INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

PHILLIP B. BELGICAILAWOD NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL

ILAWOD CAMALIG, ALBAY

Nature of philosophyThe 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:

It is 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.

This means 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

The formal 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 things2A. 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 object ( all things)

Formal object

Quod (first cause &highest principle)

Quo (natural reason)

Major branches of philosophy1. 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 knowledge7. 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 ManWhat 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 buberAtheistic existentialist – jean paul Sartre, albert camus, and Maurice mereau-Ponty

Five common features of existentialist thinkers1. 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 thinkers2.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 thinkers3. 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 GodGabriel 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 freedomMaurice merleau-ponty – man is condemned to meaningAlbert camus – to exist is to live the absurdity of life

Five common features of existentialist thinkers4. Existentialist thinkers emphasize the freedom of man.Each existentialist has his own interpretation of freedomKierkegaard – 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 worldSartrean 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 thinkers5. Existentialist philosophers propagate authentic existence versus in authentic existence Inauthentic existence is living under the impersonal on (they) of HeideggerKeirkegaard –crowd mentalityAlbert camus – L’etranger, indifferent ,tranquilized, unable to make a personal decision of his ownGabriel Marcel – functionalized man living in the mass societyMartin 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 absoluteThe 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 SoulMan 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 soul1. 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 parts2. 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 FreedomNature 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 determinedYet 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

freedomFreedom may mean:Physical – being able to move from one place to anotherPsychological- open expression of the spontaneous character of man’s natureCivil – the right to act within the framework of the lawTo 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 freedom4. 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 PHILOSOPHERSAmong 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 lifeAt 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 virtueThe 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 ManThe 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.

SocratesMan 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.

PLATOMan 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.