LESSON ONE

CHAPTER ONE

1. Introduction: Doing Philosophy

One of the key elements in many educational reforms is diversity, difference, and choice or other
proposals that establish separate curricular routes for different groups or individuals. Diversity is the
difference that makes each person unique (i.e., biology, ethnicity and culture, family life, beliefs,
geography, experiences, and religion). Sometimes we have difficulty in accepting others because they are
different from us. Yet, such behaviour can limit a person’s opportunities or can make the person feel
excluded or aggrieved. Educational challenge in the 21st century entails how to deal appropriately with
cultural and racial multiplicity and that one does not engage in harassment of any form (Kurcinka 2006)

1.1 The meaning of Philosophy

A. What is “philosophy”?

1. As defined

a) From the etymology of the word

“philosophy” comes from 2 Greek words  “philos”, which is one of the

Greek words for love, and “sophos” or “Sophia”, which is the Greek word
for wisdom. Hence, philosophy is the love of wisdom.

b) From the dictionary

“philosophy” is the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge,

reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic
discipline

Philosophy is also defined as the science that by natural light of reason studies the first causes or
highest principles of all things. Under this definition, four things are to be considered:

a. Science. It is called science because the investigation is systematic. It follows certain steps or it
employs certain procedures. In other words, it is an organized body of knowledge just like any
other science.
b. Natural light of Reason. Philosophy investigates things, not by using any other laboratory
instrument or investigative tools, neither on the basis of supernatural revelation, otherwise it
becomes theology; instead, the philosopher uses his natural capacity to think or simply, human
reason alone or the so-called unaided reason.
c. Study of all Things. This sets the distinction between philosophies from other sciences. All other
sciences concern themselves with a particular object of investigation. For example,
anthropologists study human beings in relation with the society; sociologists study society, its
form, structures, and functions; botanist focus their attentions to plants; linguists limit themselves
with language; theologians investigate God; whereas, a philosopher studies human beings,
society. Religion, language, God, and plants, among other concerns.
The reason is that philosophy is not one dimensional or partial. In short, a philosopher does not
limit himself to a particular object. He questions almost anything, if not everything. It is
multidimensional or holistic.
d. First Cause or highest Principle. A principle is that from which something proceeds in any manner
whatsoever. The First Principles:
 Principles of identity - whatever is is ; and whatever is not is not; everything is what it is.
Everything is its own being, and not being is not being.
 Principle of Non-Contradiction – it is impossible for a thing to be and not to be at the
same time, and at the same respect.
  Principle of Excluded Middle – a thing is either is or is not; everything must be or not be;
between being and not-being, there is no middle ground possible.
 Principle of Sufficient Reason – nothing exists without a sufficient reason for its being
and existence.

Since its beginnings, however, the scope of philosophy has changed. Early Greek
philosophers studied aspects of the natural and human world that later became separate
sciences – astronomy, physics, psychology, and sociology. On the other hand, certain basic
problems – the nature of the universe, the standard of justice, the validity of knowledge, the
correct application of reason, and the criteria of beauty – have been the domain of philosophy
from its beginnings to the present.

These problems are the subject matter of the five branches of philosophy – metaphysics,
ethics, epistemology, logic and aesthetics. These branches will be discussed in the next
section. There are also special branches of philosophy like philosophy of science, philosophy
of state, philosophy of politics, philosophy of mathematics, philosophy of education,
philosophy of law, philosophy of language, and others.

Finally, in attaining wisdom, there is a need for emptying. Emptying can be intellectual.
For instance, the Taoist considers an empty cup more useful than a full one. This means
simplicity and humility. Emptying can be also spiritual. For Christian philosophy, poverty in
spirit means compassion. Emptying is also physical. The Buddhists refrain from misuse of the
senses, thereby emphasizing a unified whole (Elgin 2009). Without the virtue of emptying,
students will only learn partial philosophy that is knowledge-based, without becoming holistic
(i.e., acquiring wisdom through various dimensions of being human including the
psychological, social, emotional, and moral aspects).

GUIDED LEARNING – page 5

1.2. Recognize Human Activities that Emanated from Deliberate Reflection

After examining the definitions of Philosophy, this section distinguishes its branches from where
recognition of various human activities emanated from deliberate reflection and dialogs. Many off the
most vital issues of philosophy are still disputed and have unsettled questions today.

Nevertheless, one of the greatest needs of anyone seeking “wisdom” is a genuine sympathy and
an understanding of all the most diverse points of view (holistic perspective). A narrow provincialism of
mind, limited to the ideas and outlook of a single party or a single age (partial perspective), is wholly
incompatible with the real philosophical attitude.

1.2.1 The Branches of Philosophy

A. Metaphysics
Metaphysics is really only an extension of a fundamental and necessary drive in every
human being to know what is real. The question is how to account for this unreal thing in terms
of what you can accept as real. Thus, a very big part of the metaphysician’s task is to explain that
part of our experience, which we call unreal in terms of what we call real.
In our everyday attempts to understand the world in terms of appearance and reality, we
try to make things comprehensible by simplifying or reducing the mass of things we call
appearance to a relatively fewer number of things we call reality.
For instance, for Thales, a Greek Philosophers, everything is water. He claims that
everything we experience is water – which we call “reality.” Everything else is “appearance.” We
then set out to try to explain everything else (appearance) in terms of water (reality). Clouds, for
example, or blocks of ice do not look like water, but they can be explained in terms of water.
When water evaporates, it becomes a cloud, and when water freezes, it becomes ice.
 Both the idealist and the materialist metaphysical theories are similarly based on
unobservable entities; mind and matter. We can see things made of matter such as a book or a
chair, but we cannot see the underlying matter itself. Although we can experience in our minds
thoughts, ideas, desires, and fantasies, we cannot observe or experience the mind itself that is
having these thoughts, ideas and desires. It is this tendency to explain the observable in terms of
the unobservable that has given metaphysics a bad name to more down-to-earth philosophers.
Plato, Socrates’ most famous student, is a good example of a metaphysician who draws
the sharpest possible contrast between reality and appearance. Nothing we experience in the
physical world with our five senses is real, according to Plato. Reality, in fact, is just the opposite.
It is unchanging, eternal, immaterial, and can be detected only by the intellect. Plato calls these
realities as ideas of forms. These are meanings which universal, general terms refer to, and they
are also those things we are talking about when we discuss moral, mathematical, and scientific
ideals.

Reflections, Meditations, and Conversations that Rocked the World;

By What Values Shall I live in the World?

Plato

This leads up to the famous simile of the cave of den. According to which, those who are destitute
of philosophy may be compared to prisoners in a cave who are only able to look in one direction because
they are bound and who have the fire behind them and the wall in front. Between them and the wall,
there is nothing; all that they see are shadows of themselves and of objects behind them casted on the
wall by the light of the fire. Inevitably, they regard these shadows as real and have no notion of the objects
to which they are due (Prince 2000). At last, a man succeeds in escaping from the cave to the light of the
sun; for the first time, he sees real things, and becomes aware that he had hitherto been deceived by
shadows. He is the sort of philosopher who is fit to become a guardian; he will feel it is his duty to those
who were formerly his fellow prisoners to go down again into the cave, instruct them as to the sun of
truth and shadow them the way up.

However, he will have difficulty in persuading them, because coming out of the sunlight, he will
see shadows clearly than they do and will seem too them stupider than before his escape.

Plato seeks to explain the difference between clear intellectual vision and confused vision of sense
perception by an analogy from the sense of sight. Sight, he says, differs from the other sense, since it
requires not only the eye and the object, but also light. We clearly see objects on which the sun shines; in
twilight, we see confusedly; and in pitch-darkness, not at all. Now the world of ideas is what we see when
the sun illumines the object; while the world of passing things is a confused twilight world. The eye is
compared to the soul, and the sun, as the source of light to truth or goodness (Mitchell 2011).

B. Ethics
How do we tell good from evil or right from wrong? Ethics is the branch of philosophy
that explores the nature of moral virtue and evaluates human actions.
Ethics is generally a study of the nature of moral judgments. Philosophical ethics attempts
to provide an account of our fundamental ethical ideas. Whereas religion has often motivated
individuals to obey the moral code of their society, philosophy is not content with traditional or
habitual ethics but adopts a critical perspective. It insists that obedience to moral law be given a
rational foundation. In the thought of Socrates, we see the beginning of a transition from a
traditional, religion-based morality to philosophical ethics (Lands burg 2009).

Reflection, meditations, and conversations that rocked the World:

 What constitutes a Human Person?

For Socrates, to be happy, a person has to live a virtuous life. Virtue is not something to be taught
or acquired through education, but rather, it is merely an awakening of the seeds of good deeds that lay
dormant in the mind and heart of a person. Knowing what is in the mind and heart of a human being is
achieved through self-knowledge does not mean only theoretical or speculative, but a practical one.
Practical knowledge means that one does not only know the rules of right living, but one lives them.

Hence, for Socrates, true knowledge means wisdom, which in turn, means virtue. The Greek word
arête, which we translate as virtue, seems originally to have been associated with valour in battle and may
be connected with the name of the Greek god of war, Ares, whom we know better under his Roman name,
Mars. Both the Greek word arête and its English equivalent, virtue, have connotations of machismo and
manliness. So, when Socrates came to define virtue, he thought of courage as one of its prime
components, and he came up with proposition that courage, therefore, as virtue is also knowledge.

Reflection, meditations, and conversations that rocked the World:

How much freedom should we have? Who should decide?

William Edward Burghardt Du Bois (1868-1963) raised the “problem of the Negro.” He sees
himself as the part of this problem. His mother was descended from a West African slave. He was an
African-American who wanted equal rights for blacks. Du Bois believes that the blacks must assert
themselves in the African-American community. He put his ideas into political action and helped organized
various initiatives for the advancement of the colored people, published researches, and taught in Atlanta
University. He was the first African-American to receive a PhD in Harvard (Rifkin 2009).

To understand Du Bois’ philosophy is the understand Hegel’s dialectic. Whenever a thesis of

freedom is asserted, it is opposed by an antithesis. These are then both overcome by a synthesis that
incorporates the best of both. (Mitchell 2011)

THESIS Antithesis Synthesis

(White Oppression) (Black Soul) (Black’s Consciousness of

Freedom)

C. Epistemology
Specifically, epistemology deals with nature, sources, limitations, and validity of
knowledge (Soccio 2007). Epistemological questions are basic to all other philosophical inquiries.
Epistemology explains: (1) how we know what we claim to know; (2) how we can find out what
we wish to know; and (3) how we can differentiate truth from falsehood. Epistemology addresses
varied problems: the reliability, extent, and kinds of knowledge; truth; language; and science and
scientific knowledge.
How do we acquire reliable knowledge? Human knowledge may be regarded as having
two parts.
1. On the one hand, he sees, hears and touches; on the other hand, he organizes in
his mind what he learns through the senses. Philosophers have given
considerable attention to questions about the sources of knowledge. Some
philosophers think that the particular things see, heard, and touched are more
important. They believe that general ideas are formed from the examination of
particular facts. This method is called induction, and philosophers who feel that
knowledge is acquired in this way are called empiricists. (e.g. John Locke).
Empiricism is the view that knowledge can be attained only through sense
experience. According to the empiricists, real knowledge is based on what our
 sight, hearing, smell, and other senses tell us is really out there, not what people
make up in their heads.
2. Other philosophers think it is more important to find general law according to
which particular facts can be understood or judged. This method is called a
deduction; its advocates are called rationalist (e.g., Rene Descartes). For instance,
what distinguishes real knowledge from mere opinion, in the rationalist view, is
that real knowledge is based on the logic, the laws, and the methods that reason
develops. The best example of real knowledge, the rationalist holds, is
mathematics, a realm of knowledge that is obtained entirely by reason that we
use to understand the universe. (Soccio 2007).

A new school, pragmatism, has a third approach to these problems. Pragmatists, such as
William James and John Dewey, believe that value in use is the real test of truth and
meaning. In other words, the meaning and truth of an idea are tested by its practical
consequences.

Reflection, Meditations, and Conversations that rocked the World:

Women’s Equal Rights

Mary Wollstonecraft
The spirit of modern philosophy is an outburst of discovery. Rationalism (17th
century) and empiricism (18th century) both relied on human discoveries such as of the
world, of thought, and of humanity in all sorts of conditions. Knowledge, however, was
male-dominated. Mary Wollstonecraft envisioned an education for women. In her work,
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), Wollstonecraft dictated that women were
to be more than just wives and caretakers; they were to educate children, and to act not
as slaves to their husbands, but as companions (Rifkin 2009).
As technology enters the larger conversation of humanity, students should
understand that education is not just simply browsing the Internet but emphasizes the
concept of progress, which asserts that human beings are capable of improving their
constantly changing environment.

