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Lesson 1

Philosophy, meaning 'love of wisdom,' is an intellectual activity that seeks to understand fundamental truths about existence and human relationships, addressing societal questions and individual thought processes. The Philosophy of Human Person explores deep questions about human existence, uniqueness, and the implications of our connection to the material world. Engaging in philosophy requires a holistic perspective, considering all aspects of a situation before drawing conclusions.

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Lesson 1

Philosophy, meaning 'love of wisdom,' is an intellectual activity that seeks to understand fundamental truths about existence and human relationships, addressing societal questions and individual thought processes. The Philosophy of Human Person explores deep questions about human existence, uniqueness, and the implications of our connection to the material world. Engaging in philosophy requires a holistic perspective, considering all aspects of a situation before drawing conclusions.

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ninyamarie51
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© © All Rights Reserved
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Lesson 1: The Meaning of Philosophy and Process of doing Philosophy

What is Philosophy?

The term "philosophy" means, "love of wisdom." Philosophy is an activity that


people undertake when they seek to understand fundamental truths about themselves,
the world in which they live, and their relationships to the world and to each other. It
engaged in asking, answering, and arguing for their answers to life’s most basic
questions. We all have the potential to philosophize since we have the tendency to
wonder and doubt. We possess the capacity to reflect on our experiences, and we have
a near ending need to learn and discover.

Philosophy as a body of knowledge provides methodologies and insights on how


societal questions, such as moral dilemmas of euthanasia or same-sex marriage, can
be answered. On the other hand, philosophy as an intellectual activity is an analytic
procedure of addressing individual thought processes such as resolving conflict and
confusion, testing positions, and analyzing beliefs. In all instances, doing philosophy is
prescribed by logic, reason, and ethics leading to wisdom.

Philosophy applied to human experience or everyday life denotes the use of


philosophy as an intellectual activity. Also known as philosophy in life, this concept is
important because it serves as the guiding principle on how one ought to live life.

Philosophy of Human Person can be defined as the science of human beings


which interprets the data of experience. It has two sources, namely, the data of
experience supplied mainly by everyday experience. We can consider Philosophy of
Human Person as that branch of philosophy which concerns itself with trying to respond
to those deepest and perennial questions about human beings - questions that have
plagued humans ever since history began. Some of the typical questions that
Philosophy of Human Person raises are: What do humans have in common with the
rest of the material world? What are the implications of this common bond between
humans and the rest of the material world? Which are those aspects of human that set
him/her apart from the rest of the animal world? How significant are these differences?
Is there some explanation that gets to the root of human’s uniqueness? Is this
explanation defensible in the forum of reason? What is the origin of human life? What is
its goal?

The bulk of Philosophy Human Person is basically an exploration into the above
mentioned questions and into the ramification of the answers generated by them. Thus
the key issues that this course will tackle are life and evolution, knowledge, language,
will, freedom, life, inter-subjectivity, person, death and immortality and self-
transcendence.

Process of Doing Philosophy

Doing philosophy means engaging oneself in “matters of utility” and


methodologies to eliminate any practical problem or abstract idea. In the process of
doing philosophy, it is critical to have a holistic point of view- the perception of looking at
all aspects of a situation first before making a conclusion. Before engaging in
philosophical inquiry, one must be able to distinguish between holistic and partial point
of view. This is critical for anyone doing philosophy because it sets a limit in coming up
with conclusions about a given situation.

Holistic Perspective Partial Point Of View


 Looks at all aspects of the given  Looks at only a limited number of
problem or situation. aspects of the given problem or
 All aspects are given importance situation.
when making conclusions.  Conclusions are made based on
 All aspects are tied in together to form considering some, but not all, sides of
a general overview of the problem or the problem or situation.
situation.

Example: A teacher listens first to both Example: A teacher scolds student A after
stories before making any conclusion about student B accused him of stealing her pencil
the issue. case. However, the teacher only listened to
the story of student B, and not to student A,
before deciding to scold the student.

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