INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
Introduction to Philosophy of Human Person
Core Subject Description: This subject is an introduction to the activity and
process of philosophical reflection as a search of synoptic vision of life. The
topics to be discussed include the human experiences of embodiment, being
the world with others and the environment, freedom, intersubjectivity,
sociality and being upon death
Definition of Philosophy
Philosophy
• Philos – “Love”; Sophia – “Wisdom”
• Philosopher – “lover of wisdom”
• “Philosophy is the knowledge of all things through their ultimate causes,
acquired through the use of reason”
• Material Object of Philosophy: “philosophy studies all things”; thus all
aspects of reality can be the object of a philosophical study
• Formal Object of Philosophy: “through their ultimate causes”; seeking
the deepest explanations regarding the existence and nature of beings.
• Natural Scope of Philosophy: “acquired through the use of reason;
seeking the ultimate explanations that can be arrived at by applying
reasoning to facts supplied by experience.
Branches of Philosophy
• Epistemology – studies the nature of knowledge and the rationality of belief;
the means of production of knowledge
• Metaphysics – studies and asks questions about the essence and existence
of a being
• Logic – concerned with “reasoning” or truth
• Ethics/Axiology – concerns the matter of “value/morality”
• Aesthetics – explores the nature and appreciation of art, beauty and taste
History of Philosophy
• Pythagoras
• Ionian Greek Philosopher; First person to name himself a philosopher
or lover of wisdom; Known for his Pythagorean Theorem in geometry
• Thales of Miletus
• First person to explain the world and universe outside mythological
concepts; He explained that the world was made up of “water” ; Teacher of
Pythagoras.
• Heraclitus
• He believed that the world originated from the fire element
INSTRUCTOR: MR. JOHN KHARLO BRAVO ARQUIZA (johnkharlobravoarquiza@gmail.com)
SHC PHILO 12
• Socrates
• First moral philosopher; Known for his Socratic Method (elenchus);
Teacher of Plato; “Stresses that man must take good care of its soul”; “All
human beings desire the good”
• Plato
• Student of Socrates and Teacher of Aristotle; Founder of the Academy
of Athens; “the soul is immortal, even the physical ceased to exist”
• Existence of abstract objects
“Virtue is knowledge” ; The soul is the principle which explains all life
• Aristotle
• Student of Plato and Teacher of Alexander the Great; On his treatise,
Peri Psyche, the soul is divided into three types and each according to each
living being
• Saint Augustine of Hippo
• Bishop of Hippus region of North Africa; Combined Christian doctrine
with Platonic ideology; Believed that everything is connected with God
• Saint Thomas Aquinas
• “Believed that truth is to be accepted no matter where it is found”;
Followed Aristotelian philosophy; Reaffirmed the three types of soul (first
written by Aristotle)
• Ibn al-Nafis
• First to describe the pulmonary circulation of the circulatory system;
Believed that the soul is found throughout the entirety of the body, not just
one of its organs
• Rene Descartes
• Father of Modern Western Philosophy; Father of Analytical Geometry;
Cogito ergo sum (“I think therefore I am”); Believed that the mind and body is
distinct but closely joined
• Baruch Spinoza
• One of the pioneers of the Dutch Golden Age; Opposed Descartes’
mind-body dualism; Substance vs. Accidence; No one is intrinsically good
or evil
Nature of Philosophy
• Human being possesses a keen desire to know, and that leads him to seek
the causes of events or happenings • His search for knowledge is induced by
theoretical considerations, as well as practical reasons • He needs to find the
answers to many questions about things existing around him
Lecture Handout 1