Introduction

to
Philosophy
PROF. REY B. ATACADOR, MA Philo
Facilitator
 What is PHILOSOPHY?
Pythagoras:
Love of Wisdom
Aristotelico-Thomistic Definition:
Digging into the roots
Jaspers Definition:
Questions over answers
Why do we need
to ask?
 Benefits
1. Questions can create relations with
others.
2. Questions allow us to be in participation
with others and the world. To look
beyond what meets the eye.
3. Questions dispose us to embrace our
faculties for thinking. It reminds us that we
are thinking being.
Summary:
A good question means a broader thinking
horizons. A tough question implies a thorough,
committed and serious mind. In contrast, a superficial
question speaks of the unpreparedness of the mind to
venture into a more challenging direction. As we
usually heard, the kind of questions that a person raises
reveals the kind of mind the person has.
Thus, should you raise a question or not?
You should!
 Doing Philosophy
Key Points:
Holistic vs. Partial view
Reflection
Broad perspective
Concrete Situation
Doing Philosophy is every
mans vocation
is about practical knowledge or
knowledge that is used in day to
day living
For the Pythagoreans, practicality
is, above all, about living in
harmony with ones self, with
people around him, with his
environment and with his God.
 We are philosophers in the sense
that we are all called to exercise
our rational capability in search for
what will help us attain
harmonious living.
Doing Philosophy entails digging
into the roots
Radical (from Latin term Radix)
Knowing the problem entails
laborious effort to go back or
study the main cause of the
problem whatever it may be.
Doing Philosophy involves the
marriage of theoria and praxis

Theory and Practice

Practical hasty solution
Theory cannot provide a good
solution
Doing Philosophy necessitates
deep reflection
In addressing what is tangible and
readily seen, one must also seek to
examine what lies underneath
We are lead to know and
understand our self (Identity
recognition)
Doing Philosophy leads to a
holistic perspective
A vista wherein every facet and
every aspect is taken into
consideration.
Looking at the whole picture
without ignoring the finer details
 Doing Philosophy is primarily
about questions than it is about
the answers
Questioning- it is how ideas develop
through time.
ex. Ancient Basic stuff in the universe? (atom)
Nicea Jesus Divinity Arianism
Constantinople Divinity of the Holy Spirit
Ephesus Mary Mother of God Nestorianism
Summary:
In doing philosophy, one must start with
seeking and asking the proper questions. Then,
instead of settling with the answers, one has to turn
answers into questions seeking for yet deeper
answers until the roots of thing are dug up. Then,
one may now have the marriage between Theoria
and praxis, which in essence is a holistic view.
 Activity (Participants)
Cite a prevalent and recurring problems in
your own locality, e.g. garbage, illegal
logging, drug addiction, illegal mining,
environmental destruction(specific), unlikely
behavior, premarital sex, etc. Do a
philosophical analysis.
 Strategy: Activity for students
Activity 1: Journal Notebook
Reflect:
1. How did I perform in my ____ last year?
2. What are my plans this year with regard
to my last years performance?
Ex. Academic, sports, etc.
3. What are my strengths and weaknesses?
 Strategy: Activity for students
Activity 2: Complete the table.
What must be done
Actions
before the action?
Going to school

Joining an org. in school

Buying new gadget

Posting opinions/feelings on social

media
Comforting a person who verbally
hurt you
 Strategy: Activity for students
Activity 3:
1. Based on your answers in Activity 2,
what must be done before making an
action?
2. As a Grade 11 student, what have you
realized about this activity? Reflect and
explain your answer in your notebook.
 Methods of Philosophizing
doxa vs. Episteme
doxa- opinion
- dokein (seeming)speaks of
how something appears to someone
- doxazein (judgment)
Episteme Greek word true knowledge
- holistic point of view
- opinion being qualified, free from
impurities
ACTIVITY:
Form a group of three students. Study the picture
below and answer the procedural questions that
follow.