D. Logic

Reasoning is the concern of the logician. This could be reasoning in science and medicine,
in ethics and law, in politics and commerce, in sports and games, and in mundane affairs of
everyday living. Varied kinds of reasoning may be used, and all are of interest to the logician.

The term “logic” comes from the Greek word logike and was coined by Zeno, the Stoic
(c.340-265BC). Etymologically, it means a treatise on matters pertaining to the human thought. It
is important to underpin that logic does not provide us knowledge of the world directly, for logic
is considered as a tool, and, therefore, does not contribute directly to the content of our thoughts.
Logic is not interested in in what we know regarding certain subjects. Its concern, rather, is the
truth or the validity of our argument regarding such objects.

Aristotle was the first philosopher to devise a logical method. He drew upon the emphasis
on the “universal” in Socrates, negation in Parmenides and Plato, and the reduction to the absurd
of Zeno of Elea. His philosophy is also based on claims about propositional structure and the body
of argumentative techniques (e.g., legal reasoning and geometrical proof).

Aristotle understood truth to mean the agreement of knowledge with reality; truth exists
when the mind’s mental representations, otherwise known as ideas, correspond with things in
the objective world. Logical reasoning makes us certain that our conclusions are true, and this
provides us with accepted scientific proofs of universally valid propositions or statements. Since
the time of Aristotle, the study of lies or fallacies has been considered an integral part of logic.

Zeno of Citium is one of the successors of Aristotle. He is also the founder of a movement
known as Stoicism, derived from the Greek Stoa Poikile (Painted Porch). The Painted Porch
 referred to the portico in Athens where the early adherents held their regular meetings. Other
more influential authors of logic then are Cicero, Porphyry, Boethius, in the later Roman Empire;
the Byzantine scholar – Philoponus and Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and Averroes in the Arab world.

Even before the time of Aristotle down to the present, the study of logic has remained
important. We are human beings possessed with reason. We use it when we make decisions or
when we try to influence the decisions of others or when we are engaged in argumentation and
debate. Indeed, a person who has studied logic is more likely to reason correctly than another,
who has never thought about the general principles involved in reasoning.

Reflection, Meditations, and Conversations that Rocked the World:

Artificial Intelligence
Turing was an English mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst, and computer scientist. He
was highly influential in the development of computer science, providing a formalization of the concepts
of “algorithm” and “computation” with the Truing machine, which played a significant role in the creation
of the modern computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of computer science and artificial
intelligence (AI) (Carr 2009).

E. Aesthetics

When humanity has learned to make something that is useful to them, they begin to plan
and dream how to make it beautiful. What therefore is beauty? The establishment of criteria of
beauty is the function of aesthetics.

Aesthetics is the science of the beautiful in its various manifestations –including the
sublime, comic, tragic, pathetic, and ugly. To experience aesthetics, therefore means whatever
experience has relevance to art, whether the experience be that of the creative artist or of
appreciation. As a branch of philosophy, students should consider the importance of aesthetics
because of the following:

 It vitalizes our knowledge. It makes our knowledge of the world alive and useful.
We go through our days picking up a principle as fact, here and there, and too
infrequently see how they are related. It is the part of a play, a poem, or a story
to give us new insight, to help us see new relationship between the separated
items in our memories.
 It helps us to live more deeply and richly. A work of art – whether a book, a piece
of music, painting, or a television show – helps us to rise from purely physical
existence into the realm of intellect and the spirit. As a being of body and soul,
a human being needs nourishment for his higher life as well as his lower. Art,
therefore, is not something merely like craft or applied arts, but something of
weight and significance to humankind. It is what Schopenhauer meant when he
said, “You must treat a work of art like a great man,. Stand before it and wait
patiently until it designs to speak.” (Scrutum et al. 1997).
 It brings us in touch with our culture. Things about us change so rapidly today
that we forget how much we owe to the past. We cannot shut ourselves off from
the past any more than we can shut ourselves off geographically from the rest
of the world. It is difficult that the great problems of human life have occurred
over and over again for thousands of years. The answers of great minds in the
past to these problems are part of our culture.

Hans – Georg Gadamer, a German Philosopher, argues that our tastes and judgements
regarding beauty, work in connection with one’s own personal experience and culture. Gadamer
believes that our culture consists of the values and believes of our time and our society. That is
why a “dialog” or conversation is important in interpreting works of art (White 1991).
 A conversation involves an exchange between conversational partners that seek
agreement about some matter at issue; consequently, such an exchange is never completely
under the control of either conversational partner, but is rather determined by the matter at
issue. Conversation and understanding is, according to Gadamer, interpretative and insofar as all
interpretation, involves, the exchanged between the familiar and the alien, so all interpretation
is translative. (P.13)

1.3. Why became a Philosopher? On attaining a comprehensive outlook in life

One of the key elements in many educational reforms is diversity, difference, and choice or other
proposals that establish separate curricular routes for different groups or individuals (Castells et al. 1999).
Diversity is the difference that makes each person unique (i.e., biology, ethnicity and culture, family life,
beliefs, geography, experiences, and religion). Sometimes, we have difficulty in accepting others because
they are different from us. Such behaviour may cause us to limit a person’s opportunities or can make the
person feel rejected or resentful.

Thus, educational challenge in the 21st century entails appropriate acceptance of cultural and
racial multiplicity. One does not engage in harassment of any form. This section introduces the various
viewpoints of philosophy: the western and non-western, with emphasis on our very own Filipino
indigenous beliefs and finally, going beyond the logical and the technological imperatives existence.

A. Expanding our Philosophical Frames: Western and Non-Western Traditions

Many philosophers hold that there are three great original centers of philosophy in the
world – Greek (or Western), Indian, and Chinese. All three arose as critical reflections on their
own cultural traditions. Historically speaking, Asian classics of the Indians and the Chinese predate
the oldest of Western classics. Indian and Chinese philosophers of note also lived earlier than the
Greek counterparts (Quito 1991). During the first centuries, there was more philosophical activity
in the East than the West. Before the Greek period, there was hardly an activity in the West.
Greeks before Thales did not have philosophy (Velasquez 1999).
From the time of the Greek triumvirate (Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle), there was a
reversal. The Western thinkers started to indulge in feverish philosophical speculation, whereas
the Asian thinkers began diminishing philosophical activity. In our present century, almost all the
major philosophical ideas emanate from Western thinkers (Quito 1991).
This section underpins the challenges of the global information age cannot be understood
by oversimplification. One size does not fit all. There are multiple cultures and there are different
types of states in terms of modern economic modernization (Nye 2013). Certainly, the culture of
the “East” is very different from that of the “West”(primarily Europe and North America), but that
does not mean each culture is incapable of understanding certain features of the other.
As the world becomes “smaller,” it is increasingly important to develop an understanding
of culture centers around the globe that are very different from our own. Each society or culture
has its own ideas of itself, a definition of what is important in life, and its own notions of what the
world is life in general terms; thus, each society or culture can be said to have its own “philosophy”
(Quito 1991).
For Quito, there are three attitudinal imperatives that we must bear in mind if we are to
appreciate either the Oriental or Eastern thought vis-à-vis the Occidental or Western mind-set
and to situate them in their proper perspective:
 In contrast to the propensity of the West to think in a linear manner, that is, in terms of
beginning and ending in a straight line, Oriental thought runs in a circular manner in which
the end conjoins the beginning in a cyclic style. In a manner of speaking, nothing actually
begins absolutely or ends absolutely. A man may have been born at a precise time and may
have died at a precise time, but it cannot be said that hid existence can be congealed at a
specific time, and when he dies, his life continues in another form. This is indispensable to the
understanding of samsara or rebirth. There is a cycle or rebirths within the various spheres of
 life, the vegetative, animal, and human. The world in fact did not have an absolute beginning
but was merely a continuation of an earlier world in an earlier time. There is, therefore, a
succession of worlds and a succession of lives.
 The attitudinal imperative is the assumption that the East does not make a rigorous distinction
between religion and philosophy. Basic philosophical concepts are shrouded in religious
beliefs and myths. However, it is a false conclusion that Eastern philosophies, such as Chinese
and Indians, are not sufficiently philosophical to be considered philosophy but are more
properly called “religion” or “mythology.” In the East, Philosophy that is thought, from religion
that is life in action.
Life for Oriental thinkers is a translation of thought; it is philosophy in action. Oriental
believes that life must be the extension of thought, its fruit, and its application. For Quito
(1991), it is not accurate to judge that Asia is poor because of religion. Rather, it is poor
because it cannot accept the polarization or division of theory and practice, of philosophy and
religion, of its way of thinking and its way of living. Quito suggested that only if Asia could find
a means of adjusting its vision by making religion and speculation go together, by reconciling
elusive theory with practice, then Asia, too, could become progressive like the West.
 The third attitudinal imperative is the acceptance of the validity of intuition and mysticism,
the readiness to revert to extra logical, if not illogical modes of thinking. Orientals are
perceived of transcending the limitation of the human intellect and treading on a non-man’s
land where verification of one’s premise is not possible. Oriental thought does not follow
structured mode. By its very nature, it cannot but intuitive and mystic.
The West has but to theorize and speculate; no application to life is necessary. Such are
the Platonic, Hegelian, Kantian, and Fichtean theories to which the Western philosophers
render lip service; their application to practice is still being contested by other Western
philosophers (Mitchell 2011).
As Quito (1991) remarked:
The concept of all-at-once-ness which is the hallmark of the mind of Asia is annoying to
the Western mind which cannot shake off its structural mode of thinking in terms of beginning
and end, of before and after, of then and now and later. This is no doubt applicable to
individual things and events which the Asian mind does not reject, but when the line of
reasoning and understanding is raised from the fragmentary to the total, from the piecemeal
to the whole, form the part to that all of the world of things, that Asian mind balks at the
“illogic” of applying the same principles pertaining only to the fragments to that of the Whole.

The Knower and the Known: East and West Distinction

Knower
Known Knower Known

Eastern Version Western Version

For the Eastern version, life becomes illusory if we are attached to the world
and in which we are ensnared is not what is. In terms of knowledge, our everyday
experience of the world presents us with dualistic distinctions –me/you or
subject/object. However, this is artificial; our egos fool us into seeing separation. The
distinction between knower and known is essentially artificial for the Eastern version.
 If logic is no longer able to solve a life problem, Asian mind resorts to intuition. From the very
fact that it thinks in a cyclic all-at-once-ness, it must resort to means other than the usual mental
processes applicable to the piecemeal and fragmentary. One should not therefore be surprised
at its propensity to mysticism, at its use of super-consciousness, or of the existence of a third eye
or a sixth sense. When the situation demands, it reverses the logical patterns (Mitchell 2011).

B. Filipino Thinking: From local to Global

It may sound presumptuous to speak of “Filipino Thought” for the reason that the
Philippines could not very well speak of a tradition such as that of China, India, or Greco-Roman.
Yet, for the Filipino, there has to be “Filipino Thought” or none at all. Like any other people, the
Filipino must eventually take consciousness of his own particular life and his world, his society and
his gods in the light of Truth and thereby realize his proper being (Reyes 1990). However, the
pioneering attempts to formulate a Filipino philosophy share the fate of most pioneering works:
the lack of refined tools and lack of predecessors upon whom to stand (Mercado 1992).
Nevertheless, Filipinos do have their own philosophy. This section draws out elements or
draw sketches of the general lines of Filipino philosophy. The three dimensions of Filipino thought
are: Loob, Filipino Philosophy of Time, and Bahala Na. these attitudes and values constitute the
hidden springs of the Filipino mind.
1. Loob: Holistic and Interior Dimensions
Kagandahang-loob, kabutihang-loob are terms that show sharing of one’s self to others.
For Mercado (1992), interiority manifests itself in freedom. Loob puts one in touch with his
fellow beings. Great Philippine values, in fact, are essentially interpersonal. The use of
intermediaries or go-betweens, the values of loyalty, hospitality, pakikisama (camaraderie,
conformism), and respect to authority are such values that relate to persons. In short, the
Filipino generally believes in the innate goodness of the human being. Filipino ethics has an
internal code and sanction that flow from within itself. This ethics is more constant than other
legalistic moral philosophies that are rather negative. The Filipino, who stresses duties over
rights, has plenty in common with his Oriental neighbours such as the Chinese and the Indian.
In short, the Filipino as individual looks at himself as holistic from the interior dimension
under the principle of harmony. The Filipino looks at himself as a self, as a total whole – as a
“person,” conscious of his freedom, proud of his human dignity, and sensitive to the violation
of these two (Mercado 2000).

