Introduction to Philosophy of

the Human Person

Quarter 1 – Module 1:

Philosophy and the Philosophy of the

Human Person
Introduction to Philosophy
of the Human Person
Quarter 1 – Module 1:

Philosophy and the Philosophy of the

Human Person
Introductory Message
For the learner:

Welcome to the Mathematics 7 Alternative Delivery Mode (ADM) Module on ( Lesson

Title) !

The hand is one of the most symbolized part of the human body. It is often used to depict
skill, action and purpose. Through our hands we may learn, create and accomplish. Hence,
the hand in this learning resource signifies that you as a learner is capable and empowered to
successfully achieve the relevant competencies and skills at your own pace and time. Your
academic success lies in your own hands!
This module was designed to provide you with fun and meaningful opportunities for guided and
independent learning at your own pace and time. You will be enabled to process the contents of the
learning resource while being an active learner.

This module has the following parts and corresponding icons:

What I Need to Know This will give you an idea of the skills or
competencies you are expected to learn in the module.

What I Know This part includes an activity that aims to check

what you already know about the lesson to
take. If you get all the answers correct (100%),
you may decide to skip this
module.

What’s In This is a brief drill or review to help you link

the current lesson with the previous one.

What’s New In this portion, the new lesson will be

introduced to you in various ways such as a
story, a song, a poem, a problem opener, an
activity or a situation.

What is It This section provides a brief discussion of the lesson.

This aims to help you discover and
understand new concepts and skills.

What’s More This comprises activities for independent

practice to solidify your understanding and
skills of the topic. You may check the
answers to the exercises using the Answer Key at
the end of the module.

What I Have Learned This includes questions or blank

sentence/paragraph to be filled in to process
what you learned from the lesson.

What I Can Do This section provides an activity which will help

you transfer your new knowledge or skill
into real life situations or concerns.

3
 Assessment This is a task which aims to evaluate your level of
mastery in achieving the learning
competency.

Additional Activities In this portion, another activity will be given to you to

enrich your knowledge or skill of the lesson learned.
This also tends retention of
learned concepts.

Answer Key This contains answers to all activities in the

module.

At the end of this module you will also find:

References This is a list of all sources used in developing

this module.

The following are some reminders in using this module:

1. Use the module with care. Do not put unnecessary mark/s on any part of the module. Use a
separate sheet of paper in answering the exercises.
2. Don’t forget to answer What I Know before moving on to the other activities included
in the module.
3. Read the instruction carefully before doing each task.
4. Observe honesty and integrity in doing the tasks and checking your answers.
5. Finish the task at hand before proceeding to the next.
6. Return this module to your teacher/facilitator once you are through with it.
If you encounter any difficulty in answering the tasks in this module, do not hesitate to
consult your teacher or facilitator. Always bear in mind that you are not alone.
We hope that through this material, you will experience meaningful learning and gain deep
understanding of the relevant competencies. You can do it!
 What I Need to Know

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is an initiation to the
activity and process of philosophical reflection as a search for a synoptic vision of life.
Topics to be discussed include the human experiences of embodiment, being in the
world with others and the environment, freedom, intersubjectivity, sociality, being
unto death.

The module is divided into 8 lessons, namely:

Lesson 1 – Doing Philosophy
Lesson 2 – Methods of Philosophizing
Lesson 3 – Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
Lesson 4 – The Human Person in his Environment
Lesson 5 – Freedom of the Human Person
Lesson 6 – Intersubjectivity of the Human Person
Lesson 7 – Human Person in the Society
Lesson 8 – Human Person as Oriented Towards their Impending Death

After going through this module, you are expected

to:
1. Understands the meaning and process of doing philosophy,
2. Demonstrates various ways of doing philosophy,
3. Understands the human person as an embodied spirit, and;
4. Understands the interplay between humans and their environment.
 What I Know

Encircle the letter of the answer the following.

1. What is originally meant “Love of Wisdom”

a. Philosophy c. Ethics
b. Epistemology d. Aesthetics
2. It is the wisdom and understanding in dealing with people or with facts.
a. Inquiry c. Metaphor
b. Insight d. Analogy
3. It is a mean towards an end.
a. Method c. Analysis
b. Synthesis d. Synopsis
4. It is the doctrine that the universe can be explained by one substance such as

matter, mind, or some other single thing or force.

a. Dualism c. New Monism
b. Monism d. Christianism
5. It is referred to “all of the surrounding things, conditions, and influences

affecting the growth or development of living things.”

a. Society c. Environment
b. Ozone d. Atmosphere
6. It is the absence of coercion, intimidation, constraint imposed upon a subject by
another person, institution, thing or circumstances.
a. Limitation c. Forces
b. Freedom d. Rights
7. The person who says, “No Man is an Island.”
a. John Locke c. Jean Jacques Rousseau
b. Jeanne Sartre d. John Doone
8. A sacred act for good and noble purpose as a life-giving experience of Filipinoes.
a. Kapwa c. Pagpapakatao
b. Pakikipagkapwa d. Pakikipagkapwa-tao
9. The philosopher who said “the human person is a political being”
 a. Socrates c. Aristotle
b. Plato d. St. Agustine
10. He is the father of philosophy
a. Socrates c. Aristotle
b. Plato d. St. Agustine

