Philosophy

SESSION GUIDE IN TEACHING INTRODUCTION
TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

FIRST QUARTER
THE MEANING AND METHOD OF DOING

PHILOSOPHY IN RELATION TO THE HUMAN
PERSON AS AN EMBODIED BEING IN THE
WORLD AND THE ENVIRONMENT
Topic 1: Doing Philosophy

Objectives of the Session
It is expected that after the session, teachers will be

able to teach the eight (8) topics in the Introduction to
the Philosophy of the Human Person. They will also
able to do the following:
1. explain and elaborate the contents of the subject
2. provide methods or strategies that are more appro-
priate in teaching the subject
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
OPENING THE
Pagbubukas ngSESSION
Sesyon
Welcome
to the training for Special
Topic in Introduction to the Philosophy of the
Human Person
We are all together in this journey.
To really understand this particular subject, we always

have to go back to human experience.
Question to the class:
How do you understand the

statement of Socrates when he
said that “the unexamined life is
not worth living.”?
Philosophy
This is what doing philosophy is all about.
We do not simply accept what has been handed on to us.

We ask questions why things, practices, tradition, beliefs,
presumptions, and even our prejudices are this way.
We are invited to develop the Art of Questioning

introduced by Socrates which is called Elenchus.
It is a continuous process of questioning and answering

until we arrive at the truth.
Philosophy
We have to develop this way of thinking because

reality is basically complex.
Philosophy
Philosophy is not blind obedience.

position,
titles,
economic
status,
hearsay
Philosophy
True learning is a dialogical process.
It requires the attitude of open

mindedness and humility of heart.
Philosophy
For Socrates, the start of wisdom is docta

ignorantia, “to know that you do not know.”
Activity : Ang babaeng engineer
A. Watch this 30-second video which is about one of our
biases in society.
Ang babaeng engineer
Instructions:
A. Answer the following questions:
1. What have you felt about the video?

2. Based on the video, should we really question our
existing beliefs in order to arrive at the truth?
3. Cite some examples of belief, presuppositions,
assumptions, or prejudices which we think should be put
into question?
Activity 3
• Again, group yourselves into five and share it among

yourselves in five (5) minutes. Then choose your leader
who shall share to the big group in two (2) minutes only.
Philosophy is the love of wisdom
• This is what Philosophy is all about: It is
the love of wisdom
• The discovery of truth, to call it wisdom,

must lead to a virtuous life.
.
• This life of virtue, a life of perfection, is
called arête.
Philosophy as the love of wisdom
• Why do we search for the truth? Why do

we long for wisdom?
• It is our nature. Even if we deny the truth,

this will continue to haunt or trouble us.
.
• St. Augustine was right when he said:
“My heart is restless until it rests in thee.”
A philosopher is a meaning-searcher
• Aristotle said:” All men by nature desire to
know.”
• The object of this knowing, by its very

essence, is the truth.
.
• This discovery of truth, for it to be called
wisdom, must lead to a life of virtue.
• Real happiness then is leading a life of

virtue.
Doing philosophy is a lifetime process
According to Pythagoras, no man can fully

possess the comprehensive and profound
knowledge of everything. For him,
knowledge of all things is the sole privilege
of God alone.
.
Doing philosophy as a lifetime process
Is this not our human experience

wherein we are not fully satisfied of
where and who we are?
The more we know, the more we

do not know. The more we have,
the more we want more.
• This is our experience of the “nearness
of being.”
• Mysterium tremendum et fascinans
• The search for the meaning in life is
never-ending.
• Yet, if we are confined to our daily
routines, to ways we have become used
to, we will never experience the
“Mystery of Being.”
• We lose sight of what matters most in
life.
• We need to stop and reflect to realize
who we are, where we are, and where
we are heading to.
• Story of two birds
• By doing philosophy, the meaning of

human existence begins to unfold
Life is not only about the what and how of
our daily experiences. It is more
profoundly about the why of life.
…when we are talking about human life,
the verb “to live” cannot have its meaning
so strictly circumscribed; the notion of
human life cannot be reduced to that of the
harmonious functioning of a certain
number of organs…”
Gabriel Marcel
• The human person has accomplished much
in the field of science and technology. He has
reached the farthest reach in the universe and
has dived into the deepest recesses of the
ocean.
• Unfortunately, there is one thing he has not
really figured out: “How to live.”
“Everything has been figured out,

except how to live.”
Jean Paul Sartre
• Swirl of distractions
• Albert Einstein is right when he said:
“ What an extraordinary situation is that of us

mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for
what purpose he knows not, though sometimes
he thinks he feels.”
The object of doing philosophy is the meaning of life
• Starting point of doing philosophy is

your lived experience (human
experience).
• Not a mere analysis of words or the
analysis/abstraction of concepts
• A dialogue with our inner selves
• With this dialogue, we grasp an insight
to the meaning of life/reality.
The object of doing philosophy is the meaning of life
• Insight is all about discovering the meaning

of our lived experience.
• Seeing the connection of human suffering and
the greatness of humanity
• Seeing the dignity of the human person
beyond his titles, economic status, or even in
his sinfulness
• Realizing our relationship with one another
and the environment
Primary and Secondary Reflection
Primary Reflection
• Shape, color or function
• Observable phenomena
• Objective knowledge of the world
• Analysis (parts)
Secondary Reflection
• Dialogue with our inner selves
• Seeing the connection of things/experiences
• Realization of the inseparability of the
situation and the human person
“…roughly, we can say that where primary

reflection tends to dissolve the unity of
experience which is first put before it, the
function of secondary reflection is
essentially recuperative; it reconquers the
unity.”
Gabriel Marcel
Problem and Mystery
• Life cannot be simply organized in an array of

functions and systems; only on the practical level
• To live on the practical level is not authentic human

experience
• Marcel says:” a prisoner who has no hope of getting
out of jail, who may say without exaggeration, though
he continues to breath, to eat, to perform all his natural
functions-that his existence is not really a life.”
• the incalculability of human experience

• Problem of drug addiction: a complex reality
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions:
1. What is a life that is truly worth-living?
2. Why do we study philosophy?
3. What is the difference between primary and
secondary reflection? Can you cite a concrete
experience using primary and secondary reflection?
4. What makes life a mystery?
5. It is to know the what and the how of our human
experiences?
Let’s Wrap Up
B. Class Activity
Form four groups in the class. Illustrate
Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” through a
drawing. Assign a group leader who
will present the drawing to the whole
class.
Let’s Wrap Up
C. Time to Reflect
“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid
of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when
we are afraid of the light.”
-Plato
FIRST QUARTER

