OUTLINE

Family Community (I and We)

Marriage Inter-temporal (I and you)
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Person Subjectivity

The Family is a material and formal reality. Marriage forms the basis of a Family. The family, in effect of
the cause that is marriage, can only have the perfection it gets from the stated cause. This cause was
discussed in the course to be of four forms: Material, Formal, Efficient, and Final, from Aristotles study
on causation. The Material Cause of Marriage consist of Living bodies of man and woman over which
they acquire mutual rights that of the Familys consist in Man and woman and the children generated
within the union. The two individuals involved, man and woman, specifies the unit involved, it is that
out of which a family is first started and made. The formal cause of Marriage consist in Love is
expressed in mutual self-giving intended to never be withdrawn, thus bringing about the relationship
between the husband and the wife. The Formal cause in the Family consists in Love embodied in the
relationship of polarity between man and woman, that the parent-filial relationship, and fraternal
relationship, all of which are simultaneously present. The relationships form the pattern making up a
family, constituting relationship which strengthens and makes the family more permanent. The efficient
cause of Marriage consist in Man and woman motivated by a free decision to love each other for the
life as spouses, issuing into formal and public declaration of intention to remain together for life, family
corresponds in such that The conjugal or marital bond that establishes a social unit specified by
biological and moral unity. (where one can develop). The matrimonial bond creates a structure, a place
where one can develop- to BECOME persons, both as an individual and as a social being. The fourth and
last type of cause is the end or goal of a marriage and familythat for the sake of which a thing is done.
Marriage consists, primarily, in the begetting and upbringing of the children, secondarily, subordinate
to the primary, the mutual help and companionship with all its implication (to have a family, to have
children). The family then consists of that form or structure where a human being is humanized and
socialized, that is to say, the primordial place propitious for the development (becoming) of the
individual and of the society. In both cases there exists a personal and a social end in the formation of
marriage and a family.
The changing family forms demonstrates the change in the said causes of marriage, and thus family.
This is apparent in the development of the quasi family, consisting of variations within the material
and formal cause of the family. This is so given the existence of (1) consensual unions, LAT, child out of
wedlock, and even voluntary childlessness. This variations constitute the transformation happening in
families for years now, thus, contributing to the phenomenon of the de-institutionalization of the
family.
The said manifestations of the family today is in effect the aftermath of the perceptions of the person in
establishing the relationship, termed as personalism. Personalism established itself through ideological
and cultural trends in our historical cultural background. In this view, the course provides some
perspectives by influential thinkers and how the said view changes the causes of family, both in its
material and formal reality. One such example would be that of an empiricists view on the person, with
David Hume on his nature on the doll as the thinker. An empiricist believes reality is that which can be
proven by experience, through something which is tangible. He will then view the person in terms of its
material assets, examples can be based on wealth and position. The problem then in this view is
apparent, is a person then not a person if he or she does not possess the said value? It has been pointed
out in the course that these perspectives often cause for other perspectives to arise, our example here
tending to materialism. The said perspectives and action proves the inalienable and incommunicable
dimensions of the person as a subject, his awareness that he is doing a particular action by himself. This
constitutes in the persons possession of him or herself. Mans actions has, as explained in class,
transforming character. Any action transforms the subject because the person acts to obtain a value
that he has deliberated on something as worthwhile. It is a scheme for self-fulfilment, for perceived
goods are assimilated to the selfs inner world, acquiring value and defining the person.
This leads us to the study of what it is that makes a person, and from Wojtylas definition, a person is
an objective entity, which as a definite subject has the closest contact with the while (external) world
and is most intimately involved with it precisely because of its inwardness, its interior life. This
establishes the relationship between the I and the you, that of the person with regards to other people.
The term was, as stated in the framework, inter-personal. (Occurring among or involving several
people).The difference then is unmistakable, that of the aspect of sexuality of a person. The difference
as observed (1) chromosomally, in the (2) reproductive system of the two, thus the variation between
their corporeal manifestations. Yet it is also this difference that accounts for the complementarity
between each. The difference forms the avenue for union, that which is dictated by the intervention of
love and freedom, thus forming the consequent foundation of communitarian life. The Community of
persons, as stated in our class, has its roots in human sexuality. When the exercise of choice is apparent
in the stages of communication model, that which accounts for the beginning of the said union, the
relations which naturally flow from the communion will be characterized by Affection, authority, and
trust. The personal dynamics, that which flows from the difference as well as complementarity between
persons, gives rise to the formation of relationships and in effect, marriage.
The relationship between the two is that which should be based on a type of love as discussed in class,
Betrothed love. It is the foundation of marriage and family life in such that it has as its distinguishing
feature that of self-surrender, which presupposes self-possession and governance. The type of
relationship between the two is not one that is dictated by objects of pleasure or use, or even true
friendship, but self-giving and responsibility. It is the gift of self between the two that functions to
preserve the relationship of both marriage and the family.
The inter-personal relationship between the I and the you is not only limited to the two. People exist
within societies and communities, with their own I and you relationships. Thus, the communion of
persons is that which multiplies throughout the passage of time, forming the foundation of more and
more relationships, marriages, and families. The Family then becomes a societys source of citizens.
Extending the personal end of the Family as having social ends as well. The Family participates in the
Societal Common good given its importance for the development and fulfilment of persons, and in the
formation of the culture of the said individuals in question. The Family thus becomes the cradle of
culture, shaping society through their people.
Contemporary culture, at the dawn of a new age, is contributing to the de-insitutionalization of marriage
and family through the stated variations it brings in the and the how of the formation and development
of marriage and family. One such example as reported in class is the effect of

