RSU LSHS - ABM 12 - 1ST SEM - FINALS ○ Unity amidst diversity - a concept that signifies unity

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON / among individuals who have certain differences among
PAMBUNGAD SA PILOSOPIYA NG TAO REVIEWER them
○ Respect to human dignity - respect not relative to social
LESSON 5: INTERSUBJECTIVITY status, nor to physical or intellectual performance
What is Intersubjectivity ○ Dialogue - communicate with empathy
For intersubjectivity to be understood, we need first to define a
subject and an object. LESSON 6: THE HUMAN PERSON IN SOCIETY
● A subject is the person experiencing an action; we call it a point of What is Society?
view or personal opinion. The term society comes from the Latin word ‘socious’ which means
○ For example, we watch a dance performance. You say companionship or friendship. Society refers not just to a group of people but
that it is a good one, but for me, it is not. This topic is to complex patterns of the norms of interaction that arise among them. (When
subjective. We have our own opinions about it, and there we say norms, they are rules or expectations that are socially enforced.)
is no universal truth about the said topic. Society is a collection of individuals shaped by social relations and
● An object is what is being experienced, it means that it is factually interactions. As such, individuals and society need each other to function
true. Our interpretation of something is not influenced by our properly. They have a complementary relationship that is improved by culture
personal feelings. and social institutions. In effect, societies and individuals around the world
○ Example: A cat is a mammal. develop varying cultures and practices.

The Importance of Intersubjectivity What drives human beings to establish societies?

Intersubjectivity has a significant contribution to society and ● The human person by nature is a “social being.”
relationships, including the following: ● Throughout a person’s life, he or she experiences a variety of
● It validates real and authentic subjective experiences; relationships that help shape him or her as a person
● It facilitates interaction among individuals;
● It enables individuals to look at others equally, regardless of any Society
physical or sociodemographic factor; ● It is an organized group of people whose members interact
● It promotes a sense of community and unity among individuals; and frequently and have a common territory and culture.
● It emphasizes that anyone can contribute to society. ● Society also refers to a companionship or friendly association with
others, an alliance, a community, or a union.
Intersubjectivity means that we are communal beings, and to be ● Philosophers consider society as the product of deliberate actions
communal is to be relational. Through our daily interactions or relationships, by individuals who come together in pursuit of a common goal.
we influence others and others influence us to some degree. Others make us ● As individual persons, members of society are able to transform
what we are, and we make others what they are affirmatively or negatively as themselves and attain development through their interactions within
persons significantly. society. In turn, humans are also able to influence society through
The principle of intersubjectivity can be applied to almost any their actions.
decision we make, big or small. We always have to consider how our actions ● Society and its various aspects provide support that ensures the
will affect others. development of the human person.
Everything we do in relation to others including our world or ● Society also provides opportunities for further growth in the coming
environment, everyday - it all matters. No act of action or interaction is trivial. years.
All actions or interactions are imperative in life
Being relational means anchoring our personhood to the principles 3 Types of Society
of “unity amidst diversity,” “respect to human dignity” and “dialogue”. 1. Agrarian (Agricultural)
The core of being relational involves engaging and fostering quality dialog. ● An agrarian society, or agricultural society, is any
● Dialog is the ability of the human person to communicate with community whose economy is based on producing and
empathy. maintaining crops and farmland. Another way to define
● Empathy is an act whereby a person identifies herself or himself an agrarian society is by seeing how much of a nation's
with another person’s feelings: it goes beyond Sympathy, which is total production is in agriculture. In an agrarian society,
caring and understanding for the suffering of others. cultivating the land is the primary source of wealth.
2. Industrial (Modern Industrial)
Difference between Sympathy and Empathy ● An Industrial society is one in which technologies of mass
According to Dictionary.com (2020), sympathy is a shared feeling, production are used to make vast amounts of goods in
usually of sorrow, pity, or compassion for another person. You show concern factories, and in which this is the dominant mode of
for another person when you feel sympathy for them. production and organizer of social life.
