ILECTURE

Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

PURSUING WISDOM AND FACING CHALLENGES IN THE 21ST CENTURY

“Philosophy” came from two Greek words:

 Philo which means “to love”
 Sophia which means “wisdom”
 Philosophy originally meant “love of wisdom.”
 Philosophy is also defined as the science that by natural light of reason studies the first causes or highest
principles of all things.

 SCIENCE: It is an organized body of knowledge. It is systematic. It follows certain steps or employs certain
procedures.

 NATURAL LIGHT OF REASONS: Philosopher investigates things using the natural capacity to think or
simply, human reason alone or the so called unaided reason.

 STUDY OF ALL THINGS: It makes philosophy distinct from other sciences because it is not one dimensional
or partial. A philosopher studies human beings, society, religion, language, God, and plants, among other
concerns.

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 sufficient reasons for its being and existence.

KEY POINTS
 Early Greek philosophers studied aspects of the natural and human world that later became separate sciences-
astronomy, physics, psychology, and sociology.

 Certain basic problems-the nature of the universe, the standard of justice, the validity of knowledge, the correct
application of reason, and the criteria of beauty-have been the domain of philosophy from its beginnings to the
present.

 These problems are the subject matter of the branches of philosophy-metaphysics, ethics, epistemology, logic, and
aesthetics. There are also special branches of philosophy like philosophy of science, philosophy of state,
philosophy of politics, philosophy of education, and others.

 In attaining, wisdom, there is a need for empting. Emptying can be intellectual. (for Taoist, empty cup is more
useful than the full one). This means simplicity and humility

 Emptying can be also spiritual. For Christian philosophy, poverty in spirit means compassion.

 It can also be physical. The Buddhist refrain from misuse of the senses, thereby emphasizing a unified whole.

 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.
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
METAPHYSICS
It is an extension of a fundamental and necessary drive in every human being to know what is real. A metaphysician’s
task is to explain that part of our experience which we call unreal in terms of what we call real. 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.
Thales
He claims that everything we experience is water (“reality”) and everything else is “appearance.” We try to
explain everything else (appearance) in terms of water (reality).
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
Idealist and Materialist
Their theories are based on unobservable entities: mind and matter. They explain the observable in terms of the
unobservable.
Plato
Nothing we experience in the physical world with our five senses is real. Reality is unchanging, eternal,
immaterial, and can be detected only by the intellect. Plato calls these realities as ideas of forms.

ETHICS
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.

EPISTEMOLOGY
It deals with nature, sources, limitations, and validity of knowledge. It 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. It addresses
varied problems: the reliability, extent, and kinds of knowledge; truth; language; and science and scientific knowledge.
Sources of knowledge
Induction
Gives importance to particular things seen, heard, and touched.Forms are general ideas through the examination
of particular facts. Empiricist – advocates of induction method. Empiricism is the view that knowledge can be attained
only through sense experience.
Deduction
Gives importance to general law from which particular facts are understood or judged . Rationalist – advocates of
deduction method. For a rationalist, real knowledge is based on the logic, the laws, and the methods that reason develops.
Pragmatism – the meaning and truth of an idea are tested by its practical consequences.
LOGIC
Reasoning is the concern of the logician. It comes from the Greek word logike, coined by Zeno, the Stoic (c.340–
265BC), which means a treatise on matters pertaining to the human thought. It does not provide us knowledge of the
world directly and does not contribute directly to the content of our thoughts. It is not interested in what we know
regarding certain subjects but in the truth or the validity of our arguments regarding such objects.
Aristotle
First philosopher to devise a logical method. Truth means the agreement of knowledge with reality. Logical
reasoning makes us certain that our conclusions are true.

Zeno of Citium- One of the successors of Aristotle and founder of Stoicism

Other influential authors of logic
• Cicero, Porphyry, and Boethius
• Philoponus and Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes

AESTHETICS
It is the science of the beautiful in its various manifestations – including the sublime, comic, tragic, pathetic, and ugly.
It is important because of the following:
*It vitalizes our knowledge. It makes our knowledge of the world alive and useful.
*It helps us to live more deeply and richly. A work of art helps us to rise from purely physical existence into the
realm of intellect and the spirit.
*It brings us in touch with our culture. The answers of great minds in the past to the great problems of human life
are part of our culture.