1. On the Relationship and Dynamics between the Family, Marriage, and the Person
a. Family Marriage (Material and Formal=Reality)
i. The Comparative Causalities of Marriage and Family: Marriage as the
source of the Family
1. Material
2. Formal
3. Efficient
4. Final
ii. The effect (family) can only have the perfection it gets from the cause
(marriage)
iii. The Family forms
iv. Transformation of the Family, its consequences, and solutions
v. De-institutionalization of the family
vi. Threats and Challenges to the Family
b. Family Marriage Person (Material and Formal)
i. Conceptions on the Person and effect on both marriage and family
1. Influential thinkers on the person
ii. Person Subjectivity (Material and Formal)
1. Persons subjectivity as a component of a person
iii. Person Subjectivity Inter-personal (I-You)
1. What is a person?
2. Personalist approach vs. subjectivism vs. materialism
3. Male-female complementarity: Communication model
4. Aspect of sexuality
c. Inter-personal Marriage
1. Personal dynamics that lead to marriage
2. Courtship vs. pre-arranged (personal vs. social construct)
3. Betrothed love as foundation of marriage and family life
4. Preparations for marriage
d. Inter-personal Community of Persons
i. In the formation of a community of persons
1. Societal Common Good
a. Personal vs. social ends
2. Subsidiarity
3. Family as the floor
4. Family as a natural institution
5. Phenomenological-ontological reality
6. Institution of the family and its importance for personal fulfilment
and achievement of good civil society
e. Community of Persons Family
1. The Family as a Cradle of culture
a. Task of humanization: culture buildings
2. Stages in family life cycle-evolving love in family life

Marriage Person (Formal)
- How perspectives/definition on the person is changing the view on the Family
Person Subjectivity
- Definition of a Person by wojtyla
Family Community of Persons (I-We)
- Societal Common Good
o Personal vs. social ends
- Subsidiarity
- Family as the floor
- Family as a natural institution
- Phenomenological-ontological reality
- Institution of the family and its importance for personal fulfilment and achievement
of good civil society
- The Family as a Cradle of culture
o Task of humanization: culture buildings
- Stages in family life cycle-evolving love in family life
Marriage Inter-personal (I-You)
- What is a person?
- Personalist approach vs. subjectivism vs. materialism
- Male-female complementarity: Communication model
- Aspect of sexuality
- Personal dynamics that lead to marriage
o Courtship vs. pre-arranged (personal vs. social construct)
o Betrothed love as foundation of marriage and family life
o Preparations for marriage

Interpersonal and institutional perspectives of marriage and family asa stable base for their
own marriage and family
Principles based on the respect for and defense of human dignity that will enable them to
defend the family as an institution and an inter-personal reality