INTRODUCTION TO THE

PHILOSOPHY OF THE
HUMAN PERSON
PHILLIP B. BELGICA
ILAWOD NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL
ILAWOD CAMALIG, ALBAY
 Nature of philosophy
The word philosophy was coined from
the Greek “philein’ which means to love
and “ Sophia” which means wisdom.
Pythagoras and Heraclitus, called
themselves philosophers or lovers of
wisdom only. ( because accordingly only
the gods are wise.
 Philosophy is technically defined as “ scientia
rerum per causas primas sub lumine rationis
naturalis”.
 The science of beings in their ultimate
reasons, causes, and principles, acquired by
the aid of human reason alone”
 Or the science which by natural light of reason
studies the first causes of highest principles of
all things.
Philosophy is a science:

Itis not based on mere opinions or

theories or hypotheses, but is
certain knowledge derived from
reasoned demonstration of causes
and reduced to a system.
Science of being:

Science of all things, this

includes man, world, god
and everything that exists.
Science of reason:

A reason is that by means

of which, a thing is
known and can be
understood
cause

A cause is that which

contributes in some positive
manner toward the
production of thing.
principle

A principle is that
from which
something proceeds
Philosophy vs. other sciences

The other sciences give the proximate

causes of things, while
Philosophy searches for the ultimate
reasons and causes and principles.
 Philosophy
is a knowledge acquired by the aid of
human reason alone.
 Thismeans that philosophy does not base its
knowledge on authority, but solely on the reasoning
power of human mind.
 Divine
revelation, therefore is formally excluded as a
source of information in philosophy, although it can
and should assist the mind of man by pointing out the
proper direction for the philosophic solution of a
problem along, purely natural lines.
Object of philosophy

 There are 2 objects of study by any science.

1. Material object or the subject matter of the
science
2. Formal object – which refers to the particular
attributes of the material object under study
or the particular aspect under which the
material object is studied.
Formal object

 Theformal object is further subdivided into the

formal object “qoud” and the formal object “ qou”
 objectum formale qoud – is that which is
immediately and primarily apprehended by the
science.
 Objectum formale quo – is the medium by which
the science studies its object.
 In the case of philosophy;
1. The Material object is all things
2A. The formal object quod is the first cause of
highest principle of all things.
2b. The formal object quo is the natural reason
alone and specifically, the abstractive power of
reason.
 Philosophy

Material Formal
object ( object
all things)

Quod (first cause Quo (natural

&highest principle) reason)
Major branches of philosophy
1. Logic – is t he science of inferential thinking and correct reasoning.
This covers the study of ideas and terms, judgment and proposition,
reasoning and syllogism.
2. Cosmology – is the science which considers the ultimate principles
and causes of mobile beings in general. This includes the essential
principles of natural bodies, matter and form, change, motion, time,
place, space, causality and finality and generation and corruption.
3. Psychology – is the science of animate mobile beings as such:
especially man, his nature attributes, and operations. This covers the
concept of life and its operations, the soul, sensation and appetition,
intellection and volition
4. Metaphysics – is the science which deals with the nature of
being, its attributes, constituent principles and causes. This
includes the concept of being, its analogy and fundamental
attributes, problem of evil, act and potency, essence and
existence, substance and accidents.
5. Theodicy – is the science of the nature, existence, essence,
attributes and operations of god.
6. Epistemology – is the science which examines the truth
value or validity of human knowledge
7. Ethics – is the science of the morality of human acts as
ordained to the final end.
General division of philosophy

1. Speculative philosophy – is that which

exists solely for the sake of knowledge, its
object is the truth
2. Practical philosophy – is that which seeks
to procure by some kind of activity, the
good of man. Its object is the good.
 The Question about Man
What is man? Where is he going? What is his goal? Who am I?

Man is defined by traditional scholastic philosophy as a rational

animal, or as a composite of body and soul.

