The Philosophy of the
Human Person
The traits that define a person
1. Self- Awareness
refers to the person having a clear
perception of oneself, including his or
her thoughts, emotions, identity, and
actions. Human awareness goes
beyond perception and reaction to the
environment. The human person is
defined by a deeper awareness which
is driven by rationality or human
thought.
The concept of self
Philosophers describe as the person
who is actively aware that he or she is
perceiving and experiencing reality.
This awareness of self also enables us
person to experience an “inner world”
that is defined by our personal thoughts
and ideas.
The fact that we can daydream, get lost
in our thoughts, imagine, fantasize, and
reflect shows that we are able to reach
within ourselves and experience
interiority, which is the quality of
being focused on one’s inner life and
identity. This interiority enables person
to exercise creativity.
2. Self- determination
refers to the capability of persons to
make choices and decisions based on
their own preferences, monitor, and
regulate their actions, and be goal
oriented and self- directed
Free will
enables us to do actions whenever we
want to and makes self- determination
possible.
Consequence
is the result or affect of an action or
condition.
Morality
the goodness or badness of an act.
4. Externality
the capability to reach out and interact
with others and the world.
5. Dignity
the innate right to be valued and
respected.
Philosophers do not equate value or
worth with any quantifiable measure
such as a price. Each person is worth
the same as another person in the
sense that every person is priceless,
unique, unrepeatable, and
irreplaceable.
A PERSON…
Is able to
Has Has self- reach out
awareness determinati and Has dignity
of self on interact
with others
How does my human nature enable me
to explore my limits?
The person is a very biologically
deficient being.
Transcendence
the ability to surpass limits and it is also
one important trait that distinguishes
the human person from other beings in
existence.
Analyze the following questions and check if
you have ever found yourself asking or
wondering the same things.
1. Have you ever wondered about what is
beyond our world or universe?
2. Have you ever wanted to become better
at something or to learn something new?
3. Do you see yourself becoming a better
person over time?
4. Have you ever imagined a life that is
better than what you are living now?
• Our minds is an important tool that
allows us to go beyond many of our
physical limits.
•As person, we are able to exercise our
imagination and reflection to go beyond
our own thoughts and experiences.
• It must be understood that as human
persons, we have natural tendencies or
inclinations. Some of these are felt
bodily functions and they are
experienced as a person goes through
life.
• Transcendence also means
overcoming oneself or being in control
even if the body reminds us of certain
tendencies.
Explore your abilities and limitations.
Copy the table below. In the “I can” column,
write down the skills and abilities that define
you as a person. In the “I cannot” column,
list down the things you have tried to do but
could not because of your personal
limitations.
I CAN I CANNOT
AN EMBODIED SPIRIT
- among the many approaches to philosophical study
of the human person.
2 General Kinds
Metaphysical Approach
- focuses on the kinds of substance (or materials) and
capacities that uniquely make up a human person.
Existential Approach
- focuses on the kinds of life, or mode of existence,
that is unique to a human person.
-The metaphysical approach examines the essential
components of a human person; the existential
approach examines the essential features of the
human way of life.
Martin Heidegger (1962)
- he describes the metaphysical approach as
dealing with the What of a human person,
while the existential approach as dealing with
the Who of a human person.
3 Possible Definition of Human Person
1. Human person is essentially just his/her body and
nothing more. This position is called unspirited
body view.
2. Human person is essentially just his/her spirit. We
shall call this position the disembodied spirit view.
3. Human person is essentially the unity of his/her
body and spirit. We shall call this position the
embodied spirit view.
Mind-brain Identity Theory
- this claims that what we call the "mind" is nothing but
the brain, and what we call "mental states" simply
are nothing but the neural states of the brain.
Behaviourism
- this claims that what we call "mental states" simply
refers to one's inclinations or tendencies to show
certain behaviour.
