Activity Sheet

Lesson

emphasizes the
what, when,
and where
something
happened action words
and
narrate or tell a transitional
story words
characterized a
paragraph

Narration

Writing a paragraph involves deep understanding of how one can achieve well-focused and unified ideas in
a composition. For example, when students are asked to come up with a summary of a story, they tend to chop
parts of the story and put it in their summary. If that is so, it leads to create unrelated details that do not
contribute in the oneness and clarity of one’s summary.
It is important to use strategies developing ideas using a particular pattern. One of these is through
narration. A narrative text contains the plot which gives direction in making a story.
In developing narration, sequential presentation of events plays an important role. Signal words help to create
unified thought and to show the transition of events to the next. This leads us to focus on the use of the action
words in the story. It also helps to move the story and makes the story interesting.
The chronological ordering of events helps to show the reader how the story moves.
Most of the common transitional words are first, next, then, after and suddenly. Moreover, it is also important to
give specific details in pointing out the direction of the story.

Example:
Yesterday, Thea and her two brothers, Michael and Edward had the most wonderful time
together. They strolled in the mall. They went inside the department store and bought bucket
hats and matching shirts. Next, for lunch, they ate at their favorite restaurant, ordered the
usual chicken and rice combo and shared many funny moments. After that, they watched a
comedy movie and laughed their hearts out. After a long day, they went home tired but
fulfilled. They definitely shared good moments together and bonded more as siblings.

use powerful
and
appropriate
adjectives and
use effectively
the five senses
objective
gives description
characteristics
and subjective
or details
description

Description
According to Dayagbil & et al, 2016, the use of description plays an important role to elucidate the nature of
people, places and things. A series of detailed observation about the subject can help you create a good descriptive
paragraph. This involves the use of adjectives and adverbs in the paragraph.
The kind of words we used to describe how your subject looks, sounds, feels, smells or even tastes like are called
sensory languages. It also concerns how you will arrange the details to provide an image of the scene, the
person or the object you are trying to describe in your text.
There are two types of description. First is objective description, where the writer presents impartial and
actual picture of the subject without biases and excluding personal impression of the subject just like when you
give your description of an experiment in class. Second is subjective description, where the writer gives
personal impression of what is observed. This is often used in making fiction stories. For instance, when you are
asked to write about a place you visit during summer vacation, you tend to give your personal judgment of how you
experience the place.

Example:

Every summer, my brothers and I spend our vacation in my Lola’s house. It always feels
like my first home. It is already an old house. You could already say it’s old because of the
worn-out fences. Still, I love spending my summer there. When you go inside, that musty smell
welcomes you or the smell of rice cakes from the kitchen.

Lola really loves to make rice cakes and my favorite is ‘suman’. Every day is a fun day. My
brothers and I would either play in Lola’s backyard with her dog, Bantay or we go to the river
nearby. In the next morning, she would then cook delicious meals and they’re all tasty. Lola’s
home is always a happy home.

Direction: Compare and contrast the narration and description. Fill up the table with the necessary information.

Narration Similarities Description

Writing Activity

Write a narrative text. Choose one from the given topics.

 Unforgettable experience
 First day in school
 My Happiest Moment

Write a descriptive text. Choose one from the given topics.

 My Hero/ My Inspiration
 Something Delicious
 A Beautiful View

Please be guided with the given rubric in writing your text.

Criteria Descriptions Total Score Your Score

Paragraph Structure Clearly states the ideas based on the text pattern structure. 5 pts.
Has complete and unified thought related to the topic.
Transitional Expressions Effectively uses a high degree of appropriate transitions to show 5 pts.
development from one sentence to another
Grammar and Punctuation Has no spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors 2 pts.
Total 12 pts
 Assessment
Choose the best word/group of words that will complete the statements. Write your
answer in a separate sheet.

Chronological Ordering Narration Transitional Devices Sequence Plot

1. _________ is a writing pattern that is used to tell story.

2. A narrative text contains the _________ which gives direction in the story.
3. _________are words or phrases that help carry a thought from one sentence to another,
from one idea to another, or from one paragraph to another.
4. Most of the common transitional words to show _________ of events are first, next, then,
after and suddenly.
5. The _________of events helps to show the reader how the story moves.

