The Human Person

in Society
DESCRIBE YOURSELF IN THE RELATION TO THE
FOLLOWING: COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING
STATEMENTS
In my family, I am the…….

My family has made me……

In my school , I consider myself…..

My school has helped me become…..

In my community, I am a…..

My community has enabled me to……

1.How has your family
defined your identity as
a person?
2.In what way has your
school and community
influenced your growth?
3.In what way do you see
yourself making a
 At the end of the lesson,
the students will be able
to:
✢ 1. Recognize how individuals form
societies and how individuals are
transformed by societies;
✢ Compare different forms of societies and
individualities;
✢ Explain how human relationships are
transformed by social systems; and
✢ Evaluate how social systems transforms
human relationships and how societies 4
 drives human beings to
establish societies?
✢ Have you ever pondered how your
world has defined you?
✢ Have you ever thought about your
place in this world and among the
people you interact with every
day?
✢ Have you ever reflected on how
your presence has affected the
world and people around you? 5
✢ Our freedom gives us the opportunity to
pursue various activities to achieve our
goals and attain well-being or happiness.
✢ As we live our lives, and expand our
experiences, we also encounter other people
who are acting in similar ways.
✢ However, the pursuit of our goals is
made easier by the fact that we do not need
to do our activities alone, that we can live
our life and pursue our happiness with other
people by our side.
✢ The tendency to form groups is not exclusive
6
✢ Philosophers consider society as the
product of deliberate actions by
individuals who come together in pursuit
of a common goal.
✢ Society is considered unique among all
other groups because of the nature of
the human persons that compose it, as
well as the relationships among its
members.
✢ As individual persons, members of
society are able to transform themselves
7
 Key Concepts
✢ The State of Nature: A pre-social
condition. It is a hypothetical society prior
to the existence of the political society.
✢ In philosophy, human nature is the
collection of fundamental characteristics
and dispositions that humans are said to
have naturally. It's often used to describe
the essence of humankind, or what it
means to be human
8
 Key Concepts
✢The Social Contract: An agreement
between (a) members of the
community or (b) members of the
community and the Sovereign.
✢In philosophy, the social contract is a
theory that people agree to form a
society by giving up some of their
rights in exchange for protection and
the benefits of society 9
 Key Concepts
✢ The Sovereign: The legitimate head of state
after the Social Contract: (a) a person or group of
persons, such as a monarch or a government, or
(b) the people representing themselves.
✢ In political and legal philosophy,
sovereignty is the idea that a person or
institution has the highest authority over
others in a given domain. The sovereign
has the power to change existing laws and
maintain order.
10
Society
an organized group of
people whose members
interact frequently and
have a common territory
and culture
a companionship or
friendly association with 11
 Society
It is a product of human social
processes intended to meet basic needs
for survival, every society is organized in
such a way that there are rules of
conduct, customs, traditions, folkways
and mores, and expectations that ensure
appropriate behaviour among members.
 What drives human being to
establish societies?
 Exists to relate others
 By nature is a social being
 A person experiences variety of
relationships (shape him as a
person)
 Expand horizons
 Establish friendships
 Deal with other figures of
13
 The human person in the society
 “Every human being today is the
subject of some state or another.
Human beings, for whatever reason,
have a strong tendency to recognize
themselves into a society, and these
societies contain types of power
structures that will tend to qualify
them as a state.”
 What do some philosophers consider
as the state of nature and the 14
Social
Contract
Theory
What is the basic meaning of the
social contract theory?
Social contract theory, nearly as
old as philosophy itself, is the view
that persons' moral and/or political
obligations are dependent upon a
contract or agreement among
them to form the society in which
they live.
Thomas Hobbes
✢ Social contract -
an agreement where
individuals sacrifice
an amount of their
freedom and submit
to a higher authority

