
objects of our knowledge and enable us to distinguish
between the reports of the various human sense.
 Imagination is the process by which an
impression of the senses is pictured and retained
before the mind and is accordingly the basis of
memory. Illusions and dreams are both alike due
to an excitement in the organ of sense similar to
that which would be caused by the actual
pressure of the sensible phenomena
 Reason deals with the abstract and ideals aspect.

Reason is the source of general ideas but it is

only potentially. Senses deal with the concrete
and material aspects of phenomena. Active
reason, not passive reason, makes the world
intelligible and makes ideas accessible to
thought.
 Human aspirations and desires have some final
pursuit-their chief end is happiness. Happiness
begins from the facts of personal experience; it must
be something practical in humans. True happiness
lies in the outworking of the true soul and self
continued throughout a lifetime
 The human soul has an irrational elements which is

shared with animals (such as desire) and a rational

element which is distinctly human. The irrational
element is the vegetative faculty (nutrition, growth)
and the appetitive faculty (emotions and desires, such
as joy, grief, hope and fear). The rational element is
the ability to control these desires with the help of
reason. Man’s desires are not instinctive, but learned
and are the outcome of both teaching and practice
 The doctrine of the mean states that moral
virtues are desire-regulating character traits
which are at a mean between more extreme
character traits (or vice)
◦ For example, if we develop the virtue of courage, if
an excessive character trait is develop, it becomes a
rash (it is a vice), if we develop a deficient character
trait, cowardice is developed (it is also a vice). The
virtue of courage then lies at the mean between the
excessive and deficient character traits
 The truly good person is a person with a
perfect insight and a person of perfect insight
is also perfectly good
 A slave is a piece of live property having no

existence except in relation to his master

 Wealth is everything whose value can be

measured in terms of money; but it is the use

of the money than the possession of the
commodities which constitute riches
 Francis Bacon
1561-1626
 English philosopher, lawyer, essayist,
historian and champion of modern science
 Born in London to a prominent and well-

respected family
 Major works;

◦ Essays
 The Advancement of Learning
 Cogitita et Visa
 Novum Organum
 Bacon’s Concept of Man
 Knowledge is the power of establishing the domination of
man over earth for knowledge is power
 To arrive at knowledge, man must study natures with the

intention of grasping their forces. Nature are the natural

phenomena of heat, sound, light, etc., forms are the
imminent forces of the natural phenomena
 Human mind must be free of all prejudices (idols) and pre-

conceived attitudes because they prevent successful study of

natural phenomena. There are four prejudices of human mind
◦ Prejudices arising from human nature (idols of tribe)
◦ Prejudices coming form psychic condition of the human soul (idols of
the cave)
◦ Prejudices resulting from social relationship (idols of the marketplace)
◦ Prejudices deriving from false philosophical system (idols of the
theatre)
 Thomas Hobbes
1588-1679
 Born in Wiltshire, England on April 5, 1588
 Works;

◦ Leviathan
◦ Human Nature
◦ De Corpore
◦ Politics
◦ The Elements of Law
Basic Concept of Man by Hobbes
 In the natural condition of mankind, some men may
be stronger or more intelligent than other. None is
so strong and smart us to go beyond a fear of
violent death. When threatened with death, man in
his natural state cannot help but defend himself in
any way possible. Self-defense against violent death
is the highest human necessity and right are borne
of necessity
 In a state of nature, all men have the right or license

to everything in the world. Due to the scarcity of

things in the world, there is a constant, and right-
based war of all against all-the survival of the fittest
 Life is in the state of nature is lonely, poor malicious,
wild and short
 Man has a self-interested and materialistic desire to
end war. The passion that incline men to peace are
fear of death, desire of such things as are necessary
to commodious living, and a hope of their industry
to obtain them
 Men form peaceful societies by entering into a social
contract. Society is a population beneath an authority
to whom all men in that society covenant just enough
of their natural right for the authority, to be able to
ensure internal peace and a common defense
 As long as one man des no harm to any other, the
sovereign should keep its hands off him.
 Rationalism Philosophy of
Human Person
 Rationalism
◦ Is a philosophical view that appeals to reason as a source of
knowledge
◦ In a technical terms, it is a theory in which the criteria of truth is
not sensory but intellectual and deductive
◦ The rationalists believed that reason has superiority over other
ways of acquiring knowledge to the radical position that reason is
the unique path of knowledge
◦ It believed that man could by his own reason improve himself and
his instructions, in order to bring about the general welfare. The
rationalist upheld the right of each individual to his own opinion,
liberty of conscience and freedom of thought. The purpose of
this is to develop an individual who could control all the aspect of
his life by reason, suppress passions and display of feelings, to
live in a highly artificial theory
 Baruch Spinoza
(1632 – 1677)
 A Dutch philosopher of jewish origin
 Great rationalist during the 12th century
philosophy
 His writings, like those of his fellow rationalist
reveal considerable mathematical training and
facility,
 Main interest were in ethics, epistemology and
metaphysics
 Major works;
◦ Ethics
◦ Opera Posthuma
 Basic Concepts of Espinoza
 He rejected the propositional nature of special revelation in
the Scripture. He rejected the existence of miracles for
miracles do not happen.
 He argued that God and nature were two names for the

same reality; namely the single substance that underlies

the universe and of which lesser entities are actually made
or modified
 God does not rule men and things but God is part of the

system of which everything in nature is a part. Thus God is

the natural world and has no personality
 Everything that happens in the universe occurs through the

operation of necessity. Everything necessarily happens the

way it does. There is no free will
 Reason could not defeat emotion; on the contrary emotion

can be displaced of overcome by a stronger emotion or

active emotion
 Gottfield Wilhelm Leibniz
(1646-1716)
 German polymath who wrote mostly in French
and Latin
 Born in Leipzig, Germany
 Major works;
◦ On the Art of Combination
◦ Combinatorial Art and Theodicee
 Liebniz Philosophy
 Wide range of thought about the fundamental
philosophical ideas and principles including
truth, necessary and contingent truth, the
principle of sufficient reason, the principle of
pre-established harmony
 The Principle of Pre-established
harmony
 States that God constructed the universe in
such a way that it corresponds to mental and
physical events occurring simultaneously of a
sort and that such calculations could resolve
many differences of opinion
 He even thought that symbols are important for

human understanding
 He attached so much importance to the

invention of goal notation that he attributed all

his discoveries in Mathematics to human
understanding
 Rene Descartes – Rationalist
1596-1650
 French mathematician
 Father of the Modern Philosophy
 The first modern Rationalist
 He studied in Jesuit school, but he could not just accept
what he was taught
 He evolved his own philosophical system
 He put aside all books and was in doubt of everything
unless it was supported by “unquestionable and absolute
proof”
 Formulated his “Cogito, ergo sum” (I think therefore I am)
 Distinguish between spirit and matter, between thinking
and extending substance.
 Descartes’ Philosophy
 He believed that when a man, he is thinking,
for doubting is the starting point of thinking.
 So without any reference to the eternal world

he was already sure that he had found a basic

truth that could not be questioned
 Once a person is already thinking he could no

longer doubt that he existed

 Believe that innate ideas or pure ideas the

very attributes of the human mind

 Plato
 428 – 348 BC
 A pupil of Socrates
 Found a school – Academy in Athens
 Bias against democracy.
 Aristocratic upbringing and immersed in the

culture of his day

 Plan, supported by relatives to enter politics

but abandoned after what he saw to

work/thought to Socrates
 Salient points of Philosophy
 Knowledge is not sense-perception, not what simply
appears to me
 Same as Socrates – virtue is knowledge and the source

of knowledge is virtue
 It is not abstract but concrete knowledge, not theoretical

but practical knowledge

 A man must know what is good so that he may do

good
 Virtue can be taught, and there are 4 cardinal virtues

◦ Wisdom
◦ Courage/Bravery
◦ Fortitude/Strength
◦ Temperance
 Ethical Positions in the Early Dialogues
 "Socratic" dialogues include the following moral or ethical views:
 A rejection of retaliation, or the return of harm for harm or evil for evil
(Crito 48b-c, 49c-d;Republic I.335a-e);
 The claim that doing injustice harms one's soul, the thing that is most
precious to one, and, hence, that it is better to suffer injustice than to do
it (Crito 47d-48a; Gorgias 478c-e, 511c-512b; Republic I.353d-354a);
 Some form of what is called "eudaimonism," that is, that goodness is to be
understood in terms of conduciveness to human happiness, well-being, or
flourishing, which may also be understood as "living well," or "doing well"
(Crito 48b; Euthydemus 278e, 282a; Republic I. 354a);
 The view that only virtue is good just by itself; anything else that is good
is good only insofar as it serves or is used for or by virtue
(Apology 30b; Euthydemus 281d-e);
 The view that there is some kind of unity among the virtues: In some
sense, all of the virtues are the same ( Protagoras 329b-333b, 361a-b);
 The view that the citizen who has agreed to live in a state must always
obey the laws of that state, or else persuade the state to change its laws,
or leave the state (Crito 51b-c, 52a-d).
 Plato’s Ideas of Man
 3 best known works in dialogue
◦ Symposium – speaks of everything on earth is but
shadow of what is in the mind of God, the beauty of
the earth but a shadow of divine Bounty/reward
◦ The Republic – about the state and ideal
government (the Allegory of the cave – book VII)
◦ Phaedrus – about the nature of love
 Plato’s has shown his interest in man as
knower and as possessor of an immortal soul
 Much have been of his theory of knowledge,

his main contribution to philosophic truth

Allegory of the Cave - Education
Republic book VII
◦ Symbols
◦ Cave – people (knowledge comes from what we see and hear)
empirical – cave of misunderstanding
◦ Shadow – perceptions of those who believe empirical
knowledge
◦ Game – represent how people believe that one people can be a
master when they have a knowledge of empirical world
◦ Escape – seeking knowledge outside the cave and outside the
senses
◦ Sun – philosophical truth and real knowledge
◦ Return – people are scared of knowing philosophical truths
and do not trust philosophy
◦ Dark cave – world of ignorance
◦ Chain prisoner – ignorant people in a ignorant world
◦ Major philosophical assumptions; his belief that the
world revealed by our senses is not the real world
but only a poor copy of it, and that the real world
can only be apprehended/detained intellectually
◦ Idea of knowledge cannot be transferred from
teacher to student, but rather that education
consists in directing student’s minds towards what
is real and important and allowing them to
apprehend it for themselves.
 His Philosophy
 Under the usual haphazard methods of childrearing,
accident of birth often restrict the opportunities for
personal development
 Faculty upbringing prevents most people from
achieving everything of which they are capable
 The promise of easy fame or easy wealth distracts
some of the most able young people from the rigor’s
of intellectual pursuits
 People with the best ability and natural disposition
must receive the best education, engaging in a
regimen of mental discipline that grows more strict
with every passing year of their lives
 The highest goal of man in education is knowledge of
the Good. Good is directly apprehended by intuition
 The fundamental capacity of human reason is to
comprehend the true nature of reality
 The reality must be something in the ideal order, not
necessary in the things themselves, but rather above
them, in a world by itself.
 Ideas are the foundation and justification of scientific
knowledge. Reality does not change, for the ideas in
man are immutable/unchangeable
 Of all the ideas, the ideas of the beautiful shines out
through the phenomenal well more clearly than any
other; hence the beginning of all philosophical
activity is the love and admiration of the beautiful
Immanuel Kant
 IMMANUEL KANT
Autobiography
 German philosopher
 (1724–1804)
 Kant was born, lived, and died in the city of

East Prussia.
 East Prussia was partitioned between Poland

and the Soviet Union, with the northern half

held as a part of metropolitan Russia.
 Came from a strict and religious family
but don’t have principle in any religious belief
 His early years spent almost every midday

and evening outside his house in social

activities
◦ frequently taking part in a card party
and only getting home around
midnight. If he was not busy at
meals, he ate in the inn at a table
sought out by a number of cultured
people.
 AGE OF ENLIGHTENMENT
 A philosophical movement which dominated
the world of ideas in Europe in the 18th
century.
 The Enlightenment included a range of

ideas centered on reason as the primary

source of authority and legitimacy, and
came to advance ideals such as liberty,
progress, tolerance, fraternity,
constitutional government and separation
of church and state.
 INFLUENCIAL WORKS IN
PHILOSOPHY
CRITIQUE OF PURE REASON
(1781)
CRITIQUE OF PRACTICAL