Choose the best word or group of words that will complete the statements. Write your
answer in a separate sheet.

Objective Subjective Description Sensory languages Modifiers

1. ____________ is a writing pattern of developing paragraph using detailed observation

about the subject.
2. ____________ are used in writing descriptive paragraph.
3. ____________ can be in a form of word, phrase or clause.
4. ____________description presents impartial and actual picture of the subjects without
biases.
5. ____________ description gives the personal impression of the writer.

Activity Sheet – PHILO

 Lesson
The Nature and Functions of Philosophy

DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY

Traditionally philosophy is defined as love of wisdom because it came from two Greek words philos (love) and
Sophia (wisdom). You might find it strange to connect love to philosophy. You might think of philosophy as a purely
intellectual discipline which has nothing to do with love. You might believe love is romance, poetry, intense passion
in which you are willing to lay down your life. But you will see that philosophy can also be pursued passionately. In
fact some people like Socrates died for truth. It is this centrality of love to philosophy that we call people who
engages in philosophy as philosophers (lovers of wisdom).
ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY

Greece is the birthplace of philosophy in the West. To be more precise it is the ancient Greek city of Miletus in
the Western coast of what is now Turkey that gave birth to philosophy. It is in this city that the first philosopher in
the West, Thales, lived. Thales is the Father of Philosophy in the Western civilization. He lived between 624 and 546
BCE a contemporary of the Lydian king Croesus and the statesman Solon (Stumpf and Fieser,2008).

What made Thales a philosopher is his desire to know the ultimate stuff that makes up the different things we
perceived. You THALES see when we look at the world we encounter different things: people, trees, clouds,
mountains, rivers, etc. Now Thales believed that despite the different things we encounter there is one underlying
stuff or substance in which everything is composed. He believes that there is One in the Many. Thales was the first
individual who tried to reduce the multiplicity in to a unity (Jones,1969).

But his explanation of natural phenomena is devoid of gods and goddesses of the old religion of Greece. It is
completely rational. It represents a departure from the mythological religion of Greece. Thales approach highlights
the difference between religion and philosophy. Religion rests on faith while philosophy rests on reason.

PHILOSOPHICAL ACTIVITY

Thales greatest contribution to philosophy is not his identification of water as the ultimate stuff of the universe.
His greatest contribution is the problem he posed “What is the ultimate stuff of the universe?” and his approach in
solving that problem. Studying Thales makes us realize that philosophical activity is characterized by three things:
First in terms of scope philosophy involves the widest generalizations (Rand, 1982). While people concern
themselves with shoes and clothes, the latest gossip about their favorite celebrities, their crushes, philosophers
concern themselves with big issues pertaining to the truth, , the good, the just, the beautiful, and the existence of
practically all things. While scientists concern themselves with scientific knowledge, historians with knowledge of
the past, economists with knowledge of supply and demand, philosophers concern themselves with the nature of
knowledge as such (which embraces all types of knowledge previously mentioned and more).

Second philosophy is all about fundamentals. A fundamental is the root cause that explains almost everything in
a given context. To understand this imagine that knowledge is like a building with levels. Now the higher level
depends on the lower levels (Peikoff, 1991). If somehow the lower level crumbles then all the higher levels that rest
upon it will collapse. A fundamental is like the lower floor that supports everything above it. That kind of support is
exactly what philosophy provides. If somehow philosophical ideas like consciousness and existence disappear then
knowledge of any kind will not make any sense because there will be nothing to know (existence) and no one to
know (consciousness).

Third philosophy is driven by the desire to integrate things in to a one coherent whole. As the celebrated
philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said “The true is the Whole (Peikoff, 1991).” If you notice Thales wants
to reduce the multiplicity of things into a single stuff. He desires to find the One in the many.
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

Since philosophy’s concern is vast, we have to divide it into different branches. Each branch will focus on a
specific area of philosophy. To understand the branches of philosophy let us return to the three central
philosophical questions we explored earlier.