Topic 2: Methods of Philosophizing

Methods of Philosophizing
• Socratic Method is the series of asking questions

until one arrives at the truth
• Goal of doing philosophy: search for truth and not
the possession of it
• In this lesson, you will be introduced to the following:
a. Plato’s Idealism
b. Husserl’s Phenomenological Method
c. Kuhn’s Scientific Revolutions
Objectives
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to
1. discuss and explain the difference between science
and philosophical questioning
2. develop the attitude toward holistic understanding
of reality
• The Socratic Method, used by Plato,

allows us to distinguish the truth from
opinion
• Found in Plato’s Dialogues, a
conversation between Socrates and the
. sophists
• A series of question and answer until one
arrives at the truth
Unity in diversity,
convergence of
things, wholeness
meaningful
Forms are changeless,

eternal and non-material
Objects are changing,

impermanent, corruptible…
logical
spirited
appetitive
How do scientists work?
The Structure of Scientific Revolution
Thomas Kuhn
Normal Revolutionary
Science Science
Paradigm Shift
Paradigm Shift
Newtonian Einstein’s
Physics Physics
Paradigm Shift
Brain
Perman Changi
ent DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Paradigm Shift
Phenomenology
Edmund Husserl
Phenomenology
Phenomenology
Consciousness
Phenomenology
Intentionality
Phenomenology
Phenomenology
Phenomenological Method
We are
Phenomenology
Phenomenology
Phenomenology
Epoche
Phenomenology
Eidetic Reduction
Phenomenology
Profit
Mining
Holistic View
Holistic View
• There is the unity of the subject and the object

is manifested in viewing the objective in the
light of one’s own experience, situation or
context (subjective).
• We cannot simply reduce reality to the
subjective for always there will be situations
that are different from our own.
• In the same way, we cannot reduce everything
in the objective, as in the case of science, for
always there will be something meaningful
(subjective) beyond all the empirical data.
Science and Philosophy
• Science is simply the presentation of empirical data in
which the questions of what and how are asked.
• Philosophy deals more on the meaning of life. It
answers the question why.
• Examples:
a. Cadaver for scientific advancement; Philosophy looks
beyond the facts and considers the dead in the con-
text of relationship revealing the element of respect,
love and human dignity.
b. Genetic Engineering like cloning for scientific re-

search; Philosophy sees beyond the practical and
functional benefits and looks into moral implications
where nature is violated (Frankenstein).
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions:
1. What is an allegory?
2. What is the truth of being for Plato?
3. How does truth reveal itself to us?
4. How are theories changed according to Thomas
Kuhn?
5. Why should we suspend our biases or our initial
impressions of reality?
6. What it intentionality?
7. What is a holistic view of reality?
Let’s Wrap Up
B. Class Activity:
Share a particular experience in the group wherein

you are biased and explain how you can overcome
this to have a holistic view?
Let’s Wrap Up
C. Let’s Reflect
“The real spirit of getting to know someone is to

go beyond what you already know or perceived of
him/her and look at that person with a breath
of newness.”
FIRST QUARTER

Topic 3: The Human Person as an Embodied

Spirit
The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
• We can talk about human experience through our

body
• Through our body, we are given the opportunity to
experience others and the world around us
• Human experience along this line is always an
experience of embodiment
• The experience of embodiment can be described

from the perspective of primary and secondary
reflection
• In the light of primary reflection, our body can be
judged empirically in terms of our observable
physical attributes.
• A scientist could come up with empirical data
about my body or your body, coming up with a
knowledge on its organic reality.
• From this perspective, in the eyes of the scientist,
my body or your body becomes “a body”.
• However, we extend the primary reflection to the

realm of the secondary reflection
• This is not just “a body”. This is my body
• I am my body and I cannot speak of my body and
my self as two separate realities.
• What then is my experience of “my body?”
• My body: possession; I can do what I want to do; it
is my body so I have the freedom to use it
according to my will; it is as if my body is a form of
transportation for my self
• On the other hand, there are experiences wherein
you cannot do anything when you are sick, injured,
or in a medical state of disability
• Therefore, the reality of possession loses its hold. I
cannot simply say “my body”. Along this line, I can
say that I am my body.
• Therefore, if I abuse my body, I eventually abuse
myself.
• For the French Philosopher Paul Ricoeur, the body
is not the object of action but essentially the organ
by which human action is fulfilled
• When I suffer for others, I do not say my body
suffers for others but it is I who suffers for others
• Through this body I experience what it means to
live a meaningful life, like a noble life offered at the
service of others, or a life being offered for the
sake of a loved one
• Your body is not just an instrument; one cannot
say : It’s just my body and there is nothing
personal about it.
• The person and the body are one; it is you
• Being you, it assumes a subjective reality capable
of experiencing meaning and fulfilment
• Examples of situations wherein the body is seen
as separate from the human person:
1. Objectification of women as property and sex
objects
2. People seen as means for profits (unjust labor
practices)
3. Functional relationships
4. Genetic engineering (cloning of human being)
5. Abuse through alcohol or drugs
6. Being workaholic
• Edward Calasanz: “I am not just a body. My body
in this sense, being mine, being the person that I
am, is my identity.
• Fr. Cruz:
“Embodiment is to make incarnate a meaning
which proceeds from the inner person of man and
makes it visible or present through a proper body
structure or gesture…This meaning proceeds from
the inner core of man and is made incarnate.”
• Meaning of incarnation; Assumption
• As an embodied spirit, we live in a world not of
things but in a world where we create meanings in