Under the aspect of body, he is like any other animal, a

substance, mortal, subject to limitation of time and space.
Under the aspect of soul, he is gifted with the power of reason,
free and immortal.
 Some themes of Philosophy of Man
1. Man as Embodied Subjectivity
he is a foremost subjectivity, a unique core or center,
source, depth, well spring of initiative and meaning.
man’s body is not an object-body, a chunk of matter that
is the lodging place of the spirit
but the human body is a subject-body, already a meaning
giving existence.
Embodiment is simply to make incarnate a meaning which
comes from the inner core of man.
 Some themes of Philosophy of Man

2. Man as Being in the World

as embodied subject, man is being in
the world. The human body is the link of
man with the world
the things around man are structures
that articulate a meaning proceeding
from the subjectivity of man
 Some themes of Philosophy of Man
3. Man as Being-with: the interhuman and the Social
the world of man is not just the world of things but also the world of
fellowman
the interhuman is the I-Thou relationship (martin Buber) in contrast to
the I- it relationship. It is the relationship of dialogue in contrast to
monologue
genuine dialogue is entering into communication with the other by
becoming aware of his totality
monologue treats the other as an object, as something that fills his
need of the moment.
Dialogue----- unfolding momologue ------imposition
 Aristotle characterizes man as “political animal”
this refers to the social nature of man, social is not
something that one enters into by contract to achieve
some common aim.
the social is within each man; man does not only live
in society, society lives in him. The things he uses in
daily life presuppose contact with fellowman.
Even the individual himself is a product of a social
contact.
 Some themes of Philosophy of Man
4. man as person and his crowning activity is love which
presuppose justice
the final aim of education is becoming a person.
person is the task of becoming oneself. And it consists in
integration, in becoming whole, in unifying his diverse
activities of speaking, thinking, willing and feeling.
how can he achieve this self possession? By directing all
these activities towards as objective value or realm of
objective values. Objective because they are valuable in
themselves.
 mere relative values cannot integrate man because
they derive their worth from man himself.
what beings possess inherent worth? Man in his
uniqueness and irreducibility is an objective value.
The commitment of love presupposes justice, the true
foundation of social order. Love as the enhancement of
the other person requires giving to the other his due,
his basic dignity as a person
love is the maximum of justice, justice is the
minimum of love.
Just as there are many
definitions of philosophy , so
there are as many philosophical
approaches to the study of
man..
The pre-socratics were primarily concerned with the basic
stuff of the cosmos, with what constituted the universe.
The question on man could not be totally divorced from
the cosmological, since man was conceived as part of
nature.
Man was seen as a microcosm, and the search for the truth
about man was simultaneously the search for the truth
about the universe.
Thus, the ancient philosophical approach to the study of
man was COSMOCENTRIC. ( they were concerned not with a
part of the cosmos but with the totality)
With the coming and predominance of Christianity in medieval Europe,
philosophy became the handmaid of theology.
reason was the companion of faith, its task was to make faith reasonable.
Man was viewed still as part of nature but nature now was God’s creation,
and man, next to the angels, was the most noblest of God’s creatures,
created in his image and likeness.
Philosophy became the search for the ultimate causes of things, eventually
leading to the truth about God.
Man’s ideal was to contemplate God and his creation, and his action was
to conform to the natural moral law implanted in his reason.
Thus, the Christian medieval philosophical approach to the study of man
was THEOCENTRIC
The change of focus began with the philosophizing of rene
Descartes (father of modern philosophy)
Everything was dubitable, for descartes, even his own body, all
except for one fact, the fact that he was doubting.
He could not doubt that he was doubting. And doubting being
mode of thinking, brought him to the realization of “ COGITO
ERGO SUM” (I think, therefore I am)
with the emergence of Descartes’ cogito, Philosophy became
ANTHROPOCENTRIC.
The question of man was now the foreground of other
questioning on nature or on God.
With Kierkegaard, Philosophy became the search for the
meaning of life.
The search for truth was now the search for meaning.
The question of what is the meaning of man’s existence
is more important for the existentialist rather than its
answer.
Theistic existentialist – soren Kierkegaard, karl jasper,
Gabriel marcel, and martin buber
Atheistic existentialist – jean paul Sartre, albert
camus, and Maurice mereau-Ponty
Five common features of existentialist
thinkers
1. Existentialist thinkers attempt to philosophize
from the standpoint of an actor rather than from
that of a spectator.
this is due to the fact that the problems considered
by existentialist thinkers arise out of their personal
experience.
The life of the existentialist thinker can hardly be
divorced from his philosophy.
Five common features of existentialist
thinkers
2.Existentialist philosophies are basically
philosophies of man, stressing the subjectivity of
man.
they did not deny that man to a certain extent is
an object, that he is a thing, conceptualizable,
manipulable and controllable by others,
still they hold on to the subjectivity of man; man as
the original center, the source of initiative and giver
of meaning to the world.
Five common features of existentialist
thinkers
3. Existentialist philosophies stress on man’s existence, on man as
situated.
This situatedness of man takes on a different shades of meaning
