Ph 101: Philosophy of Being Human Dr. Leovino Ma. Garcia, Earl Allyson P.

Valdez

1. Philosophy is an attempt to bring to the level of reflection the obvious experiences which have been taken for granted. It allows us to experience reality with wonder. Philosophy is not about cheap sentiments. It is concerned with the astonishment with everything there is. All beings are in being. 2. Authentic philosophizing is a personal task in pursuit of answers to questions of value to us. It is not merely an abstract intellectual exercise. Although truth is pursued personally, it is not solely owned by a single subject but is intersubjective. The truth is rooted in a long tradition of philosophical questioning that has asked and answered the fundamental questions of human beings. 3. Metaphysical unease is a concern for the being of the human being in what Gabriel Marcel calls a broken world. In this broken world where being-with is forgotten, there is an exigency for transcendence which is a delving deeper into and purification of experience. In this way, one surpasses the state of brokenness and becomes once . more creative and open to other possible ways of being. 4. Through reflection, we are able to transcend our present brokenness. Reflection does not negate life but raises life to a more intense level such that one is able to savor experience. There are two kinds of reflection: primary reflection and secondary reflection. It is only in understanding our involvement in a situation that we are able to see the value of our pursuits and discover the many possibilities of our being. 5. The human person is an embodied subject or incarnate spirit. It is not a disembodied thinking thing like Descartes Cogito. I have my body but my body is not merely owned like a separate thing; I am my body. Subjectivity permeates my entire body. We are able to relate to other beings because we are embodied. 6. Truth is neither only about what is objectified by the empirical sciences nor what is dependent on the subject alone. Lived experience shows that human consciousness is always consciousness of something other than itself. There is no human being without a world; there is no world without a reference to the human being. 7. The being of the human being is different from other beings in that s/he exists. It is only the human being that can say I and claim that s/he is a subject, a self. I exist as a conscious-being-in-the-world-with-others-and-for-others. The world is not merely the physical environment but it is a context of meaningful relations in which I am involved.

8. For Paul Ricoeur, there is no other way to understand oneself except through the Interpretation of the expressions of the selfthrough human actions and texts. What Is unique in this interpretation is the stress on the creativity of language and action. With his theory of the narrative, especially the threefold mimesis, Ricoeur enables us to see the creative initiatives and possibilities of a human life without ignoring its fragility and vulnerability: Man is the Joy of Yes in the sadness of the finite.