Introduction to the

Philosophy of the
Human Person
 OPENING PRAYER
God, our source of all strength and inspirations, we praise you for
the gift of another school year. Grant us pardon for the times
when we failed to celebrate the meaning of a new beginning.
Thank you for despite this crisis we continue to be blessed with
your saving grace. Send forth your spirit that we may continue
building our nation through education. Amen.
LESSON 2: METHODS OF
PHILOSOPHIZING
(Distinguishing Truth from Opinion)
According to Philosophy, if
you want to know the truth,
you have to use, not your
emotions but your thinking.
What is Epistemology?
It is a science devoted to the discovery of the proper method of
acquiring and validating knowledge.

The purpose of epistemology is therefore if two-fold:

a. To show how we can acquire knowledge

b. To give us method of demonstrating whether the knowledge we
acquired is really knowledge
 How do we acquire knowledge?

Senses: seeing, touching, tasting, hearing,

Thinking with the use of our minds
smelling

EMPERICISM RATIONALIST
Reality- To know is to know something. This “something” is what
philosophers call reality, existence, being.
Perception- Our first and only contact with reality is through our
senses. Knowledge begins with perceptual knowledge.
Entities Qualities Quantities Relationship Actions

Ex. Red cannot be separated from red objects

Concept- Defines as an abstract or generic idea generalized from
particular instances.
Proposition- A statement that expresses either an assertion or denial that
existent belongs to a class or possess certain attribute. Proposition uses
declarative sentences.

Affirmative
Men are mortal
Proposition
Subject is Predicate

Men are not mortal Negative Proposition

Subject is not Predicate

Inference- Argument is a group of statements, one or more of which the
premises are claimed to be support for, reason to believe of the others
(conclusion)

All men are mortals Premise/s which include the

evidences, justification, and
the proof to the conclusion.
Socrates is Man

Therefor, Socrates is Mortal Conclusion that we want to

prove.
 Validating one’s knowledge
The first step in validating one’s knowledge is to ask oneself the following question: “How did
I arrived at this belief, by what steps?” Thus you have to retrace the steps you took to acquire
the knowledge, “reverse engineer” the process. This is what they called REDUCTION. One
will therefore realize that the steps you took to acquire knowledge are the same steps needed
to validate knowledge, but in reverse order.

If we perform the process of reduction, we will realized that all true knowledge rest ultimately on
sense of perception.

I am alive

I have a body

I can breathe
Another way to determine if the statement if true is through consensus.
If the majority agrees that a statement is true then it is true. However,
there are certain limitations to this approach. Far too many times in
history false ideas become popular which ultimately leads to disaster.

And last way to determine whether a statement is true is to test it by

means of actions.
 TRUTH VS. OPINION
• Based on the facts of
reality
• Based on emotions
• Can be confirmed with
• Open to interpretation
other sources
• Cannot be confirmed
• Independent of one’s
• Inherently biased
interpretations,
preferences, and biases
1.Your heart pumps blood through your body.

2.To solve traffic, it is better to invest in subways and trains

than in road widening programs.

3.I prefer using Facebook to Twitter because Twitter has

limited characters per caption.

4.People use their legs to walk

 THEORIES OF
TRUTH
• The correspondence theory of truth — that whatever
corresponds to observable reality is true.
• The coherence theory of truth — that claims are true if they
follow logically and coherently from a set of axioms (or
intermediate propositions).
• The pragmatic theory of truth — that what is true is what is
useful to you, or beneficial for you.
LESSON 2: METHODS OF
PHILOSOPHIZING
(continuation)
Philosophize
To philosophize is to think philosophically or just deeply
and reflectively. On a long car trip, after you run out of
school gossip, you and your friends might philosophize on
the nature of man, or the question "What is beauty?"
Dialectic Method
This method was conceived by the Greek
philosopher, Socrates, one of the great ancient
philosophers in the ancient time. In achieving a
clear understanding of words, we can achieve it
through an act called as “disciplined
conversation”, in which Socrates compared it
to an intellectual midwife.
What is most effective, a face to
face class or an online class set-
up?
Pragmatic Method
According to pragmatist, philosophy seems
to offer a set of beliefs about human beings
and his relationship to the world.
Pragmatists offer no such belief. Rather,
they seek to make philosophy relevant by
solving real life problems. It is purely a
philosophy of a method and not of
substance.
Phenomenological Method

Phenomenology is a philosophy of
experience. For phenomenology,
the ultimate source of all meaning
and value is the lived experience of
human.
The Primary and Secondary Reflection
According to Gabriel Marcel, philosophical
reflection is the act of giving time to think
about the meaning
and purpose of life. And reflection is not just a
disinterested look at experience. It emerged
when someone is valuable is at stake.
 DIFFERENT FALLACIES
A philosophical fallacy can be described as a faulty argument, one that
is not based on sound reasoning or logic. You might be able to
convince some people of your argument using a fallacy, but it's not
considered a good argument and can be misleading to those you are
trying to persuade. You also risk that your audience may recognize the
flaw. This will weaken your overall argument.
1. Since you haven't been able to prove your innocence, I must assume you're Appeal to
guilty. Ignorance

2. "The reason I am deserving of this job is because my mother is on her death bed, Appeal to Pity
and she really wants to see me have this job before she passes away.“

3. Everyone is going to get the new smart phone when it comes out this weekend.
Bandwagon
4. Before a track meet, your friend says to you, 'If you don't let me win the race, I Fallacy
can't be your friend anymore. Letting me win the race makes sense, don't you think?
Appeal to
5. You cheated and lied to your wife, but you expect the jury to believe you now? Force

Argumentum Ad
Hominem
FACTS VS. OPINION
Focus on Information Literacy
EVALUATION PROCESS
In considering the kinds of sources or sites, Robert Harris, a professor of English at
Southern California College suggests that student should ask themselves, “Which
sources are likely to be fair, objective, lacking hidden motives, showing quality
control?” Harris recommends selecting sites that include as many of the following as
possible:

• The author’s name, title, and/or position

• The site’s organization affiliation, if any
• The date the page was created or updated