Picture taken from ecowastecoalition.blogspot.com

 Procedural Questions:
What can you say about the age-old problem
portrayed in the picture?
Who has the responsibility for solving this
recurring problem?
What can you say about people who
deliberately ignore the policy of waste
segregation?
 Methods of Philosophizing
The Elenchus (Socratic Method)
- Greek elengkhos argument of
refutation
- Dialectic
- Purification of opinion from lingering
biases and prejudices
 Methods of Philosophizing
The Methodic Doubt (Cartesian Philosophy)
- Doubt everything, for only after
doubting one can find certainty
- Doubt every considered source of
information: experience, authority,
and even Mathematics which was
widely regarded as the epitome of
objectivity.
 Methods of Philosophizing
The Lived Experience
(Phenomenological Inquiry)
- Appearance of things
Does not refer to sense-data,
rather the meaning and
significance of thing to the
perceiving object
Let us examine, for example, the opinion, for all
statements begin as opinions, There is no God.

Zedar: There is no God!!!

Garion: What makes you think so?
Zedar: If there is God, and He is as what
people believe He is, i.e. all-knowing,
all-powerful, all-present, then there
should have been no wars, calamities
and all other scourges of mankind!
Garion: Are you saying that God
causes these things to happen?
Zedar: At the very least, he allowed it
to happen when He should not
have.
Garion: Allowed suggests that
someone else has caused
something to happen, right?
And, in this case, it is man.
Zedar: But why would He allow man to
destroy himself when He
professes love for His creation?
Garion: Would you rather have it the
other way around? Would you
rather live like a robot
programmed to do what He
commands? Is giving freedom to
man not a sign of His love?
Zedar: Well, at least He could have
prompted us against doing
things that may destroy us.
Garion: How long has it been since
the last time you paused and
ponder on these things? When
was the last time you read the
Scriptures? God has been
prompting man all these time,
but did we care to listen?
 The above discussion between
Zedar and Garion is an example of
purifying an opinion. As to what will
the end of the discussion be is of
secondary importance. Whether it will
be Zedar who is justified or Garion?
The more important thing is that the
opinions of both are put under scrutiny
and purification.

 Activity
Choose a word from the box below. Write down other related
words or ideas that you can think of in relation to the word
that you chose. Write your answer on a whole sheet of paper.
 Activity:
The class will be divided into two. The
teacher will pick a topic from the list below.
The class will prepare for a debate.
1. Philippine National Viand:
Adobo vs Sinigang?
2. Presidential Office:
Davao vs Malacaang?
3. Road Order Contributor:
Traffic Enforcers vs Traffic Lights?
 The HUMAN PERSON as an
EMBODIED SPIRIT
Activity:
Age Things that I can do Things that I cannot do
03

47

8 11

12 15

16 up
Change vs Permanence
(Heraclitus) (Parmenides)

empirical essential

Permanence is
The only real.
constant thing Zeno of Elea
in this world is rejecting the motion
change. space alongside with
motion
Ancient Period
The world has two realities:
One undergoes change
One remains permanent

This was settled down by Plato

and Aristotle.
 Plato:
While it is an undeniable fact that
we have a body that imposes
restrictions or causes limitations in
us, it is equally undeniable that we
can actually triumph over these
restrictions.
 There was this differently abled
man who succeeded in conquering
Mount Everest.
There was this taxi driver who
returned a bag-full of cash despite
being in dire need of money.
 These stories even points at the fact
that being embodied may even offer
the opportunity for transcendence, for
in each of these stories, and any other
stories like these, the protagonists
became truly human by triumphing
over the bodily limitations and
restrictions.
 Platos Challenge:
Sometimes, we are comfortable of
the bodily inclinations, the untruth,
the darkness and we wanted to stay
with it. We become slave of our
body. We must free our self.
Allegory of the Cave
 Aristotle:
The body is not considered a
prison of the soul, but as
something that is perfected by the
soul, conversely, through which the
soul is purified and fortified
(transcendence). Reality is substance
- divided into Matter and Form.