REASON (1788)
CRITIQUE OF JUDGMENT

(1790)
TRANSCENDENTAL IDEALISM
 Kant to characterize his system as 
transcendental idealism, that we have a
subjective representation of such things,
without the real intuition that we have of
physical objects.
 The reality revealed by morality is thus for

Kant a matter of faith, an inference from the

Moral Law which is itself present to us with
an mysterious authority.
 TRASCENDENTAL IDEALISM
 Subjective idealism (dependent on the
attitudes, preferences or interests of a person
or a group of persons)
 He tried to reconcile RATIONALISM and
◦ Religious Belief
◦ Individual Freedom
◦ Political Authority
 PRACTICAL REASON
 The faculty for determining the will, which
operates by applying a general principle of
action to one's particular situation.
 For Kant, a principle can be either a

mere maxim if it is based on the agent's

desires or a law if it applies universally.
 PRACTICAL REASON
 The faculty of moral consciousness, the moral
law of which everyone is immediately aware,
makes it possible to know things as they are
 The supreme rational expression of this is

the "Postulates of Practical Reason," the

"Ideas" of God, freedom, and immortality
are required as conditions of the Moral
Law.
Classification of Human Acts
In Relation to Morality
a. Moral
b. Immoral
c. Amoral
 KANT ARGUMENTATION
Historicalreligion is wrong
in the content of what they
believe
A great need is to promote

ethical behavior
◦CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
HOW HUMAN BEING COULD
BE GOOD AND KIND?
 THE HUMAN WELL BEING
AND THE GOOD LIFE
Examine of human being in political and
religious writing
 THE HIGHEST GOOD (summum
bonum) FOR HUMAN BEING

VIRTUE HAPPINESS

The highest good for human being

is VIRTUE attaining HAPPINESS at
the same time
 PRACTICAL REASON MUST BE IN
THE HIGHEST GOOD
 Good actions depend on the highest good to
make them worthwhile
 HAPPINESS
Celebrating with others their experience of
joy and happiness in different occasions.
 OPPOSITE
VIRTUE AND HAPPINESS
 Butno necessary connection between
the two its opposite

 Doingwhat is right is the opposition

that what would makes us happy – NO
CRIMES

 Generationof today likes happiness

than doing good - CRIMES
 Focus: on his Political writing in
VIRTUE
 MAN
◦ To develop virtue is CHARACTER
 VIRTUE IS THE STRENGHT TO POSSES
INDIVIDUAL TO RESIST BODILY INCLINATION
(preference) AND DO WHAT IS RIGHT SIMPLY
BECAUSE IT IS RIGHT THING TO DO.

 Sample
 WANT /NEEDS (no contentment – crime)
 Stealing and cheating is wrong
 UNIQUENESS OF MAN
Thecapacity to virtue is
unique to human being
because human being is
AFFECTED BUT NOT
DETERMINED/SINGLE
MINDED by bodily desired
 DIFFERENCES
 ANIMAL  MAN
◦ Non rational animal ◦ Those of DIVINE
whose will BEING whose will is
determined by bodily determined by
desired REASON
◦ Reason is the human
intelligent
 3 IDEAS OF REASON
GOD
FREEDOM
IMMORTALITY
 KANT CLAIMS
The true vocation of reason is not
to help us to become happy but
make us become worthy of
happiness assisting us in
becoming VIRTUES.
Happiness
◦ World temporary
◦ Afterlife permanent
 VIRTUES AND PRACTICAL LAW
 The only possible object of the practical law
is the Good, since the Good is always an
appropriate object for the practical law.
 KANT ASSOCIATES VIRTUES
 MORALITY
 REASON
 FREEDOM

◦ One necessary condition of

worthy of the action that they
perform free
 Are we FREE?
 KANT: FREEDOM
 AN INDIVIDUAL ACTION IS FREE IF HIS OWN
REASON GENERATED THE MAXIM OR
PRINCIPLES FROM WHICH THAT ACTION WAS
PERFORMED
◦ It means that even an individual was motivated by
bodily desire by hunger, lust or familiarized of
certain principle not free and not morally praise.
 Sample
 Helping elderly person, the reason you help the person
because your mother raised you to help the less fortunate
then that is not free will, not morally praiseworthy (even
you did the right things)
 GOOD PLEASURE AND EVIL
 The only alternative is to mistakenly understand the
Good as the search of pleasure and evil as the
production of pain to oneself.
 Confusion between the Good and pleasure also
arises when we confuse the concepts of good versus
evil with the concepts of good versus bad.
◦ The good, when compared with the bad, is really just
pleasure.
 But this is not the case with the good, in the sense
of morally good.
◦ A morally good person may suffer from a painful disease
(bad), but he does not therefore become a bad (evil) person.
◦ If a morally bad person is punished for his crimes, it may be
bad (painful) for him,
 but good and just in the moral sense.
 FREEDON
Must have the right
PRINCIPLE or MORAL LAW
Kant connect it with

REASON
 The dictate of reason
CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
 Allprinciple of action can be
tested against the categorical
imperative
◦ to see if they pass or consistently
demands of morality and can be
acted on
◦ Or failed and should be
discarded.
 MORAL RATIONALISM
 The idea that we can know what is right or
wrong only through abstract reflection

 WHAT IS RIGHT?
 WHAT IS WRONG? 
 Moral Goodness
rule of the categorical imperative
 More basic to ethics than good
consequences, and that it is the right
motivations
 An obligation to duty
◦ which is criteria for defining a person as good
 Takes a position on the important question of
how we can distinguish what is right from
what is wrong
 CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE
 ACT ONLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH THAT
MAXIM WHICH YOU CAN AT THE SAME TIME
WILL THAT IT CAN BECOME A UNIVERSAL LAW

 Or DO UNTO OTHERS AS YOU WOULD HAVE

THEM DO UNTO TO YOU
 COMPARISON TO THE BELIEF OF
OTHER RELIGION
 Buddhism
 Taoism
 Confucianism

 Believe in KARMA
 MAXIM
 ACT SO AS TO TREAT PEOPLE ALWAYS AS END
IN THEMESELVES NEVER AS HERE MEANS

 Universal love
◦ Love of neighbor as mirror of self
 Challenge to the
VIRTUES PERSON
Not only to develop reason
so that to identify what
principle consistent with
the categorical imperatives
He/she may ACT according

to appropriate principle
 KANT CLAIM
 The development of REASON comes through
EDUCATION
◦ as a result that occur for an
individual to be a member of CIVIL
COMMUNITY leaving in CIVIL
SOCIETY
◦ Added benefits of helping to secure
the external condition necessary for
individual person to become VIRTUES
REASON
 INDIVIDUAL FEARS
 Individual leaves constant FEAR of
◦ Violent death
◦ Lack of food that they don’t know how to get their
food for their next meal
 Can’t ACT VIRTUOUSLY because they lacks the
necessary degree of external freedom.
 Sample
 Experience in Smokey mountain
 After an individual has develop the appropriate degree
of reason to identify principle upon which he must
have
 ACTING ON THE PRINCIPLE
 Kant introduce the concept of SELF RESPECT
 Argues the motivation to act appropriately

must be internal and claims the greatest

punishment for bad behavior is that
individual feels worthless and shameful in his
own eyes
◦ Sample
 I can’t believe that I did that
VIRTUES PERSON MUST HAVE
 STRENGHT and SELF RESPECT
◦Not give into bodily
inclinations
 ADOPTS GOOD PRINCIPLE

FREELY
 GOOD PRICIPLE ACTS FREELY
 ACTS ON GOOD PRINCIPLE
 VIRTUE
 Is only half of the highest good
 The other half is happiness

◦ Happiness gives us
 religious writings incite on how to believe
 How individual hope to unite VIRTUE and HAPPINESS
 Even though the arrow is in opposite direction but still
can unite each other
 SOLUTION
To attain the highest good,
possible only if there is
◦SUPREME CREATOR
 Who is able to guarantee
the co-existence of
VIRTUE and HAPPINESS
VIRTUE AND HAPPINESS = FAITH
 We ought to realize that highest good that we
ought to implies we can realize only if GOD
EXISTS and can unite virtue and happiness
 It is reasonable to have FAITH in the

existence of the SUPREME CREATOR

 God and divine creation cannot be part of

any truly  scientific  theory because both

involve "unconditioned" realities, while
science can only deal
with  conditioned  realities
 UNDERSTANDING OF A HIGHEST
GOOD
 Human being must be connected to nature of
being RATIONAL and SENSIBLE
 REASON
 Develop by living in the civil society
 It allows to generate the MORAL LAW
 To determine and consistent to the PRINCIPLE

OF ACTION
 Act on the principle.
 Need to set aside the DESIRE
 VIRTUE AND HAPPINESS
 Though we may not be rewarded with
happiness in the phenomenal world, we may
still be rewarded in an afterlife which can be
posited as existing in the noumenal world.
 Since it is pure practical reason, and not just

the maxims of impure desire-based practical

reason, which demands the existence of such
an afterlife, immortality, union with God and so
on, then these things must be necessary for the
faculty of reason as a whole and therefore they
command assent.
Criticism Against Rationalism
 The empiricist attacked the rationalists
arguing that the content of the so-called
innate/inborn ideas or priori ideas was
actually learned through one’s experience,
though perhaps largely un-reflected by the
person.
 Thus we learn vast amounts of knowledge

through our family, education, and society

which comes very early in life and cannot be
counted as innate
 Response of Rationalism to
Empiricism
 There are many concepts widely used in
Mathematics and Science that could not be
discovered by experience alone
 Thus, the rationalists, therefore, pointed out

that empiricism could not stand alone, but

required large amount of truth to be accepted
by the proper use of reason
Midterm Examination
Philosophy of Human
Person
9 to 10th week
VIRTUE

G O D
HHUSHA

RELATING
 Naturalism
 It is a philosophy that emphasizes the
preservation of the natural goodness of an
individual and the formation of a society
based upon the recognition of natural rights
 It views that man, as he comes from nature, is

good but that he becomes evil (corrupted)

through contact with society
 It also emphasizes the necessity for man to be

free to develop his own natural impulses and to

grow up in society which he could engage
his activities in a natural manner
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau
June 28, 1712
 Jean-Jacques Rousseau was born to Isaac Rousseau and Suzanne Bernard in Geneva
 Early age he read ancient Greek and Roman literature such as the  Lives of Plutarch.
 Here he met Louise de Warens, who was instrumental in his conversion to

Catholicism, which forced him to forfeit his Genevan citizenship (in 1754 he would
make a return to Geneva and publicly convert back to Calvanism).
 In 1742 Rousseau went to Paris to become a musician and composer.
 He worked on several articles on music for Diderot and d’Alembert’s  Encyclopedie.

In 1750 he published the Discourse on the Arts and Sciences

 The work was widely read and was controversial.
 To some, Rousseau’s condemnation of the arts and sciences in the  First

Discoursemade him an enemy of progress altogether, a view quite at odds with that
of the Enlightenment project.
 Music was still a major part of Rousseau’s life at this point, and several years later,

his opera, Le Devin du Village (The Village Soothsayer) was a great success and
earned him even more recognition.
 The General Will
 Introduced in the Discourse on Political
Economy, is further developed in the Social
Contract although it remains ambiguous and
difficult to interpret.
 The most pressing difficulty that arises is in

the tension that seems to exist between

liberalism and communitarianism.
 Argues that following the general will allows

for individual diversity and freedom

 General will also encourages the well-being
of the whole, and therefore can conflict with
the particular interests of individuals.
 This tension has led some to claim that

Rousseau’s political thought is hopelessly

inconsistent, although others have attempted
to resolve the tension in order to find some
type of middle ground between the two
positions.
 Despite these difficulties, however, there are
some aspects of the general will that Rousseau
clearly articulates.
◦ First, the general will is directly tied to Sovereignty:
but not Sovereignty merely in the sense of whomever
holds power.
 not sufficient for that power to be morally legitimate.
 True Sovereignty is directed always at the public good,
and the general will, therefore, speaks always infallibly to
the benefit of the people.
◦ Second, the object of the general will is always
abstract, or for lack of a better term, general.
 It can set up rules, social classes, or even a monarchial
government, but it can never specify the particular
individuals who are subject to the rules, members of the
classes, or the rulers in the government.
 The idea that the general will speaks to the
good of the society as a whole.
 “There is often a great deal of difference

between the will of all and the general will.