for different existentialist.
Soreen Kierkegaard – existence is a religious category; the
situation of the single, finite, unique individual who has to make a
decision before the one infinite God in fear and trembling like the
situation of Abraham.
Martin Heidegger, man is Dasein, there-being, thrown into the
world to realize himself, doomed to potentialities, the extreme of
which is death.
Karl jasper – to exist is to transcends oneself through
limit situation and eventually to find God
Gabriel Marcel – esse est co-esse, to exist is to co-exist,
to participate in the fullness of Being (God) through
love, fidelity and faith.
on the other hand.
Jean Paul Sartre – to exist is to be condemned to
freedom
Maurice merleau-ponty – man is condemned to meaning
Albert camus – to exist is to live the absurdity of life
Five common features of existentialist
thinkers
4. Existentialist thinkers emphasize the freedom of man.
Each existentialist has his own interpretation of freedom
Kierkegaard – freedom is that which enables man to pass from the
aesthetic state to the ethical and ultimately to make a leap of
faith, the highest act of man’s liberty.
Heidegger equates freedom with self-transcendence in time, the
being-ahead-of-itself of dasein while having been-been and
making present entities in his world
Sartrean freedom – “existence precedes essence” man first exists
and then gradually creates his own essence.
Nothing determines human freedom from creating its own essence
except freedom itself; man cannot help but be free.
Merleau-Ponty bring out his own notion of
freedom as situated freedom due to man’s body,
freedom is man’s ability to say yes to Being, to
pass from the realm of having to that of being,
the realm of participation.
one becomes free only if he transcends himself
and goes out to others in love, participating in
something greater than himself.
Five common features of existentialist
thinkers
5. Existentialist philosophers propagate authentic existence
versus in authentic existence
Inauthentic existence is living under the impersonal on
(they) of Heidegger
Keirkegaard –crowd mentality
Albert camus – L’etranger, indifferent ,tranquilized, unable
to make a personal decision of his own
Gabriel Marcel – functionalized man living in the mass
society
Martin Buber – the man living the life of Monologue
Authentic existence – is personal and the
authentic man is one who freely commits
himself to the realization of a project, an
idea, a truth, a value.
he is one who does not hide himself in the
anonymity of the crowd but signs himself to
what he manifests.
The question of value for the existentialist cannot be
divorced from the more original question of what does it
mean to be? What is the meaning of life?
camus in his myth of Sisyphus says that the truly
philosophical question is the question of suicide, for in
suicide one poses the question of the meaning of life.
value then is intimately related to life, and if human life
for existentialist is to be lived freely, authentically,
responsibly, personally, then value is that for which a
person lives and dies for.
Value is that to which the authentic man commits himself
Marcel says in his mystery of Being, that
for existence to be truly human it must
have a center outside itself. For life to
be human it must answer the question,
what am I living for?
value is then that around which all my
human activities revolve.
Is value subjective or objective?
Value is subjective because value always
presupposes a subject who values; value is always
value for me.
Value is objective because there is truly something I
can live and die for.
value is intimately connected with truth, for I
cannot live and die for what is false or for what I
think is untrue.
Where do values come from? What is the
source of value?
Jean Paul Sartre ( atheist)- man is the ultimate source of
values; he is responsible for what he commits himself to.
values spring from man’s freedom to realize himself and
no outside source can be attributed to them. Man alone is
responsible for his own being, he cannot depend on any
absolute.
nevertheless, Sartre stresses on the responsibility of the
person to mankind for his decision (I chose not only for my
self but for the whole humanity.
Camus – the spirit of solidarity with fellowman in the spirit
of rebellion
Where do values come from? What is the
source of value?
Theistic existentialist, on the other hand, would admit of
the relativity of values as precisely pointing to an Absolute
value who grounds them.
the subjective source of values is human freedom, but
human freedom is limited and becomes fulfilled only when it
participates in someone greater than itself
man’s commitment to values is finite and needs to be
grounded in an absolute
The objective source of value is none other than God, the
absolute Thou who can give final and complete fulfilment to
ones life.
What then is the existentialist’s search
for meaning?
In spite of the divergency of thought between the atheistic
and theistic existentialist, we can infer that it is ultimately a
search within.
man the subject is the giver and discoverer of meaning
but the search within is a search that erupts, extends to
the outside, to the other than the self
how far this will extend depends on how deep man can
reach into the recesses of his subjectivity.
 Nature of Soul
Man has a vital actions, and therefore, must have a vital
principle or soul.
This principle of life is called the rational or intellectual soul.
The intellectual soul is a substance. The acts of understanding
and willing are accidents and therefore, do not exist in
themselves but in a substance.
The intellectual soul is simple. Its essence is not composed of
parts.
It is simple because it is the principle of operations that are
intrinsically independent of matter.
The intellectual soul is really distinct from
the body since the former is spiritual and
the latter is material.
Each man has his own intellectual soul as
evident from the fact that each man is
capable of intellection
 Origin of the Soul