2. Filipino Philosophy of Time

Moreover, the Filipino – whether Ilokano (Ti tao kasla kulintaba, no agtayab, ngumato,
bumaba), or Kapampangan (Bie keti ang yatu, mengari yang ruweda, mibabo, milalim, ing Dios
nung buri na) (A human being is like a bird who flies up and goes down) – proves that he
believes in the gulong ng palad (literally, “wheel of fortune.”) and hence, looks at life as a
series of ups and downs (Timbreza 1992). This philosophy of life makes Filipino an unmitigated
optimist. When the so-called wheel of life is on the downtrend, he looks to the future with
hope because life’s wheel cannot stay down forever. When one weeps, one will surely smile.
The Filipino looks upon every event, fortunate or unfortunate, as fleeting or transitory.
Life may be sorrowful, but precisely because suffering is ultimately salutary, there is hope
beyond suffering (Timbreza 1996). Floods, earthquakes, EDSA revolutions, continuous
poverty – all these were seen to be transcended hoping that one day, the sun would shine
and nature would heal itself. As a saying goes, “if one has reached the lowest ebb, there is no
way to go but up.” Time is considered cyclic. Gulong ng palad nonetheless blends well with
foreign philosophical ideas in the Asian region. It approaches karma of the Indians and yang
and yin thought of the Chinese. Pakikisama, on the other hand, is close to the Chinese and
Japanese philosophy of “living in harmony with nature.”
Often, Filipino Time is mistakenly interpreted as always delayed in the committed time of
arrival. This notion can be misleading since the Filipino farmers are early risers to go to their
 field and waste no time for work. The concept of “siesta time” or “power naps” is also
important for Filipino culture that must not be necessarily considered negative.

3. Bahala Na
The pre-Spanish Filipino people believed in a Supreme Being, Batula or Bathala. However,
in this regard, the originality of Filipino thought will probably be precisely in his personalistic
view of the universe (Timbreza 2002). In his personalistic view of the world, the Filipino seems
to signify that ultimately in life, we have to reckon not only with nature and human nature,
but also with cosmic presences or spirits, seen to be the ultimate origin to the problem of evil.
Bathala is not an impersonal entity but rather a personal being that keeps the balance in
the universe. Unlike the Indian and the Chinese, a human being can forge some personal
relationships with this deity because Bathala is endowed with personality. The Filipino puts
his entire trust in this Bathala who has evolved into Christian God (Mercado 2000).
The Filipino subconsciously accepts the bahala na attitude as a part of life. Bahala na
literally means to leave everything to God who is Bathala in the vernacular. The bahala na
philosophy puts complete trust in the Divine Providence; it contains the element of
resignation. Thus, the Filipino accepts beforehand whatever the outcome of his problem
might be (Mercado 2000).
Bahala na (come what may) nonetheless, is one of the most outstanding Filipino virtues.
It is in one aspect perceived as courage to take risks. For instance, it could be accounted that
not only poverty but also because of bahala na why millions of Filipinos are working abroad
in complicated and high-risk environment and places. From war-torn to besiege countries,
Filipinos will risk their lives just to be able to support their families back home.
Bahala na, on the other hand, is seen as fatalistic; sort of leaving everything to God or to
chance-such is the uncertainty of life. On the other hand, fatalism is universal. The will of
God/Allah, tao to the Chinese, rta to the Indians and fate in Buddhism – all signify, in one way
or another, fatalism.

4. Filipino Thought and Values: Positive and Negative Aspects

It is believed, however, that the Philippine values and system, in line with Filipino philosophy,
are in dire need to be used as positive motivation. Beyond his family group the Filipino sees
himself belonging to a small, primary group in a dyadic, pyramidal fashion. In other words, he
does not identify horizontally with his class that cuts across the whole community but
vertically with its authority figures distinguished by their wealth, power, and age. He receives
protection and other favors from above and should be ready to do the same toward his ties
below. Reciprocating debts of gratitude between coordinates and subordinates holds the
whole group together – superordinate and subordinate (Utang na loob).

However, as we consider our duty, it should not be bounded by utang na loob (indebtedness
to patrons) but to help to uplift the life not only of one’s own family (micro perspective) but of
others as well (Macro perspective). The Filipino gives great value to endurance and hard work as
means to economic self-sufficiency. This self-sufficiency refers not to individual self, but to the
family to which one owes a special debt of gratitude for having brought him life and nurtured him.

In this vein, we should stress other positive Filipino values such as bayanihan or helping others
in times of need. Bayanihan is another moving spirit of the Filipino people. Deep down in the
Filipino psyche, there exists the belief that whatever good one has done will redound to one’s
benefit because a Supreme Judge will dispense just compensation whether in this life or in the
next (Mercado 2000). In short, despite the Western imposition of dualism, Filipino philosophy
should continue to strive for harmony with nature and the absolute.

Whether and indigenous philosophy or mere sociological values, it depends on one’s

definition of philosophy. Hence, in the Philippine context, it is always so difficult to determine the
place of philosophy in the formal or institutional educational structure of the country that a
distinction is called for. Filipinos may not be able to formulate or articulate this philosophy but it
 is nonetheless evident in all their transactions and in their everyday existence. This indigenous
philosophy may be said to be an elan or a spirit that permeates the Filipino as Filipino, and without
which, he feels certain dissatisfaction.

There was a consensus that Asia, being the seat of the world’s oldest civilizations, does have
a philosophical character all on its own but that it will not surface unless local philosophers dig to
the roots of their own indigenous culture (Gripaldo 2000). The nationalist challenge is still relevant
today. In this vein, Gripaldo (2000) believes four important items to be considered:

1. Replacing colonial consciousness with a nationalist consciousness thereby doing away with
colonial and crab mentality;
2. Creation of super industrial society;
3. Utilization of education as the means of realizing the image of the future as super industrial
society and;
4. Choosing not just for one’s self but for all humanity, for the nation as a whole.

Eventually, Gripaldo argues that once economically strong, the Philippines will transcend
nationalism to internationalism. This action is one step toward globalism where economic
choices to be made are choices not for oneself but for humanity.

Guided Learning: Page 20

Group Activity: How important are “Kagandahang loob” and Kabutihang loob” to being Pinoy?
If your class or batch will sponsor a fund-raising activity for Yolanda survivors, how can you
lend a hand? Conceptualize a fund-raising concert.

C. Philosophy: Transcending and Aiming for a life of Abundance

Abundance comes from the Latin term, “abundare” (Aguilar 2010) meaning, “to
overflow nonstop.” In Aguilar’s The Gift of Abundance is out flowing than incoming. It is not
about amassing material things or people but our relationship with other, ourselves, and with
nature. Aguilar (2010) asserts that our very life belongs to God.

Abundance is not what we gather but what we scatter.

Often, abundance is equated with materialism, but it is when we raise our empty hands
and surrender, when we do not grab, when we are unattached to anything or anyone, when we
offer oneself–all these are abundance. Only if we have empty hands can we receive full
blessings.

Abundance is not what we keep but what we give away.

To live an abundant life, one must pursue one’s desires and inner self. One must go after
what fulfils, before making more money. It is truly paradoxical because to be able to have, we
must first let go. To be able to acquire, we must first control ourselves.
Aguilar (2010) believes that to be abundant, we must learn to control our appetites and
desire, for they have impact on other people. Harsh words, pollutions, and eating unhealthy
foods are some examples where our choices influence or affect not only ourselves but others as
well. In other words, there is karma in our thoughts, words, and actions.
Abundance is not what we hold but what we share.
Undoubtedly, money counts in our globalized society. However, Aguilar (2010) reminds
us that money should not matter much, for every moment is a blessing, even if one does not
have money. Abundance comes to the one who has money and heart, money and values,
money and relationships, money and deeper happiness. The author agrees with Aguilar’s claim
that abundance is more than our ambitions; there are more precious things such as people that
matter.
 When the author was deciding in pursuing her PhD, she realized that with her decision,
she may not necessarily become rich. However, with her genuine interest in the course, she
decided to finish the course. Blessings came from her choice. She was able to write two books;
one regarding philosophy and the other on globalization and technology. Further, she was able
to share her genuine love and interest to teaching and philosophy with others.

Abundance is a choice.
The author also realized that in pursuing her dreams, there are people who can be
negative regarding her efforts and successes. Negative thoughts, emotions, and people should
be avoided. As we aspire for our dreams, we should try our best to be positive in our thoughts,
motives, and efforts. A friend once said that when we look down, we only see our misfortunes
but when we look up, we realize that we are more fortunate than others.
Abundance is more of an effort of the heart than mind alone (Aguilar 2010). For Aguilar,
to achieve, one must commit. However, Aguilar theorizes that only the heart can commit.
Abundance therefore is a choice which translates to commitment, determination, and
perseverance.
The secret by Rhonda Byrne offers a similar idea, which claims that we have our dreams,
and regardless of who we are, the universe will answer our wishes. According to “The Secret,”
our dreams come true because we attract them. We achieve our dreams if we cooperate with
the Power of Dream Himself or God. God will grant our wishes in his due time.

Abundance is to evolve into a higher being.

It becomes clear t that the concept of abundance covers both external and internal life.
We cannot truly live without material considerations, but externals are not all there are; values,
for instance, matter.
Thus, to live in abundance means evolving to a higher being in following one’s mission; a
deliberate or conscious desire to act upon what can make us and others happy. As we are
bombarded by negative people and moods, it becomes our choice to adopt and abundant
disposition.

Guided Learning:

Tracking and analysing your purpose

Draw a timeline. This exercise aims to examine the wackiest and worst times; in search of the
meaning behind your life. This can help you identify more skilfully the kinds of activities, conditions,
locations, and people combinations where your purpose is well served and where it is abused.
Consider your childhood, formal education experiences, and others. During these times, you
experienced very poor results and very strong dissatisfaction. If you learn something new about
your purpose, make a note of it.

Page 23

1.4. Philosophical Reflections

This section will emphasize the students’ application of reflection based on a holistic
perspective. Doing a philosophical reflections based on a concrete situation from a holistic perspective
could be done through debate, discussions, essays, and other activities. These reflections will further
develop the analytical skills of students, especially for evaluating arguments.

Consider the writing assignment in the Proposed Activities below. Students should always
consider an agreeable thesis. Support evidence regarding critical claim/s. They should express reasons in
support of a claim/s (e.g., why an act is morally “right” or “wrong”).

Proposed Activities
 1. Choose any topic for your writing assignment
a. Define philosophy. Explain what is unique about philosophical thought.
b. Do you think philosophy is important in the age of globalization? Why or why not?
c. As a student, how can you live a life of abundance? Give examples.

2. Photo Essay
Take pictures regarding the events of Earth Hour, an hour where cities and
landmarks turn off their lights. Write insights on your photos regarding this question:
What are the implications of Earth Hour to being interconnected in global society?

LESSON TWO

CHAPTER 2

Methods of Philosophizing

2.1 Introduction: Methods of Philosophizing

In the last chapter, the meaning and process of doing philosophy, emphasizing
the importance of holism, as well as learning how to construct philosophical essays,
were introduced. This chapter small demonstrate the various ways of doing philosophy.
In search for wisdom, the learner must evaluate arguments and ways of expressing
one’s beliefs, emotions, and opinions.

This section shall introduce methods or ways of looking at truth and what will be
considered as mere “opinions”. Philosophizing is to think or express oneself in a
philosophical manner. It consider or discusses (matter) from a philosophical standpoint.
In phenomenology, truth based on the person’s consciousness; while existentialism,
truth based in exercising choices and personal freedom; on postmodernism, it is
accepted that truth is not absolute, (i.e., cultural); and in logic, truth is based on
reasoning and critical thinking.

A. Phenomenology: On consciousness

Edmund Husserl founded phenomenology, which is essentially a philosophical

method. This focuses on careful inspection and description of phenomena or
appearances, defined as any object of conscious experience, that is, that which we are
conscious of (Johnston 2006). In Husserl’s Logical Investigations, he argued against
psychologism; the thesis that truth is dependent on the peculiarities of the human mind,
and that philosophy is reducible to psychology. In other words, it was an argument
against the very thesis that he himself had argued in his first book on the philosophy of
arithmetic. His continuing effort was dedicated to developing a method fo finding and
guaranteeing the truth-that method was phenomenology.

The word “phenomenon” comes directly from Greek (phainómenon), meaning

“appearance”. Immanuel Kant, German philosopher, had used the same word to refer
to the world of our experience. Husserl intends a similar meaning except for the crucial
fact that for him, it does not imply a contrast between the appearance and some
underlying reality, between the phenomenon and a “noumenon” or “thing-in-itself”.
That, according to Husserl, is where the trouble starts, when one supposes that what
one experiences is not or might not be the truth (Solomon & Higgins 2010).

