PHILOSOPHY

OF MAN
“Philosophy may not teach us
how to make a living; but it
shows us that life is worth
living”
MARIONITO L. HINACAY
 The Human Person as an
Embodied Spirit
OBJECTIVES:
To recognize own limitation or possibilities for
one’s transcendence.
To evaluate own limitations and the possibilities
for one’s transcendence.
To recognize how the human body imposes
limits and possibilities for transcendence.
To distinguish the limitations and possibilities for
transcendence.
 AKO AY AKO
… Kaya kong itapon o wasakin ang hindi akma
at panatilihin ang mga naaakma
At lumikha o kumatha ng mga bago, kapalit ng
mga itinapon o winasak.

Ako ay nakikita, nakaririnig, nakadarama,

nakaiisip, nakapagsasalita at nakagagawa.
 Ako ay may kakayahan upang mabuhay at
maging malapit sa kapwa.
Maging kapaki-pakinabang at
makaimpluwensiya sa mga tao at mga
bagay.
Ako ang nagmamay-ari sa akin, samakatuwid
kaya kong pamahalaan ang aking sarili,
Ako ay Ako, at Ako ay Okay.
 Human as Embodied Spirit
 Introduction: Who am I
> Philosophy of Man and Question of
Who am I?
 Not just to answer the question: What is man in
general?
 But deals with man in the concrete, particular
= Who asks lots of questions in life
= Yet he himself is the question
> The one who asks the question (the
subject) itself becomes the questionor is the
question.
And the question is: WHO AM I

Ordinarily, we do not bother to ask this

question (who am I) seriously.
- in our everyday life and routine, it
is surprising and even foolish to ask this
question:Who am I
Why? We could cite two possible reasons:

1.We seem and assume to know ourselves

certainly and clearly
-the answer to this question seems so
obvious and certain to us
-we have ready-made, reliable, habitual and
acceptable answers by which we easily dismiss
the question, by which we do not allow the
question to bother us and to make us think
critically and deeply.
2.We are so busy and engrossed with so
many things, that life will go on even if we
donot answer this question seriously or we
do not question our ready-made answers
- on the contrary, taking the question
seriously or questioning our ready-made
answers will just distract us from what
concerns at the moment.
 How do we answer the question:
WHO AM I
- whatever my answer to this question inescapably
have reference to my body
- when somebody asks me who am I.
-Man
-I have a body which is different in shape,
functionality and abilities than animals
-Ilonggo or Cebuano
-I was born in a particular place, grew up in
a particular place
-Juan dela Cruz
-Born of my parents
-Unique person
-Unique features of my body
-Thus, if I have to know myself, then I have to look at
my body.
-This means that I recognize that there is an
intimate, intrinsic relation or connection between
Who I am/Myself and My Body.
-In effect, I am saying or at least I seem to say:
I AM MY BODY
.
 Classical Problem of Philosophy of Man:
Soul-Body Problem, Mind-Body Problem
If who I am has reference to my body (I am my body) and
is something more than my body (Spirit, Soul), then I am
both my body and more than my body, I am both body
and soul
-But if I am both my body and more than my body,
How could this be possible for these two seem to
be opposed, contradictory?
How could I be at the same time a body and a soul?
How is the soul related to the body and the body to the
soul?
Some Answers from the History of
Philosophy
 Plato (430-350 B.C.)
 Man in his Original State was Pure Soul
- pure soul- soul not related, tied to a body
- soul exists and could exist apart from the body.
Soul Consists of Three Parts or Faculties:
Reason: Intellect and Will
Passion: Drives and Emotions
Appetite: Sensual Part
 Man as Pure Soul living a World of Ideas/
Spiritual World was drawn by its appetite
downward and was incarnated or
imprisoned in the body.
 A soul imprisoned in a body – soul is the
essence of man, what makes man a man.
His Body:
- An unfortunate accident
- Does not belong to his essence
- Serve as a prison: hinders the soul to be
what it is, to do what it can and should.
- Belongs to the world of the sense, world of
things.
- Subject to decay, changes; perishable;
temporal.
- Dependent on the soul which leads,
commends and opposes it.
- Soul must free itself from the imprisonment
of the body.
1. The Rational Part is located in the head ,
especially in the brain. It is in this part where
the soul enable to think, to reflect, to draw
conclusions. This is the most important and the
highest part of the soul. This distinguishes man
from the brutes.
2. The Spiritual part is in the chest. It is here that
the soul experience abomination and anger.
3. The Appetitive part in the abdomen where
man drives to experience hunger, thirst, and
other physical aspects.
Man can control his appetite and self-
assertion of spirit through reason.
Plato believes that Reason controls both
Spirit and Appetitie. When this happens
man will have a well-balanced personality.
He declares that the appetitive and spiritual
parts are subjected to death; they are
mortals. Only the rational part is immortal.
This gives birth to the conception that idea
is eternal and immortal since it is rooted in
reason.
“ Man is a soul using a body.” because
the nature of man is seen in the
metaphysical dichotomy between body
and soul. For Plato the body is material, it
cannot live and move apart from the soul;
it is mutable and destructible. The soul is
immaterial, it can exist apart from the
body. The soul is a substance because it
exists and can exists independently .
Plato has a conviction that the soul exists
prior to the body.
To philosophize is to wonder about life
About love and loneliness
Birth and death
About Truth, Beauty and Freedom
To philosophize is to explore Life
By asking painful Questions
ARISTOTLE ( 304 – 322 B.C. )
 Aristotle maintains that there is no
dichotomy between man’s body and man’s
soul. Body and soul are in a state of unity.
In this unity the soul acts as the perfect
realization of the body while the body is the
material entity which has a potentiality of
life. The body has no life. It can only
possess life when it is united with the soul.
 Aristotle speaks of Man as a single
essence composed of body and soul.
 Man’s BODY matter and man’s SOUL form.
That is why he speaks of soul as the body’s
perfect realization because form for him is
the perfect realization of matter.
 Soul is the principle in life; it causes the
body to live. The body is matter to the soul
and the soul form to the body.. Body and
soul , therefore are inseparable. They
constitute man as a whole.
 According to Aristotle there are three Kinds
of soul:

