philo L3

• L3 Human Person Embodied and Existential Subjectivity
• MOTIVATION


  Identify where stress emerges in your body and use mindfulness to release it. Because humans are complex and diverse, we all have distinct places where we store tension.
• MINDFULNESS EXERCISE (adapted from Mindful Journaling by Tara Ward, 2017)


  1. Stop and focus on your breathing the next time you feel yourself tensing up

  2. Close your eyes and mentally examine your body

  3. Where do you feel the tenseness or pain?

  4. When you become aware, focus your breathing on that region, imagining that each out-breath carries to the stiff location and progressively relaxes it

  5. The more aware you are of your stress points, the easier it is to release tension
• Make a list of places where tension appears and look for patterns.
• ANCIENT CONCEPTION ON THE HUMAN PERSON

  • Earliest Philosophical thoughts centered on the nature and observation of the cosmos "Universe"
  • Pre-Socratic thinkers are generally called "natural thinkers"
  • Their primary goal was to know and discover the physical world through empirical observation and conjectures
  • This period was the discovery of nature (physis)
• SOCRATES


  "The unexamined life is not worth living"
• EXAMPLE


  • A person who feels unhappy in their corporate job takes time to think about what truly matters to them
  • They realize their job doesn't match their passions, so they explore other options
  • Eventually, they find a career in environmental advocacy that aligns with their values, leading to a fulfilling and purposeful life
  • This reflects Socrates' idea that thinking about what's important makes life meaningful
• SOCRATES


  • Socrates placed a premium on the value of thinking or the life of thought
  • Human beings have a SOUL (psyche or mind), which is the fundamental attribute of being human
  • The nature of this soul is non materialistic, and it is imperceptible to/by senses
• EXAMPLE: ETHICAL DILEMMAS IN THE WORKPLACE

  • Socrates' philosophy suggests that reflecting on principles like justice and integrity can help navigate these situations
  • Making ethical choices may involve standing up against wrongdoing, advocating for fairness, or prioritizing stakeholders' well-being over short-term gains
• SOCRATES


  • Man's Soul as Arete, or the seat of human excellence, was the starting point of Socrates anthropology
  • Socrates prioritized the INNER LIFE rather than the sense of worldly existence of the individual
• HOW TO ACHIEVE ARETE?

  • When a person is well-trained and educated, he/she places a premium on the individual's mind (Soul) or inner life
  • Such life is called to live a life of virtue
• PLATO


  • "Knowing the Good entails doing the right thing"
  • Knowing the Good entails doing the right thing
  • In order to become a person of excellent character, one must understand the necessary and sufficient conditions, namely, knowing what is good for the nourishment and cultivation of the mind and putting it into practice by living well
• PLATO


  • The philosophical anthropology of Plato is centered of the cultivation of the soul (psyche/mind)
  • The Soul is the real and true nature of the human person. The body is just the prison cell of the soul
  • The soul must be trained, cultivated, and educated
• THREE PARTS OF THE HUMAN SOUL

  • Rational Soul (nous)
  • Spirited Soul (thymos)
  • Appetitive Soul
• RATIONAL SOUL (nous)


  Represents the guiding part toward the truth, weighing situations rationally and determining what is best or true based on the right kind of knowledge
• SPIRITED SOUL (thymos)


  Represents the noble part and is the heart of the soul
• APPETITIVE SOUL


  Represents the soul's pleasure-centeredness and bodily fulfillment
• Knowing the difference between good and bad (right or wrong) does not make a person virtuous. For them, the root of evil is ignorance.
• The Solution or the way to overcome evil or this tendency is knowledge of the GOOD. Knowledge (or knowing the Good) is not enough; one must also live well.
• ARISTOTLE


  • "Knowing truly the Good means doing the Good habitually"
  • True knowledge is practical. Man's ultimate perfection and happiness consist of wisdom and virtue
  • A good and happy life is a well-ordered one, guided by and lives in accordance with reason
  • In contrast, an unhappy life is a disordered life dominated by vices
• ARISTOTLE