Phenomenology is the specific study of the essential structures of consciousness.

By describing those structures, Husserl believe that we can find certainly, which
philosophy has always sought. This process entails a method or a series of continuously
revised methods-for taking up a particularly phenomenological standpoint. “Bracketing
out” everything that is not essential, thereby understanding the basic rules or
constitutive processes through which consciousness does its work of knowing the world.

Husserl phenomenology is the thesis that consciousness is the intentional. Every

act of consciousness is directed at some object or another, possibly a material object or
an “ideal” object (e.g., mathematics). The phenomenologist can distinguish and describe
the nature of the intentional acts of consciousness and the intentional objects of
consciousness, which we are defined through the content of consciousness and
accordingly, the object of consciousness without any particular commitment to the
actuality or existence of that object. Thus, one can describe the content of a dream in
much the same terms that one describes the view from a television or a scene from a
novel.

The inspection and description are supposed to be effected without any

presuppositions, including any as to whether such objects of consciousness are “real” or
correspond to something “external”, or to what their causes or consequences may be.
This method uncovers the essential structures of experience and its objects. The sorts of
experience s and phenomena that phenomenologist have sought to describe are highly
varied. For instance, time consciousness, mathematics, and logic; perception and
experience of the social world; our experience of our own bodies; and moral, aesthetics,
and religious experiences (Solomon and Higgins 2010).

The phenomenological standpoint is achieved through a series of

phenomenological “reductions “that eliminate certain aspects of our experience from
considerations. Husserl formulates several of these and their emphasis shifts
throughout his career.

1. The first and best known is the epoche or “suspension” that he describes in Ideas:
General Introduction of Pure Phenomenology, in which the phenomenologist
“brackets” all questions of truth or reality and simply describes the contents of
consciousness (Husserl’s ideas were borrowed from early Skeptics and Descartes).

2. The second reduction eliminates the merely empirical contents of consciousness and
focuses instead on the essential features, the meaning of consciousness. Thus,
Husserl defends a notion of intuition that differs from and is more specialized than
the ordinary notion of “experience”. Some intuitions are eidetic, that is, they reveal
necessary truths, not just the contingencies of the natural world. These are the
essence of phenomenology.

In sum, what interest the phenomenologists are the contents of consciousness,

not on things of the natural would as such. In Ideas, Husserl distinguishes between the
natural and the phenomenological standpoint. The former is our ordinary everyday
viewpoint an the ordinary stance of the natural sciences, describing things and the
states of affairs. The latter is the special viewpoint achieved by the phenomenologist, as
he or she focuses not on things but our consciousness of things (Solomon and Higgins
2010).

B. Existentialism: On freedom
One’s search for truth might be based on one’s attitude or outlook. Take for
instance, existentialism. Unlike phenomenology, existentialism is not primarily a
philosophical method. Neither is it exactly set of doctrines but more of an outlook or
attitude supported by diverse doctrines centered on certain common themes.

These themes include:

 the human condition or the relation of the individual to the world;

 the human response to that condition;
 being especially the difference between the being of person (which is “existence”)
and the being of other kinds of things;
 human freedom;
 the significance (and unavoidability) of choice and decision in the absence of
certainly and;
 the concreteness and subjectivity of life as lived, against abstractions and false
objectifications.

If we may generalize for just a moment, we might suggest that existentialists

share `concern for the individual and personal responsibility (Chambers 2001).
Existentialism is often thought to be antireligious; nevertheless, there has been a strong
current of Christian existentialism, beginning with 19th century Danish philosopher
Kierkegaard. As the first existentialist, Kierkegaard instead that the authentic self was
the personally chosen self as opposed to public or “herd” identity. Nietzsche took this
view of opposition of the genuine individual versus the public “herd” identity. Both
Kierkegaard and Nietzsche influence Heidegger whose conception of oneness came to
dominate contemporary existentialist thought.

Existentialism’s relationship to a phenomenology is a matter of some

controversy. However, some philosophers, such as Jean-Paul Sartre have employed
phenomenological methods to arrive at or support their specific variations on existential
themes.

Our search for truth by means of critical thinking is a rational choice.

Existentialism, with Sartre, a French philosopher, emphasizes the importance of free
individual choice regardless of the power of other people to influence and coerce our
desires, beliefs, and decisions. Sartre argued that consciousness (being-for-itself) is such
that is, always free to choose (though not free to choose) and free to “negate” (or
reject) the given features of the world. One is never free of one’s “situation”, Sartre tells
us, but one is always free to “negate” that situation and to (try to) change it. To be
human, to be conscious, is to be free to imagine, free to choose, and responsible for
one’s life (Solomon & Higgins 2010).

One may be shy or assertive, but such behavior is always a choice and one can
always resolve to change. One can be Asian or American, but it is an open question how
one will make of oneself, how these will be made into handicaps or an advantage,
 become challenges to be overcome, or excuses doing nothing. Sartre’s philosophy
would have a particular poignance in the midst of the horrors of war and occupation.
The positive notion of authenticity (“good faith”) remained a problem for Sartre,
however, and one of the continuing criticisms of existentialism is the obscurity and the
seeming elusiveness of the ideal of authenticity.

The notion of authenticity is not new. Socrates already concerned himself with
the authenticity of the self-the genuineness of his thoughts and actions, “the good of his
soul”. He sought not mere opinions but knowledge, self-knowledge in particular, and
prescribed not just right action but virtue, being “true to oneself”. St. Augustine was
concerned with spiritual nature of the “true” self as opposed to the inauthentic
demands of desire and the body. Jean-Jacques Rousseau was adamant about the
essential goodness of the “natural” self in contrast to the “corruption” imposed by
society (Braid & Kaufmann 1997).

Although existentialism has been on the wan since 1960s, it has enjoyed
exceptional prominence, even popularity, for a philosophical movement, in part because
of its literary expressions by writers such as Sartre, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir,
and Gabriel Marcel.

C. Postmodernism: On Cultures
“Postmodernism” has come into vogue as the name for a rather diffuse family of
ideas and trends that in significant respect rejects, challenges, or aims to supersede
“modernity”; the convictions, aspirations, and pretensions of modern Western thought
and culture since the Enlightenment, Postmodern is not a philosophy. It is at best a
holding pattern, perhaps a cry of despair. It rightly talks about world philosophy, the
philosophy of many cultures, but such talk is not a philosophy either (Shields 2012)

For instance, reality cannot be known nor described objectively by

postmodernists. The American philosopher Richard Rorty, notably developing themes
from pragmatism and certain quarters of analytic philosophy and bringing these
together with Continental themes, branch of knowledge can find secure foundations or
achieve genuine representation of reality.

Postmodernists believe that humanity should come at truth beyond the rational
to the non-rational elements of human nature, including the spiritual. Postmodernist
consider that to arrive at truth, humanity should realize the limits of reason and
objectivism. Beyond exalting individual analysis of truth, postmodernists value our
existence in the world and in relation to it.

D. Analytic Tradition
“Can language objectively describe truth?”. For the philosophers of this tradition,
language cannot objectively describe truth. For Ludwig Wittgenstein, an analytic
philosopher, language is socially conditioned. We understand the world solely in terms
of our language games-that is, our linguistic, social constructs. Truth, as we perceive it,
is itself socially constructed.
 Analytic philosophy is the conviction that to some significant degree,
philosophical problems, puzzles, and errors are rooted in language and can be solved or
avoided by a sound understanding of language and careful attention to its workings.
“Analysis” refers to a method; owing a great deal to the pioneers, Bertrand Russell, G.E.
Wittgenstein, and J.L. Austin.

Critics are apt to point these concerns-they might say-this fixation with language
and logic as one aspect of the trivialization of philosophy with which they charge the
analytic movement. In any case, the last two to three decades have seen, on the one
hand, increased self-searching as to the limitations of the analytic approach and more
efforts to apply it to such deeper questions (Shields 2012)

E. Logic and Critical Thinking: Tools in Reasoning

Logic is centered in the analysis and construction of arguments. In the first
chapter, logic is discussed as one of its main branches. Logic and critical thinking serve as
paths to freedom from half-truths and deceptions. Critical thinking is distinguishing facts
and opinions or personal feelings. In making rational choices, first, we suspend beliefs and
judgement until all facts have been gathered and considered

Though facts are important, critical thinking also takes into consideration cultural
systems, values, and beliefs. Critical thinking helps us uncover bias and prejudice and
open to new ideas not necessarily in agreement with previous thought.

In general, there are two basic types of reasoning: deductive and inductive.
Inductive reasoning is based from observations in order to make generalizations. This
reasoning is often applied in prediction, forecasting, or behavior. Deductive reasoning
draws conclusion from usually one broad judgement or definition and one more specific
assertion, often an inference. Take for instance:

All philosophers are wise (Major premise)

Confucius is a philosopher (Minor premise)

Therefore, Confucius is wise. (Conclusion)

Validity and Soundness of an Argument

Based on the previous example (or syllogism), if the two premises are
constructed logically, then the conclusion must follow logically, the deductive argument
is valid. This does not necessarily mean that the conclusion is true or false. Validity
comes from a logical conclusion based on logically constructed premises (Reed 2010).

Strength of an Argument
On the other hand, inductive arguments cannot prove if the premises are true
which will also determine the truth of the conclusion. Inductive reasoning proves only
probable support to the conclusion. An inductive argument that succeeds in providing
such probable support is a strong argument. While an inductive argument that fails to
provide such support is weak, a strong with true premises is said to be cogent.
 For example:

Jay: Do you think Congressman will be re-elected?

Yna: I doubt it. His district has become more conservative in recent years. Also,
63% of the registered voters in his district are in the Opposition.

This argument is both a statistical argument and a predictive argument, which

are two common patterns of inductive reasoning. Also, the conclusion does not follow
necessarily from the premises.

Fallacies
On the other, a fallacy is a defect in an argument other than its having false
premises. To defect fallacies, it is required to examine the argument’s content. Here are
some of the usually committed errors in reasoning and thus, coming up with false
conclusion and worse, distorting the truth.

a. Appeal to pity (Argumentum ad misericordiam)

A specific kind of appeal to emotion in which someone tries to win support for an
argument or idea by exploring his or her opponent’s feelings of pity or guilt.

b. Appeal to ignorance (Argumentum ad ignorantiam)

Whatever has not been proved false must be true, vice versa.

c. Equivocation
This is logical chain of reasoning of a term or a word several times, but giving the
particular word a different meaning each time. Example: Human beings have hands.
He is drinking from the pitcher of water; he is a baseball pitcher.

d. Composition
This infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some
part of the whole. The reverse of this fallacy is division.

e. Division
One reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be true of all or some
of its parts.

f. Against the Person (Argumentum ad hominem)

This fallacy attempts to link the validity of premise to a characteristic or belief of the
person advocating the premise. However, in some instances, questions of personal
conduct, character motivates, etc., are legitimate if relevant to the issue.

g. Appeal to Force (Argumentum ad baculum)

An argument where force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as a justification
for a conclusion.
 h. Appeal to the people (Argumentum ad populum)
An argument that appeals or exploits people’s vanities, desire for esteem, and
anchoring on popularity. Consider this illustration:

i. False cause (post hoc)

Since that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one.
This fallacy is also referred to as coincidental correlation, or correlation not
causation. This cartoon is an example:

j. Hasty generalization
One commits errors if one reaches an inductive generalization based on insufficient
evidence. This fallacy is commonly based on a broad conclusion upon the statistics of
a survey of a small group that fails to sufficiently represent the whole population.

k. Begging the question (petitio principli)

This is the type of fallacy in which the proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly
or explicitly in the premise.

2.2. Analyze Situations that Show the Difference between Opinion and Truth

Applying Logic and Fallacies in Determining Truth from Opinion:

At the beginning of the Tractatus, Ludwig Wittgenstein speaks of the picture that
that we can form of reality, and in which, by way of a model, represent the existence
and non-existence of state of affairs. Tractatus identifies the relationship between
language and reality and to define the limits of science. It is recognized as a significant
philosophical work of the twentieth century. It is in the possibility of agreeing or
disagreeing with reality, thus being true or false, that the meaning of the picture lies.
 The same thoughts occur later when Wittgenstein describes spoken and written
language, that is, propositions, as one of these pictures and defines its meaning in terms
of its capacity for being true or false. The limits of what can be said, therefore, are
defined by the logical rules. The limits of my language mean the limit of my world. The
logic of language shows how elements fit states of affairs in wider constellation can be
linked together; we can decide on the basis of this logic.