Grades of being Kinds of Soul

Man Rational
Animals /Brutes Sensitive
Plants/ Vegetation Vegetative
1. Vegetative – the lowest type of soul
which is found in all living things, Plants,
specifically possess this type of soul. It
is capable of following functions: It feeds
itself, it grows and it reproduces.
2. Sensitive –soul exists in animals. It
feeds, it grows, and it reproduces, and it
has feelings(particularly pain and
pleasure because it has developed a
nervous system)
3. Rational- it exists only in man. It ranks
highest than vegetative and sensitive
because it assumes the functions of them
and it is capable of thinking, reasoning
and willing. Man is higher than the brutes,
animals and plants. Man is capable of
thinking and judging aside from sensing
and growing.
Aristotle’s view of human nature is seen in the
argument of matter and the form of man. Man is
essentially body and soul. Aristotle rejects the
idea of Plato on the dichotomy of the soul and
the body and the preexistence of the soul prior
to the body. No wonder the Christian doctrines
are patterned after Thomistic lines of thinking
are more Aristotelian than Platonic. But
Aristotle , like Plato advocates Reason as man’s
highest faculty because Reason distinguishes
man from other form of life-possessing like
plants and brutes.
ST. AUGUSTINE (354 – 430 A.D.)
 Nature of Man:
 Man is neither his soul apart nor his body
apart but the whole which is composed or a
unity of body and soul.
 But the body and soul are not matter and
form of the one substance rather, body and
soul are two substances.
Man is a soul ( Rational Substance)
Using a body ( Material Substance)
 Though it may mean literally that man is
essentially a soul, Augustine never took the
formula too literally. But the formula is a
forcible expression of the transcendent
superiority of the soul over the body.

“MAN as the Greatest Mystery”

ST. THOMAS AQUINAS (1224-1274)

 Every agent acts for an end, which is GOD.

 Every agent acts for a GOOD.
 All things are directed to one end.
 Man’s happiness does not consist in wealthy
worldly power and goods of the body.
 Human happiness is not seated in the sense.
 Man’s ultimate happiness is not in this life.
 FREEDOM
OF THE HUMAN
PERSON
OBJEĆTIVES:
 Realize that “all actions have consequences.”
 Evaluate and exercising prudence in choices.
 Rationalize that:
a. Choices have consequences;
b. Some things are given up while others are
obtained in making choices.
 Show situations that demonstrate freedom of
choice and the consequences of their choices.
What can you say about the pictures below? Have
you been in this kind of situation? What are the
things that you considered in making choices?
I AM FREE
Because....
 The 3 C’s of LIFE:
CHOICES, CHANCES AND
CHANGES.

You have to make a CHOICE to take a

CHANCE or your life will never
CHANGE.
Are you truly
free?
What does freedom really mean?
 What is
freedom?
 Human Freedom/ Freedom
• The power or right to act, speak, or think as one
wants without hindrance or restraint.

• Freedom is always constrained by laws or rules that

apply equally to all members of a society.