 The latter looks only to the common interest;

the former considers private interest and is

only a sum of private wills.
 But take away from these same wills the

pluses and minuses that cancel each other

out, and the remaining sum of the differences
is the general will.”
 Most Important Work
 The Social Contract
◦ The basis for his concept of a legitimate political
order, he claimed that the state of nature eventually
degenerates into a violent condition without any law
or morality in which cave men most adopt institution
of law or perish/die.
◦ Because of the pressure that threatens both survival
and freedom, men joined together and made a social
contract by abandoning their claims of natural right
to preserve themselves and remain free.
◦ Thus they submit to the authority of the general will
of the people subordinating their individual will
 Realism
 It is more an educational philosophy which
advocates that education should be more
concerned with the abilities of human life so
as to prepare him for his duties in society
 It is a reaction opposing narrow humanism

and religious formalism

 2 distinct sets of
philosophical theories
 The nature of universal concepts
 Dealing with knowledge of objects in the

external world
 Realism in Modern
Philosophy
 It encompassing several movements whose
unity lies in a common rejection of the
philosophy of idealism
 John Milton
realism and humanism
 He was a poet who publish his work “Tractate
on England”
 The work contains some treatises on what

men should perform

 Education should enable man to perform

justly and skillfully and magnanimously so

that he will be fit to work in all offices both in
private and in times of peace and war
 Man
 Taught to prepare himself for actual living in a real world
 He advocated the grammar, classical literature and

foreign languages be taught to students especially for

boys
 The importance of fieldtrips is needed in the curriculum

so as to have contacts with men and things from all

sector of society
 History and politics should be offered to both girls and

boys
 Asserted that man should e trained on the use of sense

perception than on memory activities because

knowledge comes primarily through the senses
 Condemmed
 The use of excessive and harsh discipline based
on the road because this will only turn the school
as a place of terror
 He lambasted the use of too much memorization

without comprehension
 The medium of instruction in all school should

be the vernacular because this conform the

nature and children can early understand it
 The induction method of teaching is more

functional as this is based on the perception of

natural objects
 John Amos Comenius
Realism and Humanism
 He was a Moravian bishop who was
considered the first educator to advocate the
use of visual aids in classroom teaching
 His philosophy is contained in his book Orbis

Pictus Sensualism or the World of Sensible

Things Pictured”
 Stages of life
 The first stage in the life of a child - He stressed that at
home, even with the absence of books children should
begin to learn basic facts of nature and basic geography
 The second stage - children should be taught in the
mother tongue and be free to experience the world
around them study not only the 3RS (reading, writing
and arithmetic) but also history, geography and drawing
mechanical arts
 The third stage – colleges and universities should
provide the development of men in all areas of human
knowledge like philosophy, religion, law and logic
 The fourth stage – teaching institution or a didactic
college where men are taught on scientific research and
discovery
Comenious Principles of Teaching
 Older individuals should stay longer in school while children
and younger ones should be in school for a short period of the
day
 Each class should have uniformity in textbook and test and
should only have one teacher
 The morning hours should be devoted for intellectual subjects
and in the afternoon period physical and aesthetic subjects
should be given
 No subject matter should be left unless thoroughly mastered
 Children should be taught in a natural manner and in
accordance with their natural interest
 The level of teaching should be suited to the children’s level of
understanding
 The use of the vernacular can make learning effective
 Francis Bacon
Realism and Humanism
 Known for his “Baconian Method” in which he
postulated that a researcher must be free
from all idols (prejudices and biases),
assemble the material resulting from his
observations and draw his general principle
from the comparison of cases where in
certain effect has taken place or not
 Man’s Knowledge of Nature
 The only real and fruitful knowledge and
should be the only basis for scientific nature
 He was known for his effort to make scientific

investigation practical rather than

metaphysical
 Realism
 They think that Mankind is not inherently benevolent/kind
but rather self-centered and competitive.
 This perspective, which is shared by theorists such as 
Thomas Hobbes, views human nature as egocentric (not
necessarily selfish) and conflictual unless there exist
conditions under which humans may coexist.
 It is also disposed of the notion that an individual's
intuitive nature is made up of anarchy.
 In regards to self-interest, these individuals are self-
reliant and are motivated in seeking more power.
 They are also believed to be fearful.
 This view contrasts with the approach of liberalism to
international relations.
 Realism
 1. awareness or acceptance of the physical 
universe, events, etc, as they are, as 
opposed to the abstract or ideal
 2. awareness or acceptance of the facts and 

necessities of life; a practical rather 
than a moral or dogmatic view of things
 philosophy the thesis that general terms such as co

mmon nouns refer to entities that have a real
existence separate from individuals which fall
under under them
 philosophy   theory that physical objects 

continue to exist whether they are perceived or not.
 3 kinds of Realist
 Classical realists believe that it follows from
human nature
 Neorealists focus upon the structure of the

anarchic state system

 Neoclassical realists believe that it is a result

of a combination of the two and certain

domestic variables.
 Classical realism
 Classical realism states that it is
fundamentally the nature of humans that
pushes states and individuals to act in a way
that places interests over ideologies.
 Classical realism is an ideology defined as the

view that the "drive for power and the will to

dominate [that are] held to be fundamental
aspects of human nature"
 Liberal realism or the English
school or rationalism
 The English School holds that the
international system, while anarchical in
structure, forms a "society of states" where
common norms and interests allow for more
order and stability than that which may be
expected in a strict realist view.
 Prominent liberal realist:
 Hedley Bull – argued for both the existence of
an international society of states and its
perseverance even in times of great systemic
upheaval, meaning regional or so-called
"world wars"
 Neorealism or structural realism
 Neorealism derives from classical realism except that instead of
human nature, its focus is predominantly on the anarchic structure
of the international system.
 States are primary actors because there is no political monopoly on

force existing above any sovereign.

 While states remain the principal actors, greater attention is given

to the forces above and below the states through levels of analysis

 or structure-agency debate .
 The international system is seen as a  structure acting on the state
with individuals below the level of the state acting as  agency on the
state as a whole.
 While neorealism shares a focus on the  international system  with

the English School, neorealism differs in the emphasis it places on

the permanence of conflict.
 To ensure state security, states must be on constant preparation for

conflict through economic and military build-up.

 Prominent neorealists:
 Robert J. Art – neorealism
 Robert Gilpin – hegemonic theory
 Joanne Gowa – neorealism
 Robert Jervis – defensive realism
 John Mearsheimer – offensive realism
 Kenneth Waltz – structural realism
 Stephen Walt – defensive realism
 Neoclassical realism
 Neoclassical Realism can be seen as the third
generation of realism, coming after the
classical authors of the first wave (Thucydides
, Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes), and the
neorealists (esp. Kenneth Waltz).
 Its designation of "neoclassical", then, has a
double meaning:
◦ It offers the classics a renaissance;
◦ It is a synthesis of the neorealist and the classical
realist approaches.
 Realism is a tradition of international theory centered upon four
propositions

 The international system is anarchic.

◦ No actor exists above states, capable of regulating their
interactions; states must arrive at relations with other states on
their own, rather than it being dictated to them by some higher
controlling entity.
◦ The international system exists in a state of constant antagonism
 States are the most important actors.
 All states within the system are unitary, rational actors

◦ States tend to pursue self-interest.

◦ Groups strive to attain as many resources as possible
 The primary concern of all states is survival.
◦ States build up military to survive, which may lead to a 
security dilemma.
 Humanism
 It is a philosophical and literary movement which
originated in Italy in the 2nd half of the 14th century
 It recognized the value or dignity of man and

makes hum the measure of all things

 Its theme is human nature or human interest
 It entails a commitment to the search for the truth

and morality through human means in support of

human interest
 Humanism rejects transcendental justification such

as dependence on faith supernatural or divinely

revealed truths
 Humanism - term
 Signifies education of man
 A discipline that makes him different from

other animals
 Humanism is a rebirth
 A spirit that man had possessed, that
provided justification for men’s claim of
natural autonomy, allowing him to see
himself involved in nature
 It asserted that discipline alone can educate

man as such and put him in a position

effectively to exercise his freedom
 Freedom in Humanisn
 One that which man can and should exercise
in nature and in society
 Humanism defended man’s freedom to

project his life in the world in an autonomous

way
 Man has the capacity to form his world, to

vary it , and to better it absolutely

 Humanism Belief
 That the liberal arts (music, grammar,
rhetoric, oratory, history, poetry and many
other classical texts) should be studied and
practiced by all levels of society
 Humanism
 It is a philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value
and agency of human beings, individually and collectively, and
generally prefers critical thinking and evidence (rationalism, 
empiricism) over acceptance of dogma or superstition.
 The meaning of the term humanism has change according to the
successive intellectual movements which have identified with it.
 Humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of

human freedom and progress.

 In modern times, humanist movements are typically aligned with 

secularism, and today humanism typically refers to a non-theistic 

life stance centred on human agency and looking to science rather
than revelation from a supernatural source to understand the
world
 Humanists reacted against this utilitarian approach
and the narrow pedantry associated with it.
 They sought to create a citizenry (frequently
including women) able to speak and write with
eloquence and clarity and thus capable of
engaging the civic life of their communities and
persuading others to virtuous and prudent actions.
 This was to be accomplished through the study of
the studia humanitatis, today known as the 
humanities: grammar, rhetoric, history, poetry and
moral philosophy.
 As a program to revive the cultural – and
particularly the literary – legacy and moral
philosophy of classical antiquity
 Types of Humanist
Scholarly tradition
 Renaissance humanists
 Scholasticism focused on preparing men to

be doctors, lawyers or professional

theologians, and was taught from approved
textbooks in logic, natural philosophy,
medicine, law and theology.
 Renaissance humanists
 (often known as Classical Humanism or
simply Humanism):
 The initial flowering of humanist thought in

the 15th and 16th Centuries, in opposition

to the dominant Scholastic philosophy of the
day.
 Renaissance Humanists promoted human

worth and individual dignity, and believed

in the practice of the liberal arts for
all classes.
 Non-theistic worldviews
Secular humanists
 It is a comprehensive life stance or world view
 which embraces human reason, 
metaphysical naturalism, altruistic morality
 and distributive justice, and consciously
rejects supernatural claims, theistic faith and 
religiosity, pseudoscience, and superstition.
 Secular humanists
 The branch of Humanism that rejects theistic
 religious belief and adherence to belief in the existence
of a supernatural world.
 Secular Humanists (who are often scientists and
academics) generally believe that following humanist
principles leads to secularism (which asserts the right to
be free from religious rule and teachings), on the basis
that supernatural beliefs cannot be
supported using rational arguments, and therefore the
supernatural aspects of religiously associated activity
should be rejected.
 The term "humanism" in general usually refers to Secular
Humanism as a default meaning.
International Humanist and Ethical
Union (IHEU)
 The Humanist  The  is the world union of 117
Humanist, rationalist, 
"happy human" irreligious, 
logo atheistic, Bright, secular, 
Ethical Culture, and free thought
 organisations in 38 countries.
The "Happy Human" is the
official symbol of the IHEU as
well as being regarded as a
universally recognized symbol
for secular humanism.
 Humanism is a democratic and ethical life
stance, which affirms that human beings
have the right and responsibility to give
meaning and shape to their own lives.
 It stands for the building of a more

humane society through an ethic based

on human and other natural values in the
spirit of reason and free inquiry through
human capabilities. It is not theistic, and
it does not accept supernatural views of
reality.
 Religious humanists
 The branch of Humanism that considers itself
religious, or embraces some form of Theism, 
Deism or supernaturalism, without necessarily
being allied with organized religion.
 It is often associated with artists, scholars in the

liberal arts and liberal Christians (especially

Unitarian Universalists, Quakers, Anglicans and
Lutherans).
 Religious Humanists feel that Secular Humanism is