Moreover, Wittgenstein argues that the world consists of states of affairs, not of
things. These constellations can be reproduced in a picture, rather as the course of events
in a car accident for example, might e retraced in a court of law by the use of models. It
is a case of projection in a picture, says Wittgenstein also compares the picture and reality
with the score and music. Everyday language reproduces actual situations but there are
extremely complicated and often opaque when seen through an impure use of words.

Over the years, in the author’s view, the purpose of news reporting and
journalism had irrevocably changed. If the purpose of a sentence is to inform or state a
fact, some of its words must refer to things, events or properties. In other words, some
of its words have cognitive meaning: However, words also have emotive meaning—that
is, they also may have emotive whether positive or negative overtones. For the author,
United States war on “terror” had produced many emotively charged such as “terrorist”,
“axis of evil” “band of zealots”. And “Either you are with us or against us. Similarly,
“good”, “bad”, are “democracy”, “strong republic”, “good governance”, “civil society”,
“peace” and “love”. While “Politicians” and “whisky” tend to have mixed emotive
meaning: “pencil”, “river”, and “run” are neutral terms.

Con artists take advantage of the emotive side of language in two very important
ways. First, they use emotive meaning masked as cognitive meaning to whip up
emotions so that reason gets overlooked. Secondly, they use emotively neutral terms of
euphemisms to dull the force of what they say and, thus, make acceptable what
otherwise might not be. The fallacy of the use of emotional words of happens when one
carefully employs words and images that are heavy with emotional connotations in
order to secure the sympathies of others. In most political speeches by politicians and
activists, word and symbols have been invested with rich meanings and can easily
arouse the emotions and sympathies of the listeners, viewers, and readers.

Ignorance can be cloaked in a false aura of authority. This fact casts serious
doubt on the general competence of newsmagazine writers who talk so flippantly on
technical matters. Hand-outs for instance are fed to news reporters by government
agencies and others who speak English. This is why most news journals or news report
the same details. Some corresponds are also culturally incompetent who are not aware
of the language or customs of the countries that they are spent (Copi & Cohen 2010).

2.3 Realize the Methods of Philosophy that Lead to Wisdom and Truth
For Double (1999), although philosophy is an organized body of knowledge, the
subject matter of philosophy is questions, which have three major characteristics:

1. Philosophical question have answers, but the answers remain in dispute.

2. Philosophical questions cannot be settled by science, common sense, or faith.
3. Philosophical questions are of perennial intellectual interest to human beings
 The methodology or method that philosophers to use to address philosophical
questions is critical thinking. Critical thinking is the careful, reflective, rational, and
systematic approach to questions of very general interest. Critical thinking means
understanding of philosophy and refraining from merely giving claims but through careful
thought, one reasons through argumentations. One tries to become a “philosopher”
because one possesses and cherishes above the rest of humanity the “love of wisdom”
which is part of all human nature and because one more reflectively and critically brings to
light and examines the largest and widest implications of the life of all human beings.

For Maboloc and Pascua (2008), critical thinking is a lifelong process of self-
assessment that further consists of:

 Defining, analyzing, and devising solutions;

 Arriving at reasonable and informed conclusions;
 Applying understanding and knowledge to new and different problems;
 Willingness to change one point of view;
 Continually examining and re-examining ideas; and
 Willingness to say “i don’t know”.
The attributes of critical thinker include:

 Looks for evidence to support assumption and beliefs

 Adjust opinions
 Looks for proof
 Examines problem
 Rejects irrelevant and incorrect information

If one accepts one’s limits or has the courage to say “i don’t know”, then it
becomes an honest appraisal of say, solving a problem. Only if one is able to be willing
to change one’s point of view based on arising evidence and continually re-examining
ideas, can more holistic perspective of truth be arrived at.

2.4 Evaluate Opinions

As he discussed in the previous sections, critical thinking and logic are important
tools to distinguish facts from opinions. An option can be a belief or judgement that
rests on grounds insufficient to produce complete certainly. It is a personal view,
attitude, or appraisal or personal feelings. Asking relevant questions, assessing
arguments and statements, looking for evidence to support assumption and beliefs, and
deciding rationally what to believe or not are important to evaluate opinions.

Summary
We are human beings possessed with reason. We use it when we make decisions
or when we try to influence the decisions of others or when we are engaged in an
argument or debate. Indeed, this lesson presented the general principles involved in
reasoning to arrive at truth. Though emotions can be more persuasive, in the long run,
correct reasoning will prove to be most solid foundation.

Students should not take the methods of philosophizing for granted. For instance
the study logic develops a habit of clear and critical thinking. It helps, determine illogical
reasoning or fallacious ones. It builds self-confidence. Finally, through logic and other
 methods of reasoning, students are trained of various techniques of assumptions and
implications.

CHAPTER THREE - LESSON 3

3. Introduction: transcendence in the Global Age

Is life in our contemporary world dictated by technology? Are our self-taken pictures or selfies
any indication that we are not a zombie? Are we pushing the responsibility for our existence on to
society, instead of facing the question of who we are? According to Thomas Merton (1048), a Trappist
monk, there is no other way for us to find who we are than by finding in ourselves the divine images. We
have to struggle to regain spontaneous and vital awareness of our own spirituality. Merton talks about a
continual movement away from inner and outer idols and toward union with the desert God of his faith.

In the past, most high school students have no choice to read or encounter philosophical tests.
While college students who were asked regarding the concert of “transcendence” will usually answer: I
cannot believe in invisible existence. To see is to believe. However, there are still majority of college
students who have strong convictions concerning faith, that which transcend what is seen or touched by
bodily senses.

In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the basic
ground concept from the world’s literal meaning (from Latin), of cultural stages. Appreciating art has
transcendent existence. Knowledge and law will require transcendence. Scientific knowledge and laws
are transcending simple, phenomenal things to abstract. The fact that we have a soul that is capable of
coming to life and experiencing profound and hidden values, which the flesh and its senses can never be
discover alone. This spirituality in us is identified with the divine image in our soul.

Though there are many aspects of transcendence, this lesson will cover three main spiritual
philosophies, namely, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Christianity.

3.1 The human person as an embodied spirit

In this section, the learner is expected to understand the human person as an embodied spirit as
well as distinguish his/her own limitations and the possibilities of his/her transcendence.

A. Hinduism
 The Aum

Brahman is self-hood
At the heart of Hinduism lies the idea of human beings’ quest for absolute truth, so that one’s
soul and the Brahman or atman (absolute soul) might become one. For the Indians, God first created
sound and the universe arose from it. As the most sacred sound, the Aum Om) is the root of the
universe and everything that exists and it continues to hold everything together.

According to Hinduism, human beings have a dual nature: one is the spiritual and immortal
essence (soul); the other is empirical life and character. Between the two natures, however, it is
maintained that is the soul that is ultimately real. The existence of the body, in fact, is considered as
nothing more than an illusion and even an obstacle to an individual’s realization of one real’s real self.

Hindus generally believe that the soul is eternal but is bound by the law of karma (action) to the
world of matter, which it can escape only after spiritual progress through an endless series of births.
God allots rewards and punishment to all beings according to their karma (Puligandla 1997). Similar to a
prisoner enclosed within the wall of his prison, a human being’s soul can be said to be temporarily
encased in his body. For the reason, humanity’s basic goal in life is the liberation (moksha) of spirit (jiva).

Hinduism holds that humanity’s life is a continuous cycle (samsara). While it is the spirit is
neither born nor does it die, the body, on the other hand, goes through a transmigratory series of birth
and death. Transmigration or metempsychosis is a doctrine that adheres to the belief that a person’s
soul passes into some other creature, human, or animal. If the person has led a good life, the soul goes
upward the scale. The soul of an evil person, on the other hand, may pass into the body of an animal.

There will be no end to the cycle unless the individual exerts real efforts to break away or
liberate one’s spirit from the monotonous cycle. Different Hindu schools and sects have different views
about the method of release (moksha) from this transmigration.

Ultimate liberation, that is, freedom from rebirth, is achieved he moment the individuals attains
that stage of life emancipation, from which inevitably arise a total realization by the individual
realization by the individual of spiritual nature as well as the transient character of the body. Moksha
thus, is an enlightened state where in one attains ones true selfhood and finds oneself one with one ,
the ultimate reality, the All-Comprehensive Reality: Brahman. Ultimate moksha leads the spirit out of
the monotonous cycle of life and death (samsara) to a state of “nothingness” (i.e., in the content of
physical being) where the bliss of being one with Brahman compensates for all the sufferings the
individual underwent in his erstwhile existence in the physical world 9andres 1994).

Brahman
Metempsychosis is a doctrine that adheres to the belief that a person’s soul passes into some
other creature, human, or animal. If the person has led a good life, the soul goes upward the scale. The
soul of an evil person, on the other hand, may pass into the body of an animal.

True knowledge (vidya) consist an understanding and realization of the individual’s real self
(atman) as opposed to lower knowledge that is limited to an interpretation of reality based solely on the
data offered by sense experience.an individual by seriously understanding oneself, comes to realize the
dictates of karma that point the way toward moral progress and perfection. Thus, for Hinduism, one’s
whole duty is to achieve self-knowledge in order to achieve self-annihilation and absorption into the
great self.

In sum, Hinduism is one of the oldest eastern traditions, practice by hundreds of millions of
people for about 5,000 years (Velasquez 1999). To know more about this topic , students are
encouraged to read Bhagavad-Gita, the song of the lord, which is a part of the great epic Mahabharata
that introduces principal concept of Hinduism. Bhagavad-Gita also consists of beautiful poetry.
 One concept common to all expressions of Hinduism is the oneness of reality. This oneness is the
absolute, or Brahman, which the mind can never fully grasp or express in words. Only Brahman is real;
everything else is illusory manifestation of it. The concept of atman, or no self, is a correlative belief.
This means that the “I” or the self is an illusion, for each true self is one with Brahman. When we realize
this unity with the absolute, we realize our true destiny.

Also common all Hindu thought are the four primary values. in order of increasing importance,
they may be roughly translated as wealth, pleasure, duty, and enlightenment. Wealth and pleasure are
worldly values, but when kept in perspective they are good and desirable. the spiritual value of duty, or
righteousness, refers to patience, sincerity, fairness, love, honesty, and similar virtues. The spiritual
value, though, is enlightenment, by which one is illuminated and liberated and most importantly, find
release from the wheel of existence. Repeated existence is the destiny of those who do not achieve
enlightenment.

Finally, to understand enlightenment, one must understand the law of karma, the law of sowing
and reaping. All of us, through what we do or not do, supposedly determine our destiny. The wheel of
existence turns until we achieve enlightenment, after which we are released from this series f rebirth.

After understanding Hinduism, the next section proceeds with another major eastern tradition
that is not based strictly on the Upanishads and in some cases, even ran counter to its teachings. The
tenets of Buddhism are definitely one of the most widespread dharsanas (school of thought). Despite its
origin, Buddhism is Universalist in character. It is not preached to any one single caste or people but to
everybody. Whenever it has spread, Buddhism has adapted itself t its environment with a generous
flexibility.

In its spread over Asia, India itself largely absorbed it into Hinduism. it exists side by side with
Taoism in china and Shintoism in japan. In Tibet, it was greatly altered into a faith called Lamaism. It was
practiced in its purest form in Burma and Ceylon.

B. Buddhism: from tears to enlightenment

Introduction to Buddhism
Another major eastern tradition is Buddhism, contained in the teaching of its founder, Siddhartha
Gautama or the Buddha. Out of the life experience and teaching highborn prince Gautama of the Sakya
clan in the kingdom of Magadha, who lived from 560 to 477 B.C., sprang the religious philosophy we
know as Buddhism. Turning away from Hindu polytheism and place pleasures, Gautama began searching
for answer to the riddle of life’s sufferings, disease, old age, and death. He explored Brahminic
philosophies, and then tried the rigors of asceticism, but all to no avail. Finally, while resting and
meditating in a grove of trees, he came to a clear realization that the solution lays in his own minds
(puligandla 1997).

From here on, Gautama’s life was devoted to sharing his “dharma” or Law of Salvation-a simple
presentation of the gospel of inner cultivation of right spiritual attitudes, coupled with a self-imposed
discipline whereby bodily desires would be channelled in the right directions. Hi omitted any appeal to
gods as currently conceived; definitely rejected philosophical speculations; and spurned all recourse to
ancient scriptures, outmoded rituals, or priestly incantations. Convinced that the of escape from pain
and misery lay in the transformation of one’s mind and that liberation could come only with a sloughing
off of all vain clinging to the things of this life, Buddha set about sharing his discovery with anyone who
listen to him.