17
 Thomas Hobbes justification of
totalitarianism
✢ Human are equal by nature (same physical and mental power)
✢ No one is too smaller not to inflict harm to another and no one
is too big not to be hurt by anyone.
✢ They are equal so that no one can be spared from harm by
anyone.
✢ This equality of power enables humans to desire for the
same thing, which result in competition, distrust, and
pursuit of glory, which in turn, cause war among them.
✢ In the state of nature, every one is at war with everyone
because the state of nature is the state of constant war among
people.
✢ Nothing just or unjust, good or evil because there is no
common power, no law, therefore, no standard of what is just18
✢ According to Hobbes, the human condition in the state of
nature is one of survival: no education, no culture, no
civilization, no progress, and worst, no life, life was miserable.
✢ Human cannot endure this condition of war. For that, both
their reason and passion dictate that they leave that condition
and establish a political society in which they will agree to
surrender their natural rights to the sovereignty they would
choose to govern them.
✢ Hobbes justifies the existence of the political society by
referring to the miserable human condition in the state of
nature: Man entered into government for Safety.
✢ He believed that humans are inherently bad because everyone
is self-interested
✢ If human are good by nature, there will be no war. Therefore,
there is war is war because human are naturally wolfish unto
19
one another.
 What about human liberty
✢ According to Hobbes, liberty is a luxury in the condition of
war.
✢ Liberty is the main cause of the miserable human
condition in the state of nature, a condition that people try to
escape by establishing a political society.
✢ For him, the stability of the society can no longer afford to give
back humans their natural liberty
✢ Liberty of thought, of expression, of religion… have no place
in Hobbes’ society because people may use these liberties to
criticize, disobey and attack the sovereign that may lead to
revolution, which in turn, may lead to the destruction of the
society, returning back to the state of war, to the very condition
that the political state tries to avoid.
20
 The type of society from
Hobbes theory
Totalitarian society
 It is a society in which the way of life of the
people (thoughts, readings, deeds, courses,
career) are controlled by the government.
 It is a society were all the powers (legislative,
executive, judicial) are in the hand of only
one person or group of persons.
 People in such a society is called subject not
a citizen. 21
John Locke
✢ Locke considered
persons in their
natural state as
more cooperative
and reasonable, and
that society is
formed through the
consent individuals 22
 John loke’s justification of
democracy
✢ In the state of nature, there is a natural law that
governs the actions of the people who are themselves
rational and free.
✢ As rational they know the article of the natural law.
As free beings, they can do anything they want in
accordance with the natural law.
✢ No one among them is master, no one is slave. All are
equal.
✢ In the state of nature everything is like paradise.
✢ However, their are three things lacking:
 No written law
 John loke’s
 No written law
✢ The article of the natural law are too broad to be
applied to specific cases.
✢ And not everyone is capable of discovering the
article of the natural law that commands specific
obligations
 No impartial judge
✢ No impartial judge who is empowered to decide on
controversies.
✢ While people are rational they are not always objective
and impartial in their judgement when they
themselves or relative are involved in controversies.
 John loke’s
 Lack common power
 There is no common power to execute the articles of the
natural law.
 People may know the natural low and they may decide
on controversies impartially.
 But individually they have no power to enforce what is
right.
 Thus there is a need for common power to obligate
people to abide by the article of the natural law.
 Because of this, the state of nature that seems to be
a paradise at first has become state of war similar
to that of Hobbes’.
 John loke’s
✢ Since people are free in the state of nature, no one can
be forced to enter into the political society without
his consent.
✢ It is only through the people consent that the human
being can enter into a political society.
✢ To achieve this, the people have to give their consent to
two social contracts:
 First contract: Contract between people themselves
to establish a political society to address the three
inconveniences in the state of nature
 Therefore, the political state is established to form a
government tasked to
 John loke’s
 Second contract: contract between the people and the
government
 The people agree to obey the government on condition that it protects
their rights to life, liberty and property.
 On the other hand, the government agrees to protect people’s right
to life, liberty and property on the condition that people abides by
its commands.
 This second social contract places the people and the government
on equal footing.
 A breach on the part of people will mean deprivation of their life,
liberty and property.
 A breach on the part of the government will mean removal from
positions of its officials or the of the government.
 Therefore, the second social contract recognizes the powers of
 Loke’s form of society
✢ Locke’s political society is the opposite of Hobbes’
political society.
✢ While Hobbes justifies totalitarian society and authoritarian
government, Locke justifies democracy
What is democracy?
 Form of society where the “sovereignty resides in the
people and from whom all government emanates.”
 It is “the government of the people, by the people, and
for the people”
 A democratic society is a society of free people, whereby,
people enjoy various kinds of liberties which are protected
by the constitution, the supreme law of the land.
 Liberty of thought, of expression, of religion, to own a private
Jean Jacques
Rousseau
✢ General will –
even if the people
are the ones who
organized the
society, in extreme
cases, the
government is able
to impose its will on 29
 Jean Jacques Rousseau’s concept of the
general will
 “Man was born free, and everywhere he is in chains”, says
Rousseau.
 In other word, humans are free and not free at the same time.
This statement talks about two human conditions:
 The human condition in the state of nature and the human
condition in the corrupt society.
✢ In the state of nature, that is, in primitive condition, human were
free
✢ In the corrupt society, human were deprived of this freedom.
 Unlike Hobbes and Locke who regard human as capable of reason in
the state of nature, Rousseau conceives human as a noble ape-like
savage.
 The reason is that they have no ability for rational thinking, they 30
 Jean Jacques Rousseau’s concept of the general will
 They are asocial but not selfish, incapable of causing
war, not even peace. They are naturally good.
 Apart from being an ape-like noble savage, human in the
state of nature are essentially free.
 They can do whatever they want since there is no
power above them to demand obedience from them.
 In the state of nature, there is no society to define what
is right or wrong, just or unjust. They are not beholding
to anyone or institution, not even to the family.
 In the state of nature, human are free but such
freedom was deprived by illegitimate institution
established by those who had vested interest in the31
 What gave rise to this condition
✢ The culprit, according to Rousseau, was the
institutionalization of private property.
✢ In the state of nature, no private property and the person
who first said, “this is my property” was the real founder
of political society according to Rousseau.
✢ When humans started to claim private properties, they
needed to protect them by establishing the political
society.
 The society and all the institutions were then
established purposely to protect the properties, the
haves and the powerful.
 Private properties and personal riches were institutionalized
and all sort of rules were created to legitimize this set-up32
 What gave rise to this condition
✢ Natural freedom was replaced by political freedom that were
actually shackles (restraints) of slavery by institutions
established illegitimately by those who were in power.
What should be done according to Rousseau?
There is no return to the state of nature.
 The task is to establish a political society that recognizes human
freedom
 Since human are free, political society can only be legitimately
founded based on the consent of the people
 Therefore, the problem of the political society is “to find a form of
association which may defend and protect with the whole
common force of the community, the person and property of
every associate, and by means of which each, coalescing with
all, may nevertheless obey only himself, and remain as free as
before”. (Rousseau, 1967, 17)
 Rousseau’s political society has therefore two purposes: 33
 What form of association will realize these purposes
of the political society
 To realize it, each person must be united with
all so that he can be protected with the whole
common force
 This unity must be an absolute unity, a
unity of individual will
 People’s wills must be reduced into only
one will, which Rousseau calls The General
Will.
 The General Will is the will of the collective
body of people, the will of people as an 34
 What form of association will realize these purposes
of the political society
 Being a member of the body politic, a person must always take into
consideration the general will.
 In making decisions, a person must ask two questions:
 Can my decision be universalized?
 Will my decision promote the common good?
 When the person’s answers to both questions are “yes”, then he is in
accordance with the General Will.

