Lesson 1: What is Philosophy?

Through introspection, we examine our actions, ourte thoughts,

our perceptions. Once we get a grasp of how we process things,
From the Greek words philos (meaning love) and sophia (meaning this will eventually lead to the knowledge of our own strengths
wisdom), Philosophy seeks to answer the fundamental questions and weaknesses, our capabilities and areas of improvement, as
about existence, knowledge, truth, morality, nature of man, and well as our way of doing things. Simply put Socrates believes that
other aspects of life through the use of rational or logical thinking a person who is "self-aware" can maximize his/her potential and
(Alata et al., 2018). It provides a platform in which you can explore use that potential to do things that are true to his nature which is
the depths of your own insights. Although the ideas in philosophy good
are by nature ultimate, it does not offer ultimate answers to the
fundamental questions of existence. Instead, philosophy will help
you to open your mind, to ask and provide answers to your own
questions Known as Socrates' greatest student. Plato also believes in the
dual nature of man, that is, the self is composed of body and soul
Furthermore, you have probably heard people say that Philosophy (mind) In relation to this, Plato's Theory of Forms asserts that
is the mother of all sciences. This is in part true as most of the everything that we see in the world of senses (physical world)
sciences branched out from Philosophy. However, Philosophy in existed because of their existence in the world of ideas, where
itself is not a science. It provided the foundation for the every single matter in the physical world has a perfect form. Have
development of contemporary sources of knowledge but it does you asked yourself, how did we know that a square should be
not utilize the scientific method called a square? Where did the "idea" of a square come from?
According to Plato, all ideas" or knowledge existed even before
we got our physical form in the world of ideas When we were
born, however, and our soul entered our physical body, most of
Lesson 2: Ancient Philosophy what we know was forgotten. This is because our soul which is
"perfect, infinite, and eternal inhabited a body that is "limited,
Ancient philosophy is philosophy in antiquity, or before the end of flawed, and corruptible. It is our goal, therefore, is to rediscover
the Roman Empire It usually refers to ancient Greek philosophy. It the things that we have "forgotten" through the process of self-
can also encompass various other intellectual traditions, such as awareness
Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, and Iranian philosophy.
Ancient philosophies are generally deeply rooted in religious Plato believed that our soul is divided into three parts appetite,
traditions. Accordingly, andeny philosophies have a will/spirit, and reason (Meinwald 2020) Appetite refers to physical
comprehensive outlook as opposed to modern urges such as hunger, thirst, and sexual desire while the will
includes passion, aggression, and emotions that we feel. Reason
gives us the faculty to make sound judgments. make wise choices
and understand eternal truths These three parts interact with ea
While the earliest philosophers were mostly concerned about the
dan arrive at seagreement or in confict The hal truths can either
composition of the cosmos, Socrates and his student Plato were
work with reasne matenalistic pleasures of thewledge or it can be
more concerned about the nature of man. Socrates was known as
The byepire che making us slaves of the mphasized that reason
the wondering philosopher who would roam around public
should world. These three Darted by appety diferent roles but
places, asking people the most intriguing questions Socrates did
Plating harmony through reason is therule to restore the parts
not claim that he know the answers to all the questions but
clearly play difer Therefore, achieving harmony through reason is
believes that he is wiser than most people because he admits that
the only way to know ourselves
he doesn't know. He held that ignorance stems from the assertion
of knowing Because of his held that ional method, Socrates
became clay potually, he was accused generation but was
detested by the academicians. Eventually, he was accused of The Medieval Philosopher The Medieval Ages is widely known as
corrupting the minds of the youth and was forced to drink poison. the Dark Ages. This is a period in history when there were little
It was through his student Plato, who wrote most of Socrates' advances in the field of science. When the Greek civilization
teachings that we are able to get to know his idea of the Self flourished and made history in the advancement of the scientific
(Morzinski, 2002). realm, the medieval period took history to an opposite direction
When the Roman Empire fell, kingdoms went to the Church for
Socrates believed that the self exists in two parts: one that is protection and guidance. This made the Catholic Church the most
tangible, mortal and constantly changing and one that is believed powerful element in the European society. To unite people, the
to be immortal. He also dons the idea that man is innately good church used faith to discourage people to think for themselves
and that evilness stems from not knowing the Self If you know and instead told to trust the ways of the Church, literacy was
that you are "good", it will follow that you will do your best to limited to memorizing prayers and the doctrines of the Church,
avoid "evil deed" because this is not part of your nature But you freedom of thought and education was barred to favor those in
may ask, how do we know ourselves? Socrates proposed the the pedestal. To combat free thinking and disobedience, the
method of introspection as a way to know who we really are. Church destroyed most of the writings of the ancient civilization.
The books of Plato and other Greek philosophers were banned Rene Descartes: The Rationalist
and anyone seen carrying forbidden books were severely
punished. Indeed, the development of society stood still during Try to ponder on these questions Do you exist? What proof do
this period. With the way that the Church treated people who you have that you can say that you are truly awake and not just a
displayed interest in the discourse of knowledge, it may be part of someone else's dream? These kinds of questions have
impossible to think that philosophy and religion could ever be bothered Rene Descartes a very long time ago. Like most thinkers
reconciled. One church leader however, proved that philosophy of his time, Descartes believe that truth can only be derived
can be used to understand God and religion can be integrated to through independent rational thinking and should not be based
the wisdom of the ancient philosophers on decrees handed down by authority.

