Compilation of

Notes.
Philosophy of Man (PHILMAN)

Second Year . Second Semester…

BY: ARBRA.14
Philosophy of Man

Man: Crown of Creation

A Christian Philosophy of Man

 Concept of Man as a crown of creation

Man is considered as the creation of all God ‘s creation because he is the only one
which is made in the “image” and “likeness” of God.

Human relationships

Man and religion- refers to the man “human –Devine” partnership and communion
Man and morality- morality connects good moral conduct with happiness. The goal of man: this
relation constitutes the human activity which is attributed to ethics.
Man and social relations- man by nature and inclination tends towards group life; this human
activity results to a social relationship
Man and politics- refers to the relationship of man and the state, the ruler and the ruled
Man and economics- because man has the natural right to live, he has the right to satisfy his
wants and needs such food, shelter, clothing… etc ,; the relation of man with material goods
which is necessary by branch of social science called Economics

The gift of man

Whoever has received from the
Purpose of Man’s Gift divine bounty a large share of
temporal blessings, whether they
 To serve for the betterment and perfection not only to the
be external and corporeal, or gift
individual man but for all humanity of which he is inseparably a
of the mind he has received them
member
for the purpose of using them for
 Intended to be dynamic and dialectically directed towards men’s
the perfecting of his own nature
supreme purpose and destiny which is happiness – not only for
and at the same time , that he
himself but all human beings.
may employ them as a steward of
God’s providence for the benefit
of other.

- Pope Leo XIII, Rerum Navarum

St. AuguStine’S philoSophy of mAn

Philosophy of Man

Life of St. Augustine

 Born in 354 AD in Thagaste

 He came from a poor family with unconsolidated religion
 Studied Latin literature and grammar
 Was previously influenced by Manichacism , Neo – Platonism and by St. Ambrose
 Was appointed as bishop of hippo and dedicated gis life to the strengthening of the church
especially in North Africa

St Augustine on the meaning of life

 Philosophy aims to produce happiness that can only be found in God alone
 Philosophy is insufficient in itself in discovering this blessing life
 Believes that philosophy offers a means to improve the understanding of the faith
 Believes in faith over reason (Credo ut intelligam)

St. Augustine on moral Evil and moral Obligation

 Moral Evil
Man ‘s abuse or misuse of his freedom
Evil is the very negation and privation of being and cannot be the object of god’s positive act of
creation
 Moral obligation
Humanity must do good and avoid evil
All human are responsible to their neighbors as they are to their actions

St. Augustine theory of knowledge

 The main purpose of the continuing search for the absolute truth/knowledge is to bring
happiness to the soul
 The knowledge of truth is synonymous to finding Christ and the Christian wisdom

There are two principle in this theory

1. Principle of contradiction – every principle has both affirmative and negative sides. If it can be
said that universe is expanding. It can also state that the universe is static.
2. Principle of subjective impression – a theorist/thinker is certain that she/he has subjective
insight about a particular issue/phenomenon.

 The lowest form of knowledge is that of the sense or sense knowledge

 Knowledge is composed to levels:

Philosophy of Man

1. Sense or sensation
2. Wisdom

St. Augustine’s spiritual ladder: Seven step mounting to eternal wisdom.

 Fear
 Piety
 Knowledge
 Fortitude
 Counsel of compassion and mercy
 Purification of heart
 Wisdom

St. thomAS AquinAS’ philoSophy of

man
Life of St Thomas Aquinas

 Born around 1225 at Castle of Reccasecca, Kingdom of Naples

 Joined the Dominican Order
 Was kidnapped and detained by family members to keep him from joining the Dominican order.
 Studied at Cologne in Paris under tutelage of St. Albert the Great
 Dedicated life to teaching and writing

 The five ways

 The arguments of motion – there must be a prime motion
Nothing can move by itself
If every object in motion had a mover, then the first object in motion needed a
mover.
This first mover in the Unmoved Mover called GOD.
 The arguments from causality – every effect must have cause
There exist things that are caused by order things
Nothing can be the cause of itself
There cannot be an endless string of objects causing other objects to exist
Therefore, there must be an uncaused first cause called GOD.
Philosophy of Man

 The arguments from necessity or contingency – all being are possible but one must be
necessary if there are to be any being at all.
Contingent beings are caused
Not every being can be contingent
There must exist a being which is necessary to cause contingent being
This necessary being is God
 The arguments from gradation or exemplarity – our ideas presuppose some standard
of perfection.
For any given quality there must be perfect standard by which all such
qualities are measured: these perfections are contained in God.
 The arguments from design - the consistent and coherent operation of the whole
universe demands some intelligent and purposeful designer.
Common sense tells us that the universe works in such a way that one
can conclude that it was designed an intelligent designer. God.