Why should the person act according to the General Will?

 Because it is only in acting in accordance with the General Will that
the person acts freely.
 Freedom is not the act of doing anything a person wants.
 It is not doing what the Government commands, unless what the
Government commands is in accord with the General Will. 35
 What form of association will realize these purposes
of the political society
✢ The former is natural freedom and it is slavery to the
person’s passion and appetite
✢ The latter is political freedom and it is slavery to the
government.
 Real freedom is moral freedom according to Rousseau.
 Moral freedom is attained when a person is no longer a
slave to his appetite and passion,
 When he obeys no one except himself
 This is (Copleston, 1994). possible when the person acts
in accordance o the General Will
✢ When a person acts in accordance to the General Will,
devoid of any personal interests, he obeys no one
36
 EFFECTS OF THE SOCIAL
CONTRACT
✢ Hobbes: People will live in peace but without rights
except for the right to self-defense

✢ Locke: The three natural rights which exist in

the State of Nature will be easier to enforce by
the government. Those who have given express
consent will be bound by the contract; those
who have given tacit consent can opt out and
leave.

✢ Rousseau: Life will be fair for all if we employ37

 JohnRawls
✢ Original position
✢ Rawls' original position is his
highly abstracted version of the
State of Nature. It is the position
from which we can discover the
nature of justice and what it
requires of us as individual
persons and of the social
institutions through which we will 38
✢ The original position is a central
feature of John Rawls's social
contract account of justice,
“justice as fairness,” set forth in
A Theory of Justice (TJ). The
original position is designed to
be a fair and impartial point of
view that is to be adopted in
our reasoning about
fundamental principles of 39
 What is the main idea of Rawls'
theory of justice?