too coldly logical and ignores the full emotional

experience that makes humans human
 Religious humanists
 "Religious humanists" are non-superstitious people who nevertheless
see ethical humanism as their religion, and who seek to integrate
(secular) humanist ethical philosophy with congregational rituals
 centered on human needs, interests, and abilities.
 A unified Ethical Culture movement was first founded in 1876; its
founder, Felix Adler was a former member of the 
Free Religious Association, and conceived of Ethical Culture as a new
religion that would retain the ethical message at the heart of all
religions. Ethical Culture was religious in the sense of playing a defining
role in people's lives and addressing issues of ultimate concern.
 Nowadays religious humanists in the United States are represented by
organizations such as the American Ethical Union, and will simply
describe themselves as "ethical humanists" or "humanists".
 Secular humanists and religious humanists organize together as part of
larger national and international groupings, and differentiate themselves
primarily in their attitude to the promotion of humanist thinking.
 Post-Humanism
 A late 20th Century philosophy which
attempts to bring Renaissance Humanism up
to date in a modern technological world, and
to counter the allegations
of speciesism (discrimination in favor of one
species, usually the human species, over
others) and anthropocentrism (the belief
that human beings and human society are, or
should be, the central focus of existence)
which have been leveled at Humanism.
 Educational Humanism
 A current in education which began to dominate
school systems in the 17th Century.
 It held that the studies that develop human
intellect are those that make humans "most
truly human".
 It was based on the concept of faculty
psychology (which views the mind as a
collection of separate modules or distinct
intellectual faculties, such as the analytical, the
mathematical, the linguistic, etc), which has
been largely discredited in the 20th Century.
 Marxist Humanism
 A branch of Marxism that primarily focuses
on Marx's earlier writings, (especially
the "Economic and Philosophical
Manuscripts"  of 1844 in which he develops
his theory of alienation), as opposed to his
later works, which are considered to be
concerned more with his structural
conception of capitalist society.
 Integral Humanism
 The political philosophy developed by
the Jana Sangh movement in India in the
1960s, in opposition to Western political
philosophies which it sees as preoccupied
with materialism and over-looks of
the social well-being of the individual.
 It sees both Capitalism and Socialism as

essentially flawed, and as stimulating greed,

class antagonisms, exploitation and social
anarchy.
The Humanist Doctrine Of Man
 Skepticism
 The Greek term SKEPTEIN
◦ Means “to reflect or consider”
◦ Is used to refer to any view which involves or places
a premium on doubt and questioning
 Skepticism - Western
Philosophical Tradition
 Maintains that human beings can never arrive
at any kind of certain knowledge
 Unless man can know something absolutely

and with perfect certainly, then man can

know anything at all
 Skepticism is based on the
following principles
 There is no certainty in human knowledge
 Human knowledge is only probably true, that

is, true most of the time, or not true

 Knowledge has limitations
 Moral values are subjective or arbitrarily
 One must be cautious and suspend judgment

until one is certain of truth

 Knowledge can be obtained through

systematic doubt and continual testing

 Rene Descartes – Rationalist
1596-1650
 French mathematician
 Father of the Modern Philosophy
 He studied in Jesuit school, but he could not

just accept what he was taught

 He evolved his own philosophical system
 He put aside all books and was in doubt of

everything unless it was supported by

“unquestionable and absolute proof”
 Formulated his “Cogito, ergo sum” (I think

therefore I am)
 Rene Descartes
Skeptic Philosopher
 He refused to accept any piece of knowledge
whatsoever as true and tried to rebuild a
Christian faith based on the radical
questioning of truth
 He asked this questions: what if nothing were
true” How, if you doubted everything could you
find something – anything – that was true?
 He concluded by his famous cogito ergo sum –
I think therefore I am/I think therefore I exist
 David Hume
Skeptic Philosopher
 He denies certainty to any knowledge except
that involving the relation of the idea
 He abandoned the hope of any knowledge of

the relation of the idea to the real

 Pyrrho of Elis
Skeptic Philosopher
 The founder of skepticism which is the contemporary of
Epicureanism and Stoicism
 He holds that man can reach the greatest degree of
harmony and happiness by renouncing all worldly desires
 According to him, it is impossible to reach the truth with
absolute certainty because sensations vary from individual
to individual
 Man should have an alternative to probability because it
holds that complete renunciation would be impossible to
maintain practice
 Some men have no means of knowing the true nature of
things men have a degree of probability, a perceptual
clearness
 Skepticism
 Is generally any questioning attitude or doubt
towards one or more items of acknowledged
knowledge or belief.
 It is often directed at domains, such as morality

(moral skepticism), religion (skepticism about the

existence of God), or knowledge (skepticism about
the possibility of knowledge, or of certainty).
 Formally, skepticism as a topic occurs in the

context of philosophy, particularly epistemology,

although it can be applied to any topic such as
politics, religion, and pseudoscience.
 Philosophical skepticism
 Radical forms of skepticism deny that
knowledge or rational belief is possible and
urge us to suspend judgment on many or all
controversial matters.
 More moderate forms of skepticism claim

only that nothing can be known with

certainty, or that we can know little or
nothing about the "big questions" in life, such
as whether God exists or whether there is an
afterlife. 
 Religious skepticism
  It is "doubt concerning basic religious
principles
◦ Immortality
◦ Providence
◦ Revelation
 Scientific skepticism
 It concerns testing beliefs for reliability, by
subjecting them to systematic investigation
using the scientific method, to
discover empirical evidence for them.
 Positivism
 It is a philosophy developed in the middle of
the 9th century that stated that the only
authentic knowledge is scientific knowledge
and that such knowledge can only come from
positive affirmation of theories through
strict scientific method
 This view is sometimes referred to as a

scientist ideology and is often shared by

technocrats who believe in necessary
progress through scientific progress
 August Comte
Positivist
 The founder of sociology and the father of positivism
 He rejected his family’s Roman Catholicism and

royalist political views

 He was expelled as a student for participating in a

student rebellion
 For several years he served as a secretary to the noted

Claude Henri de Rourvoy whose influence is reflected

in much of Comties’s work
 His last years were marked by period of mental illness

 His work includes A General View of Positivism (1856)

3 different phases in its quest for
the truth in society
 Theological phase
 Metaphysical phase
 Positive phase
 Theological Phase of Man
 Based on the whole-hearted belief n all things
with reference to God
 God had reigned supreme over human existence
 Man’s place in society is governed by his
association with the divine presence and with the
church that governed all
 It deals with mankind accepting the doctrines of
the church and not questioning the world
 It put in place the religious organizations at the
time and the total acceptance of any fact placed
forth for society to believe
 Metaphysical Phase of Man
 It states that the universal rights of man are
most important
 The central ideas is that man is born with

certain rights that should not and cannot be

taken away and which must be respected
 It is here where democracies and dictators

rose and fell in attempt to maintain the innate

rights of men
 Scientific and Positive phase of
Man
 The individual rights are more important than
the rule of any one person
 Emphasized the idea that man, is able to

govern himself is what makes this phase

innately different from the other phases
 There is no higher power governing the

masses and the intrigue of any one person

than the idea that he can achieve anything
based in his individual free will and authority
 Universal Rule
 The summary of the 3 stages are called
Universal Rule in relation to the society
 He believe that the appreciation of the past

and the ability to build on it towards the

future is the key to transitioning from the
theological and metaphysical phases
 This means from science comes prediction

from prediction comes action

 Positive Philosophy
 Introduce the important relationship between theory,
practice and human understanding of the world
 He created the world altruism to refer to what he
believed to be moral obligation of individual to serve
others and place there interests above one’s own
 He opposed the idea of individual rights, maintaining
that they were not consistent with this supposed
obligation
 His work was sometimes viewed skeptically because
he had elevated Positivism to a religion and had
named himself the Pope of Positivism
 Scholasticism Philosophy
 Latin word SCHOLASTICUS or SCHOLAR
◦ Means “that which belong to the school”
◦ If refers to both doctrine and a method of teaching
in the medieval European school and to their
successive revival to the present day
 Beginning of Scholasticism
 Is to reconcile the philosophy of the ancient
classical philosophers with medieval Christian
theology
 It is not a philosophy or theology in itself but

a tool and method for learning which puts

emphasis on dialectical reasoning
 Purpose of Scholasticism
 To find the answer to a question or resolve a
contradiction
 As a doctrine, scholasticism refers to the kind

of philosophy, theology, medicine, and law

taught by the faculties responsible for this
discipline
 Scholasticism Proposal
 That all created beings are constituted of
form and matter
 This holds true of the physical world, and is

not true of the spiritual world

 It also recognized the relationship of reason

to revealed truth and an attempt to elaborate

a rational system of faith
Maxim of Scholastic
I seek to understand
that I may believe,
but I believe that I
may understand and
unless I first believe I
shall not understand
ST. AUGUSTINE
Scholasticist
 BIOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE OF
ST. AUGUSTINE

354 Birth of St. Augustine

Thagaste,(North Africa)
November 13
361 370 Scholastic Formation
372 Birth of Adoedatus, his son;
Death of Patricius, his father
372 373 Reading of Hortentius
Cicero; conversion to
Philosophy;
adhesion to Manicheaism
373 374Teaching stint at Thagaste
and Carthage
380 First work: On the Beautiful
and Fitting
383 Teaches in Rome
384 Appointed Professor of
Rhetoric in Milan (Italy)
 BIOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE OF
ST. AUGUSTINE

385 St. Monica, her mother,

arrives in Milan
386 Reading of Platonic books;
studies St. Paul epistles; visited by
Pontincius;
conversion to the Christian faith; goes to
Cassiciacum, Milan
387 Baptism at Milan; vision of Ostia,
Death of Monica
388 – 391 Returns to Africa; monastic life
at Thagaste;
death of Adeodatus
391 Foundation of new monastery in
Hippo (Africa);
ordained priest
396 Becomes Bishop of Hippo
410 Retires to a villa outside Hippo for the
winter because of his health
426 Nominates Heraclitus as his successor
430 Death and burial of St. Augustine,
August 28
 St. Augustine of Hippo
(354-430)

 St. Augustine was a Bishop of Hippo, a philosopher and

theologian who lived in the Roman Africa Province. Augustine,
according to his contemporary, Jerome, in his early years, was
heavily influenced by Manichaeism and afterward by the
Neo-Platonism of Plotinus. After his conversion to Christianity
and baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to
philosophy and theology. He believed that the grace of Christ
was indispensable to human freedom and framed the concepts of
original sin and just war.
 In the Catholic Church, he is a saint and pre-eminent
Doctor of the Church, and the patron of the
Augustinian religious order; his memorial is celebrated 28 of
August.
 Early childhood

 Born in 354 in Thagaste, Algeria,

North Africa (Roman Province)
 Parents: Patricius (pagan); Monica
(Christian)
 Education

 At the age of 11, Augustine was sent to school at

Madaurus, noted for its pagan climate. There he
became familiar with Latin literature, as well as
pagan beliefs and practices
 At the age of 15, he read Cicero's dialogue
Hortensius , which sparked his interest in
philosophy (Philo-love; Sophia-wisdom)
 At age 17, he went to Carthage to study rhetoric
 At a young age, in Carthage he developed an affair
with a young woman who became his lover for over
thirteen years and gave birth to his son
Adeodatus.
 Religion and Lifestyle

 Although raised as a Christian, Augustine

left the church to follow the
Manichaean religion
 As a youth, Augustine lived a hedonistic
lifestyle (pleasure of the flesh),
associating with young men who boasted
of their experience with the opposite sex
and urged the inexperienced boys, like
Augustine, to seek out experiences with
women or in order to gain acceptance and
avoid ridicule.
 Teaching Career

 In 373 at the age of 19, Augustine taught grammar at Thagaste.

 
 In 374, he moved to Carthage to conduct a school of rhetoric,
and remained there for the next nine years.
 
 In 383, disturbed by the unruly behavior and arrogant ignorance
of the students in Carthage, he decided to leave and move to
establish a school in Rome. However, Augustine was
disappointed with the Roman schools, where he was met with
apathy. Once the time came for his students to pay their fees
they simply fled.