(body) (soul)
 Aristotle, the most brilliant of Platos
students, proposed a solution to the
change and permanence debate that
was quite different from that of his
teacher.
Aristotle
Matter (body) principle of
potentiality
Form (soul) principle of actuality
possibility of transcendence
(reason)
MEDIEVAL (CHRISTIAN ERA):
Augustine
Man is a composite of mind and
body (matter and form) - Aristotle
Soul is superior to the body Plato
Possibility of transcendence (rising
above trials and temptations)
Aquinas
Student of Aristotle
Body material principle
Human Soul for man principle
Soul is capable of existing apart from
the body (incomplete existence)
The body complements the soul and
restores it or provides to it, its
natural and perfect state.
Activity:
Reflect on a certain case/scenario
wherein your body has imposed moral
limitation on you. Discuss how can
your spirit help you transcend such
limitation.
Activity: Complete the chart by writing your
present limitations. Make an action plan to
overcome your limitation (transcendence)
My Plan towards overcoming
Limitations your limitations
 THE HUMAN PERSON AND
THE ENVIRONMENT
Anthropocentric (Man-centered)
- Judeo Christian Tradition
- Western Thinking
Early 70s Environmental Ethics
- enlightened anthropocentrism
- emphasis on the value of environment
and its non-human contents
 THE HUMAN PERSON AND
THE ENVIRONMENT
Deep Ecology
- preserve the environment

Knots all living things are alike in

having value, independent of their
usefulness to others
- other creatures possess intrinsic value
by means of their existence
Activity:
Write a poem, song, essay (in any
language) or paint something which
demonstrates the Knots/
relationship/ connection between
human and his/her environment.
 RE-ENCHANTMENT AND
NEW ANIMISM

Judeo Christian Tradition

- have dominion over fish of the sea,
the birds of the air, and all living things
that move on earth
Marxist Tradition
nature must be transformed by
human labor and utilize for human
purposes
Activity:
Design a strategy/program/methodology
on how to make use of the forest (trees),
ocean, river, and mountains without
destroying its beauty and richness.
Your program must be base from
your local natural resources (asset).
STEWARDSHIP APPROACH

We take care of our natural

resources, our environment, and the
people because it is our duty and
responsibility as steward of Gods
creation.
If human being will not take his/her
responsibility, who else would?
Activity 1:
The whole class will be instructed to
interview a person who is 45-60 years old. Be
guided by the following questions:
1. What are the things that you remember
in your environment when you were my
age?
2. What are the positive and negative
changes in the environment?
3. Do you think environment plays a vital
role in a persons development? Why?
Why Not?
Activity 2: After conducting the interview, the
whole class will be instructed to write the summary
of their findings where the following are answered:
1. What have I learned from the person I
interviewed?
2. How do I feel about the things that I
learned?
3. Will this knowledge gained from the
interview help me in understanding the
role of the environment in my
development as a person?
4. What should I do with the environment?
FREEDOM OF THE HUMAN REASON
Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)
In human life, the man who does not
make his own choices is one who does
not really live.
I am the maker of my life; I create or
unmake the meaning of my life. I, alone,
am responsible.
 For Kierkegaard, existence is a
recognition that one is faced with
personal choices.
Man is a conscious being who
realizes himself in the act of
choosing.
 LEVELS OF HUMAN EXISTENCE
Aesthetic Level
Enjoy the widest variety of pleasures of
the senses
Ethical Level
Recognizes and accepts rules of conduct
that reason formulates
Freedom to do good (obey moral law)
Away from moral law, man
becomes conscious of his guilt
Religious Level
Requires an act of choice and commitment
Man acknowledges the source of his
strength and power
leap of faith
Man is governed by the very reality of his
inescapable relation to God.
Jea-Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
Man is nothing but what he makes of
himself
Mans essence is his freedom
We are the choices that we make
There is no definable limitation to ones
identity, since one simply chooses his own
identity and makes his own essence.
existence precedes essence
Man decides first, then acts.
Activity: As a grade 11 student, you have
made some important life decisions in the
past. Make a timeline of major decisions in
your life and below the line, write down the
consequences of those particular decisions.
Life Decisions