✢ John Rawls also believed in the

concept of justice as fairness. That
means every person should be
treated with fairness and
recommends equal basic liberties,
equal opportunities to similar
individuals, and offering the
highest possible benefits to the
less advantaged members of 40
David Gauthier
✢Described people’s
self-interest as
an important
factor in building
and maintaining
societies
41
 Gauthier’s Theory of Rationality
Gauthier develops his theory of morality as part of a theory of
rational choice; in essence, morality is both self-interested and
rational. We might begin by considering the conception of
rationality central to his theory. For Gauthier, practical reason is
strictly instrumental. This is sometimes called the maximizing
notion of rationality. Accordingly, to be rational is to be disposed
to act in a way that maximizes the satisfaction of one’s interests,
interests here are understood as one’s considered, but
nonetheless, subjectively determined preferences. On this
conception of rationality, one’s preferential interests need not be
exclusively in the self, but preferential interests of the self, which
may include interest in others.
42
The notion of rationality used here derives from that employed by economists
in the classical tradition. The individual is the ultimate unit of analysis in this
tradition. Individuals are assumed to make choices on the basis of their
preferences and beliefs about the world. The choice is rational in this sense
when it is consistent with those beliefs and preferences. Effects of human
action and interaction are then explained as the intended or unintended
outcomes of the individual choices producing them. As we will see, the effect of
choices that are economical and, hence, individually rational may be
nonetheless collectively harmful but at the same time avoidable. In a nutshell,
to avoid collectively harmful outcomes, we must adopt what Gauthier calls
“morals by agreement,” those principles we can all agree to for our mutual
benefit. This is the essence of morality.

43
Different
Forms of
Societies
Hunting and Gathering
Society
✢ Earliest & simplest form of society
✢ Small sized and composed mainly
of families
✢ Are nomadic
✢ Members are treated equally and
decisions are usually arrived
through a consensus, because of
this, roles of its members and
division of labor is not very clearly 45
46
Pastoral Society
✢ Domestication of animals for a
more stable food supply
✢ Have larger populations than
hunting and gathering societies
and remain longer in one place
✢ Often produce surplus food and
resources, which they trade with
other societies
47
48
Horticultural Society
✢ Primarily engages in the small-
scale cultivation of plants, fruits,
and vegetables and the
domestication of animals
✢ Semi-nomadic
✢ Roles and responsibilities are more
clearly defined with many tasks
assigned according to gender
49
50
Agrarian / Agricultural
Society
✢ A further evolution of the pastoral
and horticultural societies
✢ Involves large-scale and long-term
cultivation of crops and
domestication of animals
✢ Improved technology and the use
of tools to aid in farming
✢ Giving rise to a growing population
in agricultural societies 51
52
Feudal Society
✢ Based on the ownership of land
✢ Rulers grant their followers or
vassals the right to manage
parcels of land
✢ Members of society are organized
based on status

53
54
Industrial Society
✢ Use of specialized machinery in
the production of goods and
services
✢ Resulted in the Industrial
Revolution, which in turn gave in
rise to new production and
industrial methods, as well as
innovations in transportation and
communication 55
56
Post-Industrial Society
✢ Marked by the establishment of
societies based on knowledge,
information , and the sale of
services
✢ Members have higher education,
better training and specialized roles
✢ Virtual Society, where people
organized themselves through
communication technology and the 57
58
59
How does society
influence our
development as
persons?
The person and the
society have a very
dynamic relationship in
which one cannot exist
without the other.

61
influence our
development as
persons?
✢ Society influences our
development as persons in various
ways:
• Norms – set of traits that
society considers acceptable
• Laws – more formal norms that
establish and define acceptable
behavior of citizens
• Folkways – less formal norms
that arise form tradition and do 62
influence our
development as
persons?
✢ Norms, laws, and other rules that
regulate human interactions give
rise to a social system, which
is an organized or patterned set of
relationships among individuals
and groups that compose a
society

63
Social System
• Social role – actions and
behaviors expected of a certain
individual
• Social groups/social classes –
individuals who perform similar
roles are grouped together
• Social institutions – certain
groups that perform vital functions
in society 64
 Society also transforms
human relations, which
leads to the transformation
of its members.
65
influence our
development as
persons?
✢ Society influences our
development as persons in various
ways:
• Social values – actions or
ideals that are considered
important by society
- cooperation,
obedience to the aa law,
concern and respect for others
are aa aa considered vital to 66
How does society
enable me to become
a better person?
How does society enable
me to become a better
person?
✢Society recognizes the
capability of the person to
develop, and provide its
members with
opportunities to better
themselves
68
How does society
enable me to become
a better person?
✢Persons can also
undertake to
contribute to society
through their
decisions and
69
How does society
enable me to become
a better person?
✢Social movement – a
large-scale action done
by various groups and
organizations in
pursuit of a common
goal to bring about 70