Meanwhile, empathy is stronger than sympathy. It is the ability to ● A society based on mechanical labor, as opposed to
put yourself in the place of another and understand someone else’s feelings. manual labor, to create material goods.
With empathy, you put yourself in another’s shoes, often feeling things more 3. Virtual (Post Industrial)
deeply than if you just felt sympathy. ● Virtual community is a group of people, who may or may
For example, when someone loses a loved one, you feel sympathy not meet one another face to face, who exchange words
towards that person and their family. You may share a feeling of sadness with and ideas through the mediation of digital networks.
them, but you might not have empathy for their situation if you have not professional services are offered in exchange for money.
experienced, or cannot imagine experiencing, a death in the family. Technology is used in every aspect of life and work.

In contrast to the relational approach to life is what might be called Types of Individuals in Society
a transactional approach - acting out of self-interest and placing very little A. Lower Class
value on our relationship with other people. ● A class of people below the middle class, having the
A transactional approach views interactions with others as lowest social rank or standing due to low income, lack of
transactions where the goal is to get the maximum value for ourselves. skills or education, and the like.
● Relational approach - living in connection or relation with other ● The lower class is typified by poverty, homelessness, and
people in recognition of interconnection unemployment. People of this class, few of whom have
● Transactional approach - putting more value on ourselves rather finished high school, suffer from lack of medical care,
than putting importance on other people adequate housing and food, decent clothing, safety, and
● Personhood principles vocational training..”
 B. Working Class the disposal of human persons, to be used for their purposes not as
● The working class are those minimally educated people a means.
who engage in “manual labor” with little or no prestige. ● “Cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil, you shall eat of it all the
Unskilled workers in the class—dishwashers, cashiers, days of your life. Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for
maids, and waitresses—usually are underpaid and have you…” (Gen. 1;17-18)
no opportunity for career advancement. They are often ● No longer did human persons live in harmony with a perfect world;
called the working poor. Skilled workers in this now they must struggle to produce food from the unyielding ground.
class—carpenters, plumbers, and electricians—are often The fallen world required improvement through man’s efforts
called blue collar workers. (Beisner, 1993; Worster, 1994)
C. Middle Class
● The middle class is the “sandwich” class. These white From the Lens of Greek Philosophy
collar workers have more money than those below them ● A Neo-platonic influence was present from an early date.
on the “social ladder,” but less than those above them. ● Plato's belief in eternal Forms over matter appeared in the
They are divided into two levels according to wealth, Christian context as a rejection of the created world in favor of the
education, and prestige. The lower middle class is often spiritual or heavenly realm.
made up of less educated people with lower incomes, ● Nature was not important, it is considered evil and an obstruction
such as managers, small business owners, teachers, and to the soul's pursuit of holiness (Tarnas, 1993; Stanford
secretaries. The upper middle class is often made up of Encyclopedia of Philosophy; Coplestone Vol. 1, 1993).
highly educated business and professional people with ● The result of these ideas was not only moderation, but coldness
high incomes, such as doctors, lawyers, stockbrokers, toward nature and science, and in the extreme, abuse of animals
and CEOs. (Schaeffer, 1993; Coplestone Vol. 1, 1993).
D. Upper Class ● This Neo-platonic anti-physical posture also encouraged an
● Consists of individuals born into aristocratic families. exaggeration of the Christian sense of being “pilgrims and
They are usually families with large businesses and strangers” in the world. In this view, it mattered little how nature was
ventures. The lower‐upper class includes those with treated since it was expected that Christ would soon return to
“new money,” or money made from investments, release his followers from this corrupt earthly prison, a tomb for the
business ventures, and so forth. The upper‐upper class soul, and take them to their heavenly reward (Tarnas, 1993;
includes those aristocratic and “high‐society” families Cooper, 1970).
