Department of Education

Republic of the Philippines

Region IX – Zamboanga Peninsula
Division IX- Pagadian City
ZAMBOANGA DEL SUR NATIONAL HIGH
SCHOOL
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL
Subject: Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person Week:
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DO NOT WRITE ANYTHING ON THIS ACTIVITY SHEETS!
FOR EMODULE STUDENTS: Write your answers in a clean white paper. Use only black ink ball pen. Take a photo of your
answers and send it to stephaniegalleto@gmail.com with a subject line ActivitySheetsW1_FamilyName (Ex.
ActivitySheetsPhiloW1_Galleto). You may use MSWord and send your answers with file name format:
ActivitySheetsW1_FamilyName (Ex. ActivitySheetsPhiloW1_Galleto).
FOR MODULE STUDENTS: Write your answers in a clean yellow paper. Make sure your writing is legible.

LESSON OBJECTIVES
At the end of the week, you should be able to:
1. Distinguish a holistic perspective from a partial point of view
2. Realize the value of doing philosophy in obtaining a broad perspective on life 3. Do a philosophical
reflection on a concrete situation from a holistic perspective.

ACTIVITY 1
Directions: Research on the meaning and background of Philosophy. Do not copy and paste answers directly from sources
(internet/other references) to avoid plagiarism (criminal act). After your research, do the requirement below:
Share your concepts about the importance of philosophy. Give examples of these in politics, sports, law and daily life.
Rubric for Scoring (Essay):
Content and Originality 10 points
Organization of ideas 5 points
Evidence (examples) 5 points
Total 20 points

When we hear a word philosophy,

one that crosses our minds are the people in
ancient times who were philosopher and it
speaks and shows intelligence.In this
modern days,when we know someone who
studies philosopy,we think of it as boring
subject and all of it does is reading book and
making essays from essays,which is actually
true but not absolutlety boring because
when we learn and seek deeply on it,it tells
and shows everything.What we have now
and what we are experiencing are the
results of philosophy and we should thank
to the philosophers who has philosophical
thoughts which thinks beyond the box and
outlookingly think of everything.
Philosophy comes from the greek
work philosophia which means “love of
wisdom”. It is a study that seeks nature of
truth and knowledge,what is basic values
and importance of life,relationships
between humanity and nature,and also
between individual and society. It also is a
process of analysis,criticism,interpretation
and speculation.All of the people has an
ability to think but few are looking and
seeking answers in depth by things that
surrounds us.Long time ago and even up to
this day,most people depends on
superstitions,beliefs,traditions, and
religions,but the greek philosophers in the
old time,think of it as unreliable.Having a
philosophical thought is an inescapable part

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of human existence because from time to
time,you would question more over as
world is changing.You can’t avoid to ignore
the existence of things in the world and
even out of the world. It also have many
branches such as
Metaphysics,Epistemology,Logic,Ethics,and
Aesthetics.
Philosophy is significant and has
importance in our life,example of it is the
Philosophy of Law,which is also called
“jurisprudence” that means legal system, is
the study of the nature of law and
distuingishes law from the other system of
norms,especially in ethis and political
philosophy.Philosophy could be applied in
law,when the county’s supreme legislative
body needs a philosophical knowledge
about the nature of law before making and
submitting a bill that requires some
assistance with the legal systems of the
cities and states.
In Philosophy of Politics,the study
of liberty,justice,property,rights,and
law,deals with the variety of forms of
government and social existence that
people could live.It also can be
distinguished from political science which
seeks a positive analysis like voting
bbehviors,balance of power and
fore.Philosohy could be applied in politics
when the society has a democratic
country,the people has a free choice to
choose for themselves of who should they
vote and elect based on their philosophical
inquiries of who could lead the society and
bring country’s improvement.
In Philosophy of Sports,

INTRODUCTION: DOING PHILOSOPHY

One of the key elements in many educational reforms is diversity, difference, and choice or other proposals that