our everyday experiences.
• If we lose this embodiment, we throw away the
opportunities to experience a meaningful life
• If we regard this body of ours simply as an
instrument, or when we regards others as means
to our selfish ends, we also lose the opportunity to
experience a meaningful life; this is mere existing
and not really living
• In our embodiment, we experience our limitations
and our capacity for transcendence
Our embodiment as human subjectivity
• Human subjectivity refers to the incarnate reality of
the human person
• By being in the world as an embodied spirit, I
experience my own situatedness
• The reality of the human person is contextual,
always in a given situation
• Human subjectivity embraces my own limitations
and my capacity to create meanings before
unchangeable realities (transcendence)
• Experiences of human limitations:
1. sick
2. unable to realize one’s aspirations due to
limiting situations
3. powerlessness
• Experiences of human transcendence
1. overcoming poverty through persistence in
education
2. getting over painful and difficult situations
• Nelson Mandela, Victor Frankl, Gandhi
• In the midst of our limitations, we can still be free
for we have the power to create meanings in our
lives; this is where hope comes in
• Hope is the reality of embracing our limitations,
and from this moment of acceptance, we elevate
our lives to a higher form of existence
• Hope is an manifestation of what it means to be
human
• Hence, as we embrace our limitedness, freedom is
expressed in its fullest sense
• Human subjectivity is both an experience of
limitedness and transcendence; it is a
manifestation of what we cannot do and what we
are capable of doing (potentials).
• Being a subject means that a person cannot be
looked upon as an object or as an instrument
(means) to further our ends
The Question of Being
• Our human subjectivity as situated in a world, not
of things, but of meanings, leads us to the
Question of Being
• What is being then?
To understand this question, one needs to know
who is asking the question. Obviously, it is the
human person who is asking the question. Hence,
the human person asks this question as he finds
himself before the light of being.
• The question concerns itself about the way reality
discloses itself in the world of the human person
• “What is Being” then primarily deals with the
disclosure of the truth of beings in terms of their
nature (what-ness) and their existence (that-
ness).
• Hence, “What is Being” is answered when man
creates-discovers meanings in the light of his
situatedness in the world.
• According to Martin Heidegger:
“The being of beings is aletheia, or the process of
revealing and concealing where being emerges in our
consciousness.”
• The being of beings reveals itself to us in our
moments of embracing realities which we cannot
change in our lives, wherefore, in the process, a
wealth of meaning and possibilities is born before
us.
• Experience of Hope (people with disabilities, the
people around them, Nelson Mandela, Gandhi,
Marin Luther King Jr., Resurrection of Jesus)
• In our total embrace of life’s unchangeable
realities, we experience the fullness of freedom
• Yet, the more the being of beings is revealed to us,
the more we realize our limitedness for however
we want to label this to claim as our own, we will
always find ourselves inadequate of words to
articulate its mystery
• Mysterium tremendum et fascinans
• Hence, we do nor really answer the question
“What is Being?”; we actually embrace it.
• And the revelation and concealing of the being of
beings happens only in man situated in a particular
context or situation
• This experience of mystery, of revealing and
concealing, is realized in a life dedicated for
others, in an unselfish life at the service of
humanity, in a life with high regards and respect
for ecology where man and nature are one and
inseparable
• It is experienced in our struggles for good
governance, for social justice, in our service for
our learners who many times are limited by
poverty
• In the end, it is where we experience mystery, or
whom we call God
Historicity and Historical Action
• Again, we find meaning and purpose in the world,
in our situatedness enriched by our experiences of
limitations and potentialities; hence, we live in a
particular point in history
• This is the historical dimension of human
experience.
• As historical beings, we cannot deny the fact that
we are the product of our own data, of our own
past (un-freedom)
• From this awareness of limitedness, we also
realize our possibilities; we create history in our
situatedness
• Belief in fate : early man
• Dark Ages (Divine Providence); man still under the
power of his irrational belief (fallen nature); is this
the will of God
• French Revolution (man as the captain of his
destiny; liberty, equality)
• Scientific Revolution
• Nature manipulated to the point where man plays
as God (genetic engineering; nuclear age)
• Ethical Issues
Ramon Reyes:
“ You find, therefore, that, insofar as a man is a point
of intersection of all the various kinds of events in all
these various levels, you and I can be characterized
in one sense what we might call destiny or fate; on
the other hand, you and I are also characterized by a
certain creativity and therefore, a certain task of
responsibility.”
Ramon Reyes:
“ You find, therefore, that, insofar as a man is a point
of intersection of all the various kinds of events in all
these various levels, you and I can be characterized
in one sense what we might call destiny or fate; on
the other hand, you and I are also characterized by a
certain creativity and therefore, a certain task of
responsibility.”
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions
1. What is incarnate experience?
2. Why is human embodiment a philosophical question?
3. What is human subjectivity?
4. What is being for Heidegger?
5. Why is man a being-in-the-world?
6. Can we truly know the meaning of being?
7. What is the relation between historicity and freedom?
Let’s Wrap Up
B. Class Activity
Form a group of eight members in the class. Share
among yourselves the experience of seeing our body as
instruments and how to view it as a manifestation of
yourself? Provide examples. Choose a leader who shall
collate the small group’s sharing and report this to the
whole class later on.
Let’s Wrap Up
C. Time to Reflect.
“I not only have a body; I am this body.