Hans-Georg Gadamer
A German philosopher who argues that our tastes and judgments regarding beauty work in connection with one’s
own personal experience and culture.. Our culture consists of the values and beliefs of our time and our society.
METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING
Philosophizing is to think or express oneself in a philosophical manner.

PHENOMENOLOGY: ON CONSCIOUSNESS
Edmund Husserl founded phenomenology, which is essentially a philosophical method. This focuses on careful
inspection and descriptions of phenomena or appearances, defined as any object of conscious experience that is, that
which we are conscious of.
Immanuel Kant, German philosopher had used the same word to refer to the world of our experience.

PHENOMENOLOGICAL STANDPOINT
The first and best known is the epoche or “suspension” that he describes in Ideas: General Introduction to Pure
Phenomenology, in which phenomenologist “brackets” all questions of truth or reality and simply describes the contents
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
of consciousness. The second reduction eliminates the merely empirical contents of consciousness and focuses instead on
the essential features, the meaning of consciousness.

EXISTENTIALISM: ON FREEDOM
One's search for truth might be based one's attitude or outlook
COMMON THEMES:
The human condition or the relation of the individual to the world;
The human response to that condition;
Being especially the difference between the being of person(which is “existence”) and the being of other kinds of things;
Human freedom;
The significance (and unavoidability) of choice and decision in the absence of certainty and;
The concreteness and subjectivity of life as lived, against abstractions and false objectifications.

Soren Kierkegaard, Danish philosopher, he insisted that the authentic self was the personally chosen self, as opposed to
public or “herd” identity.

Nietzche took this view of opposition of the individual versus the public “herd” identity.

Sartre, a French philosopher, emphasizes the importance of free individual choice, regardless of the power of other
people to influence and coerce our desires, beliefs, and decisions. He argued that consciousness (being-for-itself) is such
that it is always free to choose (though not free not to choose) and free to “negate” (or reject) the given features of the
world.

POSTMODERNISM: ON CULTURES
Postmodernism has come into vague as the name for a rather diffuse family of ideas and trends that insignificant respect
rejects challenges for

Richard Rorty, American philosopher, notably developing themes from pragmatism and certain quarters of analytic
philosophy and bringing these together with Continental themes, challenged the modern rationalist presumption that
philosophy or any branch of knowledge can find secure foundations or achive genuine representation of reality.

Postmodernists believe that humanity should come at truth beyond the rational to the non-rational elements of human
nature, including the spiritual

ANALYTIC TRADITION
Can language objectively describe truth? For the philosophers of this tradition, language cannot describe truth.
Ludwig Wittgenstein, an analytic philosopher, language is socially conditioned.

LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING: TOOLS IN REASONING

Logic is centered in the analysis and construction of arguments. Critical thinking is distinguishing facts and
opinions or personal feelings.

TWO BASIC TYPES OF REASONING:

Deductive reasoning: draws conclusion from usually one broad judgment or definition and one more specific assertion,
often an inference.
Inductive reasoning: based on observations in order to make generalizations. This reasoning is often applied in
prediction, forecasting or behavior.

VALIDITY and SOUNDNESS OF AN ARGUMENT

- If the two premises are constructed logically, then the conclusion must follow logically, the deductive argument
is valid.

STRENGTH OF AN ARGUMENT
- Inductive arguments cannot prove if the premises are true which will also determine the truth of the conclusion.

FALLACIES
A fallacy is a defection in an argument other than its having false premises. They are unreliable statements that can be
encountered in our daily life.

SOUND REASONING- Judging the worth or significance of things based on the premise of facts.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING- A reasoning that starts from the general statement to a specific one.
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
INDUCTIVE REASONING- A reasoning that starts from the specific statement to a general one.

COMITTED ERRORS IN REASONING

HASTY GENERALIZATION
Making assumptions about a whole group or range of cases based on a sample that is inadequate (usually because
it is atypical or too small. Stereotypes about people (“librarians are shy and smart,” “wealthy people are snobs,” etc.) are
common examples of principle underlying hasty generalization.
Example:
“My roommate said her philosophy class was hard, and the one I’m in is hard too. All philosophy classes must be
hard!” Two people’s experiences are, in this case, not enough on which to base a conclusion.

