PHILOSOPHY of MANA. Definition of PhilosophyBefore defining Philosophy define first what is definition. The term “Definition” is derived from the Latin word de-fenire meaning “to state the limits of”“to enclose within the limits of” or “to enclose within limits”. A thing can be limited by unfolding its nature, or by getting its meaning or by laying hold of what includes and extends.

Two classifications of Definition:

• A. Nominal: (Nominales –latin) meaning “having reference to a name”. A nominal definition is defined or limited according to its term or name. So both etymological and vernacular nominal definitions limit a thing from the standpoint of its name or term. thinking.)

Two kinds of Nominal Definition:• 1. Etymological nominal definition limits a

thing or term by taking its derivation( e.g. Latin word de-fenire)

• 2. Vernacular nominal definition limits a thing or term by taking into account its exclusive meaning (e.g. Logic is the science of correct thinking and reasoning)

B. Real Definition- (from the Latin word realis meaning “having reference to a thing or reality.”)

• Real Definition- defines a thing by considering the thing per se.

Classification of Real Definition:1. Intrinsic real definition-limit a thing according

to its essence and contingency or accident. If it limits a thing according to its accidents (those characteristics or parts that may belong to a thing but are not necessary to the essence of a things) it is called descriptive definition.

An essential Definition- limits a thing or term according to its genus, i.e. “Man is an animal.” In this case man is defined or limited in the context of his animality., i.e. Man is not a plant but an animal.

Besides an essential definition can also limit a thing in terms of its species, i.e. “Man is a rational animal.”

Here, rationality or rational animal is exclusive to man.

A Descriptive Definition limits a thing according to its attributes or properties (those natural necessities of a thing that are not part of its essence) e.g. “Man is a smiling being.”

• Extrinsic definition- limits a thing according to its origin, or cause or finality( purpose), i.e.”Death (cause) is the separation of the soul from the body,” or “God(origin) is the creator of man.”, or “A ballpen is an instrument for writing (purpose).”

Definition A. Nominal B. Real 1.Etymological 1. Intrinsic 2.Vernacular a. Essential i. Genus ii. Species b. Descriptive i. Properties ii. Accidents 2. Extrinsic a. Origin b. Origin c. purpose

• Different Nominal Definition• Greek words – Philein meaning “love” or “friendship”

and sophia meaning “wisdom”. Literally , Philosophy means “Love of wisdom. But what is love and what is wisdom. As a drive, love always seeks unity with the object, it desires to possess its object. On the other hand, wisdom means the good exercise or application of knowledge. Truth is the ultimate object of knowledge. Hence truth is being shown and practice by a man of wisdom. To philosophize, therefore, is to be in a quest, or to have the desire towards living the truth.

• Chinese- Philosophy means Zhe-xue or che shueh known as Zhe-means wisdom; Xue- means study. For the Chinese. Philosophy is the translation of words into action or the application of theory into practice

• Thus, Chinese Philosophy-is the translation of words into action or the application of theory into practice.

• Hindus Philosophy is Darsana. Darsana- means seeing, seeing not only through the eyes, but through the whole being of the one that sees. In other words the Philosophy of the Hindus- means seeing the whole of reality through a total advertence and involvement of the looker.

Vernacular definition of Philosophy.• Philosophy-is the science that investigates all things in

their ultimate causes, reasons, and principles through reason alone.

• Philosophy is the “love of wisdom” or “the quest for truth”. It is the truth that explains that which is referred to as philosophy.

• Real Definition of Philosophy• Philosophy- is the science that investigates all things in

their ultimate causes, reasons, ad principles through human reason alone.

• Critical thinking- founded on reason, experience, reflection, intuition, meditation, imagination and speculation which also embraces questioning, analyzing, criticizing, synthesizing, evaluating and judging.

The Origin of Philosophy• Miletus – where Philosophy originated• Thales – the first acclaimed philosopher. He wondered

earlier than Pythagoras also a philosopher in 6th century. The origin of Philosophy is wonder. Philosophy starts

with wonder that is why it is the cause of philosophy.• Thales- was the first man who questioned or wondered.Wonder is expressed in a question. When question arise,

reasoning through experience, intuition, meditation, imagination and speculation start to work. This is why philosophizing always involves questioning, analyzing, criticizing, synthesizing, evaluating, and judging. The spark of wonder is the dynamic force that leads to the progressive motion of the act of philosophizing.