1 Meaning of Philosophy and Philosophy

What’s In
What is the first thing you think of when you hear the term “Philosophy”? Do
you associate the word with the reasoning of PilosopoTasyo?, or
of the unending questions of a child?, or, of the inquisitiveness
and assertiveness of a scientist? What does it simply mean and
imply to you as a senior high school student here and now? In the
graphics below, several instances are presented. In which
instance are you in by way of analogy, and why?
 A candle An Innocent child An
eagle Pilosopo Tasyo

What’s New
Philosophy has been regarded as the science of sciences. She is, otherwise,
called the Mother of all Knowledge. Ultimate solutions to human problems are
traced back to their root causes through philosophical inquiry. It is philosophy
that integrates, analyzes, synthesizes, interprets, and explains empirical facts,
data or information gathered and accumulated by other sciences affecting or
touching on human lives in the deepest sense.
Philosophy comes from the Greek terms “philos” or “philein” meaning “love” or
“friendship” and “sophia” meaning “wisdom” or “knowledge”. It ordinarily and
etymologically means, therefore, love for Wisdom or knowledge. The concept of
love means and implies an urge, drive, feelings, enthusiasm or obsession of the
human will commanding reason to seek unity with desired object: the TRUTH.
On the other hand, wisdom is associated with knowledge consisting of knowing,
learning and ascertaining ideas to satisfy the quest for truth and/ or the meaning
and purpose of human life.

Moreover, philosophy means search for meaning. This human search is an

intellectual quest that transcends the boundaries of concrete knowledge. It goes
onward to the realm of the abstract, the philosophical field where the inquisitive
mind may find satisfaction and wonder (Gualdo 200:1). This search is an attitude
of life - an attitude and passion to ask the “whys” and “wherefores” of things and
phenomena.
A student of philosophy may find satisfaction and creative and critical thinking
when he/ she is able to: delight in
1. Understand himself/ herself (sarili)
2. Discover his/her inner self (loob)
3. Recognize his/her otherness (pakikipagkapwa-tao
4. Accept self as a part of nature, of the world (mikrokosmo)
5. Be aware of the purpose of human life, and
6. See himself/ herself as oriented towards his/her impending death.

What Is It
Philosophy of the Human Person is a branch of Speculative Philosophy.
Philosophical speculation is a creative type of thinking which digs empirical facts
into their root and proceeds towards the world of ideas. The human person, as a
rational being, has the capacity to ponder, reflect, theorize or speculate beyond
what he or she sees in realty.
 As a philosopher, the human person knows how to interpret things across their
physical features. However, prior to any speculative search for truth, a student of
philosophy should master first the basic steps in knowledge building, namely:

1. Factual: A descriptive way of knowing things or reality sensibly;

2. Analogy: Knowing things through comparison, that is, using an inferential
reasoning that things alike in certainly respect will be alike in others - a
likeness in some ways between things that are otherwise unlike;
3. Cause and Effect: A causative way of seeing the universe as harmonious
inter-connectedness of phenomena in which every phenomenon is
intertwined with some other phenomena in terms of its occurrence or
coming to be; every event has a cause, for every effect there must be a
cause (principle of causality);
4. Generalization: The syllogistic way of arriving at a conclusion through
induction or deduction;
5. Theory: Putting for the coherent group of assumptions to explain the
reason on the relationship between two or more observable facts; it
assumes the existence of truth about reality; and
6. Principle: Establishing the comprehensive rule, doctrine or law as basis or
foundation for other truths.

As a whole, philosophy of the human person speculates and delves into the
origin, nature and destiny of human life. As a discipline or course of study, it
guides the students to consider critically the following queries that touch on the
wholeness of the human person:

1. What and who is the human person?

2. What is the condition of being human?
3. How and why does the human person live and exist?

Philosophers from ancient times to the contemporary period posed answers or

speculations to these queries through various approaches in treating the human
person.

These approaches are:

1. Cosmocentric – seeing the human person as microcosm, a part of
nature and a child of the universe;
2. Theocentric – seeing him/her as creature of God, and as such still a
part of nature of His creation
3. Anthropocentric Humanistic or Existential – seeing him/her as
neither part of nature nor a creature of God but an existent subject, a
thinking and liberated being whose search is only for the meaning of
life; and
4. Phenomenological - seeing him/her as a pure consciousness

What’s More
 A. Synthesis Journal
“My Insight on the Meaning of Philosophy”
How Can I
New Meaning Philosophical Use Them in Why Should I
I Learned Values I Got My Student Apply Them
Life

B. Synthesis Journal
“My Critical Reflection on the Meaning of the Philosophy of the Human
Person”
Guide Questions:
1. Who am I really?
2. What is my origin or where do I come from as a human being?
3. Where am I going exactly?
4. What must I do to be productive and happy?
5. Is my adolescent life now worth living and dying for others?