-Gabriel Marcel
FIRST QUARTER

Topic 4: The Human Person in their environment

The Human Person in their environment
Objectives
1. explore, describe, and articulate the problem

of climate change
2. learn how the notion of deep ecology and
environmental stewardship can be applied
in the area of environmental protection and
sustainable development.
• The reality of climate change is an issue that

affects humanity as a whole. Its impending
destruction may eventually lead to man’s extinction.
Though some deny this as an all-pervading reality,
more scientists more than ever find climate change
as a crucial issue in need of paramount attention.
• We shall now see and try to understand deep
ecology, the human person’s relationship with the
environment, in the light of Philosophy and how this
understanding can bring about a relationship of
mutual respect between the two.
• To understand deep ecology, we have to see this in

the context of Eastern Philosophy.
Oriental
Thought
• Oriental Thought sees everything in a relationship

of unity in diversity
• There is an inner harmony of nature; everything
has a particular significance that contributes to the
binding unity; destroy this for simply practical or
functional purpose is to disrupt this harmonious
relationship
• It believes in the harmonious relationship of the
non-being (concealed) and being
• Non-being is nameless yet it is present in all
realities in nature and in the universe
• Being on the other is the actualization of the non-

being
• In this sense, being comes from non-being
• The non-being is the Tao, it is that which is the
most elusive for it is not concrete, yet it is the
binding reality that enables everything to be
• The Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu states that:

“The Tao (Non-being) is nameless because it is not a
concrete, individual thing or describable in particular
terms. Above all, it is non-being. All things in the world
come from being, and being comes from non-being.”
• We see harmony in everything; to destroy one of

these is to disrupt the harmony in nature
• This is deep ecology. Deep ecology has two
important aspects:
a. self-realization
b. bio-centric equality
• On self-realization:
The self, which in the West is the ego, is different
that of the East. In the East, the self grows with
nature. It is in living in harmony with nature that the
self realizes itself. Hence, to destroy nature is in
reality to destroy oneself. Humanity cries in pain
when nature is destroyed; until nature is respected,
humanity will never find rest, peace and harmony.
• On bio-centric equality:
This means that everything in nature, from the
largest up to the smallest organism has a particular role
to play. The role of each, and man is part of this, is a
role in harmony with the rest and it is along this context
that each undergoes self-actualization. A part, which is
equally important with others, realizes itself at the
service of others. Apart from this cycle of bio-centric
equality, one ceases to realize its very nature.
• Our relationship with the environment

Our relationship with the environment is a relationship of
stewardship. Nature is not ours because we are just a
part of nature. It is our role to be care-takers. Being
part of the one and same nature, we cannot look at
ourselves as separated from nature. When we destroy
nature by viewing it as something separated from us for
economic reasons, we in the end destroy ourselves.
• Our relationship with the environment