  • Human person is a composite substance and form which complements one another
  • Only a person can have a soul with rational qualities since the rational soul of a person exists above the sentiment and nutritive souls, as it performs more complex actions such as thinking, imagining, speaking, feeling etc.
  • A rational person is someone who can make logical conclusions and go through the usual mental process of assessing the benefits and drawbacks of a course of action or decision without being influenced by emotions
• MEDIEVAL CONCEPTION ON THE HUMAN PERSON

  • The word "medieval" in medieval philosophy, which literally means "the in-between time," refers to modern philosophers' inclination to move from Aristotle's philosophy to the Renaissance
  • At this time, the supreme goal of human beings was to contemplate God and follow his will. As a result, human nature would eventually conform to the Natural law as a mandate of reason
• MODERN CONCEPTION ON THE HUMAN PERSON

  • The modern period, beginning in the 16th century, was the age of scientific discoveries and enlightenment
  • Science and mathematics advanced and progressed during this period
  • It emphasized the importance and power of reason. Truth may be discovered only through the application of reason
  • The concentration of philosophy during this period was on philosophical anthropology, that is, it focused on the nature and role of consciousness and rational will in understanding and interpreting reality in particular
• CONTEMPORARY CONCEPTION ON THE HUMAN PERSON

  • FREIDRICH NIETZSCHE: For Nietzsche, despite the purposelessness of life, humans have an immanent capacity and inherent creativity to surpass life's absurdities and difficulties
  • To surpass human facticity, one must rise above one's current condition and "breath" to find meaning in this purposeless existence
  • MAURICE MERLEAU-PONTY: He provide the fundamental structure of human experience. He argued that knowledge is essentially based on perceptual experience
• THE HUMAN PERSON AS AN EMBODIED SUBJECTIVITY

  • EDMUND HUSSERL: The German mathematician, pioneered a new method and founded a school of phenomenology
  • This method was a radical shift from the traditional dualistic conception of reality, as well as a stern critique and philosopher
  • For him, the dualistic distinction between the "mind" and the "body" is the consequence of willful ignorance or flawed analysis
• THE ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF REALITY IS THE BASIS OF TRUTH. TO GET AN ACCURATE DESCRIPTION OF REALITY, HE INTRODUCED THREE PHENOMENOLOGICAL STEPS:

  1. Epoche' - is a phenomenological attitude that is free of empirical biases and scientific presuppositions

  2. Eidetic Reduction - Refers to the reduction of the object of inquiry or observation to its essence (eidos). It means that one must be able to see the difference between reality (essential/necessary) and mere fantasy (non-essential/contingency)

  3. Transcendental Phenomenological Reduction - Refers to the psychological reduction of the object of inquiry in the consciousness in relation to the intersubjective realm of meaning
• GABRIEL MARCEL


  • Well-known French thinker and Christian existentialist who advocated the phenomenological method
  • His philosophical career toward phenomenology was influenced by Husserl, but he made this method a bit simpler and more straightforward
• HE IDENTIFIED TWO KINDS OF PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION IN ORDER TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM AND MYSTERY OF BEING:


  • Primary Reflection - is a way of thinking that examines its subject by applying abstraction, generalization, impartiality, and analytic assessment. Its primary function is to identify, analyze, and solve problems objectively, without being involved in the actual process
  • Secondary Reflection - Is a way of thinking that understands a subject while using concrete examples, representative models, tangible objects, and synthetic assessment. Its primary objective is to unite or recover the original and authentic experience
• THE HUMAN PERSON AS AN EXISTENTIAL SUBJECT: JEAN-PAUL SARTE

  • He was the first known self-professed thinker to declare himself an existentialist atheist
  • Existentialism can be viewed in two related ways: Philosophical Approach - Understanding human existence, Philosophical Movement - Attitude on how one can make sense of human existence
  • From an essentialist point of view, life has a prior cause and has a determinate source of meaning
  • From an existentialist point of view, the human person is an existentialist Subject. It places more value on individual existence and individual choice
  • For existentialist, finding meaning in life is more important than knowing one's Purpose since the latter cannot be fully determined by any human being in a lifetime