NOTES ON PHILO

Module 1: The Value of Philosophy

Common Meanings

 Ideas, views, principles, perspectives, or beliefs

 Activity of reasoning
 Academic course or degree

Philosophy comes from two Greek words

Philos and Sophia – love of wisdom

- Base on etymological meaning, not purely intellectual activity also a kind of emotion and attitude

Philosopher – lover of wisdom Sophist – wise man

“I know that I know nothing” “The one who knows”

Characteristics of Philosophizing
 Dynamic – does not stop at certain results; search for truth is a continuous process
 Critical – examines and analyzes the assumptions of our frameworks or perspective of things
 Creative – leads to the formulation of new and better frameworks or perspectives

Branches of Philosophy
Thematic Types of Philosophy – (theme) Kinds of philosophy that are distinguished from one
another according to the topic of the issues being addressed
 Logic – distinguish correct and incorrect forms of reasoning
 Epistemology – determining kinds, sources, and conditions of knowledge
 Metaphysics – establish whether reality consist of physical objects or non-physical only
or both
 Ethics – identifying standard for making and clarifying meaning of moral judgments
 Aesthetics – determining the criteria for judgments about beauty
 Social and Political Philosophy – legitimizing the existence of state

A statement (proposition) refers to a linguistic expression whose function is to advance a certain claim.
Beliefs are the mental expressions of our claims
Kinds of Truth
Rational Truth Empirical Truth
 The truth of a belief or a statement is  The truth of a belief or a statement is
established by means of reason (inference established by means of sense experience
or analysis of concept) (experience thru 5 organs)
Contingent Truth Necessary Truth
 The truth of a belief or a statement is not  The truth of a belief or a statement is true
true in all possible situations in all possible situations
Objective Truth Subjective Truth
 The truth of a belief or a statement is not a The truth of a belief or a statement is a dependent
dependent on individuality on the attitudes, or interest of a person
Universal Truth Relative Truth
 The truth of a belief or a statement is  The truth of a belied or a statement is
acknowledged by everyone acknowledged only by some people
Theories of Truth, explaining what makes a statement or belief true
 Correspondence – examining whether it represents a fact observable around us
 Coherence – examining whether it coheres to the rules of a relevant system
 Pragmatism – examining the consequences of holding or accepting the belief

Methods of Truth

Observation – used to check is a belief about an observable fact in the world, correctly represents the
fact in the world
Internal -> observation of our own thoughts and feelings
External -> observation of things outside our mind or using five senses
Reasoning – process of establishing the truth of a statement by means of reason, critical thinking, or
inference
Intuition – directly grasping the truth even without observation or reasoning
Mystical Experience – knowing something which cannot be known by usual method; observation and
reasoning
Appeal to Authority – form of testimony of a reliable eyewitness, info provided by an appropriate
expert

Justified True Belief

 P is true
It is true that COVID-19 is highly contagious
 S believes the P
Jose believes that COVID-19 is highly contagious
 S justified in believing the P
Jose justified in believing the COVID-19 is highly contagious

Truth Condition
- Knowledge is a kind of relationship with the truth – to have access with a fact
Belief Condition
- General idea of this is you only believe what you believe
Justification Condition
- A belief to be plausibly true, it must be formed properly

Forms of non-knowledge

Opinion
- An unjustified belief that may turn out to be true
- A claim based on insufficient evidence
Guess
- Unjustified belief that can be true or untrue
- A claim without any evidence at all
 NOTES ON PHILO
Module 2: Human Person/Freedom/Accountability

Approaches in Understanding Human Person

Metaphysical

 Examines the essential components of the human person (saan gawa)

 Focuses on the kinds of substance that make up a human person

Existential Approach

 Examines the essential features of the human way of life (pamumuhay)

 Focuses on the kind of life, or mode of existence that is unique to a human person
Example:
Tarzan – the what of a man and the who of an ape; living as an ape kahit na tao

Components of the Human Person

SOUL/
BODY SPIRIT
MIND

The physical and corporeal The life-giving/consciousness The nonphysical/non-bodily

component of the human component of the human component of the human
person person person

Unspirited Body View

 Philosophers believe there is no soul, there is only the body

Disembodied Spirit View by Plato

Plato
 The body and the soul are 2 separate components, not united
o Believes in ideal world and physical world
o Soul (original/perfect of yourself) first existed in the ideal world
Disembodied Spirit View by Descartes

