COR 015 (Introduction to the Philosophy of Man)
Day 06 Understanding the Methods of Philosophizing: Plato and Aristotle
PLATO
- RATIONALIST – believes that there is
another way to gain knowledge aside
from senses and experiences
- “Knowledge is innate or in born in the
human person.”
- “Knowledge must have as its object that
w/c is genuinely real contrasted with
appearance only.”
- “Fully real must be fixed, permanent,
unchanging in the realm of becoming
(physical).”
- “Already in the mind even before
experience.”
The Allegory of the Cave
 Plato viewed that the world available to our senses is only a reflection (a poor imitation) of the real
world.
 World of ideas (form) above the world of senses (matter).
ARISTOTLE
- EMPIRICIST – believes that knowledge
is gained alone through senses and
experiences
- “Knowledge is experiential”
- “Physical world is real.”
- “Not simply an appearance of something
else.”
- “Knowledge has as its object sensation
or sensory experiences of the physical
world.”
- “Nothing enters the mind unless it is
perceived by the senses.”
Day 07

RENE DESCARTES JOHN LOCKE

- RATIONALIST
- “Cogito Ergo Sum” / “I think therefore
I am.”
- “Senses can deceive the human
person.”
- “Knowledge is doubtable.”
- “Doubt everything.”
- EMPERICIST
- “Tabula Rasa” / “Blank tablet”
- “Knowledge is something which is
written in the mind the moment one has
an experience.”
- “Knowledge is acquired through senses
– without sensory experiences,
knowledge is impossible.”
Day 08 Exploring Truth, Opinion, Belief, and Fact
TRUTH
 - Something true regardless of what we believe (e.g. triangle has three sides)
- subjective
FACT
- Statement that is true and can be verified objectively, or proven
- True and correct no matter what (e.g. every circle is round)
- Objective (measureable, describable, convertible, changeable) (e.g. 42 kg weight)

OPINION
- Belief or conclusion hold with confidence but not substantiated by positive knowledge or proof (e.g.
knowledge of truth is superior than love of wisdom)
BELIEF
- State or habit of mind in which trust or confidence in placed in some person or thing
- Something that is accepted, considered to be true, or held as an opinion (e.g. belief in God)

Day 10 Man’s Embodiment: Plato and Aristotle

PLATO
- 3 parts or elements of the soul have different functions. Arranged in hierarchical order with rational
element as the highest, followed by the spirited element, and then the bodily element.
- Man is a soul
- Soul is the source of motion

3 Parts/Elements of the Soul:

1. RATIONAL ELEMENT
- Responsible for the power of language and reason
- Must govern the other two elements
2. SPIRITED ELEMENT
- For emotional drives such as anger, ambition, and others
3. BODILY ELEMENT
- For bodily appetites, desires, and needs

ARISTOTLE
- Since life is the giver of life of the body, then anything that has life has a soul
- There are 3 kinds of soul

3 Kinds of Soul:
1. RATIONAL SOUL
- Exercises the power of reason
- Unites in itself the powers of the lower souls – assimilation, reproduction, sense-perception, desire, and
locomotion
- Highest in the scale
2. SENSITIVE SOUL
- Exercises the powers of sense of perception, desire, and locomotion
3. NUTRITIVE SOUL
- Exercises the activities of assimilation and reproduction
- Lowest form of soul
Day 11 Exploring Man’s Embodiment: Rene Descartes
RENE DESCARTES
 According to Rene Descartes, everything we know is made possible because of our senses.
 Without senses, we can know nothing.
 Our senses can be deceived and it can deceive us.
 Everything that we know is not certain. They are doubtable.
 “Doubt everything.” But there is something which we cannot doubt, that is, that we are doubting. We
can never doubt that we are doubting.
 “I doubt therefore I exist.”
 We are doubting beings.
 Doubting is an aspect of thinking.
  We think therefore we exist.
 Thinking is an activity of soul. Body is just an instrument.

Day 12 Exploring Man’s Embodiment: Gabriel Marcel

GABRIEL MARCEL
- EXISTENTIALIST – spends whole life searching value of human why they are existing
- Believes in God even though he was an existentialist
- According to him, man’s experiences of himself shows that there exists an intimate relation between
himself and his body which accepts neither gap nor barrier
- There is no gap between man and his body. There is nothing that stands between him and his body.

 Experience of man of himself is manifested by the fact that wherever he goes there is his body.
 Whatever he does, his body is with him.
 When he describes himself, he describes himself through his body.
 Conformably, his experience of himself discloses that he is his body.
 Man owns a body. He possesses a body.
 Man, although he owns his body, does not really own his dog because he does not look at his body as
an object.

Day 13 Exploring Man’s Embodiment: Gabriel Marcel

 Gabriel said, “I am my body, insofar as I succeed in recognizing that this body of mine cannot.”
 Man does not experience himself as a body, a soul, or a body and soul.
 He experiences himself as being manifested by his body.
 He experiences himself as someone incarnated by his body. Thus, Marcel said that man is an
embodied-spirit.
 “We are not the world. We are part of the world. We are supposed to give meaning to the world through
our bodies.” (Ora, 2019)
 The world is empty of meaning without him.
 His body acts as his intermediary between others and himself. He shows himself to others through his
body and the latter also show themselves to him through their bodies. Because of his body, an
interaction and interrelation happen between others and himself.