Philosophy is the systematic study of the foundations of human knowledge and experience. It seeks to understand existence, reality, knowledge, values, reason, and language. The major branches of philosophy are metaphysics, epistemology, logic, ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy. Ancient Greek philosophers like Thales, Anaximenes, and Heraclitus made early contributions to philosophy and metaphysics by proposing theories about the fundamental nature and origins of the universe. Philosophy began formally in ancient Greece in the 6th century BC with philosophers like Thales of Miletus inquiring into nature, knowledge, and reality. Key philosophical concepts and terms that are studied include a priori vs.

1. INTRODUCTION
TO THE
PHILOSOPHY OF
THE HUMAN
PERSON
M S . D O R E E N R .
M AR T I N E Z

2. 1. Black Cat Analogy- Good Luck

3. 2. Dropping
of spoon
on the
floor-
signifies
a female
visitor

4. 3.
Cutting
nails at
night-
Brings
Bad luck

5. 4.
Brooming at night- Sweep away good fortune-
attracting poverty or negative energy to the
household

6. 5. Brings bad luck.

7. PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy is a systematic study of the
foundation of human knowledge with an
emphasis on the conditions of validity and
finding answers to ultimate questions.
(REASONING OUT AND GIVING ANSWERS TO
QUESTIONS)

8. NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY
It is the nature of philosophy that a
person inquires for the meaning of
himself/herself and the world
around.

9. Without questioning there will be no
philosophizing.

10. HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
The earliest Homo Sapiens most
likely looked out at their fledgling
world and wondered about the
status, its meaning, the meaning of
existence, the conditions of
survival, the reality of a finite world
and their place in it.

11. Western philosophy first began
in ancient Greece in about the
6th Century B.C.
Thales of Miletus is usually
considered the first proper
philosopher, concerned with
natural philosophy (what we
now call science)

12. • He is also an
astronomer, engineer,
meteorologist and a
mathematician.
Considered as one of
the seven sages of
Greece along with
Chilon of Sparta, Solon
of Athens, Pittacus of
Mytilene, Bias of Priene,

13. • They are considered of semi-
legendary wise people from the
Archaic age, often regarded as the
founders of Greek Philosophy

14. Thales and the most Pre-Socratic
philosophers (i.e., those who lived
before Socrates) limited themselves to
metaphysics
(inquiry into then nature of existence,
being, and the world). They were
materialists (they believe that all things
are composed of material and nothing

15. Ancient Greeks were all
fond of using their gods and
goddesses as an
explanations for natural
phenomena.
For example, when there is
a storm, they will attribute it
to the wrath of Zeus.

16. • ORIGIN OF THE
UNIVERSE
• THALES- Water as
the Principal Element
of the Universe.
Water is ubiquitous. It
fell from the sky, it
was in the soil, and it
was inside of plants.

17. • Anaximenes- The
universe is made up of Air.
Air can be found
everywhere and is
available to participate in
physical processes.
Natural forces naturally act
on air to transform it into
other materials which
came together to form the
world.

18. • Heraclitus- The
Universe was made up
of fire. Fire
transformed into water
(sea) of which half
turns back into fire (fire
wind) and half into
earth.

19. MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY
The word Philosophy is derived from the
Greek words;
Philia (Love) and
Sophia (wisdom) and means “The love
of wisdom.”

20. Pythagoras of Samos
was said to have been
the first man to call
himself a Philosopher; in
fact, the world is indebted
to him for the word
Philosopher, it is said that
when Leon, the tyrant of
Philius, asked him of who
he was, he said, “a
Philosopher” and he

21. Moreover, according to him, men and
women of the world could be classified into
three groups; 1.those that love pleasure,
2.those that love activity, and 3.those
that love wisdom.

22. BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
Six branches of philosophy –
Epistemology, Logic, Metaphysics,
ethics, aesthetics, and political
philosophy. These branches originate
from basic questions. What do I know?
How do I know it? Where do we come
from? What is good? What is beautiful?
How do we act?

23. 1.
Epistemology – the branch of Philosophy
concerned with the nature and scope
(including limitations) of knowledge.
Greek “Episteme”-knowledge
“Logos”- Study of or science of

24. It addresses four main questions.
1. What is knowledge?
2. How is knowledge acquired?
3. What do people know?
4. How do we know what we know?

25. • “Without proper knowledge how can you
argue that what you believe is true?”

26. 2 CATEGORIES OF KNOWLEDGE
• 1. determining the nature of knowledge
- How to distinguish between someone who
knows something and someone who fails to
know something?
• 2. determining the extent of what we know
- How knowledge is acquired and what are the
limits to what we can be known.