 A person is a composition of matter and mind

o Doesn’t believe in ideal and physical world
o The mind determines the person or the way you project yourself

Embodied Spirit View

 Spirit can also be called soul in this view

 Once body dies, the spirit rise and returns to a destination

Soul as a Life-giving Component

Aristotle – Each living thing has its own function

Vegetative Soul

Nourishment – the ability to make their own food or nourish themselves; Photosynthesis
Growth – developing physically; from seed to plant to tree
Reproduction – Reproduce through asexual and sexual reproduction; grafting, pollination

Sentient Soul

Sensation – capacity to feel emotions

Locomotion – able to move

Rational Soul

Rational Thinking – able to think in a reasonable way or distinguish right or wrong

Intelligence
Will – capacity to choose how to act

Being in the world and Involvements in the World

The human person exists within a context

 Who we are in the family and role in our society

The human person has a self to define

 Give definitions to yourself, dream you want and what people you want to think about

yourself
 Being-alongside other entities

 The involvement has the character of utility

 Entities appear to a human person merely as a form of equipment or instrument
Example:
Asking for help for something and then no connection after
Politicians asking for the citizens vote and execute selfish agendas

Being-with other entities

 The involvement has the character of considerateness; you feel the happiness
 A human person feels empathy towards another human person
Example:
Politicians feel empathy to citizens who are in need

Human Existence as Temporality

Everything about the human person that cannot be changed; Past

Facticity

Existentiality The possibilities a human person can choose to have; Present

Fallenness Inauthentic human existence where there is no purpose in life; Future

TRANSCENDENCE

 The ability of a human person to go beyond his/her current situation

 Our consciousness is always trying to complete itself
o Possibilities – we think or has a connotation of “positive”
- Moving forward

“All people has the capability to transcend”

 Views on Human Freedom

Freedom Determinism
 The ability of a human person to make  The view that all events are caused by
choices and do actions to carry out these previous events or conditions along
choices with the laws of nature

View on the Possibility of Freedom

Hard Determinism Libertarianism Compatibilism

 Accepts the view of  Accepts freedom but  Accepts both freedom
determinism but rejects determinism; and determinism;
rejects freedom, no the person human person is not
free will thus no determines what compelled,
moral responsibility happens to itself constrained to act
Because of what What happens today Past actions results in
EXAMPLE

happened yesterday is the product of your different choices or

not his/her choice choice possibilities

Conditions of Accountability

Legal Standards Moral Standards

 The use of law in determining the  The use of established norms of
accountability of a person morality in determining the
accountability of person
Factors Determining the Conditions for Attributing Accountability

Choice – refers to the intentionality of doing an action

Knowledge – refers to the capacity of knowing whether the action is right or wrong, good or bad

Mitigating and Aggravating Factors in Determining Accountability

Degree of Difficulty in Life Degree of Involvement

 The degree of accountability is  The degree of accountability is
dependent on the pressure why the dependent on the amount of
action is commited involvement on the action committed

Intensity of Wrongdoing Degree of Discernment

 The degree of accountability is  The degree of accountability is
dependent on the extent dependent on the level of knowledge of
the person who committed the action
 NOTES ON PHILO

Module 3: Respect for Persons

1. Theoretical level – a human person is either a subject or an object.

A person is an object
 Unconscious
 Unfree
Treated as a non-person o I-It (non-interpersonal
 Defined identity
relation)
 Fixed essence
o Being-in-itself One who is
 Labeling To see the other
o Being-alongside unconscious and
 Categorizing perso as an it is to
unfree but identity is
o “Experience”
 Totatlization (violence against complete
another)

2. Practical level – a human person is either a means and ends.

A person is a subject Treated as a person o I-Thou (interpersonal
o Conscious relationship)
o Free o Being-for-itself One who is
To see the other
conscious and free
o Lacks definition person as an you is to o Being-with
but identity is
o Unfixed essence o “Encounter” incomplete

A person is a means A person is an end

o Interest are disregard o Interests are considered

o A form of satisfaction o Interests are satisfied

By getting the person’s informed/voluntary consent KANT

Avoid using a “Morally accepted treatment is work towards
other person’s happiness”
person as means
One’s moral duty to oneself is perfection of their
“Consent is voluntary when it is given freely and
rational nature
informed when it is given with the knowledge of One’s moral duty to others is promotion of
relevant facts.” happiness of others
 Persons and Rights