• Is a state of mind; it is a philosophical concept

reflecting an inalienable human right to realize one's
human will.

• A free person has the opportunity and burden of

making choices and decisions. This also means that he
must bear the consequences of his actions.
Free will
 What is Will?
From the Latin word
“voluntas” meaning voluntary or
voluntariness
Free Will
 Freedom of humans to make choices
that are not determined by prior
causes or by divine intervention.
 It is identical with your “selfhood” and
“you have it simply by being a
person”. R.Johann.
Does free will, with all
of its consequences,
exist? and what are
those consequences.
Freedom of choice
 the capacity to accept or refuse any
activity and the capacity to do either this or
that.
FREEDOM AS FOUNDATION OF HUMAN
ACTS

Human acts are those acts that man does

as a man, that is, of which he is properly master
because he does them with full knowledge and
of his own will.
 3 POSITIONS OF HUMAN
FREEDOM
 Determinism - “no human actions are free”

 Libertarianism- “at least some human actions

are free”

 Compatibilism- “all human actions are both free

and determined at the same time.
Possibility
of Human
Freedom
(Possibility of free will)
 Materialistic
Determinism/Materialism

Hobbes believed that the mind and body were

made of the same thing and subject to the same
physical laws. Humans have no soul, and though
they are very complicated, they are like clockwork-
everything that one does is the result of some
“motion” in the brain. Hobbes model of these
motions assumed that human were selfish by nature
and therefore acted not from free choice but instead
for one’s best interests.
 Descartes Refutation of
Materialism

Materialism seem to destroy the possibility of free

will altogether. Descartes argued against materialism. His
method of doubt led him to believe that everything learned
from the senses were subject to doubt and that only one
primary fact can be known: I think, therefore I am. I order
even to question whether or not I EXIST, I MUST EXIST
in order to think about it. The self is a thinking thing; and
since the existence of body is not so self evident, it is
doubtable, and therefore the mind and body are two
separate thing. This opens the door for the existence of
free will.
 The most important consequence
of free will for Sartre is responsibility or
accountability. Since everything you do is
ultimately because you chose to do so, you
cannot but accept the consequences of your
actions as your fault. Thus he defines
freedom not as the ability to make choices,
but the requirement that you decide all of your
actions and the responsibility one has for all
of his actions.
 Divine Design
In every case where one person has said
“that action happened because of human freedom,” there
has been someone quick to say, “that action happened
because God wanted it to.” If this notion is correct, then
the non-physical aspect that Descartes speaks of is
merely God’s will-most likely unknown to the thinker in
question. Our seeming individuality or ability to change
may be nothing more than a puppet show, wit God pulling
the strings. Sartre, however, argued that even if an
omnipotent, omniscient God existed, it does not matter.
Free will, and all the responsibility it includes, exist.
….there exists a Statue
of Liberty but not one
of accountability
 Freedom and accountability are
inseparable. We can’t have accountability
without accepting freedom of choice and nor
can we have freedom without accepting
accountability for our actions. It protects us
from acting without thought for
consequence. Because we prefer to avoid
our own accountability, lessons left
unlearned.
 FREEDOM, RESPONSIBILITY AND
JUSTICE
Freedom makes man responsible for
his acts to the extent that they are voluntary.
The way to acquire and develop one’s
freedom is to make good use of
responsibility.
TWO KINDS OF FREEDOM
 1. FREEDOM OF CHOICE (Horizontal
Freedom)
 2. FUNDAMENTAL OPTIONS (Vertical
Freedom)
 1.1 Our first and commonly understood
experience of freedom is the ability to choose,
goods, e.g. I choose to study instead of watching
a movie, I choose to buy a cheap pair of shoes
instead of an expensive one, because I am
supporting my siblings education.
54
 But if we reflect deeper, our choice implies a prior
or may lead to a preference of VALUES. When I
choose to study instead of playing, I value learning
more than pleasure. When I choose to buy a cheap
pair of shoes, I value helping my sister/brother more
than my comfort.
 This Freedom is called FUNDAMENTAL OPTIONS,
because it is our general direction or orientation in
life, it reflects our value in life.
 It is called VERTICAL FREEDOM, because values
form a hierarchy; some values are higher than
others.
 For the German Phenomenologist Max Scheler,
preferring and realizing Higher Values is LOVE, and
preferring and realizing lower values is hatred or
egoism.

55
 In the ultimate analysis, there are Two
Fundamental Options: LOVE and EGOISM.
 It is LOVE which makes me a PERSON,
which makes me truly FREE.
 FREEDOM OF CHOICE and
FUNDAMENTAL OPTIONS are interrelated:
Our Choices shape our Fundamental
Options, and our Fundamental Options is
exercised and concretized in our particular
choices.