Purpose of Philosophy:•Enables us to understand ourselves better.•Helps us understand others, our fellowmen•Helps us understand other ways of thinking•Helps us understand the world and our place and role in it.•Helps us understand the significance, meaning, value, and finality of human life.•Helps us know and undertsand God in his nature, essence activities and attributes.

Division of Philosophy General - Ontology

Metaphysics Cosmology Special Theodicy Psychology

Philosophy Epistemology

Logic

Ethics

Four Disciplines of Philosophy1. Metaphysics- science that studies all beings in so far as

they are beings. a. General - Ontology- a metaphysical study of all

realities in so far as they exist. b. Special: i. Cosmology – metaphysical science which studies the

nature of the world. ii. Theodicy – studies the nature, operations and

attributes of God. iii. Psychology –studies of man’s nature as being

endowed with reason and intellect.2.Epistemology- investigates knowledge and truth,

3. Logic- the study of correct thinking and reasoning4. Ethics- the study on the morality of human actions or

Moral Philosophy.

Philosophy of Man- a course that delves into the origin of human life, the nature of human life, and the reality of human existence.

Philosophy of man is one’s desire to know who and what man is. Thus, Philosophy of man , asks a crucial question about himself and gradually answers the question himself.

In general the Philosophy of man is a course that deals with man, man is the superstar in Philosophy of man

II. MAN IN THE CONTEXT OF HIS NATUREMan is a being, a creature, whose destiny is to live

in two worlds, viz. the spiritual and physical or material world. Man is destined to live in the spiritual world because he summoned by God to live with Him in His kingdom; and man is destined to live I n the physical world since he is part of the world and, besides, he lives among entities in the world, viz, plants minerals, animals, etc.

• Man is basically a being, a creature, whose destiny is to live in two world., viz. : the spiritual and the physical or material world.

• Man is destined to live in spiritual world because he is summoned by God to live with Him in his Kingdom; and man is destined to live in the world since he is a part of the world and besides, he lives among entities in this world., viz. plant. Animals, minerals ,etc.

• Man is the only recipients of a substantial unity of a material body and spiritual soul.

• Human = refers to anything exclusively pertinent to man. • Nature = from Latin word “natus” means “born ‘ or “nature” which

means “to be born” or “being born”. Nature- is the ultimate operation of reality.

• Human Nature – refers to anything exclusively human which man intrinsically possesses right at his birth. Human can be characterized as universal and static. Universal pertains to all born humans and static because it remains as it is in every man from birth(womb) to death (tomb).

Three fold-level of Human Nature”1. Somatic level – refers to the body substance, constitution, or stuff of

man and secondarily to the bodily structure and color of man which are conditioned by man’s culture and environment.

2. Behavioral level – refers to the mode of acting of every man. 3. Attitudinal Level – refers to the mental reaction of man to a given

stimulus. Attitudes can grow or stunted. Lies at the heart of every man’s uniqueness, this level caters to individual attitudes toward life.

Human nature changes only in terms of its accidental constituents, i.e. the growth of the human body, the change or development of one’s attitude, and the change of behavior which appropriate to the human milieu.

Philosophy of Man• Human nature: an overview• People may differ in many aspects. They may differ • In size, color of skin, race, socioeconomic status, and• many more. Despite these differences, they are all• beings with divergent concepts and views about• human nature.• PRE-SOCRATIC VIEWS OF MAN • Thales- “ Man has 80% water in his brain and 70% water in his

body , or a “man has a water stuff”.• Anaximenes- “Man is a human body with a condensed air and a

rarefied human soul”.• Heraclitus- “Man has fire stuff in him in the form of heat.”• Anaximander – “Man is a human being that has evolved from

animals of another species which are lower than his.”