C. Philosophical Reflection
Guide:
Discuss and draw judgment whether the following statements are
philosophically valid or not:
1. “Show me your friends and I will tell you who you are.”
2. “You are what you do.”
3. “I am what I think.”
4. “He/ she is what he/ she wears”
5. “One is what he/ she says.”
6. “We are what we eat.”
What’s I Have Learned
Extension 1: In the Area of Philosophy
Point to Ponder: Based on your philosophical insight, ask
yourself: how can I demonstrate a capacity to think and create an
achievable and meaningful belief, Vision and mission of my adolescent
life?
Things to Do:
1. Write down your philosophy, vision and ' mission in life.
2. Draw a poster illustrating what you want to become and what you
can do in the future for others.
Extension 2: In the Area of Philosophy of the Human Person
Point to Ponder: Anchored on your critical reflection, ask
yourself: how can I help establish a non-stereotyped community or school
with the view of eliminating social discrimination, bullying, biases,
prejudices, self-love and conceit?
Things to Do:
1. Sketch the image of the Filipino race or your academic community
as you perceive or sees it.
2. State your personal understanding (semantic mapping) whether or
not this stereotype of the Filipino race or community has a positive
or negative impact on us as a people or as an academic community.

Assessment

Name: Score:
Name of the Professor: Date:
Course/Year/Section:

A. Choose one from the listed concepts below that adequately completes the
meaning of each of the following phrases:
 Concepts
 Philosophy of the Human Person
 Cosmocentric Approach
 Theocentric Approach
 Humanistic Approach
 Philosophy
 Wisdom
 Science

1. Love for knowledge or search for meaning is

2. A study of nature, origin and destiny of the human person is

3. Fixed or established principle, law or proven doctrine is

4. Seeing the human person as a part of nature is

5. Seeing the human person as creature of God and part of nature is

6. Seeing him/her as an existent, thinking and liberated being is

B. Modified True or False. Determine the truth or falsity of the following statements or
premises. In either case, modify your answer by giving reason to justify

1. Philosophy is the father of all knowledge

Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

2. Philosophy of the Human Person is the same as the Philosophy of Man

Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. A student who reasons out is a philosopher
Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
____________
 4. A human person is a microcosm
Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

5. Philosophy of the Human Person is a speculative search for truth

Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
____________

2 Doing Philosophy: Philosophical Acts of

the Human Person

What’s In
In the human person, there is a basic drive. This drive is the urge,
passion and curiosity to know and understand things he/she
sees around. Adam and Eve wondered why there was a
forbidden tree of knowledge in the garden of paradise. A
child cries for things he/she wants but is denied and
deprived of. Senior high school graduates are appalled and
start to wonder at the complexity of college life. All these instances display
the human person’s drive to know and understand: This human drive or
curiosity to explore is DOING PHILOSOPHY, a philosophical act of the
human person.
Let us read and philosophize on the Filipino poem that follows:

“AKO”
by Edgar Montes Apolinar

May kung anung katanungan

Na wari’y di-talos ng kaisipan
Na ang ibig sana’y tuklasin,
Suriin iba’t ibang paksain
Mapaglarong isipan, iyo sanang
Bigyang kasagutan
Dahil sa tulad kong walang
Sapat na karanasan at kamalayan
Kumpara sa ’yong sukatan,
Maging sa ’yong kaalaman.

Ang balagtas ko’y

Bakit nga kaya ang buhay ay di-magpakailan
Na ang bawat simula ay may katapusan.
Bakit nga kaya ang kalz'gayahan ay panandalian,
ni hindi kayang bayaran.
Bakit ang bawat tabo’y walang kakuntentuhan
Hahangarin ang lahat, kahit di makatarungan

Minsa’y may sumagi pa rin sa aking isipan

na kung tutusinn walang kapararakan
Samurang kaisipan na para bang
Walang patutunguhan, walang kapakinabang.
Maraming katanungan kung bakit ito nasumpungan
Mga katagang ayaw pag-usapan;
Ano ba talaga ang dapat bigyang halaga o

Prayoridad ng sangkatauhan?

Sa mga nakatatanda na nagwiwika

”Papuntaka pa 'lang ako’y pabalik na”
Lubhang malalim at maaring may ibang pilosopiya.
Sa labis na paghanga ako’y namangha
Na tilaba’y Pantas kung tumuligsa
Na para bang ang lahat, sila
ang may likha

At kung magkagayon man, ay sige na nga. ..

Marahil nga’y bihasa at talagang dalubhasa
Kapag maagusap, talaga naman
Ako’y hahanga…
Ang aking ang sanang hiling, iyo sanang dinggin,

Na huwag p0 sanang hayaam ang

 kinabukasan ko’y kitilin
Hanggang sa madilim na tangayin na lang ng hangin.
Bagkus, gabayan at hubugin
Ng ayon sa aking mga dalangin…
Ako...