2 Strong Supporters of the Disembodied Spirit View
1. Plato
2. Rene Descartes
- They believed that the spirit is independent of the
body in that the spirit can survive without the body
while the body cannot survive without the spirit.
Plato's Argument
- He claims that soul must be immortal otherwise we
can never explain the nature of knowledge as
recollection, [to learn is to remember].
- He believes that one learns by remembering what
one once knew but have somehow forgotten.
Rene Descartes
- He views reality as composed of 2 different types of
subtances namely,
1. Mind - (nonphysical kind)
2. Matter - (the physical kind)
Mind is conscious but no extended in space
(meaning, not observable and quanitifiable), while,
Matter is extended in space but not conscious.
- "Being physical, matter is determined by the
laws of the nature and thus is not free or has
no free will; mind, being nonphysical, is not
determined by such laws and thus is free or
has free will."
"I think, therefore I am"- Rene Descartes
2 Strong Supporters of Embodied Spirit
1. Aristotle
- the body and soul are two different aspect of
human person.
- the body is the person's material aspect or
"matter", while soul is his/her formal aspect or
"form".
2. St. Thomas Aquinas
- he agrees with the idea of Aristotle that the
human body and soul are matter and form,
respectively, of the same reality that makes
up a human person.
3 Reasons why Human Person is an
Embodied Spirit
• It maintains human freedom, which is
negated by the unspirited view (being just
body, all actions of a human person will be
determined by natural laws)
• It gives importance to the soul, it also
acknowledges the value of the body, which
the disembodied spirit view neglects.
• It can accommodate opposing views, as we
saw in the cases Aristotle and Aquinas, on
the immortality of the human soul.
MARKS OF THE MENTAL
What are the essential properties of the human
mind?
- In contemporary philosophy of mind (the branch of
philosophy investigating the nature of mind), the
question of the minds identity is apporached on
two levels: the general and the paticular.
General Level
- focuses on how to distinguish between minds and
nonminds, or between the mental states and
nonmental states (physical states), say how belief
and desires differ from sunsets and
photosynthesis.
MARKS OF THE MENTAL
Particular Level
- focuses on how to distinguish
mental states from one another,
say how the belief that it is raining
different from the belief that two
and two are four or from a desire to
watch a movie.
FEATURES OF MIND/MARKS OF
THE MENTAL
[Link]
- generally refers to awareness.
Searle (1999), describe consciousness
as the "states of sentience or
awareness that typically begin when we
wake up in the morning from a
drealmess sleep and continue
throughout the day until we fall asleep
again".
Maslin's indicators of Consciousness
1. Cognitions (knowing, believing, understanding,
thinking, reasoning)
2. Emotions (envy, anger, fear, joy)
3. Sensations (plains, tickles, itches)
4. Perceptions (seeing, hearing, tasting, touching,
smelling)
5. Quasi-perception (hallucinations, dreaming,
imagining)
6. Conations[effort of any kinds] (acting, trying,
wanting, intending)
"To be intelligent is therefore to be conscious".
FEATURES OF MIND/MARKS OF
THE MENTAL
2. Subjective Quality
- refers to the particular way that we become
conscious of or experience our own mental
states, such as the particular way we
experience the hurting sensation of having
toothache.
- It is techically known as the quale (or qualia)
of our consscious states.
FEATURES OF MIND/MARKS OF
THE MENTAL
3. Intentionally
- refers to the property of mental states to
have contents, or to be about or be directed
at some objects or states of affairs in the
world.
- this is regarded as something inherent or
original for it is something not up to us - it is
something that we just recognize.
FEATURES OF MIND/MARKS OF
THE MENTAL
4. Mental States
- are ontologically subjective in that such
states exist only as a person has or
experience them, or generally speaking, is
conscious of them.
- are private in that such states are only directly
knowable to the person who has them.
- the mind is conscious and being conscious its
states (mental states) have the properties of
ontological subjectivity, privacy, subjective
quality, and intentionality.