 In 384, at the age of 30 he got a job as a professor of rhetoric

for the imperial court at Milan.
 Conversion to Christianity

Augustine's mother had followed him to Milan and

he allowed her to arrange a society marriage, which
consequently made him to abandon his concubine. It
is believed that Augustine truly loved the woman he
had lived with for so long. In his "Confessions," he
expressed how deeply he was hurt by ending his
relationship with her.
 But Augustine, who was not yet ready to change,

took another concubine, an eleven-year-old fiancée.

The relationship however, did not last long and he
eventually left his second concubine. It was during
this period that he uttered his famous prayer, "Grant
me chastity and continence, but not yet"
 Conversion to Christianity

 In the summer of 386, while in Milan, Augustine underwent a

profound personal crisis, which led him to convert to Christianity.
 Instrumental in the conversion of St. Augustine were:
◦ the promptings and prayers of his mother, St. Monica
◦ own studies in Neo-Platonism
◦ Sermons of Bishop of Milan, St. Ambrose
◦ readings on the life of Life of St. Anthony of the Desert
◦ childlike voice he heard in a sing-song voice, "Take up and read"
 Augustine, while meditating on his unchaste life, heard a childlike
voice from a nearby house, chanting "Take up and read, take up and
read." He paused to give a thought to how and why a child would
sing those words...later, he interpreted it as God's command for
him to open and read a book. Augustine, then left his garden and
returned to his house. At his house he picked up a book written by
Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, and opened it and instantly read :
(Romans 13: 13-14) "Let us walk honestly, as in the day; not in
rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in
strife and envying; but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no
provision for the flesh, in concupiscence." (From: Confession)
 Conversion to Christianity

 In 387 he was baptized by St. Ambrose along with his son,

Adeodatus.
 In 388 Augustine returned to Africa. On his way back to Africa
his mother died, as did his son soon after, leaving him alone in
the world without family. This was a very difficult process for
Augustine and he did not know how to live on his own.
 Upon his return to North Africa he sold his patrimony and gave
the money to the poor. The only thing he kept was the family
house, which he converted into a monastic foundation for
himself and a group of friends.
 In 391 he was ordained a priest in Hippo (in Algeria). He
became a famous preacher (more than 350 preserved sermons
are believed to be authentic), and was noted for combating the
Manichaean religion, to which he formerly belonged.
 ST. AUGUSTINE LIVES HIS LIFE
SEARCHING FOR ITS MEANING
 He treasured FRIENDSHIP
 Time deepened the friendship and developed

into a communion.
 Saint Augustine
Greatest works
 Confession
◦ His autobiographical work exposing his early life and conversion
 The City of God
◦ A theological philosophy of history
 Retraction
◦ His final verdict upon his early books
 On Free Will
 On Christian Doctrine
 On Baptism
 Against the Doctrine on the Trinity
 On Nature and Grace
 Homilies
 Augustine’s Philosophy
 Man should not interpret the Bible literally
because it contradicts what we know from
science and men’s God-given reason
 His view; that everything in the universe, men,

things, animals, etc. was created simultaneously

by God and in seven calendar days
 He argued that the 6th day structure of creation

presented in the book of Genesis represents a

logical framework, rather than a passage of time
in a physical way – it would bear a spiritual rather
than physical meaning, which is no less literal
 Idea about the Original Sin
 He suggested that the bodies of Adam and
Eve were already created mortal before the
fall (driven away from the Garden of Paradise)
 He stressed that the interpretation of the

creation story is difficult

 He rejected both the immortality of the

human race proposed by pagans and

contemporarily ideas of ages that differed
from the church’s sacred writtings
 Idea of Predestination
 His assertion that God’s has foreseen, from time
to time, all the choices every individual who
would ever live on Earth would make and
whether they would cooperate with God or not
 He stressed that the number of the people God
knows would be saved are the elect and the
number whom God knows will not be saved are
the reprodate (hardened sinner)
 God has chosen the elect certainly and
gratuitously/unreasonably without any previous
merit on their part
 God’s Will to Save all Men
 God does not destroy human liberty and free
choice, but preserves it, so that the elect
would, potentially have the full power to be
dammed and the non-elect full power to
saved
Importance of Infant Baptism
 He believe that no one would be saved unless
they have received baptism in order to be
cleansed from the Original Sin
 He pointed out that those unbaptized

children will b going to LIMBO – Hell (but it

was rejected by the Catholic church)

 Sexual Desire
 He advocated sexual desire with the sin of Adam
and believed that it was still sinful, even though
the fall of Adam and Eve has made it part of
human nature
 The evil was not in the sexual act itself but rather

in the emotions which typically accompany it

 Chastity is a virtue of the mind and is not lost by

rape, but in the lost by the intention of sin, even

if unperformed
 Lust is one of the most grievous sin and a

serious obstacle to the virtuous life

Some of the Influential Quotations
 Man should love the sinner but hate his sin
 Nothing can conquer man except truth and the
victory of truth is love
 If a prson sings once he must pray twice
 Christ is the teacher of men
 There is no salvation of men outside the church
 Total abstinence is easier than perfect moderation
 People make themselves a ladder out of their
vices if they trample the vices themselves
underfoot
 Scholasticism
 A method of critical thought which dominated
teaching by the academics ("scholastics," or
"schoolmen") of medieval universities in Europe
from about 1100 to 1700, and a program of
employing that method in articulating and
defending dogma in an increasingly pluralistic
context.
 It originated as an outgrowth of and a departure

from Christian monastic schools at the earliest

European universities.
The first institutions in the West to
be considered universities
 Established on the late 11th and 12th centuries for
the study of arts, law, medicine and theology in;
◦ Italy
◦ France
◦ Spain
◦ England
 Schola Medica Salernitana
 University of Bologna
 University of Paris
 It was held by the Catholic Church and its
various religious orders.
 The Scholastic thought
 It is known for rigorous conceptual analysis
and the careful drawing of distinctions.
 In the classroom and in writing, it often takes

the form of explicit debate; a topic drawn from

the tradition is broached in the form of a
question, opponents' responses are given, a
counterproposal is argued and opponents'
arguments rebutted.
 Its emphasis on rigorous dialectical method,

scholasticism was eventually applied to many

other fields of study.
 Types of scholasticism
 Late Scholasticism
 Lutheran Scholasticism
 Reformed Scholasticism

◦ Following the Reformation, Calvinists largely

adopted the scholastic method of theology, while
differing regarding sources of authority and content
of theology.
 Neo-Scholasticism
◦ The revival and development from the second half
of the 19th century of medieval scholastic
philosophy is sometimes called neo-Thomism
 Types of scholasticism
 Thomistic Scholasticism
◦ It has been continuous since the time of Aquinas:
"Thomism was always alive in the Dominican Order”
◦ Thomistic scholasticism or
scholastic Thomism identifies with the
philosophical and theological tradition stretching
back to the time of St. Thomas.
 Analytical Scholasticism
◦ Attempts emerged to combine elements of
scholastic and analytic methodology in pursuit of a
contemporary philosophical synthesis.
Monism
The view that attributes
oneness or singleness to a
concept (e.g., existence).
 Monism
 Greek word MONOS
◦ Means one, alone, unique
 Monad is a symbol referred by Greek
philosophers as the
◦ The First
◦ The Seed
◦ The Essence
◦ The Builder
◦ The Foundation
Metaphysical and Theological view
 All is one
◦ Essence
◦ Principle
◦ Substance or energy
◦ there is one universe, unified set of laws underlying
nature
 It denies that the manifoldness is real and
holds that the apparently many are phases, or
phenomena of a one
Distinguished from Dualism
 Holds that ultimately there are 2 kinds of
essence and from pluralism which holds that
ultimately there are many kinds of substance
Philosophical Idea of Monism
 It holds that there is one substance, that there is only one
kind of thing and there are many different individual
things or being in this category
 There is only one mind that is real; the both the mental

and the physical can be reduced to some sort of

substance or energy
 It holds that only the physical is real, and that the mental

can be reduced to the physical

 The universe is part of God but there is a plurality of

souls and substance within this supreme being

◦ In short there is no real distinction between God and the universe
◦ Either God is indwelling in the universe as a part of it, not distinct
from it, or that the universe does not exist at all a reality, but
only as a manifestation of God
 Monism
 There are two sorts of definitions for monism:
◦ The wide definition:
 a philosophy is monistic if it postulates unity of origin of all things;
all existing things return to a source that is distinct from them.
◦ The restricted definition:
 this requires not only unity of origin but also unity
of substance and essence.
 Although the term "monism" is derived from Western
philosophy to typify positions in the mind–body
problem, it has also been used to symbolize religious
traditions.
 In modern Hinduism, the term "absolute monism" is
being used for Advaita Vedanta
 Substance monism
 Is the philosophical view that a variety of
existing things can be explained in terms of a
single reality or substance
 Another definition states that all existing

things go back to a source that is distinct

from them (e.g., in Neoplatonism everything
is derived from The One).
 This is often termed priority monism, and is

the view that only one thing is ontologically

basic or prior to everything else.
The difference between substance
and existence monism
 Another distinction is the stuff
monism and thing monism
 Substance monism posits that only one kind

of stuff (e.g., matter or mind) exists, although

many things may be made out of this stuff
 Existence monism posits that, strictly

speaking, there exists only a single thing

(e.g., the universe), which can only be
artificially and arbitrarily divided into many
things.
 2 types of beliefs
A diagram with neutral monism compared to
Cartesian dualism, physicalism and idealism
 Monism is sometimes split into
three or more basic types:
 1. Idealistic Monism:
◦ This doctrine (also called Mentalistic Monism)
holds that the mind is all that exists (i.e. the only
existing substance is mental), and that the external
world is either mental itself, or an illusion created
by the mind
◦ Thus, there is but one reality, immutable and
eternal, which some (including the ancient Hindu
philosophers) have termed God (Idealistic-
Spiritual Monism), while others, such as the Pre-
Socratic philosophers like Parmenides, were content
to label as Being or "the One”
 2. Materialistic Monism 
(also see the sections on Materialism and Physicalism):

 This doctrine holds that there is but one

reality, matter, whether it be an agglomerate
of atoms, a primitive, world-
forming substance, or the so-called cosmic
nebula out of which the world evolved.
 It holds that only the physical is real, and

that the mental can be reduced to the

physical.
 There are two main types:
Materialism
◦ Reductive Physicalism
◦ Asserts that all mental states and properties will eventually
be explained by scientific accounts of physiological
processes and states, has been the most popular form
during the 20th Century. There are three main types:
 Behaviorism, which holds that mental states are just
descriptions of observable behavior.
 Type Identity Theory, which holds that specific mental
states are identical to specific physical internal states of
the brain.
 Functionalism, which holds that mental states can be
characterized in terms of non-mental functional
properties.
 There are two main types:
Materialism
 Non-Reductive Physicalism
◦ Argues that, although the brain is all there is to the
mind, the predicates and vocabulary used in mental
descriptions and explanations cannot be
reduced to the language and lower-level
explanations of physical science.
◦ Thus, mental states supervene (depend) on
physical states, and there can be no change in the
mental without some change in the physical, but
they are not reducible to them.
There are three main types of Non-
Reductive Physicalism:
 Anomalous Monism
◦ States that mental events are identical with physical events, but that
the mental is anomalous i.e. these mental events are perfectly real,
and identical with (some) physical matter, but not regulated by
strict physical laws.
◦ Therefore, all mental things are physical, but not all physical things
are necessarily mental.
 Emergentism
◦ It involves a layered view of nature, with the layers arranged in terms
of increasing complexity, each corresponding to its own special
science
 Eliminativism (or Eliminative Materialism)
◦ Holds that people's common-sense understanding of the mind ("folk
psychology") is hopelessly flawed, and will eventually be replaced
(eliminated) by an alternative, usually taken to be neuroscience
 Different types of monism
 Substance monism, "the view that the apparent plurality of
substances is due to different states or appearances of a single
substance"
 Attributive monism, "the view that whatever the number of
substances, they are of a single ultimate kind"
 Partial monism, "within a given realm of being (however many there
may be) there is only one substance"
 Existence monism, "the view that there is only one concrete
object token"
 Priority monism, "the whole is prior to its parts" or "the world has
parts, but the parts are dependent fragments of an integrated whole"
 Property monism, "the view that all properties are of a single type
(e.g., only physical properties exist)"
 Genus monism, "the doctrine that there is a highest category; e.g.,
being"
 3. Neutral Monism
 This dual-aspect theory maintains that
existence consists of one kind of primal
substance (hence monism), which in itself
is neither mental nor physical, but is capable
of mental and physical aspects or attributes.
 Thus, there is some other, neutral
substance (variously labelled as Substance,
Nature or God), and that both matter and mind
are properties of this other unknown
substance.
 4. Reflexive Monism
 This is a dual-aspect theory 
 Argues that the one basic stuff of which the
universe is composed has the potential to manifest
both physically and as conscious
experience (such as human beings) which can then
have a view of both the rest of the universe and
themselves (hence "reflexive").
 It is a contemporary take on a concept which has
been present in human thought for millennia, such
as in later Vedic writings like the "Upanishads"  and
some beliefs from ancient Egypt
 Pluralism
 The theory that there is more than
one basic substance or principle.
 “Doctrine of multiplicity“