MISSING THE POINT

The premises of an argument do support a particular conclusion- but not the conclusion that the arguer actually
draws.

POST HOC (also called false cause)

This fallacy gets its name from the Latin phrase “post hoc, ergo propter hoc” which translates as “after this,
therefore because of this”
Assuming that because B comes after A, A caused B. Of course, sometimes one event really does not causes
another that comes later. But sometimes two events that seem related in time aren’t really related as cause and event. That
is, correlation isn’t the same thing as causation.

SLIPPERY SLOPE
The arguer claims that a sort of chain reaction, usually ending in some dire consequence, will take place, but
there’s really not enough evidence for that assumption. The arguer asserts that if we take even one step onto the “slippery
slope” we will end up sliding all the way to the bottom.

WEAK ANALOGY/ FALSE ANALOGY

Many arguments rely on an analogy between two or more objects, ideas, or situations. If the two things that are
being compared aren’t really alike in the relevant respects, the analogy is a weak one, and the argument that relies on it
commits the fallacy of weak analogy.

Example: “Guns are like hammers-they’re both tools with metal parts that could be used to kill someone. Yet, it would be
ridiculous to restrict the purchase of hammers- so restrictions on purchasing guns are equally ridiculous.”

APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
Often we add strength to our arguments by referring to respected sources or authorities and explaining their
positions on the issues we’re discussing. If however, we try to get readers to agree with us simply by impressing them
with a famous name or by appealing to a supposed authority who really isn’t much of an expert, we commit the fallacy of
appeal to authority.

BANDWAGON/ APPEAL TO PEOPLE/ARGUMENTUM AD POPULUM

This is a reasoning based on popularity rather than scientific evidence or facts. This gives a feeling that you are
the only one not doing or using, so why not join now?

RED HERRING
This is a reasoning wherein it distracts the opponent away from the real issue and leads them to an irrelevant
issue.

EITHER-OR REASONING
It presents two alternative and acts as if there are no other choices. This is a MORAL DILEMMA

ATTACK ON A PERSON or ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINEM

This reasoning attacks the person instead of the issue. It is somewhat PERSONAL

APPEAL TO PITY or ARGUMENTUM AD MISERICORDIAM

A specific kind of appeal to emotion in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting
his or her opponent’s feelings of guilt or pity.

APPEAL TO IGNORANCE or ARGUMENTUM AD IGNORANTIAM

Whatever has not been proven false must be true
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
EQUIVOCATION
Logical chain of reasoning of a term or word several times, but giving the particular word a different meaning
each time

COMPOSITION
This infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of a whole.

DIVISION
One reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be true of all or some of its part.

APPEAL TO FORCE or ARGUMENTUM AD BACULUM

An argument where force, coercion, or threat of a force is given as a justification for a conclusion.

BEGGING THE QUESTION or PETITIO PRINCIPII

This is a type of fallacy in which the proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly or explicitly in the premise.

DESTROYING THE RULE or DICTO SIMPLICITER or SECUNDUM QUI

Argument based on an unqualified generalization.

APPEAL TO TRADITION or ARGUMENTUM AD ANTIQUITATEM

The idea is acceptable because it has been true for a long time

MISUSE AUTHORITY or ARGUMENTUM AD VERECUNDIAM

This reasoning misleading use an authority.

TU QUOQUE
Avoiding having to engage with criticism by turning back on the accuser- answering criticism with criticism. .

PERSONAL INCREDULITY
Saying that one finds something difficult to understand that is therefore not true.

GOLDILOCK FALLACY
Saying that a compromise or middle point between two extremes is the truth.

A is too much
B is not enough.
(A+B)/2 is the right amount.

KINDS OF TRUTH
STATEMENT
It is also called as “proposition”. It is expressed linguistically. It refers to a linguistic expression whose function is
to advance a claim about the world. It is usually expressed by declarative sentences when declarative sentences are used in
their normal way, that is, to describe things in the world.
BELIEF- They are the mental expressions of our claims. They are made in the mind.
FACT It is something that occurs in the world, and it is what makes a certain statement true.
FACTOID Something that appears true but is unverified.