Let’s Talk It Over and Philosophize

The author of the poem: AKO poses questions that touch on the meaning,
purpose, and direction of human existence. Probably, you ponder on the
same queries and likewise ask yourself:

1. Why am I here?
2. Why am I not contented with what I have now, but aspire or ask for
more?
3. What direction must I take to live a dignified, meaningful and
purposeful life?

What’s New
Philosophizing will take us into the world of reason. The awesome
human brain will be triggered to think and create. This power of thinking
and creativity is translated into philosophical acts in the form of INSIGHT
and INQUIRY.

Insight: What Is It?

Insight means wisdom and understanding in dealing with people or
with facts. It is seeing or viewing of the "inside or inner parts of reality
with understanding. It implies both the power to see deeply and
sympathetic understanding (The World Book DictiOnary, 1988).

In relation to the philosophy of the human person, insight is

philosophizing, reflecting or seeing with the mind, the meaning, the
implication, the value, the application and the benefits of a concept,
statement, a circumstance or a phenomenon. It is seeing into something
beyond the sensible. It is seeing with the power of thinking, pondering and
doing something on things noticed and reflected upon.

Techniques on How to Handle Insight

Two techniques among others are suggested: the use of Metaphor
and Conceptual Analysis.

Metaphor or Analogy
Metaphor is implied comparison between two different things.
Figuratively, it is a word or phrase that ordinarily means one thing that is
implied to other thing in order to suggest a likeness between the two (The
World Book Dictionary, 1988). Metaphor sharpens insight and fixes it in
the mind. The user of metaphor crystallizes the insight; that is, one portion
of reality casts light on another.

Analogy is a likeness or similarity in some ways between things

that are otherwise unlike. There is an analogy between the human heart and
a Pump Philosophically, analogy proceeds on the basis of similarity
between two situations. If the similarity is close enough, one may speculate
or conjecture that a conclusion which holds in one situation should hold in
the other (Ibid.).

Flow Chart
Using Metaphor and Analogy to Identify a Creative Alternative

Problem Creative
(P) Alternative
(CA)
(P)
Use metaphor Convert back
or develop to original
analogy problem
(P)
Physical Solutions to
System (PS) or the Physical
Analogous Problem (SPP)
Problem (AP)
 The chart (using Metaphor or an Analogy to Identify a Creative
Alternative) illustrates a process, the first step of which is to identify a
physical system that somehow resembles the current problem. Analogous
problems are called physical systems. They are called physical because the
interrelationship among the situation’s elements can be readily visualized.

Illustrative Example:
P = Leadership without CA = Uncompromising and
Political Will Decisive Leadership in Good
Governance

PS or AP = Soft-hearted SPP = Leader with a Heart of

Leader (Pusong Mamon) Stone (Pusong Bato)

Conceptual Analysis
Conceptual analysis begins with abstraction. Abstraction involves
two processes. First, abstraction happens when we concentrate on one
aspect. of a thing while prescinding from its other aspects. We rescind
when we not only abstract from certain aspects of things but also when we
abstract from the things themselves by discarding their physical features,
and grasping their essence represented by an idea or abstract thought. This
abstract thought 18 otherwise called concept and the analysis by abstraction
is

Conceptual Analysis.

Real Problem Real Solution to the

(RP) Problem
REALITY
(RSP)

CONCEPTUALIZATION
Understanding of the Conceptual Solution to
Problem the Problem
(UP) (CSP)
 The model illustrates how conceptual analysis starts with a real
problem occurring in the real world. The world is filled with complexity
and is often difficult to understand complexity.
The analyst’s Comprehension of the problem is called his or her
conceptual understanding. This perception of the problem identifies what
facts are important and how they are interrelated.

Concrete Illustration of the Model

RP = Extreme Poverty of RSP = Government

Filipino Masses Supported Agro-
Industrialization in
Partnership with Middle
Class Entrepreneurs

UP = Absence of CSP = Priority Inclusive

Economic Freedom Enclusive Economic
Development Program

Inquiry: What is it?

Etymologically, inquiry comes from two Latin words “in” which

means “into”, and “quaerere,” to ask, search or investigate”. The concept,
then, means a search for information, knowledge or truth. It especially
suggests a search for facts made by asking questions.
Specifically, philosophical inquiry is a whole process of looking
into the experience of a responsible agent and asking whether there are
tensions, discord and incoherence in his/her deed, operation 0r Performance
that causes unsettled state of affairs. If there are any, his/her duty is to
resolve, transform or reintegrate his/her experience into one of harmony.

The Matrix and Scope of Philosophical Inquiry

Its Meaning Its Scope Its Mode
1. Human 1. Practical 1. Logical
person’s Inquiry 2. Phenomenological
 effort to 2. Scientific 3. Meta pragmatic
integrate Inquiry
hi/her 3. Philosophical
experience Inquiry
as
responsible
agent
2. As process
of
connecting
human
person’s
active life
with his/her
communal
life.

