INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN PERSON
COMPILATION OF LESSONS FOR THE 1ST GRADING
Doing Philosophy
“Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder.” – Socrates
Philosophy – Greek philos (love) and Sophia (wisdom) means love for wisdom.
Philosophy as a (1) mother of all sciences, (2) Natural light for reasons, (3) Study of all things and (4)
the First Cause or highest Principle
First Principles/Highest Principles: (1) Principle of Identity, (2) Principle of Non-Contradiction, (3) Principle of
Excluded Middle and (4) Principle of Sufficient Reason.
Branches of Philosophy: (1) Metaphysic, (2) Epistemology, (3) Ethics, (4) Logic, and (5) Aesthetics
Greek, China and India – Three (3) Original centers of Philosophy.
Greek Triumvirate – Socrates, Plato and Aristotle
Philosopher Views
- Allegory of the Cave (Idea of Forms)
PLATO
- Tripartite Soul
RENE DESCARTE - Cognito Ergo Sum (I think therefore, I am.)
- first used “Philosophia”
PYTHAGORAS - founder of the group called Philosophos who did debate to know
the truth unlike the Sophist who only wanted to win an argument.
ARISTOTLE - “An Examined Life isn’t worth living”
SOCRATE - “To wonder is to know”
- “When you eliminate all the impossibility whatever remains must be
Detective Sherlock Homes the truth”
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Lesson 2
Methods of Philosophizing
Fact vs Opinion. Facts are objective and verifiable while Opinions are subjective, based on feelings or
emotion and unverifiable. TWO TYPES of OPINION – Weak Opinion (very subjective and bias) and STRONG
OPINION (with evidences but need to verify)
Argument also known as claim which is composed of Premises (are prepositions that justify its conclusion)
and conclusion. Types of Argument: (1) Deductive – General to specific, (2) Inductive – Specific to General,
(3) Abductive – eliminations of impossible and (4) Analogy – using parallel story to explain someone’s point
of view using LOGIC (philosopher’s tool box). TWO STEPS IN ARGUING: (1) Understand the argument and
(2) Critically evaluate the argument.
Fallacy - defective argument.
FALLACIES MEANING
Argumentum ad Ignorantiam - Appeal to ignorance
Argumentum ad misericordiam - Appeal to pity/emotion
Argumentum ad Hominem - Attack to person
Argumentum ad Baculum - Appeal with force
Argumentum ad populum - Appeal to people/popularity
Composition - something is true of the whole form
Equivocation - logical chain with different meaning
Petitio principii - Begging for Question
Post Hoc - False cause
Hasty Generalization - inductive generalization with insufficient
Evidence
Division - something true of a thing must also be true
to All parts
Types of Fallacy
Lesson 3: Human Person as an Embodied Spirit &Lesson 4: Human Person and the Environment
Human Person vs Human Being. Human being is the biological attributes of man while Human Person
speaks of moral attributes. “Madaling maging tao (Human Bieng) mahirap magpakatao (Human Person)”.
Human Soul (Spirit) – the immortal, noncorporeal essence of man.
Embodiment – (embodied cognito) means that man is able to perceive and experience reality through his
physical body. Concept of Embodiment recognizes that human consciousness has both a PHYSICAL and
NONPHYSICAL NATURE.
Transcendence – to go beyond someone’s limit.
VIEWS ABOUT THE PERSONHOOD OF HUMAN
Philosophy Views
Genetic Criterion - you are a person if you have human DNA.
Criteria of 1. Consciousness
Personhood 2. Reasoning
3. Self – motivating activity
4. Capacity to communicate
5. Self -awareness
Social Criterion - you are person whenever society recognizes you as a person, or whenever
someone cares about you.
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Sentient - you are a person when you have the ability to feel pleasure or pain (Peter
Singer)
Personhood as a - you are a person but you can forfeit (lost) your personhood when you violate
Right the laws of society in a major way. (murder, rape etc)
Gradient Theory of - person comes in degree; you can have more of it or less of it.
Personhood
VIEWS ABOUT THE NATURE OF HUMAN SOUL
Philosophy views
- believes that the mind and body are two distinct elements that interact within
the human person.
Dualism - Other dualism view believes that mind and body are no distinction.
- Recognizes the three-essential component of man: spirit, body and soul.
Trichotomic view
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Dichotomic view - the soul and spirit as one and the body
Psychosomic view - Body and spirit are inseparable elements integrated within man.
VIEWS ABOUT THE NATURE OF GOD
Philosophy views
Ontological Argument God exists because man is able to conceive Him
Teleological Argument God existence has purpose in the universe (St. Thomas Aquinas)
Cosmological Argument God is the FIRST CAUSE that brought about all existence
Argument of St. Thomas Aquinas about the Existence of God
- Argument from Motion
- Argument from Causation
- Argument from Contingency
- Argument from Degree
Moral Argument God is the greatest ideal of what is good and without him, the concept of
ethical actions would be meaningless.
VIEWS ABOUT THE HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENT
Philosophy Views
- Human is the central and the most significant species on the
earth.
Anthropocentrism
- Human is the primary cause that drives changes in the
environment.
- The Natural world is maintained by interrelationship among living
Deep Ecology organism and that every living thing on the planet is dependent on
each other for survival.
- Non – organic elements in the planet play a significant role in
maintaining balance in the environment as they interact with the
Gaia Hypothesis
living organism to regulate the various system that enable life to
continue thriving on earth.
- Man, as a steward of God’s creation, and their stewardship as a
Theological View continuation of the work of the Creator.
- “Rule and Subdue it” -Genesis 1: 26 -28