Reduced to its simplest form, teaching of Buddha has been set forth traditionally in the “four
noble truths” leading to the “eightfold path” to perfect character or arhatship, which in turn gave
assurance of entrance into nirvana at death. In the four noble truths, Gautama taught: (1) life is full of
suffering; (2) suffering is caused by passionate desires, lust, cravings; (3) only as these are obliterated,
will suffering cease; (4) such eradication of desire may be accomplished only by the following the
eightfold path of earnest endeavor.

Briefly, these eight steps are: (1) right belief in and acceptance of the “fourfold truth”;(2)right
aspiration for one’s self and for others;(3) right speech that harms no one; (4)right conduct, motivated
by goodwill toward all human beings; (5) right means of livelihood, or earning one’s living by honorable
means; (6)right endeavor, or effort to direct one’s energies toward wise ends;(7) right mindfulness in
choosing topics for thought; and (8)right meditation, or concentration to the point of complete
absorption in mystic ecstasy. For Velasquez (1999), “item 1 and enjoin us to develop wisdom, item 3-5
urge us to practice virtue and avoid vice, and items 6-8 tell us to practice meditation. We do this
essentially by following three short axioms: cease to do evil, learn to d good, and purify your own mind”.

The way to salvation, in other words, lies through self-abnegation, rigid discipline of mind and
body, a consuming love for all living creatures, and the final achievement of that state of consciousness
which marks an individual’s full preparation for entering the nirvana (enlightened wisdom) of complete
selflessness. In this state, the effects of the law f cause and effect (karma) are overcome; the cycle of
rebirth is broken; and one may rest in the calm assurance of having attained a heavenly bliss that will
stretch into all eternity.

Before long, the Buddha found himself surrounded by an increasing number of adherents-men
like himself, willing t leave the comforts of home, don the robe of a monk and, with staff in one hand
and begging bowl into the other, follow their leader as wandering mendicants. These were later
organized into the Sangha, or order f monks and later of nuns also. With single-hearted purpose, this
brotherhood of believers dedicated itself to a life of self-purification, in total loyalty to the Buddha, the
dharma, and the sangha. It likewise committed itself to a life of poverty whose sole aim was the
“evangelization” of India through their dissemination of the doctrine of the middle way between
extreme asceticism and self-indulgence (pulingandla 2007).

At first, the order lived under the following 10 simple rules. As time went on, many more rules
were embodied in the Buddhist book of monastic discipline. The following precepts represent the first
step that one can take after reading, hearing, and pondering Buddhist teaching and establishing some
confidence in it. However, it is important not to view these precepts as a set of rules, for Buddhism
stresses the cultivation of wisdom and discernment (Velasquez 1999). In other words, blind confidence
to the precepts is not encouraged.

1. refrain from destroying life;

2. refrain from taking what is not given;
3. refrain from a misuse f the senses;
4. refrain from wrong speech(do not lie or deceive);and
5. refrain from taking drugs or drinks that tend to cloud the mind(abstain
from intoxicants; eat moderately and not after noon; do not look on at
dancing, singing, or dramatic spectacles; do not affect the use of
garlands, scent, or ornaments; do not use high or broad beds; and do
not accept gold or silver.
The Buddhist practices the four states of sublime condition: love, sorrow of others, joy in the joy
of others and equanimity as regards one’s own joy and sorrows. Buddhism, similar to Hinduism and
other religions, is a matter of practice.

A certain unity prevailed in the order and in the interpretations given to the dharma during the
Buddha’s lifetime. However, after his death, a need was felt for putting the sayings of Buddha into
writing, or at least for getting them fixed in the oral tradition. About 477 B.C., about 500 disciples
gathered in the First Council at Rajagaha and together recited and chanted the precepts now found in
the Tripiktaka.
 A century later, in the Second Council at Vesali, in ca.383 or 377 B.C., it was found desirable to
make changes to ease the burden of Buddhist discipline. During king Ashoka’s time, about 273 B..,
Buddhism flourished despite sectarian differences. In the third council in 245 B.C., a serious effort was
made to reform and reorganize the order, after which the more ardent Buddhists embarked upon a
program of expansion. Under ashoka’s royal patronage, missionaries were sent south to Ceylon and
eastward to Burma, Siam (Thailand), bearing the orthodox message of original Buddhism (ramos2010).

We close this section by noting that the freedom of thought and intellectual independence of
Buddhism are unique in the history of religions. The Buddha insisted that no one accepts his teaching
merely out of reverence for him, but that each human being subject the teaching to rigorous reflection
and analysis and accepts it only after all doubts and perplexities are overcome (puligandla 2007). The
subsequent discussions historically present the western thinking: the readers shall be acquainted with
some key notions that have helped in the formation of the westerners’ understanding of one’s self and
the world

Guide Learning

Dyadic discussion

1. Relate the fund-raising activity to the compassion of the Buddha.

2. Based on the eightfold path, which is most important for you to cultivate
in your life and present.
3. Read lines from the Mahabharata pointing to the essence of the
Brahman. After reading, reflect or share to your partner the ideas
accumulated from the article.

The Biblical God and Humanity

In this section, new body of philosophical writings that sets forth new problems is discussed. In
the 5th century, Augustine’s writing is considered to be the most influential in the early medieval period.
This section looks at the reasonableness of belief in God’s existence. In doing so, we shall treat the
statement “God exists” as a hypothesis, which we call the theistic hypothesis. This means we shall ask
whether or not the existence of God provides the best explanation of the existence of the world, as we
know it.

Religious people definitely do not treat God’s existence as a hypothesis, for God is a constant
presence, rather than a being whose existence is accepted as the best explanation of available evidence.
For the biblical writers, proving God’s existence would be as pointless as trying to prove the existence of
the air we breathe. The religious problem reflected in the Old Testament narrative is not atheism but
polytheism: not the denial of God but the worship of too many gods. Likewise, in the New Testament,
the reality of God is unquestioned due to the conviction that in Jesus of Nazareth the eternal God
became flesh and dwelt among human beings.

In its earliest missionary endeavors, Christian directed their preaching to Jews who accepted the
reality of God. It was only later when Christian missionaries confronted a variety of naturalistic
philosophy that they felt the need to argue philosophically for the existence of God. However, even
then, the task was not considered too formidable for the basic structure of the arguments.

For Augustine (354-430 CE) philosophy is amor sapiential, the love of wisdom; its aim is to
produce happiness. However, for Augustine wisdom is not just an abstract logical constructions; but it is
substantially existence as the Divine Logos. Hence, philosophy is the love of God; it is then, religious.
Teachings of Christianity are based on the love of God, which Augustine’s, Aquinas, and Anseim’s
arguments are basically rooted.
 For Augustine, Christianity, as presenting the full revelation of the true God, is the only full and
true philosophy. However, we can love only that which we know. When comes this knowledge of God?
It begins with faith and is made perfect by understanding. All knowledge leads to God, so that faith
supplements and enlightens reason that it may proceed to ever richer and fuller understanding. Indeed,
without this enlightenment of faith, reason invariably sooner or later, goes astray.

It should be taken a humble acceptance of the fact that human beings alone, without God, are
bound to fail. As stated in John 15:5, I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in
you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me, you can do nothing. Further, to quote Psalms 4: The
thoughts are very deep! The dull man cannot know. The stupid cannot understand this.

We must first of all prove that truth is attainable by reason. Does not all knowledge come from
sensation, and does not the sense constantly deceive us? For St. Augustine, even if grant that the
senses yield no certainty in themselves so that we can always doubt their reports, one thing we cannot
doubt, and that is the fact that we doubt. Here, then, is absolute certainty. Now, if we doubt, we are and
as doubting we must be Living and rational beings. We have then established with certainty three grades
or levels of existence; mere being, living being, rational being. This certainty has been established not by
turning outward through sensation to the external world but by turning inward to the soul itself.

The lowest form of knowledge is that of sensation yet as we ascend higher to knowledge of rational
principles. It is the will which directs the mind eye to truth, first invading to the mind itself, then upward
to the internal Truth. In his earlier writings Augustine speaks in Platonic phrase of humanity as a rational
soul using a mortal body. Later, he favors “man is a rational substance constituted of soul and body”. In
both cases, the soul retains its proper entity, and the soul apart from the body maybe considered as a
substance.

Only the pure in heart shall see God; the progress in knowledge and wisdom is not only speculative, it is
more fundamental practical and moral. Augustine’s theory of knowledge is at one with the procedure of
speculative mysticism. From this mystic love and intuition of God follow all the principles to direct
humanity in all their undertakings.

For St. Thomas Aquinas, another medieval philosopher of all creatures, human beings have the unique
power to change themselves and things for the better. His philosophy is best grasped in his treatises
Summa Contra Gentiles and Summa Theologica. Aquinas considered the human beings as moral agent.
We are both spiritual and body elements, the spiritual and material. The unity between both elements
indeed helps as to understand our complexity as human beings. Our spirituality separates us from
animals; it differentiates moral dimensions of our fulfilment in action. Through our spirituality, we have
a conscience. Thus, whether we choose to be “good” or “evil” becomes our responsibility .The concept
of St. Thomas will be elucidated in the next lessons.

3.2 Evaluate own limitations and possibilities for their transcendence

-based on the preceding section, let us evaluate our human limitations and how we can also transcend
them. Many of us would experience any of the following; for emerging from deep within and felt a sense
of being in tune with the mysteries of our own being, and the mystery of life that transcends us. Let us
consider the following examples (Edwards 1983)

A. forgiveness
When we forgive, we are freed from our anger and bitterness because of the actions and/or words of
another. On the other hand, the hardness of our heart is reinforced by whole series of rational
arguments

B. the beauty of nature

There is perfection in every single flower; this is what the three philosophies believed. For a hug, for
every sunrise and sunset, to eat together as family, are our miracles. These kinds of experiences can be
truly moment of grace. They touch us deeply and the human heart is spontaneously lifted. During this
experience, we need to offer praise.

C. Vulnerability
To be invulnerable is somehow inhuman. To be vulnerable is to be human. Supermen or superheroes
are hiding their true humanity. The experience that we are contingent, that we are dependent for our
existence on another is frightening. To work in the office or study in school, without acknowledge the
help of the other in our lives. Such moment f poverty and dependence on others are not a sign of
weakness but being true with ourselves.

D. Failure
Our failures force us to confront our weaknesses and limitations. When a relationship fails, when a
student fails a subject, when our immediate desires are not met, we are confronted with the possibility
of our plans, and yet, we are force to surrender to a mystery or look upon a bigger world. Such
acceptance of our failures makes us hope and trust that all can be brought into good. Even if we are
sinned, as Augustine had, there Is hope and forgiveness

E. Loneliness
Our loneliness can be rooted from our sense of vulnerability and fear of death. This experience is so
common. However, it is our choice to live in an impossible world where we are always “happy” or to
accept a life where solitude and companionship have a part. With our loneliness, we can realize that our
dependence on other people or gadgets is a possessiveness that we can be free from.

F. Love
To love is to experience richness, positivity, and transcendence. Whether in times of ecstatic moments
or struggles, the love for friend, between family members or a significant person, can be open in us
something in the other which takes us beyond ourselves. Life is full of risks, fear and commitment, pain
and sacrificing and giving up thing/s we want for the sake of the one we love. In a Buddhist view, the
more we love, the more risks and fears there in life (Aguilar 2010).

3.3 Recognize the Human body Imposes Limits and Possibilities and
Transcendence.

A. Hinduism Reincarnation and Karma

An Interesting Hindu Belief is the transmigration of souls. Reincarnation or

“metempsychosis” Essential Hinduism is based on the belief in karma and
has its first literary expression in Upanishad Everything in this life say the
Hindus, is a consequence of actions perform in previous existence. Only by
building up a fine record, or “karma”, can final salvation be achieved. This
doctrine is a very old one. For the Jains, There is nothing mightier in the world
than karma; Karma tramples down all powers, as an elephant to a clump of
 lotuses (Puligandla 2007) The Buddhist took it over in large part when they
broke away from Brahmanism.

B. Buddhism: Nirvana

Nirvana means the state in which one is absolutely free from all
forms of bondage and attachment. It means to overcome and remove the
cause of suffering. It is also the state of perfect insight into the nature of
existence. The Buddhist see one who has attained nirvana as one who is
unencumbered from all the fetters that bind a human being to existence
(i.e., wealth). He has perfect knowledge, perfect wisdom (Aguilar 2010).

When Buddha was asked whether one who attains nirvana exists or
ceases to exist after death, he simply refused to answer the question and
instead maintained complete silence. The question is seen as inappropriate
that any attempt to answer it can only lead into the quagmire of idle
metaphysical speculations and futile philosophical disputes. The Buddha did
not want his disciples to concern themselves with purely speculative
problems. Further, the Buddha’s silence is due to his awareness that nirvana
is a state that transcends every mundane experience and hence cannot be
talked about; for all is possible only within the perceptual-conceptual realm.
Nirvana is beyond the sense, language, and thought (Puligandla 2007).