St. Augustine was a Catholic bishop who was exposed to the He started his arguments by giving the assumption that human
teachings of the ancient Greek philosophers while he was beings are imperfect but has an idea of perfection. For aeneame
studying to become a priest. The Catholic bishop soon realized as something that is flawed and imperfect, it would be incorrect to
he was reading that Plato's Theory of Forms could be the "missing assume that the idea of perfection could come from something
link" to finally reconcile the dispute between faith and knowledge. imperfect. Just as how a chicken could not possibly produce a dog
Plato's belief in dualism (that is, a human person has a body and a as an offspring, human beings could not have been the source of
soul which are separate but are interdependent with each other), perfection And yet, there exists in our mind that very same idea.
was probably the door that opened for St. Augustine's journey to Descartes then concluded that the source of this idea of
reconciliation. perfection is outside the flawed human being. And what other
idea fits to perfection but only the "idea of God ("Descartes, Rene
In his explanation, he likened the world of senses to the material | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d.).
or physical world where everything is bound to perish. Just like
the physical world, our body will eventually return to dust as it is Rene Descartes came up with this valid conclusion through his
not eternal - unlike the soul. The soul, which is perfect and method of doubting Contrary to the medieval period, where the
immutable has existed even before the physical body existed in things that people in authority are regarded as truth, Rene
the hands of God, the only one who is infinite, perfect and the Descartes believed that the only way that he can possibly arrive at
only source of truth and knowledge. As a clever man, St. truths is by doubting every single idea that he has. If a particular
Augustine defended the ideas of Plato as something that does not idea cannot be proven through reasoning and logic, that idea is
discredit the teachings of the Church but instead supports it with incorrect or false and should be discarded. In this way, the only
logical and reasonable arguments. In Plato's philosophy, he called idea that would persist are those that are logical enough. As he
the source of knowledge and truth as the "world of ideas and that proved that the existence of God is true, he now turns to prove
we can only achieve our perfect form, or get to know ourselves his existence. Yes, he even doubted his own existence but
better, if we reach this world through reason and logic. St. eventually proved his existence. How did he do this? By asking the
Augustine used this argument to inject faith in Plato's philosophy. questions I asked above
St. Augustine could only think of one entity whose characteristics
are the same with the world of Ideas and that is God perfect, He cannot prove that his existence is not something that only
incorruptible, eternal. Plato, according to him, was not exists in someone else's mind. He was also uncertain if he was
Christianized that's why he could not find the "correct" word to really awake or was just dreaming. All the more, he doubted that
describe the world of ideas. Thus in knowing the self, the human the environment that he sees is not an illusion. However, he was
person can only achieve enlightenment and true knowledge of the certain of one thing. And that is, he was doubting. And because he
self by seeking God first - the one and only source of truth and was doubting, he could not possibly deny the fact that he was
genuine knowledge thinking. And because he was thinking, he was aware that he was
thinking, there could only be one explanation for that. And that he
MODERN PHILOSPY was alive, thathe exists. Meaning, the self is a thinking thing.
Descartes, like Plato, believed that man has a separate body and
The Age of Enlightenment, sometimes called the Age of Reason, mind. The mind can independently exist from the body but does
refers to the time a the guiding intellectual movement called The not deny the association between the two. However, the mind
Enlightenment. It advocated reason ass an authoritative system of (which is governed by the laws of reason) surpasses the physical
aesthetics, ethics, government. means to establing low human self (governed by laws of nature) ("Descartes, Rene | Internet
beings to obtain objective truth ad from supersof religion, which Encyclopedia of Philosophy, n.d.).
thinkers argued that reason could free hun to millions in