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establish separate curricular routes for different groups or individuals. Diversity is the difference that makes each person
unique (i.e., biology, ethnicity and culture, family life, beliefs, geography, experiences, and religion). Sometimes, we have
difficulty in accepting others because they are different from us. Yet, such behavior can limit a person's opportunities or can
make the person feel excluded or aggrieved. Educational challenge in the 21st century entails how to deal appropriately with
cultural and racial multiplicity and that one does not engage in harassment of any form (Kurcinka 2006).
THE MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY
Etymologically, the word "philosophy" cones from two Greek words, philo, meaning "to love”, and sophia, meaning "wisdom”.
Philosophy originally meant, "love of wisdom”, and in a broad sense, wisdom is still the goal of philosophy. Philosophy is also
defined as the science that by natural light of reason studies the first causes or highest principles of all things. Under this
definition, four things are to be considered:
a. Science. It is called science because the investigation is systematic. It follows certain steps or it employs certain
procedures. In other words, it is an organized body of knowledge just like any-other sciences.
b. Natural Light of Reason. Philosophy investigates things, not by using any other laboratory instrument or
investigative tools, neither on the basis of supernatural revelation, otherwise it becomes theology; instead, the
philosopher uses his natural capacity to think or simply, human reason alone or the so-called unaided reason.
c. Study of All Things. This sets the distinction between philosophy from other sciences. All other sciences concern
themselves with a particular object of investigation. For example, anthropologists study human beings in relation with
the society; sociologists study society, its form, structures, and functions; botanists focus their attention to plants;
linguists limit themselves with language; theologians investigate God; whereas, a philosopher studies human beings;
society, religion, language, God, and plants, among other concerns.
The reason is that philosophy is not one dimensional or partial. In short, a philosopher does not limit himself to
a particular object of inquiry. He questions almost anything, if not everything. It is multidimensional or holistic.
d. First Cause or Highest Principle. A principle is that from which something proceeds in any manner whatsoever. The
First Principles:
• Principle of Identity - whatever is is; and whatever is not is not; everything is what it is. Everything is its
own being, and not being is not being.
• Principle of Non-Contradiction - it is impossible for a thing to be and not to be at the same time, and at the
same respect.
• Principle of Excluded Middle - a thing is either is or is not; everything must be either be or not be; between
being and not-being, there is no middle ground possible.
• Principle of Sufficient Reason – nothing exists without a sufficient reason for its being and existence.

Finally, in attaining wisdom, there is a need for emptying. Emptying can be intellectual. For instance, the Taoist
considers an empty cup more useful than a full one. This means simplicity and humility. Emptying can be also spiritual. For
Christian philosophy, poverty in spirit means compassion. Emptying is also physical. The Buddhists refrain from misuse of the
senses, thereby emphasizing a unified whole (Elgin 2009). Without the virtue of emptying, students will only learn partial
philosophy that is knowledge-based, without becoming holistic (i.e.; acquiring wisdom through various dimensions of being
human including the psychological, social, emotional, and moral aspects).

ACTIVITY 2
Explain briefly each of the First Causes or Four Highest Principles based on your own understanding and research.
Rubric for Scoring (Essay/Reflection):
Content and Originality 5 points
Organization of ideas 3 points
Evidence (examples) 3 points
Total 10 points
THE BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY A.
Metaphysics
Metaphysics is really only an extension of a fundamental and necessary drive in every human being to know what
is real. The question is how to account for this unreal thing in terms of what you can accept as real. Thus, a very big part of
the metaphysician's task is to explain that part of our experience, which we call unreal in terms of what we call real.
In our everyday attempts to understand the world in terms of appearance and reality, we try to make things
comprehensible by simplifying or reducing the mass of things we call appearance to a relatively fewer number of things
we call reality.
For instance, for Thales, a Greek philosopher, everything is water. He claims that everything we experience is
water—which we all “reality”. Everything else is "appearance”. We then set out to try to explain everything else
(appearance) in terms of water (reality). Clouds, for example, or blocks of ice do not look like water, but they can be
explained in terms of water. When water evaporates, it becomes a cloud, and when water freeze it becomes ice.
Both the idealist and the materialist metaphysical theories are similarly based on unobservable entities: mind and
matter. We can see things made of matter such as a book or a chair, but we cannot see the underlying matter itself.
Although we can experience in our minds thoughts, ideas, desires, and fantasies, we cannot observe or experience the
mind itself that is having these thoughts, ideas, and desires. It is tendency to explain the observable in terms of the
unobservable that has given metaphysics a bad name to more down-to-earth philosophers.
Plato, Socrates' most famous student, is a good example of a metaphysician who draws the sharpest possible

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 contrast between reality and appearance. Nothing we experience in the physical world with our five senses is real,
according to Plato. Reality, in fact, is just the opposite. It is unchanging, eternal, immaterial, and can be detected only by
the intellect. Plato calls these realities as ideas of forms. These are meanings which universal, general terms refer to, and
they are also those things we are talking about when we discuss moral, mathematical, and scientific ideals.
B. ETHICS
How do we tell good from evil or right from wrong? Ethics is the branch of philosophy that explores the nature of
moral virtue and evaluates human actions. Ethics is generally a study of the nature of moral judgments. Philosophical
ethics attempts to provide an account of our fundamental ethical ideas. Whereas religion has often motivated individuals
to obey the moral code of their society, philosophy is not content with traditional or habitual ethics but adopts a critical
perspective. It insists that obedience to moral law be given a rational foundation. In the thought of Socrates, we see the
beginning of a transition from a traditional, religion-based morality to philosophical ethics (Landsburg 2009).