with “old money” who have been rich for generations. ● This did not foster good stewardship or conservation. But these
These extremely wealthy people live off the income from ideas did not reflect the Biblical teaching on nature.
their inherited riches. The upper‐upper class is more ● It was no accident that modern science was born in the West, out of
prestigious than the lower‐upper class. a surrounding consensus of Christianity. Christians believed that
the universe had been created by a rational God, so they expected
Individuals from different social classes may interact with one that they could understand the natural world through reason.
another; however, interaction does not change a person’s social class. An ● For the Christian, the physical world was real, it was not a delusion,
individual’s social group changes only when his socioeconomic capabilities or an extension of God's essence, as Eastern religions claimed
change. (Schaeffer, 1993; Hitchcock, 2012). But neither was it sacred;
“The groups and institutions that work together to make a complete therefore, it could be investigated (Passmore, 1974; Stewart, 2008).
whole are known as social systems” (Study.com, 2020). ● Nature was also regarded as worthy of study.
All types of societies and individuals fall under a social system. It is ● As we have seen, this was not the case for the Neo-platonists and
important to remember that a social system goes beyond the individual and had Platonic ideas continued to dominate, modern science would
society. It also includes culture, institutions, and their interaction among these never have emerged.
factors. ● But beginning in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, an important
An example of a social system is public education because it shift was made in Western thought from Plato to Aristotle (Tarnas,
attempts to unify people by providing standard education, which will allow 1993; Cooper, 1997, Coplestone, 1993; Perry, Bratman & Fischer,
them to participate in and contribute to the economy, thus strengthening the 2012).
overall society. ● While Plato had seen the basis of reality as lying in the
transcendent Forms, and distrusted knowledge gained through the
LESSON 7: THE HUMAN PERSON IN THEIR ENVIRONMENT senses, Aristotle had rooted reality firmly in the material and
The Human Person in the Human Environment believed that sense perception is the only way for man to learn
● Not like in other religions, such as Taoism, Hinduism, Buddhism, about the world (Tarnas, 1993; Cooper, 1997, Coplestone, 1993).
Judaism, Islam, and Christianity, the three monotheistic ● As Aristotle's works and ideas were rediscovered by Western
religions made a strong difference between God and his creation. universities, medieval man found a new interest in the order and
● Nature was not divine (Schaeffer, 1970). beauty of nature. With Aristotle as their patron philosopher,
● The person together with the human world where he lived in was Christians began to study nature, and also to enjoy it for its own
created by God for his glory. This provides them with both essential sake. They believed that the expansion of their knowledge of the
values. world would result in greater respect for and knowledge of God
● But nature was not holy, not something to be worshiped (Passmore, (Tarnas, 1993; Aristotle, De Anima ii 5, 418a3-4; Perry, Bratman &
1974). Fischer, 2012).
● It was man’s duty to God to worship and obey him alone. Human
person’s relationship to nature was, for Islam, Jew or Christian, The World of Thomas Aquinas - Angelic Doctor of the Church
based on God’s instruction to Adam and Eve in paradise: “Be ● Thomas Aquinas, a famous Philosopher, and Theologian, was the
fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over primary supporter of the new scientific study of nature.
the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living ● He was sure that a human person, by the light of human reason
thing that moves on the earth.” (Gen. 1:28; see Quran 2:30-33 for alone, could discover the truth on his own, apart from God’s
an almost similar account.) revelation in the Bible (Tarnas 1993; Aquinas on Summa
● From the point-of-view of the Bible, the Creator is not the only one Theologiae, book 1; Feser 2011).
different from what he had made; human persons were also distinct ● He had an incomplete concept of the “fall of humanity.”
from other creatures created by God (Schaeffer, 1970). ● He believed that while the will of the human person was weak, her
● The human persons were under the control of God, and, in turn, or his intellect was not (Schaeffer, 1968; Fesser, 2013).
had given the power to control nature. The world’s wealth was at ● This autonomous view of human reason was to have far-reaching
consequences.