The Transcendental Man

 Man on his present existence on earth is mortal, finite and imperfect according to St Aquinas
and the Christian teachings. However , through the attainment of his purpose and the union
with god man is elevated in the rank of the divine – the immortal the perfect.

Present state of Ultimate Destiny

existence:
 Perfect
 Imperfection  Infinite
 Finite  Eternal
 Temporal  Super Natural
 Natural  Divine
 Human

FINITE TRANSCENDENTAL INFINTE

immAuenl KAnt’S philoSophy

Life of Immauenl Kant

 He was born in the east Prussia town of Konigsberg

Philosophy of Man

 He extensively studied theology philosophy and mathematics

 He became a private tutor in different rural households.
 Upon receiving their academic he was offered to render lectures on various universities

Introduction to Kantian philosophy

 A priori – a given proposition is knowable a priori if it can be known independent of any

experience other than the experience of learning the language I which the preposition is
expressed.
 A posteriori – a preposition that is knowable a posterior is known on the basis of experience.

Metaphysics according to Immanuel kant

 Cognition after which reason might strive independent of all experiences and his goal in the
book is to reach a decision about the possibility or impossible of a metaphysics in general
 Concern a prior knowledge or knowledge whose justification does not depend of experience
but on reason

Transcendental

 A prior knowledge transcendental or goes by beyond experience and is the key to understanding
the truth about the nature of reality
 Subdivision of transcendental
Transcendental idealism – claims that knowledge is gained by means of experience
Transcendental deduction – intelligible experiences will be arranged into forms of
intuitions and categories and afterwards will become series of a priori judgments that
shall apply to the world of experience.

Deontological ethics

Autonomy of reason – man with his pure unaided speculative reason, cannot know reality as it is but
only as it appears to be when disclosed to him by his scene-experience.

Concerned with what people do not and not on the consequence of their action
Teaches that some act are right and wrong because of the sorts of things they are
States that people have a duty to act accordingly regardless of the good or bad
consequences that may be produced.
 Deontological believe in the following universal moral laws:
 It is wrong to kill innocent people.
 It is wrong to steal
 It is wrong to tell lies
 It is right to keep promises
 Advantages of duty based ethics
 It emphasizes the value of every human being
Philosophy of Man

 It say some acts are always wrong

 It provides ‘certainly’
 It deals with intentions and motives
 Disadvantages of duty based ethics
 It set of absolute rules
 It allow acts that make the world a less good place

Hedonism, utilitarianism and

communism
Hedonism

 The ethical theory which holds that the supreme end of man consists in the acquisition of
pleasure and the action are good or bad according as the give worldly pleasure or temporal
happiness to man
 Holds that morality is grounded on the pleasure or satisfaction that act brings or entails.
 Identifies pleasure and pain as the important elements of whatever phenomena they are
designed to describe

Types of hedonism

 Folk hedonism – refers to hedonism when applied to modern literature or by non-philosophers

in everyday life.
 Value hedonism – holds that all and only pleasure is intrinsically dis-valuable or simple
“pleasure is the only prudential good and pain is the only prudential bad”
 Prudential hedonism - holds that all and only pleasure is intrinsically makes people’s live better
and that all and only pain intrinsically make their lives worse.
 Motivational hedonism- – refers to the theory that desire to encounter pleasure and avoid
pain guides all our behavior
 Normative hedonism- refers to the theory that happiness should be pursued; here are two
major types of normative hedonism
Hedonistic Egoism
Hedonistic Utilitarianism