Persons are entitled to rights that impose duties on others

Rights are entitlements or interests one is allowed or permitted to pursue, things a person may
or may not do.
Classified as
Negative rights
o Impose a duty of non-interference on others
o not to interfere in the exercise of rights
o di pakikielaman ng ibang tao; Article 4 and 23
Positive rights
o non-interference and provision
o provide necessary conditions and resources for the exercise of rights
o wag pakialam and magprovide; Article 22

Membership in a group is what gives an individual a certain kind of rights and duties
Classified as
Contractual rights are rights a person acquires when enter a contract or an agreement with
another party
 Formal contracts are written in the rights and duties of the parties involved are
clearly specified in some document
 Informal contracts are unwritten agreements in that the rights and duties of the
parties involved are merely implied or assumed
Legal rights are rights that a person possesses by virtue of his/her citizenship – acquired by
birth or by choice
Human rights are rights all human persons possess simply by virtue of being human
 Differ from contractual and legal which are created by humans and institutions
 Universal in that all human person have the same human rights in the same degree
 Differ from contractual and legal which in both content and degree of possession
from one context to another
 Inalienable in that human rights cannot be taken away from human persons,
contractual and legal can be taken away
 Promoting Human Welfare

Ethics moral principles that govern a person's behavior or the conducting of an activity

1. Doing Good to Others

General Kinds of Ethics
 Normative Ethics
o Studies the principles and standards used as bases for making moral judgments
 Metaethics
o Studies the nature of moral judgments in terms of how they are known and how
they acquire meanings
 Applied Ethics
o Examiners controversial ethical issues in some specified areas like medicine,
business, law and enviroment

Consequentialism Deontology Virtue Ethics

 Good action is one that  Good action is one that  Good action is one that is
results in good and follows a good or right performed by a person
desirable actions rule (or bad or wrong with good character traits
 Bad actions results in bad rule)  Bad action is one that is
and undesirable actions o Good action if violated performed by a person
is a wrong law with bad character traits
Happiness is achieved through
virtue, Aristotle: the excellence
Deontology
of a thing in terms of the
The laws of reason may coincide with the laws of the
exercise of its proper function
divine but the rational deontology formulated its moral,
principles independent or religious considerations
Intellectual virtues
Excellence of reason requires intellectual virtues
Religious deontology Rational deontology
These are acquired through study or instruction
 Good rules are the laws of  Good rules are laws of
and are manifested through knowledge
the divine reason
 Good action is one that  Good action is one that
Moral/practical virtues
follows the laws of the follows the laws of reason
Excellence of will requires moral/practical
divine
virtues
There are acquired through practice or habit-
forming activities and are manifested through
practical actions
Hedonistic
 Good consequences are defined solely in terms of experience of pleasure and avoidance
of pain

Non-hedonistic
 Good consequences are not just pleasure but also in terms of acquisition of knowledge
and power
o Establishment of good relationship and satisfaction of interests
Utilitarianism
 The action is good if it maximize the aggregate good or welfare of all affected persons
 The action is good if it promotes the greatest number of people

2. Being Just to Others

General kinds of justice

Distributive Justice
 Justice in distributing benefits and burdens

Retributive justice
 Justice in imposing punishments and penalties and penalties on those who have been
found guilty of wrongdoing

Compensatory Justice
 Justice in compensating or paying people for what they have lost as a result of being
recipient of wrongful acts

Egalitarianism
 A just distribution is one in which every member of the group receives an equal share in
the distribution
o Political and economic

Capitalist justice
 A just distribution is one in which every member of a group receives his/her share in the
distribution in proportion to his/her contribution to success of the goals of the group
Socialist justice
 A just distribution is one in which every member of the group receives his/her share in
the distribution in proportion to his/her needs

Justice based in fair opportunity

 A just distribution is one in which every member of the group receives his/her share in
the distribution in proportion to the effort he/she has exerted in achieving the goals of
the group

Justice as fairness
 A just distribution is one in which the principle that governs the distribution is chosen in
a fair manner
o Original, position; veil of ignorance

Libertarianism
 A just distribution is one in which no moral rights are violated by in acquiring
ownership of the good to be distributed and transferring the ownership of the goods

Utilitarianism
 A just distribution is one that increases the aggregate happiness or welfare of all affected
persons