 ● Although the new scientific study of the world gave nature much The Modern Age
more value than the Neoplatonic position, the Aristotelian influence ● In Descartes, the anthropocentrism introduced by Aristotle came to
was not entirely agreeable. its full expression in modern thought. No longer was God the final
● Both Aristotle and the Stoics believed that everything in nature was arbiter; human's autonomous reason reigned supreme.
designed for the use of the human person. ● Through science, man hoped to reach an ideal state a second
● In his Politics, Aristotle argued that “plants are created for the sake Eden. This was the doctrine of the Industrial Revolution (Passmore,
of animals, and the animals for the sake of men, the tame for our 1994).
use and provision, the wild, at least for the greater part, for our ● Human's harnessing of nature's laws was greatly improving his life
provision also, or for some other advantageous purpose, as in many areas, with no end in sight.
furnishing us with clothes, and the like” (Aristotle on Politics Book 1, ● Businessmen had no qualms about using their natural resources to
1252a; Passmore, 1974; Blackburn, 2013). the fullest in order to supply the growing industry and expanding
● This anthropocentrism (That the human person is the most population of the West (Worster, 1994).
necessary element of existence, not a supreme Being or ● As the modern age developed and science explained more and
non-human entities) eventually replaced, in the minds of many more natural phenomena, the supernatural and miraculous bases
Christians, the Biblical teaching that God created everything for his of Christianity seemed increasingly unbelievable to the modern
own glory, and that therefore each creature had value on its own mind.
account, not merely by virtue of its usefulness to human. ● By the mid-nineteenth century, with Darwin's theory of evolution
● The Genesis mandate gave man the right to make use of nature, providing a naturalistic explanation for the origin of life, modern man
but it was the Greek influence that introduced the idea that nature no longer felt a need for God, nor did he wish to be bound by
exists only to serve the interest of the human person (Aristotle on religion (Tarnas, 1993). Science was the faith of the age.
Politics Book 1, 1252a; Passmore 1974, Blackburn, 2013).
● When the Westerners adopted this idea, they began to see them as The Baseless Optimism
the absolute masters of the world, with the right to use or abuse it in The abandonment of belief in God had two profound effects on the
any way they chose. (Hitchcock, 2012; Stewart, 2008) Gone was human person’s perspective of the human environment. The first was the
the sense of responsibility to God that had guided the Jews and disappearance of the last vestiges of a foundation on which to base moral
Biblical Christians as well as the Islam, in their relationship to his treatment of nature.
creation. Humans became oppressors not only to fellow humans Second, if there was no God, there was no way to judge one’s
but also to their human environment. action to be right or good and another bad. A human person was now in the
place of God, and whatever he could do, he did (Blackburn, 2013; Schaeffer,
Bacon’s Idea of Nature 1968).
● The goal of early modern science was expressed by Francis
Bacon, who said that although humans lost their control over Determinism
nature, because of their sins, the sciences could in some part The second effect of the rejection of God was determinism. Until
restore it (Schaeffer, 1968; Perry, Bratman & Fischer, 2012). this time scientists had believed in the uniformity of natural causes in nature.
● “Let the human race recover that right over Nature,” he wrote, They had even come to see nature as a machine. But they had always
“which belongs to it by divine bequest” (Passmore 1974). reserved two things outside the machine: God, its Creator, and human beings,
● So scientific conquest was considered a religious duty (Schaeffer, God’s image-bearer and deputy (Stewart, 2008; Schaeffer, 1968). Now that
1968; Perry, Bratman & Fischer, 2012). However, although the God was gone, the human person had nowhere from which to derive his or
objective of bringing the world under human mastery was based on her identity or special value.