12 years old 14 years old 16 years old

Consequences
Activity: Divide the class into 5 groups. Discuss
the given actions below and brainstorm about the
possible consequences. Assign a leader and a
reporter to present your group output.
Action Consequences
A student studying his lesson

A driver observing traffic lights

Athletes practicing in the gym

A person taking illegal drugs

A student practicing conservation

of natural resources
 INTERSUBJECTIVITY
Intersubjectivity is largely described as a
relationship between me and the other where
the other is not alien to me and does not
transcend my own nature, but rather is inside
me (Ferranillo, 2012)

-Husserl (18591938) intentionality

founder of phenomenology
intersubjectivity
Phenomenology
Seeks to simplify intersubjectivity
by contextualizing as to how it
applies to everyday world, and even
extends to the need to recognize
others differences and conclude
why we need to create an
environment of mutual respect and
understanding.
 Looks at the relationship between
the world and the senses that
experience the world and the
others
Digs into the lived experience of
the subject
Intentionality
Consciousness of something
How and what we think about the
other
Describes the relationship between
the object (physical) and the mental
phenomenon
 Husserl emphasizes that we should
bracket (epoch) all the
assumptions we have about the
world when we experience things,
so we will be able to see all the
layers of meaning that have been
built up around them.
 Bracketing is to set aside our
perceived assumptions, biases and
prejudices about the object.
Reduction the act of identifying
my own intentionality
(consciousness) in the way I
personally see things.
Avoid Labelling
Summary:
While we are aware of the differences
among ourselves because of race, gender,
culture, religion, and physical ability, one
cannot deny of the unitary characteristics
which will somehow connect us from
certain barriers, the fact of our being a
person
Marcel (1889-1973)
Presence and Intersubjectivity
- Presence is concerned with recognizing
the self as being-among-being and
acknowledging the 8relevance of others
experiences to the self, as a being, not
just the here-ness of a mere physical
object.
- Reciprocity is needed in intersubjectivity
- Intersubjectivity means the relation
between two selves as
subjects(harmony and not domination).
- To exist is to co-exist, to participate in
the fullness of Being (God) through love,
fidelity and faith (Dy, 2001)..
Activity 1:
Formulate a sentence using the
following keywords:
Marginalize Value

Communication Human Person

Activity 1: What is your impression about
the picture and statement below? Write your
answer in your notebook.
1. What is intersubjectivity? How is it
related with respect?

2. Do you know people who have

disabilities and underprivileged? How
do you deal with them?
Activity 2: Write five (5) terms you
can immediately describe on the blank
spaces provided under the picture.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 After writing five terms, answer these
guide questions: Do you consider the
persons in this image or the image per se
problematic? How will you change the
generally preconceived data on them
(picture) in our society? Apply using
Husserl or Marcels philosophy.
__________________________________
__________________________________
__________________________________
 THE HUMAN PERSON
IN THE SOCIETY
State, Order, Absolute Sovereignty
Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)
- Man is a wolf unto each other.
- (Political institution) to tame, condition and
provide opportunities for the citizen in the
society
- Citizen should submit totally to the
institution
Social Contract , General Will, Order
Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)
- Man is born free. This freedom must be
guided properly to create a political
system.
- General Will
- Creation of a sovereign
- Social Contract single institution that
will see the operation of the society
Legitimacy of a Democratic
Political Institute
John Rawls (1921-_____)
- Legitimate political institution
- Genuine democracy
- Citizens are free from manipulation,
rational, and informed
Activity: Take a collection of
photographs that demonstrate a
democratic society.
Factual question: Are these photos
common scenario in the Philippines?
Activity: Choose a partner and
complete the table below.
Individual Behavior Societal Norms
 Human Person as oriented
towards their impending death
Socrates
- death is the release of the soul from the
imprisonment in the body
- death is something to welcome to welcome
another state of life which is eternal.
As Socrates said; the time has come, I to go,
you to stay. Which is better, God only knows.
 Saint Thomas Aquinas
Man is both body and soul. The
body and soul is complementing
with each other to make human
existence possible. Without the
soul, the body is just a material
entity, so as, without the body,
the soul is only spiritual being .
 - Deathseparates the soul from the
body. The soul returns to God where
true happiness and fulfillment will be
experienced.
 Heidegger, Martin(1889-1976)