Our relationship with one another in a way reflects our
relationship with nature. The worldview of the technocratic-
industrial societies has created relationships of manipulation
and dominion. We use one another for our selfish
materialistic ends and this is also manifested in our abuse of
the environment for purely economic reasons.
• On stewardship
Since we do not own nature for nature has been here
millions of years ago before our existence, we have been
entrusted as stewards to care for our environment.
• On sustainable development
The paradigm requires that all improvements in the
economic, scientific, physical and social infrastructure of
an country should not cause any huge harm to the
environment in the long run.
• On anthropocentricism
This is the kind of perspective that places man’s need
above all else even at the expense of the environment.
All economic activities, mining for instance, must go on
because it provides jobs for people in the community
where mining is operated. This then puts man at the
center where his sole interest and needs is taken into
consideration.
• On the point of view of sustainable development,

any human activity at the sole service of man falls
short of the ideal. Sustainable development
emphasizes what will benefit humanity in the long
run. Along this line, harmony with nature is always
given a priority.
• Other manifestations of anthropomorphism can be
provided (illegal fishing, smoke-belching, factories
and industries spilling off pollution, etc.)
• The rate of destruction of our planet has become

very alarming since the appearance of man. (video)
• Man as the Measure of All Things
According to Mary Midgley, man has been utilizing
the resources in his environment without due respect for
nature or creation. (DENR vs. Politicians)
• Age of Industrialization
• Reality of corruption and the unprecedented abuse of
power (political issue)
• Climate Change and Climate Justice

a. Ozone layer caused by CFCs (Chlorofluorocarbons)
b. Rampant logging by big companies
c. Use of gas for automobiles
• Industrialized Countries
a. United States (25.8%)
b. China (now as the first)
• Earth’s Temperature to rise by 2.5 degrees Celsius
by 2050
• Water sea levels will rise that will eventually

submerge countries along the coastal waters and
our country is one of them
• Our experience with Typhoon Yolanda
• Answer to the Reality of Climate Change:
a. Kyoto Protocol in 1997 : burden sharing among
industrialized nations except the United States, to
cut carbon emission.
b. 2015 Summit in Paris (United States now included)
• Commitments of nations based on the agreements:

Reduction of carbon-emission and a switch to rene-
wable forms of energy so as to limit the rise of global
temperatures below 2 degrees Celsius until 2050
• Cost of the agreements: 1 trillion dollars
• This is climate justice and as such, it recognizes the
basic human rights of all peoples to live in a world not
beset by environmental issues that threaten the
survival of nature in its entirety.
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions
1. What is deep ecology?
2. What is bio-centric equality? Do you believe in this?
3. What is environmental stewardship? Why is it
relevant today?
4. What is climate change?
5. Why is anthropocentrism a real issue in relation to
environmental destruction?
Let’s Wrap Up
B. Class Activity
Watch a short film in the class depicting
environmental destruction. After watching, form a
group of eight members. Discuss your reflections
within the group. Assign a leader who will later report
to the whole class the fruits of your discussion.
Let’s Wrap Up
C. Time to Reflect
“Our love for humanity can be manifested in our love
and concern for nature.”
SECOND QUARTER
HUMAN LIVING OR WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE

HUMAN IN SOCIETY AND ORIENTED TOWARDS
DEATH
Topic 5: Freedom of the Human Person

Freedom of the Human Person
Objective
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to show

an understanding of philosophy within the context of
the human person as free, intersubjective, immersed
in society and oriented towards death
At the end of the lesson, you are expected to show

an understanding of philosophy within the context of
the human person as free, intersubjective, immersed
in society and oriented towards death
• The well-known French Existentialist Philosopher

has this to say about freedom:
“Man is nothing but what he makes himself.”
• He argues that freedom is absolute. Freedom is
the very essence of the human person. He ceases
to be human if he is deprived of his freedom. For it
is in freedom that he realizes the fullness of his
humanity.
• Let us now explore human freedom in the light of
our human experience
Total Determinism
• Harvard psychologist B.F. Skinner was the most
famous proponent of Behavioral Science.
• According to him, freedom is just an illusion for in
reality, man is only conditioned to act or behave in a
certain manner according to his environment.
• In this sense, human behavior can be controlled
through positive and negative reinforcements
• Man is basically defined by his surroundings. To
change him, we must change his environment
Total Determinism
• A child who lives in a situation where he constantly
sees violence everyday will turn out to be a violent
person someday
• Man can be conditioned to act in a particular way (eg.
halo effect, situations that can be created for him to
decide according to what economists want, etc.)
• Adolf Hitler’s anger against Jews
• Daily traffic woes bring out the worst in us
• An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth
Total Determinism
• Reward and punishment scheme to influence behavior
• Stimulus-response theory
• Determinism is true to a certain extent but it does not
explain other situations wherein persons are able to
respond beyond what their environment tempts them to
live
• How can determinism explain the reality of some persons
begetting love, compassion or forgiveness in the face of
violent and unforgiving situations? (Nelson Mandela)
Total Determinism
• How does it explain the teach of Jesus about
compassion, forgiveness and unconditional love.
• Apparently, total determinism falls short in disproving the
reality of human freedom. In a sense, based on many
instances and historical situations, there is a deep and
profound expression of freedom which is fundamentally
an expression of our very humanity. This takes us to the
notion of Absolute Freedom.
Absolute Freedom
• This kind of freedom does not mean that for man to be
free, he must be able to do anything that he wishes.
• This is not so because in many situations in life, man
finds himself powerless in the face of unchangeable
realities in life. He could not choose his past, his parents
for instance. He could not undo his painful and traumatic
experiences
• However, there is this kind of freedom wherein he could
create his own values and meanings in the face of things
he could not really change.
Absolute Freedom
• This is the freedom that embraces what he could not
change, and in doing so, he creates his own meaning
that enables him to transcend beyond his limiting
situation.
• Sartre explains this freedom in the following manner:
a. Being-in-itself (En-soi) refers to what is static and self-
contained. It represents human facticity.
b. Being-for-itself (pour-soi) is the ability of human to
express the fullness of his freedom by way of transcendence.
It refers to his possibility and transcendence.
Absolute Freedom
• This is the kind of freedom wherein man refuses to be
defined by his limiting situations (Gandhi, Mandela,
Martin Luther King Jr., Jesus, Prophet Mohammed)
• Man has the power to decide, to decide whether he is
going to allow others to run his life, to decide to return
love to violence, to be free despite being imprisoned for
the cause of justice, etc.)
• Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning
Absolute Freedom
• Yet Sartre has this kind of negativity in his view of life.
He denounces structures and tradition for these are the
reasons for the curse of man’s existence. He sees as a
kind of unavoidable reality to be free, to create choices in
life in the face of limiting situations, and this for him is the
pain of being human. It is as if man has no choice but to
make his own choice.
Absolute Freedom
• He says that:
I am abandoned in the world in the sense that I find
myself alone and without help.”
• Man’s life in the world is a life of alienation, a
sickening reality of bearing the painful realities of
life where one has no choice but to create his own
meaning and purpose. This experience for him
creates a sense of despair, boredom, nausea, and
absurdity.
Absolute Freedom
• Yet, he still recognizes the fact that man can still be free
by creating his own meaning and purpose in life. In this
sense, his life is a blending of sorrow and joy, suffering
and liberation. It is in the act of being confronted by life’s
limiting situations and his desire to go beyond these that
create an angst in life. Angst is a sickening moment
between where are person is and where he wants to be.
• Another notion why man is condemned to be free is the
fact that whether he likes it or not, he is responsible to
his actions.
Absolute Freedom
• He is in this sense, responsible, that is, he is able to
respond by assuming the consequences of his actions.
c. Being-for-others (pour-autrui)
• For Sartre, when man makes a choice in the process of
making himself, he chooses not only for himself but for
all of humankind. The expression of his freedom as a
responsible person creates not only his individuality, that
is, the actualization of his self, but contributes also for
the realization of a more humane society (humanity).
Absolute Freedom
• For him, we re-create ourselves in choosing to be free in
the face of limiting situations. At the same time, we
realize the fullness of our humanity in the context of
living and suffering for others. (To be is to be with)
• Existence in this sense precedes essence (who we are
is what we create of ourselves.)
• Man is alone in his act of choosing, that is, he has to do
it by himself
Absolute Freedom
• Unlike Sartre, we do not throw away our situatedness
• We find ourselves in the midst of history, culture, and
tradition
• These in a way enables us how we see the world around
us, what meaning we attach in our lives, or in a way, how
we interpret everything that happens to us
• Our situations tells us what is right and wrong. Yet, in
doing philosophy, we are challenge to question these
most especially when structures no longer respond to
the needs of the times.
Absolute Freedom
• In doing so, we do not actually reject traditions or
cultures. We in fact enrich them.
• Should we not question our current political structures
considering the fact that many of our leaders, whether
we like it or not, are protectors of their own economic
interest. Is this the kind of politics we want? This is not
a rejection of politics but an enrichment of politics in
terms of making it responsive to the needs of all most
especially the poor and neglected. Is not freedom
expressed in its fullest sense in this manner?
Absolute Freedom
• It is in freedom that we create and continuously re-create
ourselves. It is through such that our individuality is
realized in the context of being at the service of others.
We unfold our individuality in the midst of an indifferent
and uncaring crowd where many are lost in the current of
simple fashion unfiltered by critical thinking and limited
by practical and functional relationships. We dare to
stand above this crowd and express our uniqueness and
individuality with utmost respect for others. This indeed
is the fullest expression of freedom.
Absolute Freedom
• In the face of limiting situations, we may choose to run
away by numbing ourselves with vices like alcohol and
drugs. Or others may choose to cut short their lives by
suicide. Others on the other hand may go for a leap of
faith by simply believing in something blindly which is
also a form of escape.
• For Albert Camus, one has to embrace one’s absurdity,
that is, one’s facticity and limitations. This is the starting
point of freedom for in the process, a person creates a
meaning and purpose for his life. Life then is meaningful
and worth-living for.
Let me end this Lesson with a quotation from Kavanaugh:
“Without the fundamental capacity to make