First the question, Where am I? By the time we reached adulthood we believe we know the answer to this
question. In fact we believed that the answer is obvious that we don’t bother to look closely at the question itself.
Where am I? Well let’s say I’m in Manila. You don’t need philosophy to answer that one. But if you ask a series of
where questions (Where is Manila? Where is the Philippines? etc.) which at first seems childish you eventually end
up with the universe. And here we have to stop asking the where question (Where is the universe is an absurd
question. The universe does not exist in a place). What kind of place is the universe? Is it governed by laws? If so
what laws? The study of the universe as a whole is the province of metaphysics. Metaphysics is further
subdivided into ontology which studies existence as such and philosophical anthropology which deals
with the fundamental and essential characteristics of human nature (Gotthelf and Salmieri, 2015).

The second question, How do I know it? concerns the nature of human knowledge and the way to obtain it.
How do we obtain knowledge? Do we obtain knowledge by revelation, intuition, instinct or reason? Can we achieve
certainty or are we doomed to suffer perpetual doubt? Is knowledge based on the things we perceive or from
something else? This is the concern of epistemology which can be defined as the “branch of philosophy that
studies the nature and means of human knowledge.” We need epistemology to guide us in knowing since we
make mistakes from time to time.
The first two branches of philosophy, metaphysics and epistemology, are called cognitive branches. These
branches provide a description of being (existence) and knowing. They are the foundations of understanding any
philosophical system.
The next three branches of philosophy (ethics, politics and aesthetics) can be classified as the
normative branches of philosophy because they are concerned with the standard of the good. If the cognitive
branches are concerned with what “is” the normative branches are concerned with what “ought” to be.

The most basic normative branch of philosophy is ethics or morality (I used this two concepts
interchangeably). It is concerned with the last of the three questions central to philosophy: What should I do?
Ethics can be regarded as the technology of philosophy (I owe this analogy to the philosopher Ayn Rand) because it
tells us how human beings ought to function as a human being. But in order to describe how human beings ought
to act we must first know what a human being is. These last is provided by metaphysics and epistemology. (This is
especially true of philosophical anthropology a sub-branch of metaphysics which studies the metaphysical
nature of man (see discussion above). Metaphysics and epistemology are the foundations of ethics.

What then is ethics or morality? According to Ayn Rand ethics or morality is a branch of philosophy that
provides a human being with a “code of values to guide man’s choices and actions - the choices and actions that
determine the course of his life (Rand, 1964).” It is concerned with the values man ought to pursue, the
interrelationships of those values and the means to obtain them (virtue).
The last two normative branches of philosophy, politics and aesthetics, are derived from ethics. Ethics is
concerned with the good for human being as a human being. If we apply ethics in a social context then it becomes
politics. The concern therefore of ethics is broader than politics. It studies the “good” for human beings in any
setting (whether society is present or not). An individual who is alone in an island still has to follow ethical
principles if he wishes to survive (Peikoff, 1991).

So what then is politics? Again following Rand’s definition politics is a branch of philosophy “which defines
the principles of a proper social system.” According to Rand “proper” means proper for human beings which
presupposes that one knows what a human being is. Since knowledge about human being is provided by the
cognitive branches of philosophy, the foundation of politics ultimately rests on metaphysics and epistemology.

The last of the normative branch, aesthetics studies the nature of art. It is concerned with the nature and the
objective judgement of beauty.

II. Philosophical Tools and Processes

 Philosophy as a science is also a systematized body of knowledge but unlike other sciences which employs
observation and experimentation to prove their theories, philosophy uses reason to arrive at a certain knowledge
or truth. At the onset Greek philosophers gave us a hint on how to use our intellect to understand realities around
us. The tools that they frequently utilized are the following:

1. Philosophical Questions. Philosophy was born because of ignorance. If one is ignorant, he asks questions and if he
keeps on questioning the more knowledge he acquires. Once a person stops questioning, he cease to become a
philosopher. In our daily struggles, one needs to ask questions simple, serious and deep questions that we have to
grapple with. A philosopher is like a child who has an inquisitive mind who never stops asking questions and finding
answers.
SOCRATES

Socrates went further not just asking questions for himself but poses questions to people which is the beginning
of series of questions and responses from participants. This philosophical questioning can be best described from
an excerpt from Plato’s apology of Socrates below:
“…But let us examine each one of the parts of this charge. Now he asserts that I do injustice by corrupting the
young. But I, men of Athens, assert that Meletus does injustice, in that he jest in a serious matter, easily bringing
human beings into trial, pretending to be serious and concerned about things for which he never cared at all. That
this is so, I will try to display to you as well. Now come here, Meletus, tell; do you not regard it as most important
how the youth will be the best possible?” (Plato’s apology of Socrates, 24C)

