Philosophy Grade 12

1. The Human Person and the
Project of Transcendence
Salandron, james harry

2. Facticity: With or Without a Choice
Jean-Paul Sartre, like Gabriel Marcel, rejects the traditional and
essentialist understanding of the human person.The person at birth
has no pre- ordained essence or purpose in life. Concretely, it was not
your choice to be born with your body in this world.You were not
given the choice to select your parents, the place, time and even the
attending nurses and physicians when you were born.You had no
choice for your sex, skin color, your facial profile, and your eye brows.
All of these are predetermined attributes.You were "given" that body
at a certain place, time, and with a certain group of persons.That is
the only body you have, period.There was no meaning.That is what
Sartre describes as facticity.The things stated in your cedula or
community tax certificate is a documentation of your facticity.

3. Facticity: With or Without a Choice
It must be emphasized that facticity is always in reference to the body
of the person for without the body, there is no perception of the self
and the world.The body imposes limitations upon the person. A person
born with congenital disease, or without legs, or without hands, or
blind might likely has more limitations than the others.The person born
in the mountains might likely has different limitations compared to
those born in the plains. A person born in the slums might likely has
more limitations compared to those born in expensive and gated
communities.
Furthermore, facticity goes beyond the givens acquired by birth.

4. Facticity: With or Without a Choice
Facticity extends to the givens on how your body relates to others at a
given space and time - past, present, and even the future.There are
two things here:
a) facticity of the person in relation to space and time
b) facticity of the person in relation to others.

5. Facticity of the person in relation to
space and time
Refers to the situatedness of the same person in a particular place at
a certain time. Pedro cannot be in two places at the time.You cannot
be in a certain café and in the classroom at the same time. For
Andres Bonifacio, he could not have been inTondo, Manila and in
Balintawak at the same time Likewise, Pedro cannot exist in more
than one period at a time.You cannot be in your present age and in
your toddler years at the same time. Andres Bonifacio could not have
experienced life during the Spanish era and the American era at the
same time. Facticity indicates only one place at one time at the same
time.This happens because the body of the human person sets
limitations. That is beyond your control. It is a given limitation.

6. Facticity of the person in relation to
others
Refers to the limitations by which the human being, through the body,
experiences the world and other persons.The person can only grasp the
world from a particular experience of the body. Pedro may have an
imagination of colors but cannot really know colors because he was
born blind.You may imagine that you are Sarah Geronimo holding this
book but you cannot be Sarah Geronimo.Andres Bonifacio may have
an imagination of a free country but, during his time, he did not really
know of a free Philippines because the country was still occupied by a
foreign power. Aside from considering the body's limitations as a
medium to knowing the world, the body also exhibits limitations as to
how the person communicates oneself to others.The body can only
express what it could muster to portray. Even the portrayal may in itself
is already limited.

7. Facticity of the person in relation
to others
Pedro may want to sing like Juan Carlos but he cannot do it simply
because he is not Juan Carlos and more than that, he is mute.You may
want to express yourself by singing a beautiful song like the way Sarah
Geronimo does but you simply cannot do it because practically you are
not Sarah and technically, you are tone deaf. Andres Bonifacio would
have wanted his Decalogue to be the official guiding principles of the
Katipunan but he found his writing limited or inferior to the Kartilya
(code of ethics) of Emilio Jacinto, thereby, his recommendation to
adopt the Kartilya instead of the Decalogue.

8. Facticity of the person in
relation to others
Human facticity then refers to the conditions of the body in the world.
In as much as the body serves as a medium of understanding and
expressing something, the understanding and expression are also
limited. For Sartre, that is a dreadful fact because that limitation is not
the choice of the human person.To put it more emphatically, the
person is condemned in his/her facticity.There is no choice!