a choice, the human person can never be
truly happy…Happiness can only be found
in a life that is worth living.”
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions
1. What is determinism?
2. Can we still be free if man is simply the product of
his environment?
3. Do you agree with Sartre’s concept of Absolute
Freedom?
4. Why is life absurd for Camus?
5. How can we transcend or go beyond the absurdity
of our lives?
Let’s Wrap Up
B. Class Activity
Form a group of four members. Share your experience
of being limited by a given situation and how you were
able to express your freedom in this context.
Let’s Wrap Up
C. Time to reflect
“It is in my experiences of powerlessness that I can

reveal my truest sense of freedom”.
Let’s Wrap Up
C. Time to reflect
Let the learners watch the movie “The Iron Giant” and
make them write a reflection about it in their journal.
SECOND QUARTER
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE HUMAN IN SOCIETY

AND AS A BEING ORIENTED TOWARDS DEATH
Topic 6: Intersubjectivity
Objective

a. develop a more mature understanding of one’s
self in the aspect of authentic inter-human
relation
b. Embrace a sense of human responsibility by
recognizing others
Intersubjectivity
• Intersubjectivity is about our experience and meaning in

the context of inter-human relation.
• Intersubjectivity opens us up to the window of
commitment, the value and respect of others, and the
reality of love as the most profound form of human
recognition
• How does inter-human relation unfold? What does it
mean to live a meaningful life in the light of a kind of life
that is lived for the sake of others?
• Let us now examine the different expressions of human
relations
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• Love can only be realized in freedom. It is in offering
oneself for the other that one unfolds the fullness of
one’s humanity. In this relationship, the other is not
seen as a means to one’s ends. The relationship is
not functional for practical reasons. The other is not
seen on the basis of his/her physical attributes. The
other is not an object but a person to be loved and
respected.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• This is what we call the I-Thou relation.
• In this relation, the other desires the realization of the
individuality of the other. It does not impose his ways
so as to change the other according to his likes and
design. In doing so, as the other realizes his/her true
self, the I realizes his/her self too.
• This is the opposite of the I-It relation. This is the
nature of any functional and manipulative relationship
where the other is treated an as object, a means for
one’s gratification.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• We encounter this in the empirical world of science
where people are objects of study to advance
scientific research.
• We also see this in some companies where
employees are seen as means to further the
company’s profit.
• We witness this in situations where women are
considered as property and objects for self-
gratification.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• We encounter this in the corporate world where
people use one another to advance their own careers.
• We may also see this in teachers where what matters
most is not really the welfare of their students but
simply the advancement of their career for reasons of
salary alone.
• We also see this in some politicians whose position is
used to protect their business interest
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• Human relationships in these contexts is not the
expression of the fullness of human freedom where
no meaning and purpose is created. It is a relation
that easily dries out and eventually dies. It is a
relation that creates a void in our lives, a sickening
emptiness that is often responded to through vices
and worthless things.
• These kinds of relationships, in the words of Martin
Buber, falls under the realm of seeming.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• In the realm of seeming, people pretends to be who
they are not for the sake of their appearance and
image (Lino Brocka’s Kislap sa Dilim).
• There is no spontaneity and lives are characterized in
pretensions.
• Contrary to seeming is the reality of being
• One loses one’s desire to impress and to protect
one’s image if the other is looked upon with value,
with a story to share where lives can be enriched.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• If one looks at oneself also with dignity that is not
defined by wealth, possession or titles, human
relation then becomes spontaneous.
• One does not have to put a mask for he has a dignity
that cannot be taken away from him/her. Along this
line, the I-Thou relation unfolds.
• This is what intersubjectivity is all about- the person
allows the other to realize the fullness of himself and
in doing so, he also realizes the fullness of his
humanity.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• Intersubjectivity finds itself intertwined in social and
political relations.
• In the ideal sense, society must provide the
opportunity of each person to realize the fullness of
his/her humanity. Society is to provide equal
opportunities for all and freedom of expression in all
its manifestations.
• In this kind of society, intersubjective relations
flourishes.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• In this regard, every individual realizes his true self at
the service of community life and community life, at
the same time, provides the ideal situation to create
this reality of self-actualization.
• This is what we call, in the words of Charles Taylor,
the Politics of Recognition. This is what democracy
is all about- gender and cultural equality.
• Unfortunately, we find ourselves living in unjust and
inhuman structures where the poor are left to suffer in
poverty.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• In the Politics of Difference, Iris Marion Young
exposes the reality of structural injustice.
• These are the realities of exploitation, powerlessness,
marginalization, cultural imperialism and violence.
• From these realities, we are challenged to respond to
the calls of Moral Responsibility.
• Moral Responsibility is about challenging inhuman
and unjust structures through the power of ballot, by
taking part in movements for good governance that
uphold integrity and honesty
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• We are morally liable to vote the right persons who
shall serve the interest of the poor and neglected
• We are morally challenged to go beyond our selfish
motives as a way of going against graft and
corruption.
• This moral responsibility is not something impose on
us but in reality, it is a call to be true to the basic
goodness of our humanity.
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• To deny this basic goodness by living a life of using
others for one’s end results to a kind of void and
emptiness in the human person, a kind of
restlessness
• This experience of restlessness is the voice of his
humanity to return to his basic goodness
• We have seen people who had strayed away from
their basic goodness through a life of selfishness but
in the end, they returned to their real selves whey
they experienced peace which the world could not
offer
Intersubjectivity
The Interhuman
• To capture the essence of responding to Moral
Responsibility through a life dedicated for others,
Emmanuel Levinas mentioned Infinite
Responsibility.
• Infinite Responsibility means that to be truly human,
one has to be ultimately responsible for the other. For
him, an ethical responsibility is realized when one
goes beyond his being (bias, perspective, religion,
economic status, position, title) in order to recognize
the otherness of the other.
Intersubjectivity
Love as Commitment
• Love for many young people nowadays is based on
feelings. As feeling-oriented, love disappears when
the feeling is gone.
• This is not real love. True love is fundamentally
founded on commitment. It is the fruit of a careful
reflection and decision.
• The word decision itself implies commitment. From
the Latin word decire, it means to cut off something in
order to hold on to something that is more important.
Intersubjectivity
Love as Commitment
• Love may start with a feeling but it may be deepened
by a sense of commitment. Love along this line matures.
• This fleeting feeling-orientation can be transcended by
making a promise in utmost freedom.
• In this promise of commitment, one sees in the other
beyond the functional or instrumental sphere of
existence. From this sphere of human commitment, a
presence unfolds
Intersubjectivity
Love as Commitment
• According to Gabriel Marcel, presence means the
communion between two beings. This oneness is
beyond constancy and compromise. Constancy is all
about maintaining an image where the other is mainly
concerned with his own reputation and not the well-
being of the other person.
• Compromise on the other hand is grounded in fear, in
temporariness, and in the uncertainty of things which
makes a relationship conditional.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Intersubjectivity
Love as Commitment
• According to Marcel, one has truly loved if the person,
even in the reality of death, lives on. This is to say
that the person one loves will never die for his life
lives on in the life of the other.
• He further says: “What death destroys is not that
which makes this being that I love truly a being. What
death destroys is only her physical presence. Insofar
as my love is a “that,” she is subject to the nature of a
thing, and therefore, destructible. But insofar as she
is a ‘thou,’ she is freed from the destructible nature of
things.”
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions
1. What is the meaning of intersubjectivity?
2. What is the distinction between the I-it and the
I-Thou relation?
3. What is the Politics of Difference as opposed to the
Politics of Recognition?
4. What is Presence for Marcel?
5. Is there forever in love?
6. When does love become a commitment?
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions
1. What is the meaning of intersubjectivity?
2. What is the distinction between the I-it and the
I-Thou relation?
3. What is the Politics of Difference as opposed to the
Politics of Recognition?
4. What is Presence for Marcel?
5. Is there forever in love?
6. When does love become a commitment?
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
B. Class Activity
Collect a group of pictures (cut-outs) depicting I-it and
I-Thou relationships. Form a group of eight members
and share your ideas with group. Write your insights
in your journal.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
C. Time to reflect
“You know you have loved someone when you have

glimpsed in them that which is too beautiful to die.”
-Gabriel Marcel
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
SECOND QUARTER

DEATH
Topic 7: Society and the Human Person

Society and the Human Person
Objective

a. understand the nature of social institutions and
the important concepts of justice and equality
b. Develop a sense of nationhood
The Social and the Interpersonal
• We long for a society which provides equal
opportunities to all. It is the longing of many Filipinos
who, in many situations, have sacrificed their basic
liberties to pursue their life dreams. It is also the
longing of many Filipinos who in their dire economic
situation have been deprived of human development
and social justice.
• In situations like this, we are tempted to let go of life’s
ideals like honesty, integrity and justice and cling to
only what is practical for survival.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• The lost of compassion and solidarity, and the
emphasis solely on instrumental and functional
relationships have created a society of greed and
indifference.
• Paul Ricoeur profoundly gives us an enlightening
interpretation of the Parable of the Good Samaritan
(Luke 10:30-37)
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
“A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell

among thieves, who also stripped and wounded him…And it so
happened that a Priest went down the same way…In like
manner a Levite also passed by…But a certain Samaritan
being on his journey came near him and seeing him, was
moved with compassion…which of these three men, in thy
opinion, was a neighbor to him that fell among the thieves?...”
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• The narrative illuminates the meaning of the
interpersonal and social dimensions of human
existence.
• Sociology, in its attempt to organize human relations
by providing roles for social order and harmony
sometimes lose sight of the sense of compassion
and solidarity.
• In the parable, we are represented by priest and the
Levite who assume roles in society yet in complete
disregard of anything beyond our roles.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• Are we not in many times imprisoned by our roles to
the point that we miss the “presence” of persons
who come before us?
• Are we not carried away by our work to the point
that we do nor relate with others in an interpersonal
way?
• The expression “This is only my job” rightfully
captures the reality of functional relationships.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• The Good Samaritan, who too has a role to play,
went beyond his functional life out of compassion. It
is for this reason that he experienced the
“presence” of the victim, the neighbor in the
parable.
• Indeed, there is no science to teach us what it
means to be a neighbor to others.
• This is what it means to be human, that is, when we
go beyond our roles, our biases, and reach out to
others out of compassion and solidarity.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• Take note that the Good Samaritan is an outcast
during his times. He was looked down upon by
Jews as sinful and dirty, and therefore, undeserving
of any attention or regard.
• However, despite his situation, that never held him
back to be human, to be a neighbor to others.
• Maybe it is good to ask what is holding us back to
experience a truly enriching human relationship.
• It could be our past, our reputation, or even our
titles and roles. Yet, it is in reaching out, in being a
part in the healing of others, that we are healed.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• Ricoeur says that “the socius is the person I attain
through his social function: the relation to the socius
is a mediate relation: it attains man in this or that
capacity.”
• The State provides this mediation through the roles
its gives to every person. This mediation, being the
role, assumes a relationship of instrumentality.
Being in the state, we are expected to conform to
social standards.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• This is good to a certain extent for it promotes order in
society. However, to allow oneself to be limited by the
role provided by society all for the reasons of comfort
and convenience is not enough. At times, our
humanity cries out in us to let go of what is so good
about us, to be moved with compassion, and in the
end, see the roles as opportunities for us to be human
to one another.
• Here, we take public order in a different level.
Dialetically, in a just society, persons can co-exist with
and for each other through the service of the
institution.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• In a dialectic relationship, the interpersonal and the
social do not contradict or oppose each other. Society
can provide social structures that create opportunities
of what it means to be human, upholding social
liberties and social justice whereby each individual
realizes the fullness of his humanity at the service of
humanity.
• In this sense, society defines our way of life and our
way of life defines society too in a dialectic
relationship. Both are enriched in the end.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Justice and Liberal Equality
• Let us first discuss the social contract tradition
associated in modern political theory with proponents
like Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean Jacques
Rousseau, and Immanuel Kant.
• Hobbes: individuals must surrender a part of their
freedom to the state or sovereign. He calls the
sovereign Leviathan. It stands on the assumption that
human nature is basically selfish. For reasons of order
and harmony, a part of our freedom should be
sacrificed by submitting ourselves to the political
authority of the state.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• John Locke: He stands on the assumption that human
nature is not a state of war. The aim of government is
the preservation of liberty, property, life, and well-being
in general.
• Jean Jacques Rousseau: The original state of nature is
not chaotic. However, as society progressed and
developed, people have to respond to social ills and
political problems brought about by such change.
• He proposed the general Will whereby people surrender
their will to a collective, where each individual is
committed for the good of society and society likewise is
committed to the well-being of each person.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• Kant: a human person is an end in itself. Therefore, the
state is committed to the protection of his dignity by
uncompromisingly ensuring his basic freedom no matter
what.
• Rawls: “Each person possesses an inviolability founded
on justice that even the welfare of society as a whole
cannot override (mining at the expense of tribal
Filipinos; war against drugs).
• This is to protect each individual from political
bargaining or from the premise of upholding the interest
of the majority.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• Rawls believes that we cannot do away with social
inequalities in terms of wealth and positions in society.
For as long as the state provides equal opportunities to
all in a fair competition, inequalities in wealth and
positions are just.
• What matters most in the face of these inequalities is
that the poor are not left off in terms of benefitting from
this wealth and positions.
• Will Kymlicka supports this by saying that “liberal
equality does not mean the removal of all inequalities,
but only those that do not benefit the worst off.”
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• Rawls provides in his work Theory of Justice states that
“justice denies that the loss of freedom for some is
made right by a greater good shared by others,” and for
this reason, “it does not allow that the sacrifices
imposed on a few are outweighed by the larger sum of
advantages enjoyed by many.”
• Two Guiding Principles of the Rawlsian Theory:
a. Each person has the same indefeasible claim to a
fully adequate scheme of equal basic liberties, which
scheme is compatible with same liberties for all (freedom
of conscience, freedom of association, of speech, right to
suffrage, right to hold public office)
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
b. Social and economic inequalities are to satisfy two
conditions:
b.1. They are to be attached to offices and positions
open to all under conditions of fair equality and
opportunity;
b.2. They are to be to the greatest benefit of the least-
advantaged members of society
Robert Nozick: Challenged Rawl’s Distributive Theory and
argued, with Kant’s “man as an end in itself”, that the state
should limit its role in terms of protecting the people
against force, theft, and fraud.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• He appealed to the Kantian Principle by putting forward
man’s liberty in terms of his entitlements to wealth and
property. (Capitalist Society)
• Research on the Tax Reform Bill, Reproductive Health
Bill, Government’s War against drugs, removal of
contractualization in the labor force)
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Democracy and Human Development
• Nobel Prize Winner Amartya Sen: “Development can
be seen as a process of expanding the real freedoms
that people enjoy.”
• Democracy is about enabling people to achieve the
kind of life worthy of their dignity as persons.
• Sen believes that just and equitable approach to
development must be based on human capabilities.
You do what you find as most meaningful for you and
this entitles you to a just and decent life.
• Equality not only in income and basic goods, but in
basic freedoms and capabilities which empower
people.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Democracy and Human Development
• Democracy is all about empowering people most
especially the poor and neglected sectors in our society.
• People should have a say in policy-making and the
crafting of laws.
• Freedom of Information Bill: enables people to know what
is going on in government, the programs of politicians
and how taxes are spent so that in case of irregularities,
people could raised questions and so participate in the
process for good governance.
• Party List System: does it really represent the poor
sectors of society?
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Global Justice
Situationer:
• Unfair distribution of the world’s resources
• Unfair trade policies
• Third World: violence, corruption and lack of infrastructure
• Thomas Nagel: Duty of Assistance to mitigate the undue
advantage of rich nations in the area of trade liberalization
• Thomas Pogge: Duty of Assistance not enough
• He advocates the re-distribution of global wealth through a
Global Difference Principle in order to compensate for the
perpetual exploitation of the natural resources of poor
countries.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Global Justice
• It seeks to open economic borders and end
protectionist policies which are detrimental to the
global poor.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions
1. Why is the Good Samaritan symbolic of the inter-
personal encounter?
2. What is the difference between Hobbes’ and Locke’s
contractarian traditions?
3. What is the meaning of Social Justice?
4. What is human development?
5. Why is there social inequality even in democracies?
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
B. Class Activity
Bring to class a newspaper clipping about a recent

political issue. Form a group of four members and
discuss the newspaper clipping. Assign a secretary
to make a summary of the discussion.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
C. It’s time to reflect
“For to be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains,

but to live in a way that respects and enhances the
freedom of others.”
-Nelson Mandela
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
SECOND QUARTER

DEATH
Topic 8: Human Persons as Oriented towards

their impending Death
Objective

a. explore, describe, and articulate the concept of
human mortality
b. develop a deepened understanding of the
meaning of human life
• Death as they say is the great equalizer. All of us will