Utilitarianism

 A moral system judges the morality of human acts in terms of the happiness or the good that
they brings about.
Philosophy of Man

 The goodness and badness of an action would depend on the effects or consequences of the
action.
 A theory that makes utility the norm of morality; good is that which administers to the temporal
welfare and happiness of man bad which obstructs or hinders or retards this happiness

Jeremy Bentham

He argued that nature has placed mankind under the governance of two sovereign
master – pleasure and pain
 Pleasures can be quantitatively graded through the following variables:
1. Intensity
2. Duration
3. Propinquity
4. Fecundity
5. Purity
6. Extent
7. Purity

John Stuart Mill

 He argued that an action is right in so far as it maximizes general utility, which Mill identifiers
with happiness.
 Pleasures can be distinguished not only quantitatively, but qualitatively as well

Communism

 Dialect materialism
 A philosophical approach to reality which was derived from the teachings of German
philosophers, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel
 A theory that asserts that matter is the only reality; this sole is in constant state of influx or
motion which accounts for all the events motion and changed in the universe.
 Claims of dialectic materialism
The denial of the existence of God since God is a spirit and nothing
existing material things
The denial of the freedom of the will in man since matter the sole
existence of reality is determined in all its movements by the law of the
dialectic.
The denial of immortality; since communism denies the existence of the
spirit and furthermore teaches that the goal of man is earthly happiness
in a classless society.
Philosophy of Man

Phenomenology, existentialism
and pragmatism
Phenomenology

Origin of phenomenology

Edmund Husserl – German philosopher who objected “Psychologism” or the thesis that
truth ie dependent on the particularities of the human mind

Husserl Phenomenology

 The scientific study of the essential structures of consciousness

 Studies phenomena as object of intentionality
 Claims the relevance of the structures of consciousness in opposition to
the objects of the external world
 The first reduction – is called epoch or “suspension” in which the phenomenologist “brackets”
all questions of truth or reality and simply describes the contents of consciousness.
 The second reduction – eliminates merely empirical contents of consciousness and focuses
instead on the essential features the meanings of consciousness.

Existentialism

 Employs a heavy stress on subjectivity

 Emphasizes that the only rote to truth in the sphere of human existence is
through the individual person’s own participation
 Believe that “existence precedes essence”

The only either/or is the choice

between good and evil. Freedom is
the way to heaven. The only valid
actis one of choice

-Soren Keikergoard

Philosophy of Existentialism

 Claimed that the authentic self the personally chosen self as opposed to the public
or “herd” identity.
 Emphasized subjectivity or the decision choice and a constant awareness that one is
an individual
Philosophy of Man

 Argued that reality could not be fully comprehended by reason because human
existence involved choices that were absurd from a rational standpoint.

Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche

 Theory of the “ Will to Power” – states that all actions are motivated by the desires for
power; the Will to Power is a way of looking at the universe and describing it
 “Gods is Dead” – Nietzsche proclaimed that he had killed God and loathed the
commercial world of the 19th century: he considered the Judeo- Christian ethics a
prejudice and a from of intellectual laziness.

Ubermensh/Superman

 The meaning of the earth

 The highly cultured skill full in all bodily accomplishments tolerant out of strength
regarding nothing is forbidden unless it is weakness.
 The man who has himself becomes god and replaced the vanished and slain God by
becoming god he killed god.

Nihilism

 Emphasized on the meaninglessness of evil rather on its mere existence

 Totally rejects society and authority and holds that in the interest of progress all present
social institutions hold be destroyed.
 Assert that nothing can be known because nothing exist.

Pragmatism

 Theory of knowledge that is a plan of action one adopts to resolve a practical problem and truth
is the success of the plan in leading to desirable result.

 It is anchored on the following concepts

That thought and knowledge are biologically and socially evolved modes of
adaption to and control over experience and reality
That reality possesses a transitional character.
That all knowledge is evaluative of future experience.

Aims of Pragmatism

 The concern to harmonize bridge reconcile morals and science to establish and justify an
interpretation of valuing and knowing as logically common modes of intelligent actions.
 To serve every branch of science
Philosophy of Man

 To render the substantive content the very meaning of ethical and metaphysical beliefs and
decisions of conduct into term s capable of analysis and verification by established norms of
scientific judgment.