9. Transcendence: The Choice to Become
While Sartre affirms the importance of recognizing the inescapable
reality of human facticity, it is equally important for the human person
to pursue the project of transcendence or going beyond one's facticity.
In his highly controversial 1946 lecture entitled "Existentialism is
Humanism", Sartre stated:
"...it is in projecting and losing himself beyond himself that he makes
man to exist; and, on the other hand, it is by pursuing transcendent
aims that he himself is able to exist. Since man is thus self-surpassing,
and can grasp objects only in relation to his self-surpassing, he is
himself the heart and center of his transcendence." (p.30)

10. Transcendence: The Choice to Become
Facticity and transcendence are two sides of the same coin. Recognizing
one's limitations is a call out to the human person to transcend or to go
beyond these limitations.Transcendence is the project for a meaningful
human existence, to extend limits, break boundaries, surpass limitations
and become more than what is given. A person who is fully aware of his/her
condition being born in a poor family in a poor community must do
concrete actions to transcend or improve his/her lot. Is it possible? A blind
person can overcome the said limitation by enhancing other senses to
compensate for the eye limitation. Stevie Wonder, Andrea Bocelli, and
Helen Keller are some examples who made it through the harshness of life
in spite of physical blindness. If they have done it, then, you could do it also.
The givens in your life are not of your choice but the choice on what to do
with these givens is now your choice.There is just the need for a change of
perspective and a resolute choice to become more than what you are.

11. Transcendence of the person in relation
to space and time
Mr. Francisco Moreno Domagoso, known today as Mayor Isko Moreno
or "Yorme", is a self-confessed example of a person who rose from the
slums ofTondo, Manila. He was born of a poor family in the slums of
Tondo, Manila in 1974, a time when opportunities were very limited
even compounded by a certain social stigma put against any who come
from the said place. In spite of the situation, he took the challenge to
go beyond the givens of the place and time until he became one of the
recognized leaders not only ofTondo but the whole of Manila. In the
case of Bonifacio, he was not born a pauper for his mother was a
mestiza and his father was once the teniente mayor of the place. At the
age of 14, his parents died he discontinued his academic studies. He
became a plebian to support his five younger siblings.

12. Transcendence of the person in
relation to space and time
The Philippines during that time was under the occupation the of Spaniards;
life was difficult. In that time and condition, he decided to act by becoming
subservient to the colonizers. He refused superficial reforms in
the government, and, instead, fought for the severance of Philippine's
political relationship with Spain. Andres Bonifacio fought to establish a
Filipino nation free from its colonizers.Though a plebian, he organized the
Katipunan which paved the way for a series of revolutions aimed towards
national freedom.The symbolic start of the armed revolution took place
when Bonifacio and his company tore their cedulas in the famous
event called, "The Cry of Pugad Lawin".You might not be "Yorme" and
Bonifacio.You are living in a different time and spatial condition, but you
also have limitations.Yet like "Yorme" and Bonifacio, you have to make a
choice to become more than what you are for yourself, family, community
and country.

13. Transcendence of the person in relation
to others
From abroad, NickVujicic was born without limbs but such limitations did
not hamper him to be successful in life.The story of his transcendence from
his physical limitations became a medium for him to inspire people all over
the world. His life story teaches the concreteness of, "Hope thrive regardless
any circumstances." Locally, Andres Bonifacio knew his limitations in writing
if he be compared to the outstanding ability of Emilio Jacinto.With his vision
for the nation mind, he worked with Emilio Jacinto and PioValenzuela to pen
and publish the newspaper, Kalayaan.This publication was distributed in
Luzon and theVisayas, which in few months, resulted in an immediate and
significant increase of membership in the Katipunan.This fueled Bonifacio's
courage to initiate and sustain the armed revolution against Spain. Bonifacio
used his body, with its given talents, as a medium to concretize his national
vision and organize the Katipunan.

14. Transcendence of the person in
relation to others
Cognizant of his limitation in writing as compared to PioValenzuela and especially
Emilio Jacinto, he compensated this by working with them to inform and organize the
Filipino's uprising against their colonizers.
The project of transcendence is the subject's conscious recognition of one's facticity
and the resolute action to fashion a better person. It is true that you had no choice and
that you are condemned in your facticity but upon recognizing this, you are also
compelled to make a choice to extend your limits and craft your story, your history of
transcendence.

15. THANKSS YOUU!