The Human Person in Society

• Soren Kierkegaard contend that rather than being true with ourselves, we tend to conform to an image or idea associated with being a certain type of person.
• For Kierkegaard, we are reduced to mediocrity. This means fewer and fewer people are brave enough to pursue their dreams, beliefs, and values even though not many people believe in them and even sometimes go against them.
• FEUDALISM - which comes from the medieval Latin word feudum, meaning, property or "possession"
• Anselm's Argument - nature of the existence of God is different in

  principle from the nature of all other existences.
• "Modern Philosophy" - attack/ rejection of the Middle Ages that occupied the preceding thousand years
• Vitruvian Man - A nude male figure superimposed on a square and a circle, demonstrating the relationship between geometry and the human body.
• Rationalism - A philosophical movement that promoted the use of reason and intellect to understand and analyze natural phenomena and human nature.
• EMPIRICISM (John Locke, David Hume, George Berkeley) - Importance of sensory experience and observation in gaining knowledge. Understanding the inner workings of human consciousness and the acquisition of knowledge.
• Naturalism - The supernatural is only a secondary interest Only logic and evidence in the physical world are the only proofs needed to understand man and the world.
• Critical Idealism (Immanuel Kant) - This view marks the beginning of the third period of modern philosophy.
• Immanuel Kant believed that humanity shapes its world through

  thought, feeling, and belief.
• Copernican Revolution - Represents a questioning attitude toward activities of nature and spirit of rebellion. The beginnings of a science that are to stand unaided upon the foundations of its own.
• 15th century: Humanity has met with increasing

  success in understanding the secrets of nature and

  applying this new knowledge to human affairs.
• 20th century: Local knowledge no longer remains purely local and accepted systems of knowledge in specialized fields have been overturned within a single generation.
• New Knowledge - origins of the modern age may be seen in the extraordinary progress of knowledge that can be drawn from the Greek's revival of science.
• The Republic - is a book on political philosophy and governance; it finds that justice is difficult to define without studying the broader perspective of the State. It is in its origin, ethical.
• Plato's "The Republic" is highlighted as one of his most famous works, overshadowing his other dialogues in terms of fame and influence.
• Private Realm - shift towards larger, centralized systems of transportation, communication, business, and education; communications have been unified.
• Public Realm - governments have accumulated functions previously performed by provinces, districts, tribes, or families.
• Legal system - almost all human activities come in contact with the law in one form or another.
• Modernization - refers to the interconnected changes in human life, dominated by social scientific thought after WWII. Western people have been experiencing this process for five centuries, least developed regions for less than a century.
• Technology serves as a means to an end, enabling humanity to strive.
• Globalization began in the West, influenced by Renaissance liberal ideas.