the Genesis mandate, the effects of Aquinas’ ideas were visible in He or she could no longer view himself or herself as separated from
Bacon’s theories. nature by his relationship to God; now he or she was just another animal,
● Bacon believed that human’s autonomous reason, through science, controlled by instinct-merely the greatest form of life the evolutionary struggle
could bring about a utopian world in which human beings would had yet produced.
once again be the true ruler over creation (Tarnas, 1993; Perry, If a human being was just another species striving to survive in an
Bratman & Fischer, 2012): “The end of our foundation is the impersonal or even cruel world, he had no special responsibility to any of his
knowledge of all causes, and secret motions of things; and the fellow combatants.
enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all
things possible” (Passmore 1994). Here again was Aristotle’s The Loss of Faith in Science
pragmatism, unfettered by concepts of stewardship. ● ​However, the twentieth century brought a weakening of human faith
in science. Several factors contributed to this trend. The first was a
Descartes - The Father of Modern Philosophy and Human Nature challenge to Newtonian science. This came in the form of a number
● René Descartes shared Bacon's utilitarian view of science, but little of new ideas in physics, chief among them Einstein’s theories of
of his Christian faith. relativity and the formulation of quantum mechanics.
● He aspired to "a practical philosophy by means of which, knowing ● These ideas were contrary to the principles of classical modern
the force and the action of fire, water, the stars, heavens, and all science which had long been regarded as certain.
the other bodies that environ us, as distinctly as we know the ● Newton’s Laws, which had defined man’s understanding of the
different crafts of our artisans, we can, in the same way, employ world for nearly two and a half centuries, were no longer applicable
them in all those uses to which they are adapted, and thus render to all of nature (Coplestone Vol. 6, 1993; Tarnas, 1993).
ourselves the masters and possessors of nature" (Passmore, 1994; ● Kant believed that man could not know the real world, but that all
Coplestone, 1993). phenomena he observed were not only digested and organized by
● For Descartes, nature was merely a complex, impersonal machine, his mind’s interpretive structures but changed by his very act of
made and set in motion by God, but now running on its own studying them.
according to its innate mechanical laws (Tarnas, 1993; Coplestone, ● This was now confirmed by new doubt of science’s foundational
1993). belief in cause and effect, together with studies of an observer’s
● An animal was entirely without awareness, purpose, or even the effect on the phenomena observed (Coplestone Vol. 6, 1993;
capacity for pain; for all practical purposes, it was lifeless. This Tarnas, 1993).
mechanistic world could be manipulated by man without doubts.
● A man was lord of nature by virtue of his rationality, which, contrary Criticism of Technology
to the Bible, but in accordance with Aquinas, Descartes did not see By the mid-twentieth century, criticism of technology was
as having been perverted by the fall of the human person. widespread. It was dehumanizing human beings, people said, uprooting them
(Passmore 1994; Perry, Bratman & Fischer, 2012) from their proper relation to human nature and placing them in an artificial
environment. The world was characterized by impersonality, complexity, and a
disorienting rapidity of change. Now the human person began to recognize These things are equal to humans; humans have no special rights,
the damaging effect that he or she, from his scientific viewpoint, had on no elevated place in the community of life (Worster, 1994). This can
nature (Tarnas, 1993). be seen from the prayer of St. Francis of Assisi (Excerpt from
Praise of the Creatures):
LESSON 7 (CONTINUATION): THE ROMANTIC WORLDVIEW Be praised, my Lord, through all your creatures,
Romanticism especially through my lord Brother Sun,
● a movement emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy who brings the day, and you give light through him.
of individuality, was not new; it had grown out of the Renaissance And he is beautiful and radiant in all his splendor!
together with the modern scientific outlook. Of you, Most High, he bears the likeness.
● Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Romanticism’s founder was a Praise be You, my Lord, through Sister Moon
philosopher who could not accept the mechanism of the scientific and the stars, in heaven you formed them
view. clear and precious and beautiful...