Reflections, Meditations, and Conversations that Rocked the World:

What Constitutes a Human Person?
For Socrates, to be happy, a person has to live a virtuous life. Virtue is not something
Plato Socrates Aristotle
to be taught or acquired through education, but rather, it is merely an awakening of
the seeds of good deeds that lay dormant in the mind and heart of a person. Knowing
what is in the mind and heart of a human being is achieved through self-knowledge.
Thus, knowledge does not mean only theoretical or speculative, but a practical one.
Practical knowledge means that one does not only know the rules of right living, but
one lives them.
Hence, for Socrates, true knowledge means wisdom, which in turn, means virtue. The Greek word arete, which we translate
as virtue, seems originally to have been associated with valor in battle and may be connected with the name of the Greek god
of war, Ares, whom we know better under his Roman name, Mars. Both Greek word arete and its English equivalent, virtue,
have connotations of machismo and manliness. When Socrates came to define virtue, he thought of courage as one of its prime
components, and he came up with the proposition that courage, therefore, as virtue is also knowledge.

REFLECTION TIME. Directions: Answer the questions briefly.

1. Do you agree to Socrates’ stand that living a virtuous life leads to happiness? Why or Why not?
2. How do you understand the line that “Virtue is not something to be taught or acquired through education, but rather, it is
merely an awakening of the seeds of good deeds that lay dormant in the mind and heart of a person”?

ACTIVITY 3
Draw, in a short bond paper, your own interpretation of Socrates’ view: “To become happy, a person must live a virtuous life.”

Rubric for Scoring (Essay): Rubric for Scoring (Drawing):

Content and Originality 10 points Originality 10 points
Organization of ideas 5 points Coherence of Content 15 points
Evidence (examples) 5 points Overall Aesthetics 5 points
Total 20 points Total 30 points

C. EPISTEMOLOGY
Specifically, epistemology deals with nature, sources, limitations, and validity of knowledge (Soccio 2007).
Epistemological questions are basic to all other philosophical inquiries. Epistemology explains: (1) how we know what we
claim to know; (2) how we can find out what we wish to know; and (3) how we can differentiate truth from falsehood.
Epistemology addresses varied problems: the reliability, extent, and kinds of knowledge; truth; language; and science and
scientific knowledge.
How do we acquire reliable knowledge? Human knowledge may be regarded as having two parts:
1. On the one hand, he sees, hears, and touches; on the other hand, he organizes in his mind what he learns
through the senses. Philosophers have given considerable attention to questions about the sources of
knowledge. Some philosophers think that the particular things seen, heard, and touched are more
Important. They believe that general ideas are formed from the examination of particular facts. This
method is called induction, and philosophers who feel that knowledge is acquired in this way are called
empiricists (e.g., John Locke). Empiricism is the view that knowledge can be attained only through sense
experience. According to the empiricists, real knowledge is based on wha our sight, hearing, smell, and
other senses tell us is really at out there, not what people make up in their heads.
2. Other philosophers think it is more important to find a general law according to which particular facts
can be understood or judged. This method is called deduction; its advocates are called rationalists (e.g.,
Rene Descartes). For instance, what distinguishes real knowledge from mere opinion, in the rationalist
view, is that real knowledge is based on the logic, the laws, and the methods that reason develops. The
best example of real knowledge, the rationalist holds, is mathematics, a realm of knowledge that is
obtained entirely by reason that we use to understand the universe (Soccio 2007).
A newer school, pragmatism, has a third approach to these problems. Pragmatists, such as William James and
John Dewey, believe that value in use is the real test of truth and meaning. In other words, the meaning and truth of an
idea are tested by its practical consequences.