56
FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY
 These Two Types of Freedom can be seen
in the corollary of Freedom which is
RESPONSIBILITY. Responsibility is the
other side of Freedom.
 Just as there are two kinds of Freedom,
there are also two meanings of
Responsibility.
 1. The First Meaning of Responsibility
corresponds to the First Type of Freedom,
Free Choice , namely ACCOUNTABILITY.

57
 I am accountable for an action that is free,
whose source is the “I”, I acted on my own,
I decided on my own. I am free from
external constraints.
 Being Responsible, Accountable for my
action, however, does not necessarily make
me a responsible person. Here we
encounter a second meaning of
responsibility corresponding to the second
type of freedom: RESPONSE-ABILITY.

58
 RESPONSE-ABILITY means the ability to give an
account, the ability to justify my action as truly
responsive to the objective demands of the situation.
 1. A response that meets the objective demands of
the situation is a response that meets the demand of
JUSTICE.
 2. A responsible action then from a RESPONSE-
ABLE person requires putting the Other in the
forefront in place of myself. I am free from internal
constraints, like egoism and whims (arbitrariness).
 3. Greater Freedom then is not just being able to do
what I want to do but being able to do and wanting to
do what the situation objectively oblige me to do.

59
 FREEDOM AND JUSTICE
 The relation between FREEDOM and JUSTICE
can be seen when we take into consideration the
network of relationships with FELLOW HUMAN
BEINGS and the goods intended by Freedom.
 JUSTICE is giving what is due to the other.
 When we choose goods (things, money, political
power…etc.), we must consider that they are
finite and exhaustible, and that the other also
needs them.
 Absolute Love for finite goods leads to corruption,
in the object and in the subject.

60
 Man is an unconstrained
free moral agent in the sense that
he always has a choice in every
aspect of his life

– Jean Paul Sartre

The meaning of human existence is
found in man’s exercise of freedom and
responsibility under the scope of man’s
individual and social undertakings.
-Sartre
Some Factors which tend to Negate
Human Freedom
 Physical Limitations
 Psychological Limitations
 Limitations of the Situation
 Habits
 The Motivations of One’s Actions
 Fate - Predestination
PHYSICAL LIMITATIONS
 We can question the reality of human
freedom because of the many physical
limitations that are present in every
human life. There are many choices which
a person cannot make simply because of
what life has given him.
PSYCHOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS
 Freedom can also be limited and taken away by
various subjective factors that at times control your
mind such as fear, desire and resentment. Within
your own consciousness dwell powers that can
destroy your ability to direct your own life.
 The enemies of freedom are not all outside of me;
they are often within – in your fears, your desires
and your anger. All of these need to be overcome
and controlled if you are to be truly free.
 Limitations of The Situation

 As a human being we always live and act in

a particular, concrete situation necessarily
plays an important role in your life, guiding
the choices that you make. It offers certain
possibilities for your freedom and if you are
to choose something, it must be from those
possibilities. In many ways, the situation
that you live in guides and limits your free
choices.
 HABITS
 Human freedom is also limited in basic
way by the many habits that are part of
your life. These habits may have
developed in the past-without any serious
choice on your part, and yet, at the
present moment they determine what you
will do and how will you do it.
 The Motivation of One’s Actions
 In your actions you are always influenced by the motives
that are there guiding you in your choices. When you
choose to act in a certain way you always have reasons
for such a choice. We call such reasons the motives of
your action.
 It shows us that there is a difference between being
“influenced” and being “determined”. An influence is
factor that guides your choices while generally leaving us
free. A determination is an influence that puts so much
pressure on us that we are no longer free. It is extremely
strong influence which is capable of determining your
lives and eliminating your freedom.
 Fate and Predestination
 The belief that “what will be will be,” since all
past, present, and future events have already
been predetermined by God or another all-
powerful force, such as “Fate.” In religion,
fatalism may sometimes be confused with
predestination, the doctrine that God chooses
those who go to heaven before they are even
born. It’s important to note that the Bible
teaches predestination but not to the exclusion
of free will; thus, the Bible does not teach
fatalism.
Predestination (Saint Augustine)
A type of determinism that suggests that before
birth our lives are already mapped out for us.

Institutional Determinism (Jean-

Jacques Rousseau)

A type of determinism that suggests that we could

only be free in our most innocent primitive selves,
and that as soon as “leaders” and governments
came along with laws and other institutions,
freedom was curtailed.
“ Man is born free but everywhere he is in chain”
 Economic Determinism(Karl Marx)
A type of determinism that suggests that freedom
is curtailed by social class and that the need for
money explains human motivation.