Practical Inquiry
Practical Inquiry is anchored on common sense or good sense in
everyday affairs. Through this practical intelligence the human person is
aware of connections between what he/she does and what he/she
undergoes. In a here and now situation, the human person perceives the
world as means or instrument of fulfilling experience so that its intelligent
use presupposses a knowledge of its workings, of what is connected with
What. However, common sense cannot, by itself do much about such
know-"Edge which is a prerequisite for the intelligent exploitation of the
world as means. For this reason, practical inquiry has to be set aside and
give way to scientific inquiry.

Concrete Illustration for Practical Inquiry vis-a-vis Common Sense

1. Waste Management: Paligid ko, Linis ko. Basura ko,

Paghiliwalayin ko
Kalinisan at Kalusagan ng Pamilya at Bayan
May Pananagutan Ako

2. Water Conservation: Tipid Tubig sa Pamilya ko, Tipid din ng

Bayan - at Mundo
Tubig na Pinag-aaksayahan ng Ibang Tao,
Pakikialaman ko
Tubig Gamitin lamang kung kinakailangan
Tubig ko, buhay mo at ng Mundo
3. Energy Conservation: Tipid ko sa kuryente, Tipid ng Bayan at ng
Mundo
 Bawas sa Paggamit ng “Gadget” Bawas
Problema sa “Budget”
Ilaw isara pagwalang taong gumagamit sa
bahay, sa kapitbahay man 0 sa ibang dako ng
Bayan
Tipid kuryente di pangsarili kundi
pakinabang ng nakakarami.

Scientific Inquiry
Scientific inquiry develops and refines the agent’s interpretation of
the world as means. It is occasioned by the discrepancy between the
question posed by the world as means and the agent’s equipment in terms
of common sense to deal with it. his/her role as inquirer 15

Philosophical Inquiry
Over and above the practical and scientific, philosophical inquiry
comes to the fore. It inquires into all meanings as meanings both in their
relationships to one another and to the overall quality of human life.
Philosophy delves into the coherence, quality, sense and value of human
life itself. The philosophical query arises due to a discrepancy in the human
person’s experience as responder between the questions posed by human
life as end and the habitual use of common sense with it. Its function, too,
is to solve the discrepancy.

Examples of philosophical questions are as follows:

1. Why should we dispose of our waste properly?
2. Why should we conserve water?
3. Why should we conserve energy?

The Modes of Philosophical Inquiry

After pointing out the difference of philosophical inquiry from
other forms of inquiry, it is expedient to present the manner, way or mode
of integration between the world as means and the human life as end.
Toward this effort, there are three interconnected steps, namely: Logical,
Phenomenoiogical and Meta-pragmatic steps.

Logical Steps
In this first step, the responsible agent must justify the existence of
a variety of meanings. Such justification must seek to relate these meanings
to one another as meanings. The responsible agent must grasp these
meanings to form a coherent whole. Otherwise, his/ her own life, as shaped
by these meanings, cannot be grasped as a whole.
The step follows the mental operation process. It begins with simple
apprehension. This cognitive process grasps the meaning of concept.
Concept is compared with another concept. Judgment is made to aerm or
deny agreement of these two concepts. The responsible agent now moves
to reason out, argues or brings in coherent conclusion about whether
judgment is valid, sound and meaningful.
Example: All senior high school students are deep thinkers.
But Mario is a high school student.
Therefore, Mario is a deep thinker.

Phenomenological Step
Edmund Husserl the Father of Phenomenology, advances the following
phenomenologicais steps:

Epoche : The bracketing of or, holding in abeyance,

the natural attitude towards an object
Eidetic Reduction : A reduction of experience to its essence
(eidos) or invariant or removal of contingent
factors; and
Transcendental Reduction : The responsible agent reduces the ' object to
the very activity of his/her consciousness. It
becomes subjective or his/her very own
experience. He/ She becomes aware of the
subjective aspects of the object. The object is
seen in its relation to the subject an the
subject in relation to the object (Dy, 1986: 43
46)

Illustrative Examples:
1. Subject/ Object of Inquiry - The Filipino Muslims

a. Step 1: Epoche bracket or set aside our common impression or

natural attitude towards our Muslim brothers.
b. Step 2: Eidetic Reduction we see them as significant part and parcel
of humanity. They are human beings with rights and dignity.
c. Step 3: Transcendental Reduction we identify or put ourselves in
their shoes and experience their feelings, beliefs and aspirations as our
very own. We become one with them.

2. Subject/ Object: Ateneo Versus La Salle Students

a. Step 1: Disregard the school affiliation of the students.

b. Step 2: Regard them as bath Filipino Students with equal rights and
opportunities.
c. Step 3: Put yourself at the shoes of either side; and experience the
phenomenon of their constructive or destructive rivalry.