◦ often used in opposition to monism ("doctrine of

unity") and dualism ("doctrine of duality").
 Pluralism
 It is a social and political philosophy that affirms
and accepts diversity or multiplicity
 It was stressed most vigorously in England
during the early 20th century
 In politics the affirmation of diversity in the
interest and beliefs of the citizenry is one of
the most important factors of modern
democracy
 In science pluralism describes the view that
several methods, theories or point of view
are legitimate or reasonable
 Philosophical Ideas
 In democratic politics, pluralism serves as a
guiding principle which permits the peaceful
co-existence of different interest, convictions
and lifestyles
 It acknowledges the diversity of interests in

the society of men and it considers it

imperative that members of society
accommodate their differences and diversities
by engaging in good-faith negotaiation
 Pluralism Function –
Common Good
 To be successful in defining the common
good it contends that all groups must have
agree to a minimal consensus regarding
shared values, which tie the different groups
to society, and shared rules for conflict
resolution between the groups
 Important Value in Man
 Mutual respect and tolerance so that different
groups can co-exist and interact without
anyone being forced to assimilate to anyone
else’s position in conflicts and differences can
only be resolved favorably by dialogue which
leads to compromise and consensus and to
mutual understanding
 It implies the right for individuals to determine

values and truths for themselves instead of

being forced to follow the whole society of
their own group
 Pluralism Advocates
 Belief that more than one religion can teach truths
 It adds that no single religion can claim absolute
authority to teach absolute truth
 The word of God in not liberal religion on the
contrary religion attempts to describe God’s
statements
 Man is finite and fallible, no religious text written
by men can absolutely describe God (God’s will or
God’s counsel)
 It is God apart from man who reveals the divine
thoughts, intentions and will perfectly
 Religious Pluralist
 It stressed that religious texts are a
combination of an assortment of human
observations which are documented such as
those concerning historical narratives, poetry,
morality plays, etc.
 No religion is able to comprehensively

capture and communicate all truths

 Religious Pluralism Believer
 Believe that religion is the most complete and
accurate interpretation of the divine, though
they also accept other religions to teach many
truths about the nature of God and man and
that it is possible to establish a establish a
significant amount of common ground across
all belief systems
 It also stressed that human fallibility limits all

religious knowledge
 Pluralism both
Permissible and Beneficial
 People beliefs to develop some forms of
religious pluralism
 The pluralists believed that man’s place in the

natural world has change as a result of

changes in scientific thought
 They challenge humanity to rethink its

understanding of truth, and the way that

language is used to convey this
understanding
 Ecuminism
 Pluralism believed in interfaith dialogue which
is a dialogue between members of different
religious for the goal of reducing conflicts
between their religious and to achieve
agreed-upon mutually desirable goals
 They contends that inter-faith dialogue is

difficult if the other groups adopt a position

that only cares for their own group, but if
care is taken for the concern of others, the
dialogue results to a success
 Different Beliefs –
Salvation
 People in other religions may also have a way
to salvation, even though the fullness of
salvation can achieved only in one’s own
religion
 Freedom of Religion
 Exists when different religions of particular
region possess the same rights of worships
and public expression
 Men can choose what religion they wish to

worship
 Types of Pluralism
 In Metaphysics:
Pluralism is the belief that reality consists of many different
substances.
 In Philosophy of Mind:

Pluralism is the belief that there is a plurality of

basic substances making up the minds and bodies of humans.
 In Epistemology:

Pluralism is the claim that there are several conflicting but

still true descriptions of the world, and that that no single explanatory
system or view of reality can account for all the phenomena of life.
 In Ethics:

Pluralism is the supposition that there are many independent sources

of value and that there is no single truth, even in moral matters.
 In Political Philosophy:

Pluralism is the acceptance of a multiplicity of groups with competing

interests. This is closest to the concept most commonly in general
conversational usage.
 Materialism
 It is a from of physicalism which holds that
only thing that can truly exists in this world is
matter, that fundamentally, all things are
composed of materials and all phenomena
are the result of material interactions
 There are no minds or soul or immaterial

spirits
 Physical matter is all that exist
Materialism – observable events
 It contents that observable events in nature
are explained only by natural causes
 Without assuming the existence or non

existence of the supernatural as a theory,

materialism stands in sharp contrast to
idealism and pluralism
 The philosophy of
Democritus and Epicurus
 All that exist is matter and void, and all
phenomena are the result of different
motions and conglomeration of base material
particles called ATOMS
Maxim
That nothing can
come from nothing
and nothing can
truth body but
body
The Concern of Materialism
 The nature of the world which give to matter
a primary position
 Accord to mind (or spirit) a secondary,

dependent reality or even not at all

 Extreme materialism asserts that the real

world consists of material things, varying in

their states and relations and nothing else
Different Opinions of Philosophers
 The question of what constitute the body,
over what states and relationships a body
may enter and whatever every material thing
is a body
 The principle of materialism is EVERYTHING

THAT IS, IS MATERIAL

Non Believer’s of Immaterial
 There are no incorporeal soul, or spirits
◦ No spiritual principalities or power
◦ No angels or devils
◦ No Gods
 Thus nothing that happens can be attributed
to the action
 Materialism Principle
 Nothing exist in this world except atoms and empty
space (void)
 In this world nothing happens by chances, everything
occurs for a reason and necessity.
◦ This necessity is natural and mechanical
 Nothing can arise out of nothing.
◦ All changes taking place in this universe are new
combinations or separation of atoms
 The atoms in the universe are infinite in number and
endlessly varied form.
◦ They act on one another only by pressure or collision
 The variety of things in the universe is a consequence
of the variety in number, size, shape and
arrangement of the atoms which compose them
 Materialism/
Communism
 A form of philosophical monism which holds
that matter is the fundamental substance in
nature, and that all things, including mental
things and consciousness, are results of
material interactions.
 It is closely related to physicalism, the view

that all that exists is ultimately physical.

 Materialism
Definitions & Doctrines
 Refer either to the simple preoccupation with the material
world, as opposed to intellectual or spiritual concepts, or
to the theory that physical matter is all there is.
 This theory is far more than a simple focus on material
possessions.
 It states that everything in the universe is matter, without
any true spiritual or intellectual existence.
 Materialism can also refer to a doctrine that material
success and progress are the highest values in life.
 This doctrine appears to be prevalent in western society
today.
 Materialism can also refer to the term, Cultural
Materialism
 Materialist or Physicalist 
view of the universe
 It involves some degree of Determinism
 However, if the minds or souls of conscious
beings are considered as separate
entities (see the section on 
Philosophy of Mind), the position on
Determinism becomes more complex.
◦ For instance, the immaterial souls may be
considered part of a deterministic framework; or
they could exert a non-deterministic causal
influence on bodies and the world; or they could
exert no causal influence, either free or determined
 Determinism
 The philosophical idea that every event or state
of affairs, including every human decision and
action, is the inevitable and necessary
consequence of antecedent states of affairs.
 The level to which humans have influence over
their future is itself dependent on present and
past.
 Taken to its logical extreme, Determinism would
argue that the initial Big Bang triggered every
single action, and possibly mental thought,
through a system of cause and effect.
 Determinism
 It is a philosophical doctrine which holds that
every event, mental as well as physical, has a
cause and that cause being given, the event
follows regularly
 Free will is an illusion
 This theory denies the elements of chance or
contingency
 It is opposed to indifferentism which maintains
that in phenomena of human will, preceding
events do not definitely determine subsequently
ones
 A person without moral
judgment is not responsible
for his or her action
Maxim
 Popular Conception
 Entail humanity or individual humans have no
influence in the future and its events
 It associated with and relies upon the idea of

materialism and causality

 Types of Determinism
 Causal Determinism (or Nomological
Determinism)
◦ The belief that future events are necessitated
by past and present events combined with
the laws of nature. Thus, all events have
a cause and effect and the precise combination of
events at a particular time results in a particular
outcome.
 Logical Determinism
  The notion that all propositions (i.e.
assertions or declarative sentences), whether
about the past, present or future, are
either true or false.
 The question then arises as to how choices

can be free, given that what one does in the

future is already determined as true or false
in the present.
Environmental Determinism
 or Climatic or Geographical Determinism
◦ The view that the physical environment, rather
than social conditions, determines culture.
 Biological Determinism
 The idea that all behavior, belief and desire is
fixed by our genetic endowment and make-
up and cannot be changed.
 Theological Determinism 
 The belief that there is
a God who determines all that humans will
do, either by knowingtheir actions in advance
(via some form of omniscience) or
by decreeing their actions in advance.
Emergentism (or Generativis
m)
 Argues that free will does not exist, although
an illusion of Free Will is experienced due to
the generation of apparently infinite
variations in behavior from the interaction of
a finite (and deterministic) set of rules and
parameters.
 Thus the unpredictability of the emerging

behavior which we see in daily life actually

stems from complex, but entirely
deterministic, processes.
 Phenomenology
 It is an approach to philosophy that begins
with an exploration of phenomena
 What presents to us in conscious experience
Basic Concept of Phenomenology
 It perceives the original experience in an
integral unified whole before considering the
facts of the whole.
◦ The phenomenologist is interested in the parts but
only insofar as these are related to the context of
the totality of human experience

Basic Concept of Phenomenology
 The phenomenologist’s describe the
phenomena simply unfolds what is already
there.
◦ What is left to do is simply to reveal the structures
of this totality.
◦ Since the original experience can only be described
because it is already there, the ultimate, the origin
– there is no more need to reason by induction or
deduction
Basic Concept of Phenomenology
 Phenomenologist’s are essentially concerned
about experience and man.
◦ The phenomenologist world is not the worlds of
formal constructs (model) but the world as lived by
man
Basic Concept of Phenomenology
 Phenomenologist’s use epoch (period) in an
attempt to be faithful to experience
Edmund Gustav Albrecht Husserl 
(1859 - 1938)
Founder of philosophical school of phenomenology
 Early life and Education
 born on 8 April 1859 in Prossnitz, Moravia (Czech
Republic)
 His father was a Jewish clothing merchant, and the
language of the Husserl home was probably Yiddish
although it was not an orthodox household.
 His father had the means and the inclination to send
Edmund away to Vienna at the age of 10 to begin his
German classical education
 He was remembered there as a mediocre student who
nevertheless loved mathematics and science.
 He graduated in 1876 and went to Leipzig for university
studies, where he studied mathematics, physics, and
philosophy.
 major philosophical works
 "Logical Investigations” in 1901
 "Ideas Pertaining to a Pure Phenomenology

and to a Phenomenological Philosophy” in

1913
 He introduced the major themes of his theory

of Phenomenology
 His work represented the culmination of the
whole of philosophy from Plato on, because,
as he saw it, he had discovered a description
of reality which could not be denied.
 fundamental methodological
principle
 "phenomenological reduction“
◦ It is essentially kind of reflection on intellectual
content.
◦ He asserted that he could justifiably “bracket” the data
of consciousness by suspending all
preconceptions about it, including those drawn from
what he called the “naturalistic standpoint”.
◦ Thus, it really did not matter, in his philosophy,
whether an object under discussion really existed or not
so long as he could at least conceive of the object, and
objects of pure imagination could be examined with
the same seriousness as data taken from the objective
world.
 His last three major books in
Phenomenology
 "Lectures on the Phenomenology of Inner
Time-Consciousness” published in 1928
 "Formal and Transcendental Logic”