● He would not give up the idea of total freedom for humans that
preceded determinism, a theory that all events, including moral ● Romanticism entirely rejects the idea that a human person has a
choices, are completely determined by previously existing causes. right to exploit natural resources for his benefit or to alter his
environment to suit his convenience. What is more, this philosophy
Jean-Jacques Rousseau is against scientific research, for nature is mysterious and sacred;
● So he rejected the concept of nature as a machine (Schaeffer, not something to be coldly and empirically examined, but rather
1968). He also had an optimistic idea of human nature. He believed something to be revered (Rushdoony, 1991). Theoretically, all life
in the natural goodness of the human person and explained sin and forms have a value equal to humans, and they should “step lightly”
evil as the result of the negative influence of urban civilization. and avoid taking the lives of their fellow creatures.
● If a man was returned to his proper natural environment, apart from ● So although Romanticism or pantheism promises to give value to
the artificialities of society, he would reveal his true, benevolent nature, practically, in the real world, its system does not work
character. This led to the idea of the noble savage: the less a (Schaeffer, 1970). Not only does it remove humans’ justification for
person has been tainted by civilization; the better he is, so peasants taking other lives in order to protect his or her own, but it gives no
and children are held in high regard. answer for the fact that nature is not always benevolent.
● And it is among savages that we must seek an example of the ● If nature is ultimate, then it is normative. This is the same
original, uncorrupted human person (Coplestone Vol 6, 1993; conclusion that is reached from the scientific viewpoint. If there is
Herrero, 1991). no God to make laws and give us moral absolutes, then we must
● Rousseau and his followers were reacting against the rationalism of look to this world. So whatever we find in nature is right
the Enlightenment, which had led to the hated mechanism. (Rushdoony, 1991; Schaeffer, 1970).
Scientists had come to the conclusion through reason that man had ● But nature is not always kind; sometimes it is cruel. What then? The
no basis for freedom. evolutionary scientists came to the conclusion that if nature worked
● But this the Romanticists could not accept, so they rejected the through the method of survival of the fittest then it was right for
reason and logic of science and placed the highest value on humans to look out only for his or her own interests in their struggle
emotion and imagination instead (Blackburn, 2012; Tarnas, 1993). to survive. The Romanticists, who do not accept this, must wrestle
● They felt that science was narrow-minded in accepting only with the problem of why death and destruction are, apart from
information gained by empirical observation and emphasizing the humans, common in the natural community.
exclusion of subjective interpretations of evidence based on ● Today’s environmentalism is primarily influenced by Romanticism
preconceived beliefs. and its associated pantheism. Popular culture enjoins us to love
● On the contrary, they said, that truth can be discovered only by Mother Nature and feel ourselves one with the earth. Animals are
using emotions together with reason. In this way, the regarded as human equals, possessing rights similar to his, and
epistemological limits of reason alone could be transcended worthy of respectful, even reverential, treatment. In fact animals are
(Blackburn, 2012; Herrero, 1991). thought of as in many ways human’s betters, since they supposedly
● Yet the Romantics scorned the Enlightenment's search for exist in their proper relationship to the environment and do not
monolithic, objective truth. It was impossible to find one correct way pollute the planet or exhaust its resources. The evolutionary
of looking at the world, one single truth (Tarnas, 1993). progression is denied; the world would be better off without
● By using all the faculties of the human person, his or her emotions, mankind.
imagination, will, and faith, as well as reason, a human person ● But an element of scientific pragmatism is also common, especially
could create truth. He or she must shape the indeterminate world among more conservative environmentalists and the average
and give it, and himself, meaning man was, or was becoming, God citizen. It is not wise to abuse the earth; this is the only one we
(Tarnas, 1993). have; the only home we have. Many people fear the prospect of a
ravaged, toxic wasteland as their grandchildren’s home. They
Romantic Biocentrism believe that we must preserve the world in the form best suited to
● For the Romantic, the world is a unitary entity, a whole. Individual human continued prosperity. This same pragmatism is responsible
organisms are not like parts of a clock, that can be separated from for the concern about the rapidly multiplying human population, and
each other and still retain their identity; nor can the whole, like a support for birth control, including abortion. Human life in itself is of
clock, be disassembled and then reconstructed (Coplestone Vol. 7, little value to those of this persuasion; all that matters is for us and
1993; Worster, 1994). the people we care about to be comfortable.