3. Object: The Love Affair: The Movie

a. Step 1: Hold in abeyance your natural attitude or impression

towards the character of the lover, the beloved and the third party of
the affairs.
b. Step 2: Consider behind the curtain the power of love, the
sanctity and indissolubility of marriage and the beauty of harmonious
family life.
 c. Step 3: As you View the movie, characterize yourself as the actor or
actress on screen experiencing the love affair and conveying the
message of the true meaning and implication of love.

Meta-pragmatic Step
The meta-pragmatic inquiry arises out of self-consistency and
philosophic adequacy. Te step may be simply premised into: “Think while
you act” or “Act while you think.” Such premise suggests spontaneity and
reciprocity of thought and action. It contemplates a symbiotic interplay
between critical thinking and creativity. This mode of inquiry, then, is
directed to grasp the balance between philosophical efforts and their
practical or pragmatic results or values.

Illustrative Example: On EDSA Traffic Congestion

1. Philosophical Efforts
a. Trunk out and identify the root cause of the problem: Over-
Capacity
b. Reduce vehicles and motorcycles and allow only those which are
worthy to route in EDSA in accordance with its limited capacity.
c. Improve to the fullest the management of the railway in terms of
quality maintenance and availability of sufficient units of new
coaches.

2. Pragmatic Results or Values

a. Convenience of the riding public
b. Energy conservation
c. Productivity of employers, employees, entrepreneurs, students and
other ordinary commuters
d. Speedy push to our socio-economic development
e. Savings for our domestic and foreign reserves

What’s More
A. Action Plan
Guide: Here is a five-step action plan for achieving Synergy, or finding
the High Way through Cooperative Efforts.

Action Plan
Subject:
Step 1: Define the problem or the opportunity
Step 2: Their way: Seek first to understand the ideas of others
 Step 3: My way: Seek to be understood by sharing your ideas.
Step 4: Brainstorm: Create new options and ideas
Step 5: High way: Find the best solution.

1. Implement the plan and see how it works.

2. Critiquing.
3. Summative evaluation.
4. Sharing to the whole class.

Note: Synergy or synergism is a belief that the “combined action of

different agents or organs whose total effect is greater than the sum of the
various individual actions.” It implies cooperative efforts and cohesive
attitude to produce or give more than the required or expected. It may be
characterized by: “surplus value, value added,” “extra time and effort” and
extra challenge to walk extra mile” attitudes. This philosophical thought
may be expressed into the mathematical formula of:

The symbolism
demonstrates collective Wisdom and efforts transcending customary and
traditional paradigm.

Taking the Extra Challenge

Choose two from any of the following activities:

1. Make a slogan advocating sustainable human development
2. Make a collage illustrating an exemplary Filipino citizen (a model of a
person) who lived a productive, dignified and meaningful life.
3. Develop a philosophical insight on the impact of the following slogans:
a. “MATUWID NA DAAN” in the governance of Philippine society.
b. “SA GOBYERNONG MAY PUSO, WALAN G MAIIWAN TUNGO
SA BAGONG UMAGAN G PARATING”
 Assessment

Name: Score:
Name of the Professor: Date:
Course/Year/Section:

A. Choose one from the listed concepts below that adequately completes the
meaning of each of the following phrases:
 Concepts
 Doing Philosophy
 Human Drive
 Sensation
 Insight
 Inquiry
 Practical Inquiry

1. _______________ Is the curiosity to explore

2. The urge and passion to know and understanding things is

_________________________

3. The wisdom and understanding to deal with people or facts is

______________________

4. The search for information, knowledge or truth is ______________________

5. The use of common sense is _________________

B. Modified True or False. Determine the truth or falsity of the following statements or
premises. In either case, modify your answer by giving reason to justify it.

1. Doing philosophy is a philosophical act.

Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

2. A student is philosophizing when he/she reasonably agrees or disagrees with

his/her teacher.
Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

3. The unending queries of a child is philosophizing.

 Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

4. “Kung bakit ako magtitipid ng kuryente at tubig” is a practical inquiry.

Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

5. Doing philosophy is synergetic.

Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

3 Methods of Philosophizing

What’s In
A method is a means towards an end. It is a technique of doing
something especially according to a defined plan of
action. It is the way in which points of reference and
procedures are initiated and determined.
Method of philosophizing is basically made up of
reflective thinking or reasoning. It also employs scientific
methods involving the following stages or steps:
1. Sensing a problem.
2. Gathering data,
3. Organizing and evaluating the data,
4. Hypothesizing or making assumptions
5. Testing hypothesis,
6. Discovery of truths,
7. Application of principles to specific cases.