published in 1929
 "Cartesian Meditations” published in 1931
 Outline of Husserl’s
concept of Phenomena
 1. Epoche – literal meaning Bracketing
 Preliminary step in the phenomenological method
◦ This means that before an investigator begins to investigate
anything, he has to “bracket”or hold in natural attitude
towards the object he is investigating
 Natural attitudes are those that may bring prejudices,
biases, explicit knowledge about the subject which
may affect the result of his investigation
 The investigation has to suspend temporarily his
natural attitude
 To see the world with new eyes (a better perspective)
so as to return to the original experiences from
where the natural attitude was derived
 Outline of Husserl’s
concept of Phenomena
 2. Phenomenologist must use the eidetic
reduction to arrive at the essence or to
reduce the experience to its essence
◦ Eidos – means essence
 Outline of Husserl’s
concept of Phenomena
 3. Phenomenologist’s must reduce the object
to the very activity itself of consciousness
◦ This means that the object is seen in its relation to
the subject and the subject in relation to the object
◦ For phenomenologist, there is no object without
and no subject without an object
◦ The subject of the object is called the Noesis and
the object for the subject is called Noema
There is no world without man and
there is no man without the world
The world is a human world and
man is a being in the world
Maxim
 Phenomenology
 It is based on the premise that reality consists
of objects and events ("phenomena") as they
are perceived or understood in the human
consciousness, and not of
 Types of Phenomenology
 Realist Phenomenology (or Realistic
Phenomenology): 
◦ Husserl's early formulation, based on the first
edition of his "Logical Investigations" ,
 which had as its goal the analysis of the intentional
structures of mental acts as they are directed at
both real and ideal objects.
 Transcendental Phenomenology 
(or Constitutive Phenomenology)
 Husserl's later formulation, following from his
1913 "Ideas" ,
◦ which takes the intuitive experience of
phenomena as its starting point, and tries to
extract from it the generalized essential
features of experiences and the essence of what
we experience, setting aside questions of any
relation to the natural world around us.
Existential Phenomenology:
  Heidegger's expanded formulation, as
expounded in his "Being and Time"  of 1927
◦ which takes as read that the observer cannot
separate himself from the world (and so cannot
have the detached viewpoint Husserl insisted on).
◦ It is therefore a combination of
the phenomenological method with the
importance of understanding man in his
existential world.
 Existentialism
(search for the meaning of life)
 Is a philosophical system that is concerned
on the question of what is the meaning of
man’s existence than the answer for the
existentialists do not agree on the answer
 The existentialists would rather invite us to

ask similar questions but seek the answer for

ourselves
 The basic features of
existentialism
 Look at the problem on existence o the basis
of their personal experience
◦ The existentialist thinkers can hardly be divorced
from their philosophy, such that they make use of
the play, short story to dramatize their problems
 The basic features of
existentialism
 They stressed the subjectivity of man
◦ They do not deny that man is to a certain extent is
controlled by others
◦ In protest of the dehumanization of man, they
emphasized on the subjectivity of men – that man
is the original center, the source of investigation
and giver of meaning of the world
 The basic features of
existentialism
 Stressed on man’s existence – that man as situated
◦ The situatedness of man has been perceived by different
existentialist thinkers
◦ For Soren Kierkergard man expressed fear before God just
like the situation of Abraham
◦ For him man is thrown into this world and is doomed to die
◦ For Carl Jasper man exist through limited situation and
eventually to find God
◦ For Gabriel Marcel to exist is to co-exist, to participate in
the fullness of God through love, faith and fidelity
◦ For John Satre to exist is to be condemned to freedom
◦ For Merleau-Ponty man is condemned to meaning
◦ For Camus to exist is to live the illogicality of life
 The basic features of
existentialism
 Freedom of man is stresses by the existentialist
◦ Existentialist differ in their concept of the freedom of man
◦ For Kierkergaard freedom is that which makes man to
pass from the aesthetic state to the ethical and ultimately
to make the “leap of faith” (highest act of man’s liberty)
◦ For Martin Heidegger equates freedom with self
transcendence in time
◦ For John Satre freedom branches from negating power of
consciousness and consciousness being the no-thing of
the world
◦ For Merleau Ponty freedom is freedom to man’s body
◦ For Gabriel Marcel freedom is ability to say yes to God to
pass from the realm/kingdom of having to that being
 How to become FREE?
 If he transcends himself
 Goes out to others to love, participating in

something greater than himself

 Existentialist searching for the
meaning of life
 Theistic and atheistic group of existentialist
thinkers differ in their search for meaning of
life
Searching for the meaning of life
 Is ultimately a search within
 Man is the subject-the giver or discoverer of

meanings
 The search within has to extend to the outside

(without) to the other than the self

 How to search extends to the outside depends on

how man can reach into the recesses of his

subjectivity
 The search is a lifetime task and time is of the

essence of the search for meaning

 Man cannot evade time and therefore he cannot

escape from this search for meaning

 Soren Kierkegaard
Life and Philosophy
 Born on May 5, 1813
 In a wealthy merchant family in Copenhagen

 He was the youngest of the 7 children of Anne

Lund and Michael Kierkergaard a strongly

religious man
 At 17, he entered University of Copenhagen to

study theology
 He was never married but engaged for a year to

Regine Olsen, a young lady from a wealthy family

◦ The broken engagement affected him deeply
 Carrer
 Being author was not a great success when he
was still alive
 He devoted his short life to expanding on the

meaning of Christian life and critiquing

Hegelian philosophy
 Christian Existentialist
 He is a theologian and the Father of
Existentialism a literary critic, a humorist, a
psychologist, a poet and philosopher
 His famous ideas
◦ Subjectivity
◦ Leap of Faith or Leap to Faith
 His Philosophical Ideas
 Leap of Faith
◦ In his conception of how an individual would
behave in God, or how a person would act in love
 According to him, to have faith in God is at the same
time to have doubt that God exist
 The doubt is the rational part of a person’s thought
without which the faith is God would have no real
substance
 He claimed that doubt is an essential element of faith
 His Philosophical Ideas
 The self relation to the world is grounded in
self reflection and introspection
◦ This has to do with a distinction between what is
objectively true and an individual’s subjective
relation to that truth
 His Philosophical Ideas
 Individuals create their own nature through
their choices which is made in the absence of
universal standards
◦ The validity of a choice can only be determined
subjectively
 Kierkergaard
2 stages of existence
 Aesthetic way of life
◦ The way of life in search for pleasure and
cultivation of mood
◦ The individual seeks variety and novelty in an effort
to stave off boredom and despair
 Ethical way of life
◦ The individual is involved with an intense
passionate commitment to duty, to unconditional
social and religious obligations
 The Purpose Driven Life and
Happiness of Human Person
 Book author: Rick Warren
 It is a guide to spiritual journey that will

enable anyone to discover the answer to life’s

most important question
◦ What on earth an I here?
 What is the purpose in life?
 Rick Warren
 Starts with the answer that we are not an
accident, for God has been thinking of us
long before we even thought about him
 Our birth was not a mistake
 Our parents may not have planned us, but

God did
 Concepcion
 Long before we were conceived by our
parents, we were already conceived in the
mind of God
 It is not fake nor chance, nor luck, nor

coincidence that makes us alive now

 We are alive because God wanted to create us
 He has a purpose for us
 God - Purpose
 God made us for a reason
 He decided where we would be born and how

long would live

 God planned the day of

our life in advance,

choosing the exact time
of birth and death
 Everyone’s life is
driven by something
 Many people are driven by guilt
 They spend the entire lives running from

doubts and hiding their shame

 They allow their past to control future
 They often punish themselves by sabotaging

their own success

 Although we are products of our past, let us

not be prisoners of it
 Bitterness and Anger
 Many people hold on to hurts and never get over them
 Instead of releasing their pain through forgiveness,
they rehearse it over and over in their minds in their
words and worst in their actions
 Bitterness always hurts you more that the person you
hate
 While the offender has probably forgotten the offense
and gone on with life, the offended person continues
perpetuating the past like a “broken musical record”
 Your past is past , nothing will change it
 You are only hurting yourself with your bitterness
 From your own sake, learn from it, and let it go
 Experiences
 Many people are driven by fear as a result of
traumatic experience, unrealistic expectation,
frustration, conflict etc
 Regardless of the cause, fear-driven people

often miss great opportunities because they

are afraid to venture out
 Don’t make yourself a prisoner of fear
 Move on
What is Your Purpose In Life?
 It defines what you do an what you don’t do
 Without a clear purpose in life, you have no

foundation in which you have plan, decision and

direction
 you are like a leaf that is blown by the wind in

any direction
 By knowing the purpose you may be able to

allocate your time, use your resources, you may

also be able to concentrate the efforts and
energy on what is important
 You become effective being selective
 How do you see your life?
 The best way to see your life is to share our
life
 How we shape (define) our life determines

our destiny
 Our destiny depends on how we invest out

time, how we make use of out time, money,

effort and resources efficiently plus how we
use our talents and relationship with people
that determine our destiny
 Life on Earth is Extremely
Brief
 Earth is only our temporary residence
 We won’t be here too log
 Let us then make our own life useful for

ourselves, for our family, country and finally

to God
 The reason why the earth is not
ultimate home
 The fact that we experience difficulty,
frustration, bitterness and sorrow, rejection,
hatred
 Some of our prayers are also unanswered
 Our discontentment and dissatisfaction in life

should not be a hindrance to fulfill our

mission
 We are not completely happy in this earth for

this is not our ultimate home – not our

destiny
 What will you live on earth?
 Living the rest of our life will require a little
sacrifice on our past
 We will have to change our attitude, our

priorities, our relationship with people and

anything we do
 Prayers is the most act we do to ask God’s

help
 Life is all about LOVE
 Life minus love equals zero
 Love leaves a legacy
 How you treated other people is the most

enduring impact we can leave on earth

 The best expression of
love is TIME
 Time is the most precious gift because we
only have an amount of it
 We can make more money, but can’t make

more time when you give someone our time,

we are giving portion of our life that we will
never get back
 Our time is our life
 This is the reason why the greatest gift we

can give someone is our time

 Never waist time
 Now is the time to express our love because
we don’t know how long we will have the
opportunity
 Circumstances change; people die, children

grow up
 We have no guarantee of tomorrow
 If we want to express out love to them, then

do it now, don’t wait until tomorrow for

tomorrow may nave come
 Spirituality
 in the framework of;
◦ Medieval Period vs Modern Period of Christian
Philosophy
◦ Paradox of Faith in Filipino Context
Man’s Life is a ceaseless quest and
striving for happiness
Philosophy and philosopher’s
Concept of Man’s Happiness
The Rights of Human Person
Social Justice
Misconception of Human Person
Limitation of Human Person
 Filipino Philosophy
 Filipino thought?
◦ Not very well as compared to China, India, Greco-
Roman
 Filipino philosophy shares the fate of most
pioneering works, the lack of refined tools
and lack of predecessor upon whom to stand
Filipino Philosophy in the concept
on the Filipino Values System
 The Filipino thought is different from the
West because the Filipino way of thinking was
influence by Spaniards, British, Americans
and predominantly indigenous
 Filipino thinks and acts differently from

native of any Western country

 Zeus Salazar
 A Filipino philosopher from the University of
the Philippines who believe that it is possible
to trace the Filipino culture using history and
ethnography
 Kaluluwa and Ginhawa
 Trace the connection of kaluluwa (spirit) and
ginhawa (body)
 Due to colonialism – Filipinos lost their

identity
 Ginhawa
 The end of ginhawa is kaluluwa which is the
form of;
◦ Budhi
◦ Loob
◦ Diwa
◦ Ulirat
 Ginhawa in foreseeable in the search for a
good kaluluwa
◦ The body must be maginhawa for the kaluluwa to
become good
 Filipinos own Personality
 Moves from within, called budhi and goes to
meet and react with the outside reality
 This act is called gawa
 The Filipino has his own way of thinking and

behaving
 The Christian-Filipino
Concept
 It claims that man’s soul looks forward to
Heaven
 The faithful is hopeful that God will reward

him/her with eternal happiness

 It is in this reward where ginhawa comes in
 Our ancestors, on the other hand, believed

that it was necessary to keep their kaluluwa

intact in their bodies through kaginhawahan
 To them, the absence of ginhawa meant no

kaluluwa at all
 Good Individual
 To have a profound sense of
◦ Budhi
◦ Loob
◦ Diwa
◦ Ulirat
 One must cultivate the body or the body must
be maginhawa
 Spirit
Translation in the Philippines
 Kaladya
 Sumanggal
 Kalog
 Karag
 Karagan
 Kurarwa
 Aroak
 Umalagad
 Virgilio Enriquez
 Filipino philosopher from University of the
Philippines
 Studied the uniqueness of human interaction

in the Philippines
 Filipino Interaction
 It was been seen clearly in the Filipino’s
choice of foods are prepared, and how they
are being shared with others
 Human Interaction
 It is highly valued aspect of life in the
Philippines
 Interaction are observed everyday, giving rise

to an identity commonly used and shared by

Filipinos
 2 Levels of Categories
 Ibang Tao Reality Frame
 Kapwa Tao Reality Frame
 Ibang Tao Reality Frame
 Pakikitungo – level of amenities
 Pakikisalamuha – level of mixing
 Pakikilahok – level of joining
 Pakikibagay – level of conforming
 Pakikisama – level of adjusting
 Kapwa Tao Reality Frame
 Pakikipagpalagayang-loob – mutual trust
 Pakikisangkot – getting involved
 Pakikiisa – oneness and full of trust