 Behavioral Determinism(B. F. Skinner)

A type of determinism that suggests that freedom
is determined by a network of rewards and
punishments that weaves its web to deter us
from being totally free, CONDITIONING us as
soon as we are born.
 Schopenhauer
Wondered if free will was always a good thing,
suggesting that sometimes people are forced to act
because they have free will and that the results are
not always positive.

 William James—INDETERMINISM
Suggested that the world is a random collection of
chance happenings because of unpredictable acts of
people who are indecisive about what they are going
to do. These people then experience regret or relief
depending upon the results of those actions.
 Freud – PSYCHOANALYSIS
Suggested that through psychoanalysis,
we can free our minds and thus become
free to act as we wish, instead of acting
under the control of something repressed
in our subconscious.
 Soren Kierkegaard & Martin Buber
(RELIGIOUS EXISTENTIALISM)

Maintained that we are free to believe or not believe as

we choose, but once having committed ourselves to a
faith, we must abide by it or face the bleak possibility
that life is without meaning.
 Jean-Paul Sartre, A. Camus, & Simone de Beauvoir
(SECULAR EXISTENTIALISM)
Believed that no god exists, that we are instead free to
do whatever we choose, but we must also accept the
consequences for the actions. We are, thus, “doomed
to freedom” and we suffer “anguish” because of it.
The essence of it is what makes
it’s existence possible.
Mini Task:

An Airline carrying 200 passengers is

losing control and hurling down towards a
densely populated area in the Makati
business district. The plane's impact is bound
to kill thousands of lives. There is no time to
evacuate the area. If you are the President
and you are given the choice to shoot it down
before it impacts in its area of trajectory,
would you shoot down the plane?
Make a list of things that you value, they
could be material or non-material. Arrange
them according to their degree of importance
in your life. Now, consider the topmost three
of these things that you value. Do you also
consider them as a moral value? Explain why
they are so or why they are not your moral
values? Also, consider the bottom part of
your list of values and explain why they
should belong there using your valuation
process.
 INTERSUBJECTIVITY
OBJECTIVES:
1. Realize that intersubjectivity requires
accepting differences and not to imposing on
others
2. Appreciate the talents of persons with
disabilities and those from the
underprivileged sectors of society and their
contributions to society.
3. Explain that authentic dialogue means
accepting others even if they are different
from themselves.
4. Perform activities that demonstrate the
talents of persons with disabilities and
those from the underprivileged sectors of
society.
 SENSITIVITY CHECK
 Answer the following as honestly as you can
and learn more about your temperament and
sensitivity in dealing with others.
1. Intensity
How strong are your emotional reactions? Do
you find yourself becoming easily upset or
more low key?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 (1= mild reaction and
5= intense reaction
Answer ______.
2. Persistence
If you are involved in an activity and you are
asked to stop, an you do so easily? When a
task is frustrating, do you find yourself
letting or pushing to continue?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 ( 1= easily let go,
5= “lock in”, don’t let go.
ANSWER______
3. Sensitivity
How aware are you of slight noises,
emotions, differences in temperature, taste,
and texture? Do you react easily to certain
foods, tags in clothing, or irritating noises?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 (1= usually not
sensitive, 5= vey sensitive)
ANSWER _____
4. Perceptiveness
How keenly aware are you of people, colors,
noises, and objects around you? Do you
frequently forget to do what you were going
to do because something else has caught
your attention?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 (1=hardly ever
notice, 5= very perceptive)
ANSWER _____
5. Adaptability
Do you quickly adapt to changes in your
schedule or routine? How do you cope with
surprises?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 (1= adapt quickly,
5= slow to adapt)
ANSWER _____
6. Regularity
How regular are your eating times, sleeping
period, and other bodily functions?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 (1=regular,
5= irregular)
ANSWER _____
7. Energy
Are you always on the move and busy or
quiet? Do you need to run and exercise in
order to feel good?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 (1= quiet,
5= active)
ANSWER_____
8. First Reaction
How do you usually react to new places,
people or activity?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 (1= jump right in,
5= reject at first)
ANSWER _____
9. Mood
Do you feel mostly happy compared to the
analytical and serious?
Answer between 1 2 3 4 5 ( 1= usually
positive, 5= more serious and analytical)

ANSWER____
INTERPRETATION OF YOUR
SCORE

9- 18 = COOL OR CALM

19- 28 = VERY LIVELY OR SPUNKY

29-45= SPIRITED