-death is an ultimate possibility

-death is a possibility for we do not know
when it will arrive but it will surely arrive
-to fear death is to live an inauthentic life
-death must be accepted for it is part of
the cycle of life. Death is the completion
of life.
 - death ends all possibilities in life.
Possibilities means the things that we
can do, achieve, attain in life.
- Heidegger did not deal on the concept
of the after life. For him, if there is an
after life then it is not our problem
anymore. There must be an in-charge in
the after life to take care of us.
Activity
Choose (3) words below that best describe
your future. Write your choices in your
notebook. Explain your answer.
- success - fortune or money
- fame - power
- recognition - happiness
- meaning or purpose
- sickness - contentment
- faith - love - death
Activity

Answer the following questions:

1. What is your personal definition of
life? How do you appreciate life?
2. Is death an absence of life? Why or
why not?
References
Book

Barnes, Jonathan. 1987. Early Greek Philosophy. England: Penguin Books.

Burnet, John. 1958. Early Greek Philosophy. London: Adam and Charles Black.
Dy, M. 2001. Existentialism and Mans Search for Meaning. In M. Dy, Philosophy of Man. Makati: Goodwill
Trading Co., Inc.
Guthrie, W. K. C. 1960. The Greek Philosophers: From Thales to Aristotle. New York: Harper Torchbook.
Husserl, E. (n.d.). The Idea of Phenomenology. (L. Hardy, Trans.) Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Long, A. A., ed. 1999. The Cambridge Companion to Early Greek Philosophy. Cambridge: University Press.
Marcel, G. 1950. The Mystery of Being. London: Regnery Publishing, Inc.
Marcel, G. 1973. Tragic Wisdom and Beyond. (S. Jolin, & P. McCormick, Trans.) Illinois: Northwestern
University Press.
Sedley, David, ed. 2003. The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Philosophy. Cambridge: University
Press.
Smith, D. W. 2007. Husserl. London-New York: Routledge.
Smith, Nicholas, ed. 2008. Ancient Philosophy: Essential Readings. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, Ltd.
Stace, W. T. 1950. A Critical History of Greek Philosophy. London: MacMillan and Co., Ltd.
Stumpf, S. E. 1988. Philosophy: History and Problems. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co.
Wheelwright, Philips, ed. 1966. The Pre-Socratics. Indianapolis: ITT Bobbs-Merrill Educational Co., Inc.

Journal
Duranti, A. 2010. Husserl, intersubjectivity, and anthropology. Anthropological Theory, 1-20.
Ferrarillo, S. (2012). Husserl's Theory of Intersubjectivity. Cultura. Intemadonal Joumal of Philosophy of
Culture and Axiology, 163-174.

Handouts
Meulen, F., Climate Change Ethics On the Responsibilities of Governments and Individuals, Handouts in
Advance Ethics.
Page, E., Fairness on the Day after Tomorrow: Justice, Reciprocity and Global Climate Change, Handouts
in Advance Ethics.
Schultz, J., Environmental Justice in the face of climate change- an outline, Handouts in Advance Ethics.
Wesley, E. & Peterson, F., The Ethics of Burden-Sharing in The Global GreenHouse in the Journal of
Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, (Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1999). Handouts in
Advance Ethics.