 These 8 levels of interaction are not

conceptually interrelated
 All the levels go beyond more theorizing
 The 2 frames are hierarchy, from

PAKIKITUNGO (beginning) to PAKIKIISA (end)

 Meaning and Food
 Food is a form of language
 It is foreseeable in human interaction
 The behavior of the Filipino can be reflected

in the manner of how he/she eats

 It is a strong bond for any kind of

relationship
 Food is better than language, in a way

because it hardly ever offends and yet

meaning is unmistakable
 Kapwa
 Is the shared identity between the self and
others
 What good for one is shared with others
 Hence, harmonious settlement of disputes is

encourage on the side of the Filipino

 This is necessary if only to maintain smooth

interpersonal relations
 Katarungan
 Is accommodative rather than confrontative
for the Filipinos
 The Filipinos simply accepts injustice as

proven in a common maxim

Diyos na lang ang bahala sa kanila

God will take care of them
 Palakasan
 The accomodative concept of katarungan is
the source of walang katarungan (injustice)
 If justice springs kayaaan (freedom) and puri

(dignity) then walang katarungan is the

absence of kalayaan and puri
 Fr. Roque Ferriols, SJ
Ang Pagbibigkas ng Meron
 Bigkasin ang meron is a Filipino
Phenomenology of concrete experience
 It could be a stepping stone to a better

understanding of that which is there

 Reiterating that cognition is based on a

grounded experience
 Meron
 Is present space and time that is why one can
experience it in every action
 However there is an advantage in the way one
brings about meron
 Retaining the meron in its old meaning, like the
Being in Western metaphysics, will hinder
progress
 But how does one give birth to meron?
 Is it by means idea or consciousness?
 Are there some attitudes that one must assume?
 Magdanas, Magmasid and
Kumilatis
 It is important to have the basic thinking
attitudes, danas, masid and kilatis to
understand things or situations the way they
should be understood
 Meron
 Has no definite form
 It has no assurance for a real identity
 This is the reason we have to undergo danas,

masid and kilatis

 It ensures a new meaning because one

actually articulates meron is one that initiates

phenomenological thinking
 It is the pagkagat and pagkapit to experience
 Ang Pilipino kung Mangatwiran:
Pagpapahayag at Batayan
 It deals with the behavior of the Filipino as far
as reasoning is concerned
 It tries to find out the common reaction of the

Filipino when confronted with questions

raised by logic
 Hence the Filipino language is used as the

basis of reason
 Precision of Language
 Filipino does not have a square
consciousness
◦ Use of uncle in western (the brothers of my father
and my mother)
◦ But for a Filipino a male neighbor or perhaps evry
male who is older is called Tito or Tita or
sometimes Kuya
◦ OO na or OO na nga have different uses
 OO -implies agreeing without reservation
 OO na- implies agreeing but with doubt
 OO na nga – implies agreeing with force
 Components of Thinking
 2 components with respect to thinking;
◦ Kontroladong Pagiisip
◦ Malayang Pagiisip
Florentino Timbreza
 Pagkatao in Filipino Thought
Florentino Timbreza
 Personhood/selfhood
 Filipino relates it;

◦ Personal dignity
◦ Self-esteem/worth
◦ Good name
◦ Personal honor
◦ Moral integrity
◦ Good character
◦ Credibility
◦ Trustworthiness
◦ Reputation
 Pagkatao
 The most precious wealth of a human person and
measure of one true greatness (Kadakilaan)
 Filipino culture;

◦ INTEGRITY
 KAPAG NAWALAN KA NG PERA O KALUSUGAN WALANG
NAWAWALA SA PAGKATAO PERO KAPAG NAWALAN KA NG
DIGNIDAD, LAHAT NAWAWALA SA IYO
◦ Nakikita lang ang maling nagagawa hindi ang kabutihan
◦ Makagawa lang ng pagkakamali yun na ang pagkakilala sa
iyo nakalimutan na lahat ang kabutihan maaalala lamang
ito pag-patay na ang tao kung minsan nga kahit patay na
mali pa rin ang nakikita
 MARCOS
 Good Character
 “NEVER
MIND WEALTH FOR IT CAN BE PRODUCED,
BUT GOOD CHARACTER IS HARD TO FIND”

◦ Hndi ito namamana ng kabuhayan pero namamana

ang magandang kaugalian (environment and values
of the family)
◦ REAL BEAUTY consist in good manners
Loob and the Filipino Philosophy
 Loob can be characterized as
◦ Holistic approach – world’s view
 Life is not compartmentalized (hindi nakakahon)
 Expression of western man
 Not letting the emotions influence by reason
 Huwag magpadala sa emosyon gamitin ang isip
 De Lima’s case
 Love is blind
 Other experience
 Working in a hospital masama ang loob mo sa head nurse dahil
napagalitan ka , apektado na ang pakikitungo mo sa trabaho mo o sa
patiente
 It hard to to separate work from his own person being
 PAIN OF THE WHOLE BEING
◦ Interior approach – personal view
 Characteristic:
Sensitivity of the Filipino
 Sama ng loob - Balat sibuyas
 Mahiyain
 Amor propio (Pride)
 Interiority
Interior Approach
 Being a Filipino we are know as;
◦ Loving
◦ Merciful
◦ Charity
◦ Leniency
 Kagandahang-loob
Kabutihang -loob
 Kalooban
◦ Terms that show sharing of oneself to others
 Human person
 Relating
 Love
 God
 Sharing – Having
 Serving – Doing
 FREEDOM – interior manifestation nararamdaman hindi
na kailangang sabihan pa my action
 Great Philippine Values
 Interpersonal
◦ The use of intermediaries
 The value of loyalty
 Hospitality
 Pakikisama (camaraderie)
 Barkadahan
 Ano ang masama at mabuting naidudulot ng pakikisama
 Tama bang makisama?
 PRESURE sa kabataan kailangan gawin para hindi ka iwan ng
iyong tropa
 Respect to authority
 Person as whole
 Principle of harmony
◦ Filipino must look at himself as
 WHOLE
 FEELS
 WILLS
 THINKS
 ACTS
The Filipino Philosophy of Time
 Human time is not leaning to space but to
humanity’s consciousness
◦ Music - consciousness of the pass
◦ History – not on historical dates but base on the
significant event
 Martial law
 People’s power
 ANO ANG MAPAPAALALA NATIN SA GENERASYON NGAYON
SA SUSUNOD NA GENERATION

TIME – how to give importance - Manana habit

in comparison to western
 Time – Florentino Timbreza
 Gulong ng Palad – wheel of fortune
 Cycling of time
◦ The Filipino always look at the upon every event
(fortunate/unfortunate)
◦ Hindi laging ganyan ang buhay ito ay umiikot
◦ Sample ERAP presidency
◦ Poverty, position in government

 Malas
 My malas bah o tayo ang gumagawa ng malas sa buhay natin
 Bakit ang mahirap lalong humihirap at ang mayaman ay laging
yumayaman ito ba ay tadhana o katamaran ng mga Filipino
 Fr. Leonardo Mercado, SVD
 Fr. Leonardo Mercado, SVD will attempt to
drawn out elements of the general lines of
Filipino philosophy
 Bahala Na – Come what may
Fatalism

 It refers to Supreme Being

◦ Bathala
 Leaving everything to God
 Complete trust to God or divine providence 
 Tama ba itong pananaw
 Ito ba ay isang kaugalian ng katamaran o tunay na
pananampalataya
 Halimbawa ng pakikipagsapalaran
 Bahala na kung ano ang sasapitin ko sa ibang bansa
 Bahala na kung ano ang mangayayari sa akin
 ACCREDITATION –ang kailangan ginawa mo na lahat ng
magagawa mo at ipagpa sa Diyos na kung ano man ang
kalalabasan ang hindi tama wala kang ginawa at tapos
ipagpapasa Diyos mo ang magyayari
Utang na Loob – Dolores Reyes
 Reciprocating depts of gratitude between
coordinates and subordinates
◦ What are the advantages and disadvantages?
◦ Tama bang tumanaw ng utang na loob?
 Bakit
 POLITICS utang na loob sa tumulong sa campaign
during the election
 Positive Filipino values
 BAYANIHAN (helping each other in times of
needs)
◦ Nagyayari pa ba?
◦ Kelan
 Sakuna
 Trahedya
 Hindi ba pwedeng tumulong kahit walag sakuna
 A Being for Death
 3 ideas of death
◦ Christian death
◦ Marxist
◦ Existentialist
 CHRISTIAN DEATH
 Death is the end of this life and is beginning
of the next.
 It is a punishment for sin that our first

parents disobedience and pride

 They were driven to paradise where there was

no death
 Since then every man has been a being whose

earthly end is death

 Christian Death as Mystery
 It recognizes man’s natural reluctance to die
and the pain of separation of body and soul
 It notes the progress of medical technology in

prolonging the life span and its failure to

prevent death
 It also notes man’s insatiable desire – that of

perfect happiness, that of a life that will go

on forever
 Church Teaching
 God created man with this end in view:
eternal life with Him
 And that this is possible because of Christ

sacrifice on Calvary
 His death redeemed us from our first parents’

sin and opened the possibility of recovering

one’s wholeness and reuniting with loved
ones who have gone before us
 Death is a moment of
decision
 It may also the portals of hell, of eternal
suffering
 So it may be a moment of fear, but for the

Christian who had lived in grace; it is a time

of faith of love and of hope
 Marxism on Death
 Marx does not believe in the next life
 He is an atheist and does not see death as

more than a biological event

 Man to him is nothing more than a being

generically determined
 Death is important
 And this is the way of all atheists
 Existentialism on Death
 Existentialist face death directly
 They say it is one of life’s boundary

situations, thus, inevitable/expected and

thus, the authentic attitude is to accept it and
to find out its significance
 Martin Heidegger – being for
death
 Death is certainty
 Only the when is a big question mark
 To Heidegger, there is a vagueness in the notion
of death, and this he attributes to confusing
existence with being there
 Or existence involves not just the present but the
past and the future as well
 So does our death
 It is not only of the moment it occurs, it is of the
past and the future, too
 This is the gift of historicity of man
 Existentialists belief
 They accept man as finite, his life having an
ending
 They say that the real death that lies ahead of

a man is the possibility of himself as not

being at all
 This belief is in consonance with Christian

teaching that the real death is not being with

God
 The eternal unhappiness of devils is their

never having seen God

Source and Meaning of Death
Surviving One’s death
The Finality of death
Death as necessity and as liberty