Another false conceptual regarding nirvana is that one who attains

it, cuts himself/herself off from the world of toil, tears, and turmoil and
spends his/her life in a state of total inactivity and indifference to the world
around him. Far from living a passive life, the Buddha from the day of his
enlightenment until death is always surrounded by people (Puligandla 2007).
It is, thus absurd to describe nirvana as a state of inactivity, stupor, and
indifference. One who has attained enlightenment is a non-attachment. This
means that as one attains wisdom, one desires nothing for himself but
always works for the well-being and liberation of his fellow humans.

This way of life conforms to Buddha’s teaching that wisdom

consists in treading the Middle Way, avoiding the extreme of asceticism,
inactivity, and indifference on the one hand and that of frantic activity and
mindless pursuit of pleasure on the other. The nirvanic man, according to
Puligandla (2007), is the true follower of the Buddha, in that, he neither
always sits absorbed in meditation nor is always involved in activity. He is the
living testimony that the middle way is indeed the way to enlightenment.
 C. St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas: Will and Love

For St. Augustine, physically we are free, yet morally bound to obey
the law. The Eternal law is God Himself. According to this law, humanity must
do well and avoid evil, hence, the existence of moral obligation in every
human being. Christian life is not easy. However, no human being should
become an end to himself. We are responsible to our neighbours as we are
to our own actions.

The truth of St. Augustine’s message still rings true to this day.
Despite Augustine's period, which was descendent, are our times any less
corrupt? Innocence of heart and purity can only be gained by God's grace.
God alone can give that gift to some instantly or to others at the end of an
entire life's struggle. That gift, in itself, is a major triumph. Through prayer,
modesty, fasting and other sound measures that the Church recommends,
or God provides, can purity of heart, mind, and body be maintained and daily
lived (Johnston 2006)

Definitely, to live a chaste life is difficult. All are called to be chaste

whether married or single. For to be pure is also to be holy. Though all are
called to different lifestyle, all are called tone holy, pure, and chaste within
that lifestyle. Any lifestyle that does not include there virtues, even with
consenting individuals, is not pleasing to God; for it does not lead to holiness,
selflessness, and full honesty. for St. Augustine though we are physically free,
one does not have a right to do anything if it is not morally right or if one will
hurt another, Rightness means pleasing God. God has given us a choice to
discern between right and wrong thought we are often ignorant in this
manner unless we are holly sincere, honest, and pure (Johnston 2006)

Guided learning:

Peer Discussion

1. How do you show love towards others? Friends? Family? People in need?

2. Rightness means pleasing God, can you give examples? If you are Non-
Catholic, give examples of doing “right” actions

3. Choose a song that you can relate to the topics of this section. You can opt
to sing this in class.
3.4 Distinguish the Limitation and Possibilities for Transcendence

After understanding the precepts of Hinduism and Buddhism, let us

distinguish the limits and possibilities of human beings common to all
Indian thought:

 It is the spiritual that endures and is ultimately real. In Hinduism,

the human aspiration is to move to the divine. What we believe is
how we live; if our beliefs are in error, then our lives will be
unhappy
 There is the preoccupation with the inner life-- the road to
enlightenment that stretches not outward but Inward. To
understand nature and the universe, we must turn within.

 There is an emphasis in the nonmaterial oneness of creation. This

means that there are no polarities; a single spirit provides cosmic
harmony.
 There is the acceptance of direct awareness as the only way to
understand what is real. The Indians find this direct perception
through spiritual exercises, perhaps through the practice of yoga.
Reason is of some use but in the final analysis, it is only through
inner experience of oneness with all of creation.
 There is a healthy respect for tradition, but never a slavish
commitment to it. The past can teach but never rule.

On the other hand, the great thinkers of medieval philosophy

emphatically affirm the principal of the conjunction of faith and reason, and
embody it in their writings. However, their special quality lies precisely in their
rejecting any such "rationalistic" claim. According to St. Augustine, Si
comprehendis, non est Deus--- "Whatever you understand cannot be God"
simply because you understand it. As St. Thomas would affirm in the Summa
Thelogica, "God is honored by silence--- not because we cannot say or
understand anything about Him, but because we know that we are incapable
of comprehending Him."
St. Augustine of Hippo believes that tsunami, for instance, and
other calamities are part of natural evil. As opposed to moral evil, which arises
with virtual inevitability from the inherent imperfections of the universe as a
created and dependent order, natural evil does not come from human but
that is natural. The root cause if both natural and moral evil leads to
metaphysical evil, which according to Augustine, pertains to certain
imperfections that are inevitable in a created and dependent universe and,
 thus, inevitable imperfections are the source of many or all the other evils
that occur in it.
However, the Indian's concept of Brahman has similarity with
Ludwig Feuerbach, a German 19th century philosopher, who thinks that in
the essence of Christianity, a person is God and God is in the person. For
Feuerbach (1980), there is no distinction between God and human beings.

Evil and Suffering

Suffering is close to the heart of biblical faith. In comparison with

the Buddha, who saw life in suffering and tried to control it instead of cursing
it, Job, of the Old Testament, did not just complain. He cursed the day he was
born! In a phenomenological perspective, all of us will continue to assert our
will against others, adding to the overall suffering of the human experience.

In Christianity, suffering leads to the Cross, the symbol of reality of

God’s saving love for the human being. Suffering, in Buddhism, gives rise to
compassion for suffering humanity. Compassion is the heart of religion, but
compassion can disappear from it. Religion, without compassion, becomes
law and burden imposed in its adherents. If there’s no compassion, religion
can start wars that destroy enemies. Jesus condemned religion without
compassion and constructed, thus, the parable of the Good Samaritan.

Guided learning:

Flexible Groupings: Discussion

1. How can we live a castle life? How can we practice control?

2. Give examples of how we are physically but morally bound (St. Augustine).

3. How can we attachment to, or craving worldly pleasures cause suffering?

Cite examples

Summary
Indian thought recognizes the complimentary thought of all systems and
beliefs. Hinduism is neither rooted in any single doctrine, nor does it claim a
monopoly on truth or wisdom. Similarly, Buddhism preaches tolerance of all sincere
viewpoints and includes many of these within its own spiritual teachings (Shanley
2001).

Foe Christian faith, the power of faith, cannot be done by human beings
alone, but is achieved by cooperation with God. Between humanity and God, there
is an infinite gap, which God alone can bridge through His power. Perfection by
participation means that it is a union of humanity and God. Change should promote
not just any purely private advantage, but the good of the community.

Is the vein the core of “loob” for Filipinos deepens and broadens the meaning
of God in the lives of the people “Loob” is discussed in the earlier chapters, is a
Christian perspective that is both individual and societal. Filipinos usually
encounter God during conflicts or suffering. The religious aspiration of “loob”
cannot be separated from spiritual enlightenments. The transpersonal worldview
of the Filipinos underlies the belief that the individual can go beyond human
limitations such as geography, space and time. The transpersonal worldview
encompasses the world as run by “spirit” or “spirits” such as God, mind, providence
and others.

Human being, therefore, has a supernatural, transcendental destiny. This

means that he\she can rise above one’s ordinary being or self to a height being or
self. Foe St. Thomas Aquinas, in the plan of God, a human being has to develop and
perfect one’s self by doing his\her daily task. Hence, if a human being perseveringly
lives a righteous and virtuous life he\she transcends his\her mortal life and soars,
to an immortal state of life.

A. Check Your Knowledge

Answer the Following. Avoid Erasures

1. What flower is commonly associated with Buddhism?

2. What is the world’s oldest organized religion?
3. What do you call the oldest Indian sacred text?
4. How constitutes the Trimurti (the three Hindu gods)?
5. What is the ultimate goal of Buddhism?
6. What does the title of Buddha mean?
7. What is St. Augustine’s popular work?
8. What are St. Thomas Aquinas popular works?
9. What concept did Christian philosophers develop?
10.Which belief holds the humanity’s life is continuous cycle of birth and
rebirth?
 B. Check your Understanding

1. Are we pushing the responsibility for our existence on to society, instead

of facing the questions of who we are? Explain.
2. Chose a hero/heroine. It could be based on the filmed viewed or not.
What are the qualities do you admire from your hero or heroine. Why?
You can jot down memorable lines you find meaningful in the film.

3. Explain

“To one who has faith, no explanation is necessary. To one without faith, no
explanation is possible,” – St. Thomas Aquinas

C. Apply What You Know

1. Spiritual Practice: Yoga Meditation (Outdoor or Indoor)

Organize a yoga session. Invite a yoga teacher and be in your most

comfortable yoga attire, after the session, share your insights and reflections
about your experience. Specifically, share any peaceful or healing moment in
this activity to the class. To share to the community, you can post your
pictures or videos online. (Yoga classes can also be reviewed online).Try the
sun salutation (www.adultwellness.com.ph) for beginners; never force the
poses.

2. Interview a priest, a nun, or a Buddhist monk and ask them regarding their
philosophy of religion. Submit the interview in class. Be able to document the
interview. Take pictures with the interviewee. If you are non-Catholic,
interview a spiritual adviser.

Guide Questions:
1. What is faith?
2. Who is God or Buddha in one’s life?
3. Cite the three things necessary for the salvation of humanity
Lesson 4: The Human Person in the Environment

 Objectives

1. To probe into a distinct frame about gaining valuable insights regarding the
human person in the environment.
2. To demonstrate the virtues of prudence and frugality toward his/her environment.
3. Appreciate the beauty of nature.
Sensitivity Check

 Interactive Work
1. Search for Louis Armstrong’s song What a Wonderful World. Listen and sing the
song together. You can watch video clips as guide.

After singing, discuss:

A. How did the song regard the environment? How did the song see the
human person in the environment?
B. What is the tone of the song?
C. Which lyrics serve as most meaningful? Why?

2. Hold each other’s’ hands and share with the persons in your right and left your
visions or how do you imagine the world to be.

 Introduction
“What is the world made of?”, “How did the world come into being?”, and “How
can we explain the process of change?”, were philosophical questions already brought
up approximately 600 B.C.E in the western Ionian seaport town of Miletus across the
Aegean Sea from Athens, Greece. Because Ionia was a meeting place between the
East and West, Greek philosophy may have Oriental as well as Egyptian and
Babylonian influences. In both East and West, philosophers were asking questions
about the universe we live in and our place in it. Eastern sages probed nature’s depths
intuitively through the eyes of spiritual sages, while Greek thinkers viewed nature
through cognitive and scientific eyes (Price 2000).

The speculations of the pre-Socratic philosophers represent a paradigm shift – a

change forms the mythical explanation of the origins of the cosmos to a more rational
explanation. These philosophers were looking for the underlying laws of nature. They
wanted to understand the processes by studying nature itself, not by listening to stories
about the gods. Though not as sophisticated in the 21st century standard, they wanted
to understand the origins of the universe.

Consider these two frameworks (payne2010):

Human
Culture
Individualism
Mind
Calculative
Human over/ against
environments

Global/ technological

Figure 4.1. Anthropocentric Model

Nature
Wild
Holism
Nature/ cosmos
Body
Relational
Earth/ wisdom
 Ecology over/ against
humans

Figure 4.2. Ecocentric Model

There are different views or concepts on nature or the environment from which
debates or researches can be framed and reframed. Based on the anthropocentric
model, humans are superior and central to the universe. Ecocentric model, the
ecological or relational integrity of the humans, provides meaning of our morals and
values. Ecological positioning occurs in the past, present, and future, and their
environmental settings with regard to our identifications, relations and attachments in,
about, with or for various natures (Payne 2009).

According to Payne (2009) , classrooms cannot set aside the importance of

aesthetics as well as the environment that suggests valuing that include: aesthetic
appreciation ; enjoyment, relaxation, satisfaction, calm, peace, social interaction, growth
toward holism, and, thus, there are floods, flash floods, and landslides, among others.
Accordingly, this chapter helps the learner look at the multidimensional concept of being
human.

Our limited understanding of our environment opens for a need for philosophical
investigation of nature, applying aesthetic and theological dimensions, as well as
appreciating our philosophical reflections with the concept of nature itself. In the earlier
chapters, we have the underlying qualities of human being as holistic and
transcendental. Not only should we value the concepts of other people but to consider
carefully, the moral, ethical, political, cultural and ecological realities of where we are
situated in.

Guided Learning:
Independent research

1. Distinguish the ecocentric from the anthropocentric models. Cite examples.

2. In your observation, how do humans regard the environment? Explain. In

what way/s are your answers positive or negative?

