NORTHWESTERN MINDANAO STATE COLLEGE

OF
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Senior High School Department

MY UNDERSTANDINGS ON THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

A compilation of summaries and insights by

KIMBERLY R. RETARDO

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for

Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person

Presented to

Ms. Krista Liezeth L. Geromo

Instructor, Senior High School

PHILOSOPHY
AND SOCIETY
 FREEDOM

Freedom talks about doing the things you want freely. Each person in this world have
freedom. Even a new born baby have freedom. Every people have lots of freedom but we
should also know our limitations. We should know how to use our freedom in proper and in
good way. Our freedom is somehow connected to our rights as an individual. It is said that we
are required to surrender some of our freedoms in order for us to live in peace with other
people. Freedom includes our free will, it just mean that we have our own choices and that we
are free to choose on what we want. Freedom refers to the ability of a person to act, speak or
think of what she or he wants without any hindrance. But even we have freedom we should
also be aware and be responsible on things that we are doing. We shall not abuse the power of
our freedom. Moral responsibility has something to do with our freedom because its helps and
guides people towards proper exercise of our freedom. A person should be aware about his or
her freedom. People enjoy freedom as a person and also as a member of society.

Government made laws and rights for all of us and those laws and right serves as our
basis for some of our freedom as an individual and also as a member of society. Everyone has
its free will because we are free to choose and identify our wants and desires and we are able
to decide if we will act on it. We should use our freedom in a good way so that we can live
freely and happily. Don’t just let other people controls you or dictate you on what you have to
do because it is your life. Being free can make people happy and enjoy life without any
hindrance or restraint. People have lots of freedom in their lives but not all of those freedom
are good because some of our freedom are bad like for example people are free to kill but we
all know that killing is illegal, a sin, and immortal. That’s why we have our laws in our society for
us to know what are good and bad.
 The Person and Others

Human have the natural and universal tendency to relate, to establish attachments and
seek close relationships with other people. This defines that every person can’t avoid to
interact with other people. Most of the people have a special relationship with their families,
friends and even also their girlfriends and boyfriends. Other people can cause a big impact to
one’s life. The way we act with other people is often influenced by our ideas of how these
people see us. A person’s action, personality and attitude depends on the environment and also
the other people that surrounds him or her. Like for example, a person is in the church, so the
person will also behave or act properly because she or he is in the church. Another example is
based on my own experience, like when I’m hanging around with my best friends I always feel
comfortable being with them and I am also able to show the real me but whenever I’m with
other people I met I always feel uncomfortable and I also can’t show the real me.

A human relationships is a defining influence on human life. Having a relationships or a

interaction with other people can help us to develop our knowledge and to build more
experiences and it can also help us to know ourselves better. Also because of socializing other
people other people we can shape our own perception of reality. Every person needs to pursue
and achieve genuine relationships to attain development. But even if genuine relationship with
others is difficult and almost impossible to attain we must has a reason, some of those people
will play a role in our life. Meeting other people or having an interaction with other people is
part of our lives and in our daily living. We interact and socialize people in almost everyday.
Some of those other people that comes in our life will teach us lesson, some will bring out the
best in us. We should always put on our mind that our prime purpose in this life is to help
others and if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.
 Man and Society

For me Man and Society talks about the relationship between man and society. Man
refers to the entire human race. Society refers to a large, independent and organized group of
people living in the same territory and sharing a common culture and heritage. We all know
that society and man plays a big role on each other. Society have many different influence on
the human person. People can easily adopt based on what is in the society. The society can
influence a person’s life, like on a person dressed, act and talk and also a person’s lifestyle. In
other words a person’s tradition, culture and lifestyle depends on the society that surrounds
her or him. Another example is if a child was born and raised on a certain society, then he or
she will adopt or will be influenced by the tradition, culture and lifestyle of the said society.