die someday and as such, it is an inevitable reality of
human existence.
• For Marin Heidegger, death is the ultimate
experience for mortals.
• How are we to live an authentic and meaningful life in
this reality of our impending death?
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Being-towards-death
• We have become so busy in our lives that we fail to
realize the reality of our impending death. We are
lost in a swirl of distraction, borrowing the phrase of
Fr. Moga, that our impending death is lost in our
consciousness.
• Hence, we live our lives as lost in the crowd. We
move along the current of functional and instrumental
relationships for economic gains. We are simply
carried away by the current of everyday routine.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Being-towards-death
• However, when man faces his impending death, his
life-towards-death, his perspective begins to change.
Suddenly, he is awaked of the fact of where he is: a
not-yet and in the process of realizing his fullest
potential as a human being.
• Manuel Dy, Jr.: “by being-in-the-world, the human
person realizes that he is a not-yet. The person, in
living a life, is still to realize the fullest potential as a
human being. It is in death that the person faces the
ultimate test. Accordingly, it is the fruition of man’s
being in the world.”
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Being-towards-death
• The person is and a not-yet. He is in the process of
realizing the fullest of his potential. His not-yet is
rooted in non-being, his unrealized possibilities. Yet
in this nothingness, this non-being, is rich with
potentials and possibilities awaiting to be realized in
the world he lives in. He is in the process of bringing
himself to his finality. An is and a not yet at the same
time.
• For Heidegger, it is in death that man experiences his
finality. At that moment, he is no longer a possibility,
or a not-yet.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Being-towards-death
• His death is his very own and no one can take that
away from him. He will have to face it later on alone
by himself.
• This reality of being-towards-an-end can paralyze
him out of the fear of separation for man does not
want to be alone and separated from the people he
loves.
• This fear of death may lead him to a life of no
purpose or meaning. He may end up living a
hedonistic life, which is “eat, drink, and be merry for
tomorrow you die.”
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Being-towards-death
• Or it may allow him to experience an authentic
human living, beyond mere existence, by embracing
his finitude.
• For Heidegger, being aware of his impending death,
it may free him from the swirl of distractions, the
crowd existence, and begin to live an authentic
human life.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Human Freedom and Mortality
• Man’s denial of his impending death can be
manifested in his crowd experience, where all that
matters in life is pleasure, living in the illusion that
these pleasures and fleeting joys are endless.
• In this sense, he is living a life of captivity or
imprisonment. He is imprisoned in the mundane
pleasures of life, easy-go-lucky type, devoid of
purpose and meaning in life. He in this sense has
surrendered his authentic freedom to transcend
beyond his limiting situations.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• On the other hand, he may choose to live an
authentic human existence by the exercise of his
freedom.
• He may choose to embrace his impending death, and
this opens up a world of possibilities for him.
• He begins to value the shortness of his life, his only
life that will end someday, and so chooses to live
meaningfully by valuing moments with the people he
loves, by living a life dedicated for others, by
overcoming death even before he dies.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• On the other hand, he may choose to live an
authentic human existence by the exercise of his
freedom.
• He may choose to embrace his impending death, and
this opens up a world of possibilities for him.
• He begins to value the shortness of his life, his only
life that will end someday, and so chooses to live
meaningfully by valuing moments with the people he
loves, by living a life dedicated for others, by
overcoming death even before he dies.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• In this sense, death defines the kind of life he lives
and his life defines the kind of death he embraces.
• Man’s acceptance of death constitutes then the
highest act of freedom, a life transcending even the
ultimate end…
• Karl Rahner: “Death is not merely something only
that occurs to man, an event that overtakes him, nor
is it an evil that befalls him unexpectedly,’ but “an act
of self-determination in regards to his acceptance or
refusal to be his authentic self,” or the “a self that is
open to transcendence.”
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
• Death enable us to express our most profound
freedom. In accepting and embracing it, it opens us
to the experience of the divine, the Mysterium
tremendum as fascinans
• This must have been the experience of Jesus on the
cross when he embrace death
• Gandhi, Ninoy Aquino, Martin Luther King, Jr.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
The Purpose of Human Life
• Along this line, are we willing to lose our freedom,
though expressed in different ways, all for the sake of
order and harmony?
• Unfortunately, with freedom comes the reality of evil.
• In freedom, we get to experience the greatest in
humanity. In freedom too, through understood
differently by others, we also witnessed the worst of
humanity (Hitler, Pol Pot, Idi Amin). This is the reality
of sin
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
The Purpose of Human Life
• Sin is not really about the person, it is not biological
as it can be inherited (sin of parents punished in their
children)
• Sin is a condition of being limited, it refers to
situations wherein we are tempted to compromise
• Yet, we can overcome sin, these limiting situations,
by choosing to live moral lives.
• In this moment of choosing what is good over what is
evil, we express our authentic freedom. In this
context, life has a purpose and meaning
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
A. Focus Questions
1. In what sense are we aware of the reality of
death?
2. When can the impending experience of death be
a cause for us to be paralyzed in our daily lives?
3. How does death enable man to experience the
fullness of his freedom?
4. How does one live a meaningful life in the reality
of impending death?
5. What is the purpose of human existence?
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
B. Class Activity
Form a group of four members. Share an experience

about the most important person in your life. Write
your insights on your journal notebook.
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Let’s Wrap Up
C. It’s time to reflect
“Our lives can only be ours once we lose these at

the service of others.”
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
He who has a why to live can

bear almost any how.”
- Friedrich Nietzsche
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Final Words
Gabriel Marcel Martin Heidegger Martin Buber
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Final Words
Roque Ferriols
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF
Closing Words
i EDUCATION
DEPARTMENT OF

Philosophy

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Philosophy

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

SESSION GUIDE IN TEACHING INTRODUCTION

TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

THE MEANING AND METHOD OF DOING

Topic 1: Doing Philosophy

It is expected that after the session, teachers will be

We are all together in this journey.

To really understand this particular subject, we always

How do you understand the

This is what doing philosophy is all about.

We do not simply accept what has been handed on to us.

We are invited to develop the Art of Questioning

It is a continuous process of questioning and answering

We have to develop this way of thinking because

Philosophy is not blind obedience.

True learning is a dialogical process.

It requires the attitude of open

For Socrates, the start of wisdom is docta

A. Answer the following questions:

1. What have you felt about the video?

• Again, group yourselves into five and share it among

• The discovery of truth, to call it wisdom,

• Why do we search for the truth? Why do

• It is our nature. Even if we deny the truth,

• The object of this knowing, by its very

• Real happiness then is leading a life of

According to Pythagoras, no man can fully

Is this not our human experience

The more we know, the more we

• Mysterium tremendum et fascinans

• Story of two birds

• By doing philosophy, the meaning of

“Everything has been figured out,

“ What an extraordinary situation is that of us

• Starting point of doing philosophy is

• Insight is all about discovering the meaning

“…roughly, we can say that where primary

• Life cannot be simply organized in an array of

• To live on the practical level is not authentic human

• the incalculability of human experience

THE MEANING AND METHOD OF DOING

Topic 2: Methods of Philosophizing

• Socratic Method is the series of asking questions

• The Socratic Method, used by Plato,

Forms are changeless,

Objects are changing,

How do scientists work?

The Structure of Scientific Revolution

• There is the unity of the subject and the object

b. Genetic Engineering like cloning for scientific re-

Share a particular experience in the group wherein

“The real spirit of getting to know someone is to

THE MEANING AND METHOD OF DOING

Topic 3: The Human Person as an Embodied

• We can talk about human experience through our

• The experience of embodiment can be described

• However, we extend the primary reflection to the

“I not only have a body; I am this body.

THE MEANING AND METHOD OF DOING

Topic 4: The Human Person in their environment

1. explore, describe, and articulate the problem

• The reality of climate change is an issue that

• To understand deep ecology, we have to see this in

• Oriental Thought sees everything in a relationship

• Being on the other is the actualization of the non-