His method is called dialectics. The Socratic Method, also known as method of elenchus, elenctic method, or
Socratic debate, is a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between individuals, based on asking and
answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and underlying presuppositions.
(Google.com/search) Aristotle said that it was the preSocratic philosopher Zeno of Elea who invented
dialectic, of which the dialogues of Plato are the examples of the Socratic dialectical method. According to
Kant, however, the ancient Greeks used the word "dialectic" to signify the logic of false appearance or
semblance. Dialectics is a term used to describe a method of philosophical argument that involves some sort
of contradictory process between opposing sides. As a dialectical method, it is a discourse between two or more
people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to establish the truth through reasoned
arguments.
18th century philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel expounded dialectics which later influenced Karl Marx,
the father of communism.

2. Logical Reasoning. In philosophy reasoning is the process of thinking about something in a logical
way in order to form a conclusion or judgement. It has been the method institutionalized by the triumvirate Greek
philosophers specially Aristotle. Philosophy is about answering questions. Reasoning is the method we use in
doing philosophy. However, although it is necessary for any competent engagement with philosophy, it is not the
end all and be all of philosophy. All branches of philosophy employ reasoning in explaining their arguments. For
example the concept of right or wrong which is the domain of Ethics based their arguments in human reason alone
in contrast with theology which is dependent from the Bible as the source of its moral teachings. Reasoning
however is the domain of one branch of philosophy which is Epistemology. One type of logical reasoning is the
deductive reasoning:

Example: Premise 1: All human beings are mortal

Premise 2: But the President of the Philippines is a human being Conclusion:

Therefore, the President of the Philippines is mortal.

Here we are taught to arrive at a certain truth or knowledge in a logical process. In contrast, Inductive reasoning
begins with a particular to universal argument.

Example: Premise: Student A, B, C, D, E, F….. are wearing School ID.

Conclusion: Therefore, All students are wearing ID

The above examples show the logical process wherein by reasoning one arrives at a certain truth or knowledge.
Logic starts with the origin of ideas, terms, propositions or premises, syllogism, etc. These terms are the
basic structure of argument. Unfortunately, this branch of philosophy is equivalent to one-subject requirement in
any course in the tertiary level.

III. Philosophical Reflection

In the midst of our present crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, consistently, the government kept on reminding us
the ‘essentials’ of things and concerns that are necessary during the quarantine period whether under ECQ, GCQ,
or MECQ. In our case, we changed our competencies and emphasized the most essential ones. This is the essence
of philosophy. It tries to separate the essences of things versus accidentals and necessary versus contingent. It is
concern of what is the substance and ultimate causes of things.
When we venture into philosophizing we see the greater perspective of all things and see the ultimate purpose
or reasons for our existence. Most of us are so engross with individual trees and we miss the whole forest
as the saying goes. We are always predispose to attend to the details of the problem rather than look at the
situation as a whole. This is true in our understanding of the objects, events, realities and situations around us.
Reflection is the process that would aide in understanding the holistic point of view of what is going on around us.

Reflection is an activity that requires a person to examine his or her thoughts, feelings and actions and learn
from experience. (Abella, 2016). . Philosophers always search for the essence of things and the ultimate reasons for
our existence.

Its trajectory is to see the bigger picture about everything. This process is called philosophical reflection.
According to Gabriel Marcel, philosophical reflection is the act of giving time to think about the meaning and
purpose of life. He mentioned two types, namely: Primary Reflection- which is the ability to think logically.
The ability of the mind to construct and evaluate arguments. It examines its object by abstraction, by analytically
breaking it down into its constituent parts. It is concerned with definitions, essences and technical solutions to
problems. The second type is Secondary reflection. According to Marcel this type of reflection enables us to
look deeper into our experiences and see the bigger picture of reality. It integrates the fragmented and
compartmentalized experience into a whole. It is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social)
should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holism In effect we
see the broader perspective of life.