religiouon Feligious authoritarianism that had brought suffering While the rationalists have been busy physicalists have moved on
and death to rolighs the religious wa Also, the wide availability of with the unobservable, the be known thin and the s experience.
knowledge was made possible through the production of For the physicalists, there is nothing more to be known than the
educating the human race ('Age Enlightenment," n.d.). and even want to know what a banana is, you have to see the actual object
short, there is nothing beyond the physical.
Gilbert Ryle asserts to deny all forms of dichotomy concerning the 2.2. Anthropology's Conception of the Self Clifford Geertz, a
nature of man. He rejected altogether the notions about the French anthropologist was one of the best anthropologists of the
unconscious, consciousness, souls, and inner selves because these
things cannot be measured, cannot be directly observed. If we 20th century. He emphasized the importance of studying the
have to explain a phenomenon, we need to acquire information cultural context of a certain behavior to understand it. In his
from measurable sources, for example, behavior. To know a famous wink example, the behavior of winking can mean different
person, we have to observe his/her behavior. To know yourself, things in different situations. At certain contexts, winking can
you have to observe your own behavior. The self, for Gilbert Ryle, mean an understanding between two people or it could mean
is known through a person's behavior presented to the world. It is nothing but a reflex because of a tic disorder. For the first
a pattern of behavior, the tendency or disposition for a person to circumstance, an observer must know the situation, the context
behave in a certain way in certain circumstances where the behavior is happening to understand the meaning of
the wink. Through this example, Geertz wanted to emphasize that
to understand culture, it is not enough that you study culture.
One must be "in" the culture.
Paul Churchland (1981) stands in the materialistic belief that
nothing but matter exists, for example, the thing you are holding Geertz believed that culture serves as a control mechanism that
right now, the thing right beside you or in front of you. Meaning, guides behavior. Studying culture means looking into the small
anything that can be seen, felt, heard, tasted or smelled exists, details of that culture and drawing conclusion from those details.
nothing beyond what our senses can experience. With this in In the study of anthropology, it is therefore important to
mind, can we say that the soul exists? In Churchland's view, it understand culture to understand the people. In understanding
doesn't because our senses cannot directly experience it. But how the collective, we will be able to understand our individual
about the self? He believes that the self is the brain itself. And our behavior, to understand the Self (Sökefeld, 1999)
conception of the self is a product of the chemical processes
inside our brain. Our identity, therefore, is directly influenced by A Filipino anthropologist, Prospero Covar (2015) acknowledges
the how our brain works. the importance of knowing the Filipino culture in understanding
the Filipino identity. A person, particularly a Filipino person has
Contemporary Philosophy biological givenness but this personhood is only completed
through the immersion in the Filipino culture. You are born as a
Contemporary philosophy goes beyond the mind-body problem human being but becoming a person is a process embedded in
and even finds t unnecessary They argue that life is more than culture thus the saying. "Madaling maging tao, mahirap
identifying how the mind and body work but rather, it is living magpakatao. It only takes approximately nine months to be born
through life and finding meaning as we live it. We are born as a human being, but becoming a person takes a lifetime of
without the innate or predetermined essence (as what the learning
ancient philosophers believe) but we are able to shape our own
destiny and make own choices. Furthermore, the contemporary Covar likened the Filipino identity to a jar - it has labas, loob, and
philosophers emphasize the importance of free will and our ability lalim, the jar is made of clay, man (in the Biblical sense) is also
to make choices for ourselves. Life is meaningless, until you give it made from the earth. Covar used the method of tambalang lapit
its own meaning. (dynamic dualism) to dissect the Filipino identity. When we use
dynamic dualism as a method, this is ME that is, if there is labas,
Merleau-Ponty is a French philosopher who believed that the there is loob; if there is kaluluwa, there is budhi.
