Philo 4

Spirituality of the
Human Person
Nature of Human Person
who/how what
attitude values physical mental

features capabilities
Encyclopedia Britannica
defines the human body
as the physical substance
of the human organism,
composed of living cells
and extracellular
materials and organized
into tissues, organs, and
systems
Philosophers on the other
hand believe the body as any
material object is with our
perception. The body is an
essential part of a person
who considers being the
medium or “tagapamagitan”
between the self and the
The Human Body world (Tubo, 2017)
Body Definitions of Philosophers
Lucretius “Our body is the envelope of the soul, which, in turn, is the guardian and protector.”
Plato “The soul never reasons better than when it as completely isolated itself by sending the body
walk.”
Descartes “The word body is very equivocal. When we speak of a body in general, we mean a specific
part of the material, and set the amount which the universe is composed. But when we speak of the
body of a man or woman, we hear any matter which is united with the soul of man.”
Spinoza “I mean a mode that the body expresses the essence of God as it is regarded as something
heard, in a certain and determined.”
Leibniz “Each organic body of a living is a kind of divine machine, or natural automaton, which
infinitely surpasses all artificial automata.”
Body is dignified and needs to
be respected because its value
is immeasurable. It has parts
with unique functions and it
has a mind capable of rational
thinking, willing and feeling.
Approaches to the Philosophical Study of the Human Person
Metaphysical Approach
❑Metaphysical approach focuses on the minds of substances or
materials and capacities that uniquely make up a human person
(Mabaquiao, Jr., 2017)
❑Some believe that the “what” of a person is not only composed of
physical attributes but also has a non-bodily component referred to
as soul or mind or spirit
❑In the metaphysical approach, there are three views on how human
beings encompass his body to mind, spirit, or soul
Soul – emphasizes its life-
giving function
Non-bodily
Component of
a Human Mind – emphasizes its
Person consciousness
(Mabaquiao 2017)
Spirit – emphasizes its non-
bodily, non-biological, or
nonphysical nature
The Three Human Person is Unspirited
Viewpoints of Body
a Metaphysical
Approach Human Person is
Disembodied Spirit
Human Person is an
Embodied Spirit
Man’s actions,
Believed that a
beliefs, and
human person is
emotions are all
composed of a
product of
Human body only and do
not have any
biological
processes such
Person is spiritual
component
metabolism and
homeostasis
Unspirited
Body A man works
according to a specific
Traditionally, science
has dismissed the
soul as an object of
behavior or pattern human belief or
(behaviorism) which
reduced it to a
means that man’s next
action is presumable psychological
by his previous concept that shapes
actions dictated by his our cognition of the
body system observable natural
world
The terms "life" and "death" are thus nothing more than the common
concepts of "biological life" and "biological death."
The animating principle is simply the law of chemistry and physics. You
(and all the poets and philosophers that ever lived) are just dust orbiting
the core of the Milky Way Galaxy (Lanza, 2011)
Atheist, a person who believed in the proposition that God does not exist
Agnostic, a person who has entertained the proposition that there is a God
but believes neither that it is true nor that it is false could also be the same
persons to view that human persons are the unspirited body
This view believed that a human person is
composed of body, mind, or soul, or spirit
separately
Human Person
is Disembodied According to this view, spirit does not depend
on bodies to exist, such that minds can exist
Spirit separated from anybody
The body then will die if there is no spirit, while

the spirit will survive if there is no body
Human -René Descartes
Person is Defended or stated that the spirit can exist
Disembodied outside of the body, and the body cannot think.
He insisted that mind and body are distinct—a
Spirit Two thesis now called “mindbody dualism.”
Strong He argued that the nature of the mind, a
thinking, non-extended thing, is completely
Supporters different from that of the body, an extended,
non-thinking thing, and therefore one can exist
without the other
Plato believes that the body and soul are separable that
a human person is just a soul using a body
Plato, a Soul is immaterial, immutable, and indestructible while

the body is material, mutable, and destructible
Greek Plato’s doctrine of form, there are two kinds of worlds,
namely, the World of Forms (everything comes from)
philosopher and the World of Matter (everything that exists )
According to Plato when the human person dies, the
body decomposes and the soul will go back to the World
of Forms and lives there eternally
For Christian believers, the moment you die, your soul
temporarily departs from your body to await the
Resurrection, arising from the dead.
This view believed that a human person is
Human composed of body and soul which is
importantly connected with each other
Person is an
Embodied Both are inseparable
Spirit
Each will not survive in the absence of the
other
Human - Aristotle, a Greek philosopher
Person is an Disagrees with Plato’s dualism which implies the
Embodied concept of “otherworldliness”
Aristotle believes that there is no dichotomy
Spirit between the person’s body and soul for him the
Two Strong body and the soul are in a state of unity connected
just like a single coin with two faces
Supporters Another example is a knife - its material aspect is
its metallic composition while its formal aspect is
its capacity to cut
Aristotle believes that the soul is the form of the body, while the body
is the matter to the soul
Everything that exists is composed of matter and form, and matter

and form are indeed inseparable
In the context of the human person, Aristotle believes that the body
and soul are inseparable
Body and soul, therefore, constitute the human person as a whole

Aristotle considers soul as the cause of life,
it is what gives life to something
Vegetative Soul – kind of soul that is found in plants possessing the
three basic requirements to be called a “living being”: the ability to
propagate, grow, and feed themselves
Sensitive Soul – kind of soul that is found in animals also possessing

the ability to propagate, grow, and feed themselves
Rational Soul – kind of soul for human beings which also possesses the
ability to propagate, grow, and feed themselves, and the capability of
thinking
He maintains that the soul is the form of the body,
Thomas Aquinas the bridge between the world of:
an Italian
-Corporeal, a physical material body
Dominican friar,
-Incorporeal, having no material existence
Philosopher,
Catholic priest,
and Doctor of the Aquinas discussed the wholeness of body and soul
and stated that if the body dies and the soul
Church remains, it can never be called a human being
Mabaquiao Jr.
(2017) cited at
least three It maintains human freedom, which is
reasons why negated by the unspirited view
the embodied
It gives importance to the soul. It also
spirit view acknowledges the value of the body,
should be the which disembodied view neglects
most
preferable: It can accommodate opposing views
on the immortality of the human soul

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Spirituality of the

attitude values physical mental

The body then will die if there is no spirit, while

Plato, a Soul is immaterial, immutable, and indestructible while

Everything that exists is composed of matter and form, and matter

Body and soul, therefore, constitute the human person as a whole

Sensitive Soul – kind of soul that is found in animals also possessing

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