THE

PHILOSOPHICAL
ENTERPRISE
BY: JOHN F. KAVANAUGH, S.J.

REPORTED BY: JENICA JOYCE N. BAUTISTA

 THE PHILOSOPHICAL
ENTERPRISE
The very tone of the word Philosophy calls to mind a vast spectrum
of meanings, most of which seem dark, remote, and even unworthy of
considerations.

We might picture an isolated thinker, within the walls of his room,
trying to save the appearances of a world which he does not
understand or more immediately, we might conceive lists of
philosophical courses imposed upon us by the academicians who
seem to have contact at all with the demands of the present.
 THE PHILOSOPHICAL
ENTERPRISE
o As we are in the subject of philosophy of man, first and foremost we
should make sure that we first know why we are driven to philosophy
as a sheer human exigency.

o Why do we question at all?

o What is involved in the act of questionings? And
o What are the primordial question that we ask? ….

o Philosophy is at root the preeminently personal affair of question-

asking.
 THE PHILOSOPHICAL
ENTERPRISE

• In the World of Philosophizing.

• Three Disciplines of Philosophy:

1) Discipline of Questioning,
2) Discipline of Liberation, and
3) Discipline of Personhood.
 THE DISCIPLINE OF
QUESTIONING
The act of questioning, of wanting to know, is the initiation to
philosophy.

Asking a question like

“I want to know who and what I am?”

Wanting to know and understanding our identity is what we might call

the beginnings of a philosophy of man.
 THE DISCIPLINE OF LIBERATION

• We are liberated from the chains of unquestioning

acceptance of whatever is at hand and you began to resist
the currents which pull you toward thoughtless conformity.
 THE DISCIPLINE OF
PERSONHOOD

If I am a philosopher, then it is I who must philosophize.

If we look at ourselves or listen to the testimony of other men, we can

see that the human person is driven by his very personhood, to know
and to do something about himself.
 THE DISCIPLINE OF
PERSONHOOD

Every man wants to know himself and do something about himself.

“man’s search for meaning” – Victor Frankl

“man’s search for himself” – Rollo May
 THE DISCIPLINE OF
PHILOSOPHY
1. Discipline of Questioning,
2. Discipline of Liberation, and
3. Discipline of Personhood.

To philosophize means to view life in diversity rather than conformity.

It is through the ability of QUESTIONING that students are
LIBERATED from ignorance and conformity, thereby encouraging
them to live a more MEANINGFUL LIFE.
THANK YOU! 