First problem “whether the truth of a belief or statement is established or arrived at by means of sense experience or
reason.”
EMPIRICAL TRUTH- It is based on senses It is described as “a posteriori” which means that it can only be
known after some relevant experience.
RATIONAL TRUTH- It is based on reason. It is described as “a priori” which means it can be known before some
relevant experience.

Second Problem “whether or not knowing the truth of a statement or belief extends our knowledge or adds to what we
already know.”
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
SYNTHETIC TRUTH- It extends our knowledge. The information provided by the predicate is not
contained in the information provided by the subject. All empirical truths are synthetic truth.
ANALYTIC TRUTH- It does not extend our knowledge. The information provided by the predicate is contained
in the information by the subject. All rational truth are analytic truth.

Third problem “whether or not a statement or belief is true in all possible situation.”
CONTINGENT TRUTH- It is not true in all possible situations. Empirical truths are contingent truths.
NECESSARY TRUTH- It is true in all possible situations. Analytical truth are all necessary truths.

Fourth Problem “whether the truth of a belief or statement can only be known by the person who has the belief or
makes the statement”
PRIVATE TRUTH- It can only be known by the person who has the belief or makes the statement considered to be
true.
PUBLIC TRUTH- It can be known by everyone.

Fifth Problem “whether or not the truth of a belief or statement is dependent on the attitudes, preferences or interests of
a person or a group of persons.”
SUBJECTIVE TRUTH- It is dependent on the attitudes, preferences or interests of a person or a group of person.
OBJECTIVE TRUTH- It is not dependent on the attitudes, preferences, or interests of a person or a group of
persons.

Sixth Problem “whether a belief or statement is acknowledged to be true by everyone or only by some people.”
UNIVERSAL TRUTH- If its truth is acknowledged by everyone. Objective truths are usually universal
truth
RELATIVE TRUTH- It its truth is acknowledged by only some people. Subjective truth are usually relative
truth.

Seventh Problem “whether the truth of a belief is arrived at through the process of deductive reasoning or inductive
reasoning”
CERTAIN TRUTH- Deductive truth, the truth of the statement arrived at through the process of deductive reasoning,
is certain.
PROBABLE TRUTH- Inductive truth, the truth arrived at through the process of inductive reasoning, is merely
probable.

Eight Problem “what area of study does the topic or content of a belief or statement that is held to be true falls.”

DISCIPLINAL KIND OF TRUTH

It depends upon the area if the statement is true.
Religious truth is true in religions, scientific truth is true in science.

THE HUMAN PERSON AS AN EMBODIED SPIRIT

Man is not only body, but he is something infinitely higher. Of all the animal creations of God, man is the only
animal who has been created in order that he may know his maker. Man’s aim in life is not to add from day to day to his
material prospects and to his material possessions but his predominant calling is from day to day to come nearer to his
maker [Mohandas Gandhi, 1948].

To recognize our own limitations and possibilities it is right to know where we are, what our world is. According
to Plato reality is made up of two worlds namely, the world of Forms and the world of Sense where human beings
participate in both of these different worlds.  

The world of Sense which is proposed and believed by Heraclitus, is the world we see, experience, the world of
objects; a world of change, it is made up of matter and is bound to decomposition. Heraclitus proves this through the
statements “Cold things grow hot, the hot cools, the wet dries, the parched moistens.” and “We both step and do not step
into the same revers. We are and we are not.”

The world of Forms which is proposed by Parmenides who influenced Plato in this type of world is a world that is
eternal, perfect and unchanging. Parmenides proved the world of Forms by his statement “ We can speak and think only
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
of what exists. And what exists is uncreated and imperishable for it is whole and unchanging and complete. It was not or
nor shall be different since it is now, all at once, one and continuous.

For Plato, reality is eternal and unchanging, it is the real world, the world of forms. Everything in the world of
senses is but an imitation or a mere shadow of the ideal.

Human beings participate in both the senses and the ideal world because they have a material body and
immaterial soul, synthesis of change and permanence.
Human beings is a body and soul, according to Plato, body is evil for it is inclined to temporal things; objected to
temporal satisfaction and happiness.

As stated by Origen, a Christian theologian and philosopher that is also a Platonian “all rational beings were once
pure intellects in the presence of God, and would remain so forever had they not fallen away through Koros (satiety).”
Because of koros (sin) or our transgression and disobedience to God we are punished by being given a body.