 The human soul does not come from the parents.,

 The human soul cannot come from the bodies of parents, for it is
intrinsically independent of matter
 For the same reason, the human soul cannot come from the composites
of body and soul, because the composite acts through the body, so that
its activities are intrinsically material.
 Creation of the new soul by the souls of the parents is impossible for
only God can create.
 To be able to create implies absolute control over the esse and such
control is not possessed by any being which has its esse from another.
In the generation of a new human being,
the parents directly produce one of the
components, namely, the body.
The other component, the soul, is not
produced by the parents, but its union with
the body is caused by the parents inasmuch
as they produce a body which necessarily
requires a human soul as its act.
The human soul comes into existence through creation by God.
The human soul can only come from God.
 Human soul is a substantial form of a body, and therefore, it
is not in accordance with its nature to exist separately from
the body
 Time of infusion
duration of soul
1. The human soul is not subject to direct corruption
only that which is composed of parts is directly corruptible,
for direct corruption means the decomposition of a composite
whole into its parts
2. The human soul is not subject to indirect corruption
A thing is indirectly corruptible if it depends for its very
existence upon something which is subject to decomposition.
3. A confirmation of the immortality of the
soul may be found in the human desire for a
continued existence.
to be forever is a something which the
intellect knows and apprehends as
necessarily connected with the attainment
of perfect happiness, and therefore
everlasting existence is desired naturally.
Will and Freedom
Will– it is a
tendency toward a
known good or away
from a known evil
 Will and Freedom
Nature of the will

The will is distinct from the nature of the subject; for in finite being
nature and operative potency are always really distinct.
The will is distinct from the intellect because they have a distinct
needs to be determined
Yet the will and the intellect are closely related. The will
complements the intellect by making it possible for the subject to act
in accordance with its intellectual apprehension.
The motion of the will depends on the knowledge of the intellect
Object of the will
good apprehended by the intellect

