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 and Branches
of Philosophy
For you, what is
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”
Philosophy
• 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.
Philosophy
• 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
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
History of Philosophy
• 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
History of Philosophy
• Heraclitus
• He believed that the world
originated from the fire element
History of Philosophy
• 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”
History of Philosophy
• Plato
• Student of Socrates and Teacher
of Aristotle
• Founder of the Academy of
Athens
• “the soul is immortal, even the
physical ceased to exist”
History of Philosophy
• Existence of abstract objects
• “Virtue is knowledge”
• The soul is the principle which
explains all life
History of Philosophy
• 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
History of Philosophy
• Saint Augustine of Hippo
• Bishop of Hippus region of North
Africa
• Combined Christian doctrine with
Platonic ideology
• Believed that everything is
connected with God
History of Philosophy
• 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)
History of Philosophy
• 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
History of Philosophy
• 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
History of Philosophy
• 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
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