Getting Ready to Tune In

Let us read and analyze the following situation:

The Philippine Situation

By Jose R. Joven

Our country, the Philippines, has undergone crisis after crisis. These
crises are caused by either natural phenomena or by humans. On the one
hand, natural calamities such as typhoons, floods, landslides, ozone layer
depletion, drought, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions have destroyed life,
lands and properties. On the other hand, human-made calamities such as
waste mismanagement, illegal loggings, deforestations and denudation,
water, air, and noise pollution, graft and corruption, smuggling, public fund
scam, plunder, drug and sex trafficking, cyber-sex, pornography, immoral
gambling, killings in tandem, carnapping, hold-ups, vote-buying, terrorism
and rebellion have led to a deterioration of the moral fiber of our people.
These situations have contributed to the impoverishment of the vast
majority of the Filipino people. This negative scenario comes and goes
through the years (decades) without real and reasonable concrete solutions.

Situation Analysis
Guides
1. Identify a problem from the given situation.
2. Is the cited situation a statement of an opinion or an affirmation of
truth? Why? Distinguish opinion from truth.
3. Determine the appropriate philosophical method that may be applied
and led to wise and true solutions.
4. His class may form into triad.

What’s New
 Different methods of philosophical inquiry have been tested by
passage of time. There are two major methods that were used by
philosophers: The Earliest Method and the Contemporary Methods.

The Earliest Method

The earliest method was a combination of observation and
reasoning. This was a method considered to be the “root of all other
methods”. Related earliest philosophical .methods were Empiricism and
Rationalism. The former emphasizes that knowledge is acquired through
experience, observation and experimentation. It is opposed to the concept
of innate ideas (Innatism). The latter (rationalism) holds that reason
unsupported by sense experience is the source of knowledge not merely of
concepts but of the real world.

The Contemporary Methods

The Contemporary Methods developed and employed by philosophers are:

a. Inductive
Inductive method is a procedure through which the mind proceeds
from a specific instance to a universal truth, principle or law. It draws,
infers or passes from the consideration of different particular or individual
experiences to a general conclusion governing and covering all the
experiences. Knowledge derived from induction is synthetic (combination
of particular phenomena observed into general body or abstract whole) and
“a posteriori” (gained by or through experience, from effects to cause or
from particular cases to a general rule). ‘

Example of Inductive Reasoning

Major Premise : Plants die
Animals die
Human beings die
Minor Premise : But, plants, animals, human beings are
living things
Conclusion : Ergo, all living things die

b. Deductive
Deductive method, on the other hand, is the rational ' process through
which the mind proceeds from a universal to specific truth It draws
implications and inferences from - general proposition or premise to a
particular statement. Knowledge gained from deduction IS analytic
(separating a whole into its parts) and/or a priori (from cause to effect, from
 general rule to a particular case based on opinion or theory rather than on
actual observation or experience).

Example of Deductive Reasoning

Major Premise : All living things die
Minor Premise : But, human beings, plants and animals are
living things
Conclusion : Ergo, human beings, plants and animals die.

c. Dialectic
Dialectics is an art of reasoning through the confrontation of opposing
arguments and ideas and their fusion in a truer or more comprehensive
concept. As a method, Hegel describes dialectics as a procedure whereby a
thought or an existing thing (Thesis) necessarily leads to or changes into
opposite or contradictory idea (Antithesis) and thereby a new thought or
thing (Synthesis) is attained. The process starts with some assertion about
something (thesis) _ which is incomplete. Something that is relevant to the
assertion is left out (antithesis). Conflict, termed dialectic, between What is
asserted and what is left out exist. Out of this conflict will emerge a third
position, a synthesis, which cancels out the limitations of thesis and the
antithesis and yet preserves the individual values of each (Ardales 1897:
30).

Thesis Anti-Thesis

Synthesis

Proletariat Bourgeous

Classless Society
Dialectics in Philippine Setting
Poor Masang Pilipino Rich Capitalist,
Politicians and
Landowners

Equality Between the

Rich and the Poor
 Dialectic Illustration
Thesis : The Poor Masang Pilipino Want to be rich.
Antithesis : But the rich capitalists and Company want them to remain
poor.
Synthesis : Destroy through legislation the poverty of the many and
the abundance of the few. Establish a Philippine Society
with inclusive socio-economic equality.

d. Analytic
Analytic method is the mental or actual separation of the whole into its
component parts and how these parts are related to the whole.

Example : The Whole human body in relation to its parts: the head,
trunk, and extremities, and how each part is significantly
related to the Whole.

e. Romantic
Romantic method; is described as the “tendency to base a worldview
chiefly on feelings and instincts.” (Brigthman: 38) In this method,
immediate sensation and intense feelings are aroused by nature,-and events
are valued over reason (Andales: 31).

f. Synaptic.
Synoptic method is a procedure whereby the human person views the
object in its entirety, that is, knowing the separate parts of their relationship
to the whole and understanding the qualities of the objects as a whole. It is
taking a general view of an object or reality.