27. 1. WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE
• A cognitive success or a familiarity, awareness, or
understanding of someone or something including
the following:
• OBJECTS- knowing by acquaintance
(ACQUIANTANCE)
• SKILLS- knowing-how (PROCEDURAL)
• FACTS- knowing-that (PROPOSITIONAL)

28. PHILOSOPHERS FOCUS IS ON
PROPOSITIONAL KNOWLEDGE
• Example:
- Dogs are mammals
- 5x10= 50
- Manila is in the Philippines
- South Korea is in East Asia

29. 2. HOW IS KNOWLEDGE
ACQUIRED?
• Perception
• Introspection
• Memory
• Testimony
• Reason

30. EMMANUEL KANT
• Knowledge as “a priori” and “a posteriori”
PRIORI--Knowledge prior to the experience and
relies only to the reason (RATIONALIST)
“I just knew it wouldn’t rain, but then it did”
POSTERIORI- Experience before reason
(EMPIRICISTS)
“I know that the snow is white”

31. 2. Logic – the study of reasoning, Logic is
often divided into two parts, inductive
reasoning and deductive reasoning. The
first is drawing general conclusion from
specific examples; the second is drawing
specific conclusion from general examples.

32. EXAMPLES OF LOGIC
Inductive reasoning – the
chair in living room is red.
The chair in the dining
room is red. The chair in
the bedroom is red.
Therefore, all the chairs in
the house are red.

33. OTHER EXAMPLES
• The left-handed people I know use left-handed scissors;
therefore, all left-handed people use left-handed scissors.
• In the summer, there are ducks on our pond. Therefore,
summer will bring ducks to our pond.
• Michael just moved here from Chicago. Michael has red
hair. Therefore, all people from Chicago have red hair.

34. • Note: The term inductive reasoning refers to
reasoning that takes specific information and
makes a broader generalization that is
considered probable while still remaining open
to the fact that the conclusion may not be
100% guaranteed.

35. • Deductive reasoning- General to specific
• Examples
All men are handsome. Kenneth is a man. Therefore,
Kenneth is handsome.
All zebras have stripes; tigers have stripes; therefore,
tigers are zebras.
Fourth of July always has fireworks; today there were
fireworks, therefore it must be the Fourth of July.
Carrots are orange; oranges are orange; therefore,
oranges are carrots.

36. 3.
Metaphysics – is concerned with
explaining the fundamental nature of being
and the world.
Cosmology and ontology are the two
traditional branches of metaphysics.

37. Cosmology seeks to understand the origin,
evolution, structure, and ultimate fate of
the universe at large, as well as natural
laws that keep it in order.

38. • Ontology is the investigation into what types of
things there are in the world and what relations
these things bear to one another.

39. Ethics – also known as moral philosophy,
it is a branch of philosophy which seeks to
address questions about morality; that is,
about concepts like good and bad, right
and wrong, justice, virtue, etc.

40. Aesthetics – is a branch of philosophy
dealing with the nature of beauty, art, taste,
and the creation and appreciation of
beauty. It is more scientifically defined as
the study of sensory or sensory-emotional
values, sometimes called judgments of
sentiment and taste

41. Political philosophy – is the study of concepts such
as liberty, justice, property, rights, laws, and the
enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they
are, why (or even if) they are needed.
What makes a government legitimate, what rights and
freedoms it should protect and why, what form it
should take and why, what the law is, and what duties
citizens owe to a legitimate government, if any, and
when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever.

42. MAIN –ISMS, -OLOGIES, AND
DEFINITIONS
A PRIORI – knowledge or justification independent
of experience. For example: all bachelors are
unmarried.
A POSTERIORI – Knowledge or justification
dependent of experience or empirical evidences.
For example: some teachers are happy.
DETERMINISM – A philosophy stating that for
everything that happens there are conditions, such
that, given them, nothing else could happen.

43. EMPIRICISM – knowledge primarily comes from
sensory experience.
EXISTENTIALISM – philosophical thinking begins
with the human subject – not merely the thinking
subject, but the acting, feeling, living human
individual.
FREE WILL – the ability of an agent to make choices
free from certain kinds of restraints.

44. HUMANISM – focuses on human values and
concerns, attaching prime importance to human
rather than divine or supernatural matters.
MIND-BODY PROBLEM – arises because mental
phenomena arguably differ, qualitatively or
substantially from the physical body on which they
apparently depend.
NATURALISM – natural laws and forces operate in
the universe and that nothing exists beyond the
natural universe

45. EXISTENTIAL NIHILISM – life has no objective
meaning, purpose, or intrinsic value.
RATIONALISM – the criterion of truth or knowledge
is not the senses but the intellect.
TELEOLOGY – final causes (purpose, aims, and
goals) exist in nature.
TRANSHUMANISM – affirms the possibility of human
enhancement or the transformation of human
condition through the use of science and technology.

46. END OF MODULE 1