● Nature is a system, all parts of which are permeated by the same ● Today’s human beings commonly feel a certain responsibility to
creative spirit. This divine world spirit manifests itself in the evolving nature. As the most powerful beings on earth, they feel they must
forms of nature (Rushdoony, 1991). Not just humans, but all of protect the welfare of the world and all it contains. But apart from
nature, are expressions of the divine. the certainties of Biblical truth, the existence of human beings, and
● If Christianity was theocentric and the Enlightenment was that of the universe, is meaningless. Only by returning to his
anthropocentric, Romanticism was biocentric. All forms of life are Christian roots and once again accepting his responsibilities both to
valuable, and because they are divine, they are also worthy of God and creation can a human person find answers to his
veneration. environmental problems.
● The goal of Romanticism is the union of the human spirit with the
natural organism to which it truly belongs. CONCLUSION
● Romanticists anthropomorphized (making non-human-like animals To conclude, Christian Philosophers and Theologians who are
as humans) the world, projecting man’s feelings and reactions onto creationists recognize that human persons are fundamentally created perfect
a tree, or a chicken (Coplestone Volume 6, 1993; Schaeffer, 1970) and placed in a perfect, friendly human environment flawlessly designed to be
their dwelling place, a paradise as described by the writers of the book of ● Death is a welcome relief from life which is supposedly a constant
Genesis. They do not see farming or arboriculture (planting trees and shrubs) source of suffering and frustration.
as devastating to nature but remember that God intended the earth to be ● Woody Allen says, “I’m not afraid of death. It’s just that I don’t want
cultivated (Gen. 2:5, 15). to be there when it happens.”
God declared that all He created are very good (Gen. 1:31). ● Human death is like a shadow following us wherever we go.
Therefore, respect for the Creator requires respect for His creation. It is
therefore with a sense of respect, humility, gratitude, and obligation that the Human Person’s Immortality System
creationists think that human persons’ role as stewards of God’s creation, is Immortality Systems are non-rational belief structures that give us a
not to please themselves with personal comfort, but to please God and to way to believe we are immortals.
have fellowship with God. 1. Immortality through culture - We identify ourselves with a group,
If we consider the Genesis account as historically true like the class, clan, profession, tribe, race, or nation that lives on into the
creationists, then we acknowledge that our unique place in creation is to be its indefinite future, with somehow a part of it.
caretakers or stewards, thus we have control over all creatures, and yet we 2. Immortality through arts - Artists and non-artists foresee their
are also creatures created by God, so we also need to control ourselves and work enduring forever, and when it does, they are immortalized.
be responsible. However, the evolutionists are also aware of this unique place 3. Immortality through religion - By adopting proper beliefs and or/
but can’t totally understand it. They believe that human persons are products practices, a person can appease the Divine and be chosen to enjoy
of nature but unlike any other animals, human persons developed differently some kind of everlasting life.
from the very nature that supposedly produces them 4. Immortality through wealth - The more money and resources, the
more the legacy and devices be passed on to the next generation.
LESSON 8: THE HUMAN PERSON AND THE REALITY OF DEATH 5. Immortality through relations - This reassures that people will live
Eulogy Exercise: SEVEN STEPS IN MAKING EULOGY on in the hearts of those who know them.