What’s More
The Filipino way of reasoning adopts induction more that the
deduction. This is evident in Philippine poetry. As poetic, the basis of
reasoning is on metaphor (figure of speech in which a word or phrase that
ordinarily means one thing is applied to another thing in order to suggest a
likeness between the two). The use of metaphor is, likewise, evident in
Filipino proverbs (salawikain) and (balagtasan). The salawikain are short
and expressed in various dialects, while the balagtasan is a longer
metaphor, and is otherwise considered a poetic debate. In debate,
argumentation is based on inference by comparison or analogy (the
inference that things alike in certain respects will be alike in others). Its
structure consists of four levels:
 1. A thesis
2. Reasoning
3. Metaphor, and
4. A conclusion.

In most instances, levels 1 and 4 are omitted but implied.

Inductive Reasoning Deductive Reasoning
Major Premise: Ang
Major Premise: Sina
mga taong nagigipit sa
Pedro, Juan, at Maria
patalim kumakapit.
ay mga taong gipit
Minor Premise:
Minor Premise:
Datapwat, sina Pedro,
Datapwat, sina Pedro,
Juan, at Maria ay sa
Juan, at Maria ay sa
patalim kumakapit.
patalim kumakapit.
Conclusion: Sa
Conclusion: Sa
makatuwid, Sina Pedro,
makatuwid, ang mga
Juan, at Maria ay mga
taong nagigipit sa patalim
taong sa patalim
kumakapit.
kumakapit.

Examples as Guide for Poetic Debate (Balagtasan)

Proposition : Should a Person Marry Early or Not? (Dapat ba 0 hindi
dapat mag-asawa agad ang isang tao?)

Affirmative Side Uses Stanza 107 of Balagtasan (See Appendix

A)
If you are taking a swim in the water, be careful so that you won’t
catch a sea cold. If the proposal is accepted by the woman you love most,
the binding of two hearts should not lie in wait; lest it will happen that the
ambition you wish will become a dream through the lapse of time.

Resolved : A Person Should Marry Early

Thesis : (implied) or (state the proposition or

resolution)
so : Because when one reaches old age,
his/her dreams will not come true.

Metaphor : Young marriage is like swimming.

One must not stay long lest he/ she
catches a sea cold.
Conclusion : (not stated but implied) or (restate
the major premise)

Negative Side Uses Stanza 103 of Balagtasan (See Appendix A)

If one marries at once While immature and young, the mind is still
care-free and hardly understand. It is like the fruit when plucked very
young, the fruit is said to be sour even if ripe it becomes.
 Resolved : A Person Should not Marry Early
Thesi : (implied) or (state the proposition or
resolution)
Reason : Because the mind is unsettled and
immature.
Metaphor : Fruits when plucked green ripen
sourly.
Conclusion : (not stated but implied) or (restate
the major premls )

For Salawikain (Filipino proverbs} {See Appendix B)

An example as guide:

A life that is not devoted to a noble purpose is like a tree without

shade, or a poisonous weed.

Ang buhay na hindi lacm sa mabuting layon, ay tulad ng kahoy na

walcmg lilim, 0 isang damong lason.

Metaphor : A shadeless tree or a poisonous weed.

Application : Human life to be productively useful must have
sense) meaning, and direction otherwise it becomes
a burdel’l and toxic to society.

Echoing Within

1. Journal Writing or Dramatization

Guides:
a.Draw the whole human body first.
b.Draw separately each part of the head, the trunk and extremities.
c.Write your insight on the significant relationship between the whole and
parts in the light of any appropriate methods of philosophy.
d.As an option to journal writing, in group or groups, act out or dramatize the
relationship.

2. Critical Reflexion
Witnessing, seeing, and experiencing the effects of the human made
calamities, do you think there is a relevance and applicability of
DIALECTICS in Philippine context.

Taking the Extra Challenge

Life is somewhat like a metaphor. It IS full of riddles and parables.
It gives lots of events. To distinguish the real meaning of these events, the
human person has to read between the lines.
The class forms into triads. Everybody 1n each triad shares his/ her
life’s metaphor which may be expressed in any form: either poetry,
drawing, song lyrics, or what not.
 Assessment

Name: Score:
Name of the Professor: Date:
Course/Year/Section:

A. Choose one from the listed concepts below that adequately completes the
meaning of each of the following phrases:
 Concepts
 Earliset Method
 Method
 Contemporary Method
 Metaphor
 Deductive Method
 Inductive Method
 Poetic

1. A mean towards an end is _____________________

2. Looking at the whole human body analytically in relation to its parts is

_________________

3. Philosophers use two major methods ________________ and ____________________

4. Viewing the parts in relation to the whole is _______________________________

5. The Filipino way of reasoning is __________________ and its basis is

____________________

B. Modified True or False. Determine the truth or falsity of the following statements or
premises. In either case, modify your answer by giving reason to justify it.

1. Methods of philosophizing do not employ science.

Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. Inductive method is analytic.
Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

3. Deductive method is synthetic.

 Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

4. Synopsis is taking a general view of an object or subject matter

Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________

5. The poor want to be rich.

But the rich want them to remain poor.
Ergo, eliminate both and establish classless society.
The argument is dialectic.
Reason:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________