4.1. Notice Disorder in the Universe

The domination of humanity is linked to the domination of nature based on the
anthropocentric model. An unfair or unjust utilization of the environment result to
ecological crisis. From this view, it follows that human arrogance toward nature is
justifiable in order to satisfy human interest. Sometimes, humans adopt an exploitative
attitude whenever nature is merely considered as an instrument for one’s profit or gain.
For example, quarrying or cutting down age old trees could justify our exploitative
attitude toward nature.

Current researches by Zimmerman (1994), Elgin (2009), and Pettman (2012) to

name a few, exposed the environmental consequence of international politico-economic
specialization for specific countries and global regions. Research also shows the
implications for both abuses of natural resources and of the generation of waste and
emissions. Numerous concepts and indicators have been used to understand
environmental impact such as the carbon footprint (CF). For instance, the emission of
greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, methane, fluoride, and nitrous oxide that
are part of the production goods and services consumed in many countries. Studies
reveal that the higher the income, there is a substantial change in consumption
patterns, which result to higher CF. Below is an example of a household chart in North
America and the average consumption vis-à-vis CF.

Carbon footprint has eight categories:

1. Construction

2. Shelter

3. Food

4. Clothing

5. Mobility

6. Manufactured goods

7. Services

8. Trade

Home
Travel
22%
36%
Travel
Services
Food
Goods
7%
Food
Home

Goods Services
18% 17%

Figure 4.3. Average Carbon Footprint of a Two- person Household.

The Ecocentric Model in Figure 4.2, in contrast, puts the ecosystem first and
assumes that the natural world has intrinsic value. Nature is not valued for the future
survival of human species per se, but is invaluable in itself. For instance, humans have
a responsibility toward the land. However, because of the anthropocentric attitude,
humanity claims ownership or authority over land. For the Ecocentric model, instead,
love, respect, admiration for nature, and a high regard for its value is essential. For
instance, in the Ecocentric Model, land will be considered not an instrumental mode of
production but will be preserved with integrity, stability and beauty. It is incorrect when it
tends otherwise.
 If humanity overworks the soil and substitute domesticated species of plants and
animals for wild ones, human made changes threaten the health of nature. Unlike
changes in the evolutionary process, our human interventions have swift and even,
violent effect on nature. A study blames human activities for drastic decline in wildlife
population. Due to hunting and fishing, 52% of wildlife population deteriorated. Whether
nature can adapt to these changes and self- renew becomes a vague issue.

The study for instance, established that the damage is not inevitable but a
consequence of our choices. Accordingly, humanity needs to develop an ‘ecological
conscience’ based on individual responsibility. Ecologists challenge us to adopt a
lifestyle that involves simple living that honors the right of all life forms to live, flourish,
and create a rich diversity of human and nonhuman life. For ecologists, the right to live
and blossom should not just be for human beings but must be valid to all forms of life.
This belief stems from an awareness of our dependence to other forms of life, not a
master- slave relationship.

In 2004, indigenous grandmothers, representing tribes from Arctic Circle, Nepal,

and Tibet, held a meeting to be able to preserve their community. Deeply concerned
with the destruction of Mother Earth, including the contamination of air, water and soil,
war, poverty and destruction of the indigenous way of life, they have committed
themselves to form an alliance that will embrace prayer, education, and healing for our
Mother Earth, for all her inhabitants and for the future generations.

The 2007 United Nation’s Declaration grants the indigenous people “the right to
conservation, restoration and protection of the total environment and the productive
capacity of their lands, territories and resources, as well as the assistance for this
purpose from States and through international cooperation.” The relationship of the
indigenous people with the environment is, thus, spiritually and materially strengthened
(Ramiscal 2013).

Destruction of Property:
 Devastation brought by Yolanda and Ondoy

War Poverty

Soil Erosion to Food Supply

Guided Learning:

Interactive Work

1. In your opinion, how can we protect, conserve and restore our

environment? You can further assess by planning a nature walk or a
gardening activity.

A, How can you promote the human person in the environment through
nature walk or a gardening activity?

B. Design: Conceptualize your design if you will choose gardening. If you

choose nature walk, your teacher must suggest a safe place such as La
Mesa Dam, etc.

2. Based on the previous images, what could be improper? Are you happy
with what you see or experience in nature? How will you organize or
improve the environment or world that you belong to?

4.2 Notice Things that are not in their Proper Place and
Organize them in an Aesthetic Way.
A. ANCIENT THINKERS
Early Greek philosophers, the Milesians, regarded Nature as spatially without
boundaries, that is, as infinite or indefinite in extent. One ancient thinker ,Anaximander,
employed the term “boundless” to convey the further thought that Nature is
indeterminate—boundless in the sense that no boundaries between the warm and cold
or the moist and dry regions are originally present within it ( Solomon & Higgins 2010 ).

ANAXIMANDER

Creation and Destruction. According to Anaximander’s sketch

of the genesis of the world (cosmogony), the evolution of the
world begins with the generation of opposites in a certain region of
Nature: a portion of the boundless first differentiates itself into
cold-moist mass surrounded by a roughly spherical shell of the
warm-dry. Once the warm-dry has been separated out,
surrounding the cold moist, it begins to evaporate the moisture of
the latter, and this process forms a vaporous atmosphere.
Eventually, the expanding vapor or steam bursts the enclosing
fiery shells into rings, and rushing outward, envelopes them. The opposite’s forces
caused imbalances that necessitated their ultimate destruction (Price 2000). What
appear to us as heavenly bodies are in reality parts of the fiery rings that we glimpse
through openings left in their steamy, vaporous envelopes. The revolution of the stars,
sun , and moon around the central earth is in the reality the rotation of the vapor-
enveloped rings of fire.

PYTHAGORAS

Another ancient philosopher, Pythagoras, described the

universe as living embodiment of nature’s order, harmony, and
beauty. He sees our relationship with the biophilia (love of other
living things) and cosmophilia (love of other living beings).
Perhaps, we could consider the early him as an ecologist.

The Chinese cosmic conception, on the other hand, is based on

the assumption that all happens in the universe in the universe is a
continuous whole like a chain of natural consequences. All events
in the universe follow a transitional process due to the primeval
pair, the yang and yin. The universe does not proceed onward but
revolves without beginning or end .There is nothing new under the sun; the “new” is a
reputation of the old (Quito 1991). Human being’s happiness lies in his conformity with
nature or Tao; the wise, therefore, conforms with Tao and is happy.

B. MODERN THINKERS
 IMMANUEL KANT

In his third critique, Critique of Judgement, Immanuel Kant

expresses that beauty is ultimately a symbol of morality (Kant 1997).
According to Kant, we must ignore any practical motives or
inclinations that we have and instead contemplate the object without
being distracted by our desires (Goldblatt & Brown 2010). For
instance, one should not be tempted to plunge into the water in a
seascape portrait. In a sense, therefore the stance that we take
forward the beautiful object is similar to that which we take toward
other human beings when we are properly respectful of their dignity.

The beautiful encourage us to believe that nature and humanity are part of an even
bigger design. This sense of order in beautiful object is not translatable into formula or a
recipe. Rather, the concept of a larger design, the belief in an ultimate goal in which every
aspect of the sensible word has its place in a larger purpose, draws our thoughts toward
a supersensible reality. Ultimately, Kant believes that the orderliness of nature and the
harmony of nature with our faculties guide us towards a deeper religious perspective. This
vision of the world is not limited to knowledge and freedom or even to faith, in the ordinary
sense of the term. It is sense of cosmic harmony.

Understanding our relationship with the environment can

also refer to the human beings with ecology and nature.
For Herbert Marcuse, humanity had dominated nature.
There can only be change if we will change our attitude
towards our perception of the environment. Moreover, for
Mead as human beings, we do not have only right but
duties. We are not only citizens of the community but how we react to this community and
in our reaction to it, change it.

*Consider this American Indian prayer (Gallagher 1996) :

“O great spirit, whose voice I heard in the winds

And whose breath gives life to the world, hear me.

I come to you as one of your many children. . .

I am small and weak. I need your strength and wisdom.

May I walk in beauty.

Make my hands respect the things you have made,

Make my ears sharp to hear your voice.

Make me wise so that I may know the things that you have

Taught your children. . .

The lessons you have hidden in every leaf and rock. . .

Make me strong so that I may not be superior to other people,

But able to fight my greatest enemy; which is myself.

Make me every ready to come to you with straight eyes

I may come to you without shame.”

 4.3 Show that Care for the Environment Contributes to
Health, Well-being, and Sustainable Development
There are numerous theories to show care for the environment aside from the
Ecocentric model such as deep ecology, social ecology, and ecofeminism to name
some.

A. Deep Ecology
For This theory, ecological crisis is an outcome of anthropocentrism, which
is already discussed. The controlling attitude of humankind is extended to nature,
when in fact, humanity is part of nature. Deep ecologists encourage humanity to
shift away from anthropocentrism to ecocentrism.

B. Social Ecology
For this theory, ecological crisis result from authoritarian social structures.
Destroying nature is a reflection wherein few people overpower other while
exploiting environment for profit or self-interest. Social ecologists call for small-
scale societies, which recognize that humanity is linked with the well-being of the
natural world in which human life depends.

C. Ecofeminism
This theory argues that ecological crisis is a consequence of male
dominance. In this view, whatever is ‘’superior’’ is entitled to whatever is
‘’inferior’’. Male traits as in the anthropocentric model are superior as opposed to
female traits as in the ecocentric model. Domination works by forcing the other to
con form to what is superior. Nature must be tamed, ordered, and submit to the
will of the superior. For the adherents of this view, freeing nature and humanity
means removing the superior vs. inferior in human relations.

These theories value the care, conservation, preservation of nature, and

humanity. Our search for the meaning of life must explore not just our own
survival but calls for a new socio-ecological order. Erich Fromm (2013), a
German humanistic philosopher, believes that it is about time that humanity
ought to recognize not only itself but also the world around it, For Fromm, as
human beings, our biological urge for survival turns into selfishness and laziness.
From argues that as humans, it is also inherent in us to escape the prison cell of
selfishness.

The human desire to experience union with other is one of the strongest
motivators of human behavior and the other is the desire for survival. From these
two contradictory strivings in every human beings, it follows that the social
structure, its value and norms, decides which of the two becomes dominant.
Cultures that foster the greed for possession are rooted in one human potential.
Cultures that foster being and sharing are rooted in the other potential. We must
decide which of these two potentials to cultivate (Fromm 2013).
4.4 Demonstrate the Virtues of Prudence and Frugality
toward Environment

Arising from the discussions, Fromm (2013) proposed a new society that should
encourage the emergence of a new human being that will foster prudence and
moderation of frugality toward environment. These are some of the functions of
Fromm’s envisioned society:
1. The willingness to give up all forms of having, in order to fully be.
2. Being fully present where one is.
3. Trying to reduce greed, hate, and illusions as much as one is capable.
4. Making the full growth of oneself and of one’s fellow beings as the supreme goal
of living.
5. Not deceiving others, but also not being deceived by others; one maybe called
innocent, but not naïve.
6. Freedom that is not arbitrariness but the possibility to be oneself, not as a bundle
of greedy desires, but as a delicately balanced structure that at any moment is
confronted with the alternatives of growth or decay, life or death.
7. Happiness in the process of ever-growing aliveness, whatever the furthest point
is that fate permits one to reach , for living as fully as one can is so satisfactory
that the concern for what one might or might not attain has little chance to
develop.
8. Joy that comes from giving and sharing, not from hoarding and exploiting.
9. Developing ones capacity for love, together with ones capacity for critical,
unsentimental thought.
10. Shedding ones narcissism and accepting that tragic limitations inherent in human
existence.
The ideals of this society cross all party lines; for protecting nature needs focused
conservation, action, political will, and support from industry. If all these sectors agree
on the same goals, the possibility of change would seem to be considerably greater,
especially since most citizens have become less and less interested in party loyalty and
slogans.

Guided Learning:

1. What is Happiness? If possible, relate Fromm’s view with other philosophers

discussed.
2. What is Freedom? Relate Fromm’s view with other philosophers discussed in
previous lessons.
3. What is Joy? Do you agree with Fromm’s view?
Summary:

This lesson highlights the early Greek thinkers and Taoists views that the
human being is merely a part of nature. Many environmentalists argue for
limiting all types of consumption and economic activity when these damage
the environment. Care and Respect for all life forms should not be seen as a
fad but as an imperative. As humanity becomes ever busier, we are reminded
of our dependence on other life forms. Coexistence with community and re-
examining our attitude to nature calls for a new order.

Finally, this lesson adheres to coexistence with all things, thus, enlarging our
awareness of the universe. This lesson concurs with Taoist belief and other
thinkers who view humanity as merely one element, no more and no less
important than all the other elements of the natural world.