It is also connected to freedom because individuals who establish societies enter into a
social contract where individuals sacrifice some of their wants. Through socialization a person
learns the prevailing behaviors, attitudes, personality and values within his or her society. A
society is composed by families, community, school, government, church and etc. called social
institutions. And those social institution can also help the person to mold his or her personality
as an individual. The kind of society that surrounds a person can affect his or her perception in
life and also his or her desires. The tradition, culture, religion and attitude of a society has a big
effect on the person’s ethics and morality. The society that has a good practice will also have a
great influence to everyone. The society plays a very big role and also have a great impact to
every people. The man and society helps each other to develop and also to be better.
PHILOSOPHY
AND LIFE
 On Happiness

Happiness is a choice, not a result. Nothing will make you happy until you choose to be
happy. No person will make you happy unless you decide to be happy. Your happiness will not
come to you, it can only come from you. It doesn’t depend on any external conditions, it is
governed by our mental attitude and to our mind set. Whatever happens that will come to your
life, it is still you who decides to be happy. Being happy is always free. Happiness is also
something that you design for your present. Being happy is appreciating and liking what you
have, instead of what you don’t have. Happiness is contentment, because if a person is
contented with his or her life then that person can be able to feel happiness. Happiness is also
based on one’s perception in life. If you want to feel pure happiness just be yourself, don’t mind
on what others might think about you. Loving yourself can make you feel happy. Smiling and
laughing genuinely will also define a person’s happiness. To be loved and be loved is also a
happiness. Age doesn’t matter when it comes to happiness in life.

Whatever we decide to do, let’s just make sure that it will makes us happy. We should
not waste our waste our time and days because every second, minute, hour and day counts.
We must always remember that life is short, so we should cherish and enjoy each day because
living your life with regrets is not easy. Happiness in our life is priceless. Meeting and socializing
with other people can also makes us happy, specially those real ones like our family and best
friends. Everything on life is temporary so just flow with the moment and be happy. To be
happy you just have to surround yourself with others who inspires you. Happiness can inspire
us to live our life to the fullest. While we are young, we have to live our life as if it’s our last. Let
us all remember to enjoy the little thing in life for one day you will look back and realize they
were the big things.
 On Suffering

In our lives we can’t avoid the suffering and pain. We all feel and experience pain and
suffering because we are just humans. Suffering and pain are connected because if you suffer it
can also cause you pain. Suffering can attack and can even destroy a person’s life. Suffering can
affect our attitude and also in our perception in life. If a person is suffering he or she will think
lots of negative thoughts and ideas, that is why suffering can destroy one’s life. To feel pain and
experience suffering is part of our lives. Suffering can cause harm to people because it gives us
negative effect. If there is happiness in life of course there will also suffering. Life is like a wheel
because sometimes we goes up and sometimes we go down.

We suffer in different kind of ways in our lives. Each of us has encountered and
experienced suffering. We have to be brave and fight or face those sufferings that causes us
pain. Even other people can cause us pain and can make us suffer. If some of the other people
can cause us pain there are also some people that can help us to overcome from our sufferings
and pain. Some of our sufferings is sometimes caused by our own inappropriate actions. We
sometimes called our sufferings as our dark days in life. People’s suffering is just a challenge in
our lives in order for us to be wise, strong, and brave. We must always put in our minds that
every suffering we experienced in life has a reason and also a lesson for us to be a better
person in the near future. In every suffering we must always have faith in God. Everything
happens for a reason, that is why we must learn from it. There is always a rainbow after the
rain, it just means that after our dark days or sufferings there is always a bright and happy days
that will come to us. There is no such sufferings in life that we cannot overcome.
 Our Ultimate Fate

Ultimate fate means the greatest things that will happen to a person or a thing. It is
something to do with the future of someone or something or shall we say the destiny in
everyone's life. An ultimate fate is inevitable. There are lots of things and happenings in our life
that we are destined to. We are all clueless about on what will happen to our future. But the
ultimate fate in every man's life is death. We all have our end game in life and that is called
death. We can't avoid death because we are just human. In death, age doesn't matter because
if it is really your fate or destiny in life then you can't do anything about it. Even if you are just
an infant, child, teenager and adult, if it is really your fate then it will always be your fate in life
no matter what.

Everything that happens in our life is called destiny or fate. Meeting new friends
and your loved ones is destiny. If you finally found you partner in life then it is really your
destiny. But whatever our fate in life is, we must trust it all on what really God is planning for
us. God will not give you problems that you can't solve. He reserved our fate in life. Everything
that happens in our day is also our fate. Death is our ultimate fate in life, that is why we must
enjoy our life so that we won't have any regrets in life if that ultimate fate will come to us.
Whatever our fate in life is, still we must accept it. But before our ultimate fate happens we
must first feel and experience lots of things like happiness and sufferings. And we must first
learn from our own experiences and mistakes in life. Before our ultimate fate, we should also
finish and reach first our goals in life so that we won't die with regrets. Our life is worth living,
so we must not waste it because life is short and you only live once.