Online
Hernandez, J. G. (n.d.). Gabriel Marcel (1889-1973). Retrieved from Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/marcel/
McInerny, Ralph and O'Callaghan, John, "Saint Thomas Aquinas", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
(Spring 2015 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.), URL =
<http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2015/entries/aquinas/>.
Luke Mastin (2008). The Basics of Philosophy. Retrieved June 15, 2015 from
http://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_aquinas.html
Kennedy, D. (1912). St. Thomas Aquinas. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton
Company. Retrieved June 30, 2015 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14663b.htm
Online

Applebaum, M. (2014, August 20). Key Ideas in Phenomenology: The Natural Attitude. Retrieved from The New Existentialists:
https://www.saybrook.edu/newexistentialists/posts/08-20-12
St. Thomas Aquinas. (2015). The Biography.com website. Retrieved 05:56, Jun 30, 2015, fromhttp://www.biography.com/people/st-thomas-
aquinas-9187231.
Mullady, B. (2004-2012). Catholics for the Common Good. Retrieved June 20,2015 from http://ccgaction.org/spiritual_life/theologyofdeath
Wallace, W. (n.d.). St. Thomas on the Beginning and Ending of Human Life. Retrieved June 20, 2015 from
http://www3.nd.edu/Departments/Maritain/ti/wallace3.htm
White, C. J. (2005). Time and death: Heidegger's analysis of finitude.
Dreyfus, H. L. (2005). Forward to Time and Death: Heideggers Analysis of Finitude. CJ White, Time and Death: Heideggers Analysis of
Finitude. Ashgate Publishing Company: Burlington Vermont, pp. ixxlvii.
Peach, F. (2000). Death, Faith and Existentialism. Philosophy Now, 27, 12-14.
Socrates. (2015). The Famous People website. Retrieved 03:52, Jun 29, 2015, from //www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/socrates-259.php.
Fieser, J. (2008). CHAPTER 4: CLASSICAL EASTERN PHILOSOPHY
From The History of Philosophy: A Short Survey www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/110
Harcourt, H. M. (2015). Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism. Retrieved June 18, 2015 from
http://www.cliffsnotes.com/sciences/sociology/religion/hinduism-buddhism-confucianism-and-taoism
Kokemuller, J. Demand Media. Central Beliefs of Hinduism, Buddhism, Confucianism & Daoism. Retrieved June 25, 2015 from
http://people.opposingviews.com/central-beliefs-hinduism-buddhism-confucianism-daoism-4661.html
http://www.philosopher.org/Socratic_Method.html, n.d. Accessed 5/25/15)
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/descartes-epistemology/10/6/14; acceseed 5/25/15)
(http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-ancient/accessed 5/25/15 5/31/14) http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/episteme-techne/
acceseed 5/25/15 6/22/14.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/phenomenology/ Dec. 16, 2013. Accessed 5/25/201
http://www.egs.edu/library/augustine-of-hippo/biography/ accessed june 29 2015.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/origen/.March 10,2014. Accessed june 29, 2015.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/augustine/Nov.12,2010, acceseed June 29, 2015
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aquinas/ May 23, 2014. Accessed June 29, 2015
Environmental Ethics. January 3, 2008. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed August 2013.
ttp://plato.stanford.edu/entries/horkheiner/ Oct 10, 2011. Accessed 06/04/2015 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/hobbes/ Feb. 04, 2013.
Accessed 06/29/2015
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rousseau/ Sept 27, 2010. Accessed 06/29/2015
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/rawls/ Sept 24, 2012. Accessed 03/12/2015
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/adorno/ Oct. 10, 2011. Accessed 6/04/2015