Reflection is not exclusive for philosophy in fact it is employed in any endeavour, research or disciplines. In
research it is called methodological approach. Moral theology employs the STOP sign as guidepost of moral
decision making. S= Search out the facts. It is necessary that all means should be exhausted to better
understand the issue. T=Think, reflect and analyse the facts, its negative or positive effects, advantages or
disadvantages. O= How it affects Others. We should always consider others in every decision that we make.
Every action that we take has always a social dimension. It affects ourselves, others and community where we
belong. Lastly P= stands for Pray. We are human beings with limitations. If our best effort are not enough,
then there is no way but look up for divine or God for enlightenment and guidance. Praying is a unique tool of
theology which is in the realm of faith but philosophy’s reasoning helps in undergoing a theological reflection as St.
Anselm said, “its faith seeking understanding.” St. Thomas Aquinas, one of the great theologian of the church
quoted in latin the relationship between philosophy and theology; ‘philosophia ancilla theologiae’ or philosophy
is the handmaid of theology the former is there to serve theology. Reason is also important in theology not just
faith. Whether in philosophy, sociology or other sciences, reflection is very useful in understanding our daily
experiences to broaden our perspective of life.

In order to reflect philosophically we need to use a framework. A framework is a conceptual map consisting of
our views and beliefs which affects the way we view the world (Abella 2016). The framework were going to used is
called AQAL. It is an acronym that stands for All Quadrants All Levels first formulated by an American
philosopher/psychologist Ken Wilber. Wilber first introduced AQAL to the world in his book Sex, Ecology,
Spirituality.
 According to Wilber everything can be analysed using a vertical line.

The line above divides space into two sides: left and right. The left side represents the interior, subjective,
aspect of everything. The right side represents the exterior, objective, aspect of everything. The interior (or “loob”
in Filipino) if applied to human beings, includes one’s values, dreams, ideas, emotions, beliefs. It basically consists
of one’s inner life. It cannot be seen or measured but can be experienced directly. The exterior side of everything
are the things that we can see, measure and touch. They include the physical objects around us including our own
bodies.
A simple example of this inside/outside distinction is when a person smiles at you. You see the big smile so it is
the exterior aspect of an event. But at the same time there is a subjective meaning behind that smile: let’s say the
person is happy. This is the interior, subjective, aspect of the event. So you see two strands are interwoven behind
any human event: the objective and the subjective, the interior and the exterior.
Another basic distinction was introduced by Ken Wilber using a horizontal line that divides space into above
and below:

Above the line represents what is singular, individual, one. The space below represents what is plural,
collective, many. For example you are an individual but you belong in a family, community, class (all instances of
the collective).

An interesting thing happen when we combine the two lines.

We created what Wilber calls the quadrants. According to Wilber quadrants are “the inside and outside of the
individual and collective (Wilber 2006).”
 There are many ways to describe the quadrants. We can use the simple location of each of the quadrant. So the
interior of the individual is the upper left quadrant (UL), the exterior of the individual is the upper right quadrant
(UR), the interior of the collective is the lower left quadrant (LL) and the exterior of the collective is the lower right
quadrant (LR).

We can also use pronouns to label the quadrants as shown below:

Quadrants expressed in language

But what we are interested is when we apply this to human beings. The inside of the individual becomes the
mind, the outside of the individual becomes the body, the inside of the collective becomes culture and the outside
of the collective becomes society.

Quadrants as applied to human beings

Now when we reflect on the nature of any concrete issue like poverty, corruption, prostitution, global warming
we can just put the issue at the center of the quadrant and analyzed its mental, physical, cultural and social
components. This is looking at an issue from an all quadrant, multiple and holistic perspective.
 Multiple Perspectives

Let’s take for example the issue of poverty. How do we reflect on the issue using the AQAL framework?
Well we know that poverty has a psychological aspect (UL quadrant) to it. It affects the way we think, feel and even
what we value. But it does not stop there. Poverty also affects bodies (UR quadrant). It affects our nutrition, our
medication and immune system. Some children have stunted growth due to poverty. And who could deny that
poverty also affects the culture such as arts, religion and even the way we dress. Religious feast such as the
procession of the Black Nazarene is in part motivated by poverty. And of course it is obvious that poverty has an
economic, political and even technological components (all parts of the social LR quadrant).

-
Self pity
Malnutrition

POVERTY

Collective aspiration for Inflation

a better life