DETERMINISM – is the theory that everything in the

universe, including man is entirely governed by
causal laws.
It asserts that whatever happens at some specific
moment is the outcome of something that happened
at a previous moment, that is, that the present is
always determined
 freedom
Freedom may mean:
Physical – being able to move from one place to another
Psychological- open expression of the spontaneous character of
man’s nature
Civil – the right to act within the framework of the law
To most philosophers however, freedom has not meant so much
political, economic or psychological, but rather the CAPACITY
TO CHOOSE FREELY BETWEEN TWO OPTIONS..
Is man free in the sense that he has some power to choose
between alternatives and to initiate action?
What is the evidence for a degree of
freedom?
1. The immediate consciousness of freedom. Practically all
men have a direct and distinct consciousness of freedom.
They believe they are able to choose between
alternative courses of action. After they have acted,
they usually feel that they could have chosen otherwise
than they did.
2. The sense of personal responsibility. The sense of
personal responsibility that expresses itself most clearly
in our feeling of obligation, or the sense of ought. After
some actions, we say I could not have done otherwise.
Sometimes we have a keen feeling of blame or even of
guilt and remorse.
3. Moral judgments on human conduct and character.
We not only hold ourselves personally responsible for
our action but hold others responsible for their actions.
Praise and blame, approval and disapproval, rewards
and punishment and the norms and standard we set up
in society assume human freedom
4. The fact of deliberation. Reflective thinking is
another fact of human experience which indicates that
man is not a mere plaything of external forces. In
reflective thinking, a man can place before himself a
number of possible lines of action. It is a trial and error
by ideas.
 EASTERN PHILOSOPHERS
Among the first philosophers who plumbed deeply into the
problem of man, particularly the problem of human suffering,
were the three oriental sages and mystics, BUDDHA, LAO-TZU
and CONFUCIUS.
They taught that man was originally one with the universal
reality, brahma, but ever since his birth into this life, man
became an individual seeking, asserting and serving its own self
only.
Thus, man now is often miserable because of his selfish
inordinate desires which often make him frustrated and restless.
Therefore, the only way for man to be happy is to free himself
from the slavery of his selfishness and inordinate sensual
desires.
 BUDDHA (Gautama Siddhartha)
According to him, the “Enlightened one” there is only one
absolute, universal all pervading reality, brahma in which all
things are one. Man therefore, in reality was united originally
with brahma and is called Brahman.
However because of the accident being born into this earthly
life, he naturally acquired an individual self (ATMAN) and
identified with a mortal body at birth and thus was separated
from his universal Brahman self and lost his original perfection
while in union with brahma.
Man, became a mortal body subject to diseases, death and
decomposition
Despite of death, corruption and decomposition, because of reincarnation, man is capable of
rebirth and regeneration.
Birth and rebirths are seen as punishment, the imprisonment of
the soul to the body due to misdeeds or impurities or
imperfections or liabilities incurred by man during his former
earthly life
At the same time, birth and rebirth were also seen as
purificatory processes to free the soul of impurities or
imperfections until such time as required to make the soul fit
and worthy to be reunited with the most pure and enter
NIRVANA, the sinless calm state of mind, the destruction of
earthly yearnings, the absence of lust, the cessation of sorrow.
According to buddhistic teaching, man in his present
existence as an individual self or atman does not really
exist.
his existence is only asserted by him, in short his
merely asserted existence is fake, false and illusory.
Thus when man asserts and insists that he is an
individual man and acts accordingly, he suffers from self
delusion.
His desire are likewise false and futile strivings of a self
deluded self. These desire, therefore caused him to be
frustrated.
Thus, to the question why man is often unhappy in this life,
Buddha answers, because o uncontrolled bodily desires.
Selfishness and uncontrolled fleshly impulses engendered by the
passions are the root causes of human misery and suffering.
In order to be happy, man must liberate of himself of this
selfishness, subjugate his baser instincts by self restraint or
denial, and in doing so he acquires virtue
The end and purpose of human living according to Buddha is the
realization of the virtuous man and it is only through
enlightenment of the true nature of man and the constant doing
of good deeds that leads to said realization
Accordingly, earthly life is a preparation, a purificatory processes leading
to eventual perfection of man and his reunion with the perfect one in
nirvana.
Buddhism is generally regarded as a Religion of self denial or
unselfishness.
It teaches patience under injury and resignation in misfortune.
It emphasizes the supremacy of inward life over outward existence.
It teaches men to look away from mundane happiness to regions invisible
and inspires him with hopes of immortality.
It preaches humility, charity, benevolence, truth and justice in human
relations for the attainment of universal brotherhood and peace which
Buddha teaches, is the highest form of happiness.
 Lao-Tzu (6th B.C)