mind and body should not be subjected to a competition because
both the thoughts and ideas in our mind as well as our physical It is in the labas that we witness the Source reflection of the
body. comprise the whole person. The mind and the body are so person's experience of The loob is a broad concept which needs
intertwined that you cannot separate them from one another. He to be
is a firm believer of phenomenology, the field of study that
emphasizes lived-experiences. Merleau-Ponty considers the self What is Sociology and Anthropology?
as the sum of all your experiences in the past or in the present,
your Source emotions, your thoughts, and your behavior. It is Sociology and Anthropology are two scientific fields of study that
having the ability to res of mounce experience the world that we deals with the elements of society and culture and how they
live in that makes a human being a merleau-ponty person. relate to the human person. Although interrelated, Sociology and
Without these experiences, we become nothing but mere vessels Anthropology are not the same.
of our organs. He asserts that your direct, lived experience is the
only source of knowledge about the world Furthermore, he When we study what makes our species human, we study
stresses that the self is a product of our own huma Anthropology. It looks into the origin of our species, and the
evolution of our existence around the world through time An
anthropologist will dig fossil remains to understand human
evolution, they will examine material remains of past civilizations
and compare it with the present to understand how our society
evolved through time and space. On the other hand, social works is no longer just limited to the people who are closest to
organizations, societies, people's social lives and culture are the them but also considers the people outside of one's immediate
fields of interest when we study sociology Sociology wants to family. In the Game Stage, children start to understand that
know how people affect other people, how the culture of a Nanay is not only a mother but she can also assume other roles.
certain society affects the behavior of its members and how For example, Nanay is mother at home, but she is also Ma'am at
different societies are related with one another (Alata et al. 2018). work and Madi when she's with her suki buyers. Children are now
capable of understanding that people have multiple roles.
In close examination, the common feature between the two is
culture. By definition. culture is summed up as the way of life in a
certain society. The culture dictates what acceptable and
unacceptable behavior is in a society Culture also creates social
glue that bonds the people in a community together. It is
therefore important that we examine how the elements of culture
shape people's behavior in the society. In the succeeding
discussion we will know how the self develops according to
sociology and anthropology as well as look into the important role
it has in our development

Sociology and the Development of Self

George Herbert Mead is a sociologist who advanced the idea that

the development of the self is influenced by significant persons in
one's life. For Mead, the self develops in a chronological order or
stages wherein one has to undergo the first stage before
proceeding to the next stage.

He clarified that very young children were in no way influenced by

others. Instead. they create their own world and do not have the
ability to understand other people's perspectives. However, as
children grow up, other people's opinion about them takes a
central role in the development of the self. Here are Mead's
developmental stages.

PREPARATORY STAGE

First, the child learns to imitate others, usually the primary care
givers. There is no actual interaction since the child only mimics
the doer. Important elements in this stage include symbols such
as language, gestures, and objects that form the basis of
communication.

PLAY STAGE

This changes when the child transitions to the Play Stage This goes
beyond imitation as the relationship between the child and others
becomes more social which can be observed when children start
to pretend play as other people. For example you might recall that
when you were a child, you've probably played Bahay-bahayan
and you and your A jaymates would assume the roles of Nanay,
Tatay, Ate, Kuya, etc. During the play stage, children can already
assume the perspective of others making it possible for them to
act like any family member.

GAME STAGE

The last stage is characterized by the influence of the generalized

other, or society as a whole. Understanding how the society