To be free it is a human task to gradually recollect the ideas the soul used to know through education in order for
it to be released from being imprisoned in our body and be able to return to its place in the world of forms, for the soul is
superior and exists eternally even after the body evanesces gradually. However, failure to recall everything the soul used
to know, the soul has to undergo another imprisonment and this process will continually occur until the soul is ready to go
back to its place in the world of forms.

The freedom of the soul from the body, its imprisonment is transcendence. Transcendence is the existence that is
present beyond normal or physical level. Transcendence means that: “I am my body but at the same time I am more than
my body. The things that I do, all those physical activities and attributes which are made real through my body, reveals
the person that I am”.

THREE MAIN SPIRITUAL PHILOSOPHIES

Hinduism is the belief in karma and reincarnation.

Brahman is Self-Hood  Hinduism lies the idea of human being's quest for absolute truth, so that one's soul and the
Brahman or Atman (Absolute Soul) might become one. For the Indians, God first created sound and the universe arose
from it.

The Aum (Om) is the root of the universe and everything that exists and it continues to hold everything together, the
most sacred sound in which the universe arose from and was the first thing God created
Four primary values of Hindus:

Wealth and Pleasure are worldly values, but when kept in perspective they are good and desirable.
The spiritual value of duty, or righteousness, refers to patience, sincerity, forgiveness, love, honesty and similar virtues.
The spiritual value, though, is enlightenment, by which one is illuminated and liberated and most importantly, finds
release from the wheel of existence.

BUDDHISM
Buddhism is the life experience and teaching of Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha -he who achieves his aim), a
tradition that focuses on personal spiritual development, solutions is lay in his own mind and is famous for its belief in
Nirvana; a place of perfect peace and happiness.

Buddhism, contained in the teachings of its founder, Siddhartha Gautama or Buddha. The teaching of highborn
Prince Gautama of the Sakya clan in the kingdom of Magadha, lived from 560 to 477 B.C, sprang the religious philosophy
we know as Buddhism.

Turning away from the Hindu polytheism and palace pleasures, searching for answers to the riddle of life's
sufferings, disease, old age and death. Gautama's life was devoted to sharing his "Dharma" or Law of Salvation; a
presentation of the gospel of inner cultivation or right spiritual attitudes.
Four Noble Truths:
1. Life is full of suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by passionate attachment to desires, lusts, and cravings;
3. Suffering can be ended by overcoming attachment to desires
4. To end suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path

Noble Eightfold Path:

1. Right understanding/belief in the acceptance of the "Fourfold Truth"
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
2. Right intent/aspiration for one's self and others;
3. Right speech that harms no one;
4. Right action/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 towards 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

The way to salvation, lies through self-abnegation, rigid discipline of mind and body, a consuming of love for all
creatures, and the final achievement of that state of consciousness which marks an individual's preparation for entering the
Nirvana (enlightened wisdom).

The Law and Cause and Effect (Karma) are overcome; the cycle of rebirth is broken; and one may rest in the calm
assurance of having attained a heavenly bliss that will stretch out into all eternity.

Sangha, or Order of Monks and later the nuns also monks, nuns, laymen, laywomen). With single-heart purpose,
this brotherhood of believers dedicated itself to a life of self-purification, in total loyalty to the Buddha,

The Dharma and Sangha. Committed itself to a life of poverty whose sole aims was the evangelization.
The Buddhist practice four states of sublime condition:
love,
sorrow of others,
joy in the joy of others
equanimity as regards one's own joy and sorrows.

CHRISTIANITY
Christianity is the religion based upon the teachings and miracles of Jesus where there is only one God. Suffering
leads to the Cross, the symbol of reality of God's saving love for the human being and Evil is being disobedient,
contradicting the nature of God and distancing to God.
For Augustine (354-430 CE), philosophy is amor sapiential, the love of wisdom; its aim is to produce happiness.
Wisdom is not just an abstract logical construction; but it is substantially existent as the Divine Logos. Hence,
Philosophy is the love of God; It is then religious. Teaching of Christianity are based of love of God.

St. Thomas of Aquinas, another medieval philosopher, of all creatures, human beings have the unique power to
change themselves and the things for the better.

His philosophy is best grasped in his treatises Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica. Considers human
as moral agent, the spiritual and material and that choosing between 'good' or 'evil' is our responsibility.