Men are often unhappy because in life, on thought and in

action, they pretend to be what they are not through
hypocrisy,pretension, insincerety, pride, lust, dishonesty and
inordinate worldly attachments and thus, separate themselves
from the one in whom they are by nature one.
Like Buddha, he teaches the power of meekness over evil, of
love over hatred, of non-violence over violence.
He teaches the principle of wu wei which is translated as
actionthru inaction, somewhat akin to our bahala na or carefree
way of life.
 Greek wisdom on Man
The greek philosphers Socrates, plato and Aristotle taught that the proper way to solve
the problem of man is to first inquire into and discover the true nature of man.
The greek philosophers believed that man’s soul pre existed his body.
In his original ideal existence as a soul or pure mind in the realm of ideas, man knew
all things by direct intuition and had all this knowledge stored in mind.
However because of his banishment into this world of sense, he blurred or forgot all or
most of what he knew.
The solution to his present problems
caused mostly by ignorance or lack of
knowledge, can be found by recalling
all what he knew clearly in his
former existence and finally regain
his former perfections.
 Socrates
Man and virtue

Since knowledge is inborn, virtue likewise is natural endowment, not an artificial convention or
habit of action to be acquired by education.
Virtue may indeed be taught, but this is to be understood not as introducing something foreign to
the mind but rather as merely awakening the seeds of good deeds that perhaps lie dormant in the
mind and heart of mind.
Since virtue is inborn in the mind and self knowledge is the source of all wisdom, then the only way
to acquire virtue is simply to know what is in the mind, in the self.
 Virtue then depended on knowledge could be defined as true knowledge of one’s self.
“knowledge is virtue, ignorance is vice’
 True knowledge according to Socrates includes with it the application of this knowledge. This
means that knowledge should not be merely theoretical or speculative, it should be practical.
 True knowledge is wisdom which in turn means virtue.
EVIL – is the result of ignorance, the opposite of knowledge. A man does evil because he does not
know any better, or that his knowledge is imperfect or inadequate.
 PLATO
Man in his present earthly existence, is only an imperfect copy
of his real original self, the perfect man, in the realm of ideas.
By knowing and constantly recalling his former self and his
perfections and by constant imitation of his ideal exemplar by
the practice of virtue, man can regain his perfection which he
lost during his long earthly exile and his imprisonment in the
body as punishment for sin.
Man’s perfection consists in constant recollection and imitation
of his former perfect self.
 Idealism was fathered and fostered by plato, emphasized on
the idea behind the things that we see. The individual things
that we perceive, exist in space-time. These are not real
since they change, pass in and out of existence. It is the idea
behind these changeable, individual and finite things that
alone is real.
 The individual men that we know and see are, in this sense
not real since they come and go. They re only the external
manifestations, the reflections and replicas of the unseen
universal, immutable an eternal idea.
 Originally, man existed as a pure mind, an ideal man, with all
his pristine genuine perfections as a perfect man in the realm
of ideas.
 Man and knowledge
As a perfect state as pure mind, man knew all things by
direct intuition. Man was omniscient, all knowing,
before he came to be born in this world.
With his separation from the paradise of truth and
knowledge and his long exile on earth, he forgot most
of the knowledge he had.
However by constant remembering and doing good, he
can regain his former perfections.