Philosophy of Man• Pythagoras- “Man is a dipartite of body and soul .” That a soul is

immortal, divine, and is subjected to metempsychosis. • Protagoras or the sophists- “ Man is the measure of all things, of all

things, that they are, and of things that are not that they are not.”SOCRATIC PERIOD1. Socrates- the acclaimed greatest philosopher in the Western civilization. He defined “ Man is a being who thinks and wills”. He put more emphasis on the attitudinal level of human nature since he give more value to the human soul rather then the body. He agued that human soul be nurtured properly through the acquisition of knowledge, wisdom, and virtue. He emphasizes the moral sphere of the attitudinal level of human nature. Man for him should discover truth , truth about good life, for it is in knowing the good life that man can act correctly. That man’s attitude towards life should be oriented towards knowledge. For it is in knowledge that man can properly translate such knowledge into really living a good life.

If man contends himself with knowledge and virtue he is a man of wisdom or considered a wise man. He who is a wise man who has disciplined his soul to know what is right and does what he knows to be right in the actual situation. Knowledge is the ultimate criterion of action in man. The dictum of Socrates is “Knowing- what- is- right- means- doing- what- is- right”. Socrates tells more the ignorance of the knowledge of the right and good life enable man to do evil deeds. Man does evil deeds due to ignorance. 2. PLATO- define “ Man is a soul using a body.” because the nature of

man is seen in the metaphysical dichotomy between body and soul. For Plato the body is material, it cannot live and move apart from the soul; it is mutable and destructible. The soul is immaterial, it can exist apart from the body. The soul is a substance because it exists and can exists independently . Plato has a conviction that the soul exists prior to the body.

In Plato’s view there are three parts of soul: Human Body Levels of Human Soul

Head Rational Level

Chest Spiritual Level

Stomach Appetitive Level

1. The Rational Part is located in the head , especially in the brain. It is in this part where the soul enable to think, to reflect, to draw conclusions. This is the most important and the highest part of the soul. This distinguishes man from the brutes.

2. The Spiritual part is in the chest. It is here that the soul experience abomination and anger.

3. The Appetitive part in the abdomen where man drives to experience hunger, thirst, and other physical aspects.

Man can control his appetite and self-assertion of spirit through reason.

Plato believes that Reason controls both Spirit and Appetitie. When this happens man will have a well-balanced personality. He declares that the appetitive and spiritual parts are subjected to death; they are mortals. Only the rational part is immortal. This gives birth to the conception that idea is eternal and immortal since it is rooted in reason.

The emphasis of Plato on human nature in the light of reason.

3. ARISTOTLE Aristotle maintains that there is no dichotomy between man’s body and man’s soul. Body and soul are in a state of unity. In this unity the soul acts as the perfect realization of the body while the body is the material entity which has a potentiality of life. The body has no life. It can only possess life when it is united with the soul. Aristotle speaks of Man as a single essence composed of body and soul.Man’s body matter and man’s soul form. That is why he speaks of soul as the body’s perfect realization because form for him is the perfect realization of matter.Soul is the principle in life; it causes the body to live. The body is matter to the soul and the soul form to the body.. Body and soul , therefore are inseparable. They constitute man as a whole.According to Aristotle there are three Kinds of soul: ___________________________________________ Grades of being Kinds of Soul Man RationalAnimals /Brutes SensitivePlants/ Vegetation Vegetative

1. Vegetative – the lowest type of soul which is found in all living things, Plants, specifically possess this type of soul. It is capable of following functions: It feeds itself, it grows and it reproduces.

2. Sensitive –soul exists in animals. It feeds, it grows, and it reproduces, and it has feelings(particularly pain and pleasure because it has developed a nervous system)

3. Rational- it exists only in man. It ranks highest than vegetative and sensitive because because it assumes the functions of them and it is capable of thinking, reasoning and willing. Man is higher than the brutes, animals and plants. Man is capable of thinking and judging aside from sensing and growing.

Aristotle’s view of human nature is seen in the argument of matter and the form of man. Man is essentially body and soul. Aristotle rejects the idea of Plato on the dichotomy of the soul and the body and the preexistence of the soul prior to the body. No won der the Christian doctrines are patterned after Thomistic lines of thinking are more Aristotelian than Platonic. But Aristotle , like Plato advocates Reason as man’s highest faculty because Reason distinguishes man from other form of life-possessing like plants and brutes.