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 D. LOGIC
Reasoning is the concern of the logician. This could be reasoning in science and medicine, in ethics and law, in
politics and commerce, in sports and games, and in the mundane affairs of everyday living. Varied kinds of reasoning may
be used, and all are of interest to the logician.
The term “logic" comes from the Greek word logike and was coined by Zeno, the Stoic (c.340-265BC).
Etymologically, it means a treatise on matters pertaining to the human thought. It is important to underpin that logic does
not provide us knowledge of the world directly, for logic is considered as a tool, and, therefore, does not contribute
directly to the content of our thoughts. Logic is not interested in what we know regarding certain subjects. Its concern,
rather, is the truth or the validity of our arguments regarding such objects.
Aristotle was the first philosopher to devise a logical method. Aristotle understood truth to mean the agreement
of knowledge with reality; truth exists when the mind's mental representations, otherwise known as ideas, correspond
with things in the objective world. Logical reasoning makes us certain that our conclusions are true, and this provides us
with accepted scientific proofs of universally valid propositions or statements. Since the time of Aristotle, the study of lies
or fallacies has been considered an integral part of logic.
Even before the time of Aristotle down to the present, the study of logic has remained important. We are human
beings possessed with reason. We use it when we make decisions or when we try to influence the decisions of others or
when we are engaged in argumentation and debate. Indeed, a person who has studied logic is more likely to reason
correctly than another, who has never thought about the general principles involved in reasoning.
E. AESTHETICS
When humanity has learned to make something that is useful to them, they begin to plan and dream how to make
it beautiful. What therefore is beauty? The establishment of criteria of beauty is the function of aesthetics. Aesthetics is the
science of the beautiful in its various manifestations—including the sublime, comic, tragic, pathetic, and ugly. To
experience aesthetics, therefore, means whatever experience has relevance to art, whether the experience be that of the
creative artist or of appreciation. As a branch of philosophy, students should consider the importance of aesthetics
because of the following:
• It vitalizes our knowledge. It makes our knowledge of the world alive and useful. We go through our days picking
up a principle as fact here and there, and too infrequently see how they are related. It is the part of a play, a poem,
or a story to give us new insight, to help-us see new relationship between he separated items in our memories.
• It helps us to live more deeply and richly. A work of art—whether a book a piece of music, painting, or a television
show—helps us to rise from purely physical existence into the realm of intellect and the spirit. As a being of body
and soul, a human being needs nourishment for his higher life as well as his lower. Art, therefore, is not something
merely like craft or applied arts, but something of weight and significance to humankind. It is what Schopenhauer
meant when he said, "You must treat a work of art like a great man. Stand before it and wait patiently until it
deigns to speak”. (Scruton et al. 1997)
• It brings us in touch with our culture. Things about us change so rapidly today that we forget how much we owe to
the past. We cannot shut ourselves off from the past any more than we can shut ourselves off geographically from
the rest of the world. It is difficult that the great problems of human life have occurred over and over again for
thousands of years. The answers of great minds in the past to these problems are part of our culture.

HOLISTIC VS PARTIAL PERSPECTIVE

Holistic Perspective
One of the greatest needs of anyone seeking “wisdom” is a genuine sympathy and an understanding of all the most
diverse points of view (holistic perspective). A narrow provincialism of mind, limited to the ideas and outlook of a single party
or a single age (partial perspective), is wholly incompatible with the real philosophical attitude. Holism comes from the Greek
word “holos,” meaning literally everything, whole. Holism is a way of thought which preserves the interdependence of factors
with other causalities agencies. In other words, a certain structure or component cannot alone determine the properties of a
particular phenomenon or system (e.g., philosophical, biological, psychological, emotional, spiritual, social, political, and
linguistic). In the study of Philosophy, one should endure a holistic perspective to attain the virtue of wisdom.

Partial Perspective (Point of view)

A point of view is characterized in philosophy as a way or method of how the fact or the situation is seen or interpreted.
Therefore, if one speaks from a partial perspective, he made it clear that the way he sees the reality or some phenomenon
depends on a single factor or causal agency. A partial view is then a view centered on a single portion of an entire object.

ACTIVITY 4
Write a simple reflection about your life and what you think is your purpose in this world.
Rubric for Scoring (Essay/Reflection):
Content and Originality 10 points
Organization of ideas 5 points
Evidence (examples) 5 points
Total 20 points
Source:

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Ramos, C. R. (2016). Pursuing Wisdom and Facing Challenges in the Twenty-First Century. In Introduction to the Philosophy of the
Human Person (First ed., pp. 3-13). Manila: Rex Book Store.