1. Take time to reflect. 6. Determine what you think you 6. Immortality through heroism - Doing something extremely
2. Look for a private and quiet place. need to change in your life if significant for the nation, country, or community and will be forever
3. Make a list of those in your life there is something to change, remembered in the history books or in museums.
who matter the most. based on the message of 7. Human cloning - A way of creating a genetically the same copy of
4. Now visualize your own funeral. those people present at your an existing or previously existing human person
5. Write down what each person funeral. Death Increases Life’s Value
says. A short message will do. 7. Use this as the motivation to ● Life is too short and death is so sure. Our time-limited selves can’t
create your “life plan.” handle the unlimited options that present themselves to us in both
our everyday lives and our fantasies.
● There is much to do and yet there is so little time.
What is death? - Eric Fromm
● Knowledge of one’s death inescapability allows us to establish
“We are the only animals that find our own existence a big problem we have
priorities and structure our time accordingly. As we age, their
to solve and from which we can’t escape. Similarly, we are the only animals
priorities and structuring alter in recognition of diminishing time.
who know that death is always knocking on our doorstep.” - Eric Fromm
Values concerning the most important uses of time also change.
The Quest for Authentic Life
Human Person is a Being-for-Death - ​Martin Heidegger
● Heidegger says, we have to deal with death face-to-face in order to
● He calls the human person a “being for death.”
live authentically-to live honestly, realizing what life really is.
● In death, human existence terminates. Death is thought of as an
Without death consciousness, we’re only half alive.
event where we are no longer possible to physically exist. It is a
● “If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I
point where all of our potentialities shall have been completed.
will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of
Death is an own-most possibility, and it is the fulfillment of man’s
life—and only then will I be free to become myself.”
being, the completion of his life.
● We actually need the anxiety of death to keep us from falling into
● Medical definition of death is irreversible cessation of vital functions
“everydayness”, a state in which we’re only half alive, living with a
especially as indicated by a permanent stoppage of the heart,
numbing illusion.
respiration, and brain activity: the end of life or brain death.
● Death is our personal possibility that individualizes us; and makes
● Theologically and philosophically, it is the separation of the soul
us unique, very unique
from our physical body permanently as St. Thomas Aquinas says.
● People are not worrying about the reality of death not because they
● The Existentialist Philosopher accepts the human person as finite-
fear what will happen in the afterlife but because we fear the
his life has an ending.
possibility that we will be lost forever.
● Life is an issue of mere existence when we cannot find meaning
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’s Stages of Dying
and happiness when we cannot be thankful for being alive, and
1. Denial and Isolation - It is where the person denies that death is
when we cannot be thankful for being alive, and when all we see is
really going to take place.
pain and prejudice.
2. Anger and Resentment - It is where the dying person knows that
● “ The minute you cease to live for something, you begin to die.”
denial can no longer be maintained. Denial often gives way to
● Death presents itself as a “challenge for me to change, that I must
anger, resentment, rage, and envy.
be steadfast in the quest for human responsibility.”
3. Bargaining or Negotiation - It is where the person develops the
A Being in Time
hope that death can be somehow postponed or delayed.
● Beings exist in Time.
4. Depression - It is where the dying person comes to accept the
● When we live with death, as part of the very way in which we
certainty of death.
approach life, we take our life more seriously.
5. Acceptance or Resignation - It is where the person develops a
The Narrative Theory of Paul Ricoeur
sense of peace; an acceptance of one’s fate; and, in many cases, a
● The action of the human person has a historical dimension. The
desire to be left alone.
past, present, and future. The past is always in relation to the
present and the present is always in relation to what one hopes for
Human Person Denies Human Death
in the future.
● Death is one of the permanent facts of human life.
● Soren Kierkegaard said, “Life is lived forward, but understood
● A German Philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer on one occasion said
backwards.”
there is no reason to be afraid of death. Why? Because it is actually
● A human person’s life is a story.
the ultimate aim and purpose of life; Life is a constant process of
● Paul Ricoeur tells us that the narrative provides the venue for
dying. When we let go of everything we possess, it is dying.
gathering and seeing together the events of our living, recognizing
● Death is all over us
the significance of our actions with others.