HUMAN PERSON IN THE ENVIRONMENT

Disorder in the Universe
 The domination of humanity is linked to the domination of nature based on anthropocentric model
 Human arrogance toward nature is justifiable in order to satisfy human interests.
 Humans adopt an exploitative attitude whenever nature is merely considered as an instrument for one’s
profit or gain.
 An unfair or unjust utilization of the environment result to ecological crisis.

Ancient Thinkers
ANAXIMANER: Nature is indeterminate – boundless. The source from which existing things derived their existence is
also that to which they return at their destruction.

PYTHAGORAS: The universe is the living embodiment of nature’s order, harmony, and beauty.”
Biophilia: love of other living things Cosmophilia: love of other living beings

MODERN THINKERS

IMMANUEL KANT: The orderliness of nature and the harmony of nature with our faculties guide us toward a deeper
religious perspective.”

HERBERT MARCUSE: “There can only be change if we will change our attitude towards our perception of the
environment.”
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

GEORGE HERBERT MEAD: “as human beings, we do not have only rights but duties. We are not only citizens of the
community but how we react to this community and in our reaction to it, change it.”

DEEP ECOLOGY
Ecological crisis is an outcome of anthropocentrism.
Humanity is part of nature.
It encourages humanity to shift away from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism.
The controlling attitude of humankind is extended to nature, when in fact, humanity is part of nature.
Deep ecologists encourage humanity to shift away from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism

SOCIAL ECOLOGY
Ecological crisis results from authoritarian social structures.
It recognizes that humanity is linked with the well-being of the natural world in which human life depends.

ECOFEMINISM
Ecological crisis is a consequence of male dominance.
Male traits as in the anthropocentric model are superior as opposed to female traits as in the ecocentric model.

ERICH FROMM
Freeing nature and humanity means removing the superior vs. inferior in human relation.
It is about time that humanity ought to recognize not only itself but also the world around it.
Our biological urge for survival turns into selfishness and laziness.

Two potentials of human:

1. to be with other
2. the desire for survival

Cultures that foster the greed for possession are rooted in one human potential. Cultures that foster being and sharing are
rooted in the other potentials. We must decide which of these two potentials to cultivate. (Fromm 2013)

FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN PERSON

HUMAN ACTS
Done intentionally and deliberate of a person.
Actions carried out voluntarily.
Actions that man can properly master.
A man is fully responsible and accountable on the results or consequences of his/her actions.
Concern is on morality
It has a two faculty; will and intellect.
It has two elements; intellect that knows and will that decides.

Intellect
Directs the will to want the object it proposes

Will
Direct the intellect to know

ATTRIBUTES of HUMAN ACTS

Knowledge
An act is done knowingly, when the doer is conscious and aware of the reason and consequences of his/her actions.

Freedom
An act is done when the doer acts by own initiative and choice without being forced to do so by another person or
situation.

Voluntariness
 ILECTURE
Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person
An act is done willfully when the doer consent to the acts, accepting it as his own, and assumes accountability for its
consequences.
Acts which man performs without being masters of them.
Acts of person without the proper use of reasons.
Acts of people under certain influence.

Primo-Primi
Acts that are quick and nearly automatic reactions
Reflex and instantaneous reactions without time for the intellect or will to intervene.
Acts performed under serious physical-or in some cases moral violence.

Human Action/Acts
*Use of intellect/reason
*Use of will
Act of Man – Spontaneous biological sensual impressions
* Comes Naturally
*No need to use reason/will

Freedom – Can be generally defined as “doing what one wants to do.”

According to Fr. Peskke, SVD, Christian Ethics

Human acts – are actions that results from the use of reason/intellect and will or more often – conscience.

According to Aristotle
* Judgement of practical intellect is meaningless, apart from will.
* It is the power of volition.
* Moral Acts – are acts which are in our power – we are responsible to it.
Attending classes are students’ responsibility.
We have to think think first before we have to say words.
On Freedom
* “Doing what one wants to do.”
* “Life begins when one’s comfort zone begins.”

* Freedom is not absolute, it is relative.

* “That is mine, Those are mine, all that is yours are mine. – Cardinal Sin”
Man is “Thingified” – is a disregard of others freedom.