The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
(MerriamWebster). Intermediary Connotes two
 Human existence is embodied existence.
 Many things related to our existence as persons
are related to bodies – age, sex, race,
relationships, etc.
Philosophy define the Human Person
• Philosophers also think about upon the concept of the
Human Person and what makes him or her a different in
nature and entity.
•“Human Person” refers to the individual, and all the
attributes and characteristics that set him or her apart
from other human beings.
•Like all other animals, human beings posses
SENTIENCE –The ability to feel and experience and
perceive things.
Consciousness
- is the state or quality of awareness, or, of being
aware of an external object or something within
oneself.
EMBODIMENT
- refers to the biological and physical presence of
our bodies, which are a necessary precondition
for subjectivity, emotion, language, thought and
social interaction
Limitations of the Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
1. Facticity
- Refers to the things in our life that are already
given
- Refers to all the details that surround us in the
present: our environment, our language, our
past decisions, our past and present
relationships, and even our future death.
2. Spatial-temporal Being
- As temporal beings, our most obvious limitation
is our finitude – our finite quality or state.
- As spatial beings, we are limited by our bodies
to be present in two or more places at the same
time.
- We are limited by space (spatial) and time
(temporal).
- Our spatial-temporal situation sets our
preconditions of understanding.
3. The Body as Intermediary
- Intermediary means acting as a mediator
meanings: as bridge and as wall
- Our body serves as an intermediary between us
and the physical world. Because of my body,
and encounter and agreement occur between
myself and the world. Though my body, my
subjectivity is opened to the world and the
world is opened to me
- On the other hand, because also of my body, I
experience the world as separate from me. I am
hidden from the world, and the world is hidden
from me.
- Our body limits our experience of the world to
our world.
- This imposes limitations concerning
communication and expression.
According To The West
The Notion of The Human Person As Embodied Spirit.
Aristotle’s Concept of Man
While Plato thought of a dichotomy between the body
and soul, according to Aristotle, there is none
• The body and soul are in state of unity – in his so-
called hylomorphic doctrine.
• Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) explains to us the four orders
of beings in this world which are properly called
hylomorphic namely, nonliving bodies, plants, animals,
and men.
• Hylomorphic derived its etymology from two Greek
words, hyle which means “matter” and morphe which
means “form”.
• The soul acts as pure actuality if the body while the
body Is a material entity that posses the potentiality for
life.
Aristotle presented the concepts of the kinds of soul:
• Rational Soul – Ranks the highest for it takes
responsibility the functions of vegetative and sensitive
souls. It is capable of thinking, reasoning, willing,
reflecting, and deciding apart from sensing and growing.
• Sensitive Soul – It feeds itself, it grows, it reproduces,
and it has feelings
• Vegetative Soul – Capable of feeding, growing and
reproducing itself.
 A.) Man Rational Animal
• Man as rational animal. He can cognize things
sensitively and intellectually. He is called animal
because he is no different from any other
animals
• Man can see things as it is and then undergo
an intellectual process – called ideogenesis – to
give its meaning.
Scholastic (Thomaistic) Concept of the Human Person
• He was regarded of Christianizing the philosophy of
Aristotle
• St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) was significantly
influenced by the thinking of the great Greek
philosopher Aristotle.
• The presupposition that the body and the soul are 2
distinct entities of totally different natures, having
completely distinct casual powers rooted in its different
natures, in which has become accessible to us for
observation in thoroughly diverse ways.
• The universal element common in all living beings is
the soul.
• The body and the soul are distinctive parts of the
same entity. St. Thomas would often reiterate unum
convertitur cum ente (there is one entity, absolutely
speaking, at any time there is a being having one act of
existence, even if the being in query is composed of
numerous parts).
• Both Aristotle and St. Thomas studied them as a
function of the whole of which it is a part
Alasdair MacIntyre’s Dependent Rational Animal
• There are three aspects of human existence to
consider a successful ethical theory: We are dependent,
we are rational, and we are animals.
• From Aristotle’s idea of human telos (purpose or end),
MacIntrye rintroduces the conception of a telos or good
of a whole human life conceived as unity.
• He presented that for a virtue to really become a
virtue, it is important to practice it in a small
community.
• The central virtue of this acknowledged dependence is
what MacIntyre calls “Just Generosity” which is a
combination of Justice and Generosity.
• Alasdair Macintyre (1929-present) is one of the most
renowned Thomistic political philosophers today.
Rene Descartes
• Rene Descartes (1596-1650) was the father of
modern philosophy and analytic geometry.
• He contended that all extended beings (meaning,
bodily beings) including man’s body, are subject to
change and hence, uncertain
• To get rid of illusion in order to secure that which is
certain as the foundation of any inquiry, he introduced
a methodic doubt in which he subject every extended
being into doubt and claimed that whatever is that
which will pass the test shall be held as certain and real.
• He realized that even if almost everything can be
doubted, there is one thing that cannot be doubted
Primary and Secondary Reflection
• Primary reflection is when we look at a particular
thing objectively.
• In this matter, the body studied in primary reflection
is not my body anymore but only “A Body”.
• This is the body talked about is physiology, anatomy
and other sciences.
• It is very important that we study Primary reflection.
HUMAN RESPONSIBILITY:
From the “I” to the “Other”
“The law of I”
• is a thinking that starts from myself, goes out to the
other, and returns to myself.
“The Law of the Other”
• is a thinking that moves from the I to the other
without returning to the I.
The Autonomy of the Self
• the act of preservation that describes itself as a being
– the going out of being from the “self” to the “other”
but return to the “self” again.
The Heteronomy of the Other
• what is most important is not the self/ego but the
neighboring/other.
• there is ethical responsibility for the “other,” that the
“other” must not be taken for granted anymore.
• always consider the ethical responsibility of the “self”
to the “other,” for the “other”
Man as “Capable Human Being”:
• Man has the capacity to tell a story in order to
ascertain that there are things in life left undone.
• The narrative of our life must use the capacity of both
to understand its hidden possibilities Narrative Identity
• -the dynamic way of interpreting identity
• -The hermeneutics of the self- a transition from man’s
servile way
3 things to be highlighted in our life in quest of the
narrative
• Not to see life as something routinary| mechanical
• To find its meaning again and again
• To accept things in life as they are, but one should go
beyond these lived human actions
I. Not to see life as something
routinary/mechanical - identity is not just
keeping the same, but changes in time and
always in the making -to see life as
routinary or mechanical is to make it
tautologous -for Paul Ricoer, ‘the enemy of
memory is repetition’ -always see life
everyday as a new beginning
II. To find its meaning again and again -
MEANING in Filipino is kahulugan Ka|
kaputol or kapatid, binds or connect
something Hulog| put into a deeper level in
order to grasp the real essence of being -In
our life, there is a tendency to see it as
routinary\mechanical leading to its
absurdity -Paul Ricoer is suggesting to us
the idea to always anchor our lives to the
ultimate source of meaning
III. To accept things in life as they are, but one
should go beyond these lived human
actions - To struggle with the text is
tantamount to saying to struggle with the
reality of life - For Paul Ricoer, struggling
with life is finding its true meaning -struggle
is inevitable in life, but to experience the
reality of life is for human to grow and go
beyond the lived experience in order to find
its essence
The Formation of the Human Being
• the aim of self-formation is to make each human
being becomes what God wants him to be
• Man must free himself from mere conformity and
imitation
• Self- formation is very essential in life where we
realize the plan of God in us
• Life is an endless search for meaning
Transcendence in Global Age(East)
Transcendence
• An act of rising above something to a superior
state
• State of excelling or surpassing or going beyond
usual limits of material experience
• Comes from the Latin prefix trans-, meaning
“beyond”, and the word scandare, meaning to
climb.
Hinduism
• Hinduism is one of the oldest Eastern traditions
practiced by hundreds of millions of people for
about 5,000 years • At the heart of Hinduism lies
the idea of human beings' quest for absolute truth,
so that one's soul and the Brahman or Atman
(Absolute Soul) might become one
The Aum
• It is the root of the universe and everything that
exists and it continues to hold everything together
Human beings possess dual nature:
• The spiritual and immortal essence (soul)
• Empirical life and character
Karma (कर्म )
• It refers to intentional actions that affect one's
fortunes in this life and the next.
• Humanity's basic goal in life is the liberation
(moksha) of spirit (jiva).
 Transmigration/Metempsychosis
Hindus believe the atman repeatedly takes on a
body until moksha.
If a person has led a good life, the soul goes upward
the scale. The soul of an evil person, on the other
hand, may pass into the body of an animal.
• Moksha
It is the transcendent state attained as a result of
being released from the cycle of rebirth. Hinduism's
Primary Values
1. Wealth
2. Pleasure
3. Duty
4. Enlightenment
Brahman
• Places a lot of emphasis on the attainment of self-
knowledge
• Most Hindus believe that Brahman is present in every
person as the eternal spirit or soul, called the atman.
Brahman contains everything: creation and destruction,
male and female, good and evil, movement and stillness
These are expressed in the trimurti and are:
Brahma, the creator Vishnu,
the preserver Shiva,
the destroyer
Dharma is an important term in Indian religions. In
Hinduism it means 'duty', 'virtue', 'morality', even
'religion' and it refers to the power which upholds the
universe and society.
The Upanishads are a collection of texts that contain
some of the central philosophical concepts of Hinduism;
and is also considered by Hindus to contain utterances
concerning the nature of ultimate reality and describing
the character of and path to human salvation.
Nirvana
The highest state that someone can attain, a state of
enlightenment, meaning a person's individual desires
and suffering go away
Buddhism: From Tears to Enlightenment
• Like stars fading and vanishing at dawn, Like bubbles
on a fast moving stream, Like morning dewdrops
evaporating on blades of grass, like a candle flickering in
a stormy wind, echoes, mirages, and phantoms
hallucinations and like a dream. - The Buddha, Eight
Smiles of Illusion
Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)
He turned away from Hinduism to seek for answers to
the riddle of life's sufferings, disease, old age, and
death.
Four Noble Truths
1. Life is full of suffering;
2. Suffering is caused by passionate desires, lusts,
cravings;
3. Only as these are obliterated, will suffering cease;
4. Such eradication of desire may be accomplished only
by following the Eightfold Path of earnest endeavor.
Eightfold Path
1. Right belief in and acceptance of the "Fourfold
Truth";
2. Right aspiration for one's self and for others;
3. Right speech that harms no one;
4. Right conduct, motivated by goodwill toward all
human beings;
5. Right means of livelihood, or earning one's living by
honorable means;
6. Right endeavor, or effort to direct one's energies
toward wise ends;
7. Right mindfulness in choosing topics for thought; and
8. Right meditation or concentration to the point of
complete absorption in mystic ecstasy.
States of Sublime Condition
•Love
•Sorrow of others
•Joy in the joy of others
•Equanimity as regards one's own joy and sorrows.
Samsara
 It is the beginning-less cycle of repeated birth,
mundane existence and dying again that all beings pass
through. Samsara is considered to be dukkha,
unsatisfactory and painful, perpetuated by desire and
avidya (ignorance), and the resulting karma.
Axioms
• Cease to do evil
• Learn to do good
• Purify your own mind
The Biblical God and Humanity
• in the 5th century, Augustines writing is considered to
be the most influential in the early medieval period.
-this section looks at the reasonableness of belief in
Gods existence.
-Theistic Hypothesis treating the statement "God exists"
as a hypothesis
-Religious people do not treat Gods existence as a
hypothesis.
- we are freed from our anger and bitterness.
- the hardness of our heart is reinforced by whole series
of rational arguments.
2.THE BEAUTY OF NATURE
- Theres is perfection in every sinble flower; this what
the three philosophies believed.
- these kinds of experiences can be truly moment of
grace and need to be praise.
3.VULNERABILITY
- to be invulnerable is somehow inhuman. To be
vulnerable is to be human.
- without acknowledging the help of others is to live
without meaning and direction.
-Dependence on others are not a sign of weakness but
being true with ourselves
4.FAILURE - it force us to confront ouf weaknesses and
limitations. -such acceptance of our failures makes us
hope and trust that all can be brought into good.

-The religious problem in the Old Testament narratives 5.LONELINESS

is not Atheism the denial of God but Polytheism the
- our loneliness can be rooted from our sense of
worship of too many gods.
vulnerability and fear of death.
-in the new testament the reality of God is
-this is a common a experience. -with our loneliness we
unquestioned because the Jesus of Nazareth the eternal
can realize that our dependence on other people or
God became flesh and dwelt among human beings.
gadgets is possessiveness that we can be free from.
For Augustine(354-430 CE)
6.LOVE
-Teachings of christianity are based on the love of God
- to love is to experience fichness, lositivity, and
which Augustine's, Aquinas', and Anselm's arguments
transcendence.
rooted. -Christianity as presenting the full revelation of
the true God, is the only full and true philosophy. -Life is full of risks, fears and commitment,pain and
sacrificing and giving up things we want for the sake of
-When comes the knowledge of God? It starts with faith
the one we love.
and made perfect by understanding.
- in a Buddhist view "the more we love, the more we
-philosophy is "amor sapiential", the love of wisdom.
risks and fears there are in life"
Hence it is the love of God it is then religious

-All knowledge leads to God so that faith supplement

and enlightens reason that may proceed to ever richer
and fuller understanding. "Human beings alone, without
God, are bound to fail"

Evaluate Limitations (East)

1.FORGIVENESS