Proponents of Pragmatism

 Charles S. Pierce - stated that beliefs are really rules for action which established
habits; to determine a thought’s meaning it is necessary only to determine what
conduct it is fitted to produce
 William James – believed that the meaning and value of all assumptions and ideas
must be evaluated in radical way by attention to their practical consequence in use.
 John Dewey – advocated the separation of religious values from organized religion in
common faith.

Introduction to PHILOSOPHY
Definition of Philosophy

 Reasons why philosophy is hard to define:

It has specific subject matter
It pursues question rather than answer
It change historically in respect to its content and its character
A field of a study of the process which includes standards and guide lines for
thought.
A human drive in the search of knowledge and wisdom to facilitate the
evolution of man
Studies the fundamental nature of existence of man and man’s relationship to
existence

Branches of Philosophy
Epistemology

Logic
Meta-
Physics
Philosophy

Aesthetics
Ethics
Politics
Philosophy of Man

Meta- Physics – study of existence

 Answer to the question, “what is out there,?” or “what is real.?”

 Encompasses everything that exists, as well as the nature of existence itself.
 Determine whether the world is real. Or merely an illusion

Epistemology – study of knowledge

 Answer the question. “how do we know.?’

 Encompasses the nature of concepts the constructing of concepts. That validity of the senses,
logical reasoning as well as thoughts idea memories emotions and all things mental
 Concerned with how our minds are related to reality and whether these relationships are valid
or invalid.

Ethics – study of action

 Answer the question, “what should I do.?”

 Deals with the proper course of action of men
 Method by which people categories values and pursue them

Politics- study of force

 Answer the questions. ”what acts are permissible.?”

 Ethics applied to a group of people.

Aesthetic – study of art

 Answer the question. “what life can be like.?”

 Evaluates art by using the standard of human life. And if whether it accomplishes the job of
satisfying men ‘s intellectual needs or whether it tends to hurt or make worse of those needs

Logic – study of reason

 Answer the question. “what is correct reasoning.?’

 Attempts to distinguish a fact from fallacy

Brief History of Philosophy.

Pre-Socratic Medieval Modern

Philosophy Philosophy Philosophy

Classical Early modern

Philosophy Philosophy
Philosophy of Man

Pre- Socratic Philosophy

 Characterized by the rejection of the mythological explanation on the natre and phenomena in
the universe
 Includes philosopher
o Thales
o Anaximander

Classical Philosophy

 Characterized by the rise of the teachings of philosophy

o Socrates
o Plato
o Aristotle

Medieval Philosophy

 Happened between the age of reason (17th century) and the age of enlightenment (18th century)
 Includes historical and cultural changes such as the advancement in science, the growth of
religious tolerance and the rise of liberalism
 Includes philosopher such as:
o Rene Descartes
o Baruch Spinoza
o Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
o Immanuel Kant

Eastern and Western philosophies: An Overview

Western Philosophy

 Philosophical thinking in the western or occidental world; emphasizes on individualism science

,math and politics seen as the triumph of reason and empiricism over faith/religion – a search
involving many questions

Eastern Philosophy

 Philosophies in the eastern or occidental world, particularity Asia and some countries
emphasizes on interdependence harmony unity and faith.

Philosophical Questions:

1. Is the worse to fail at something or never attempt it in the first place?

2. If you could just one thing to change in the world. What would be.?
3. To what extent do you shape your own destiny, and how much is down to fate.?
Philosophy of Man

4. Should people care more about doing the right thing or doing things right?
5. What is true happiness.?
6. What makes you. you?
7. What is reality?
8. Who defines good and evil?
9. What is the difference between living and being alive?
10. What is true love?
11. How can people believes in truths without evidence?
12. Is it easier to love or to be loved?
13. What is truth?
14. Is life all a dream?
15. Do we have soul?
16. Can we have happiness without sadness?
17. What is time ?
18. Is there a reason to life?
19. What is beauty?
20. What happen after we die?

Funny Questions:

1. Is daydreaming possible at night?

2. If we have come in this world to help others, then why have the others comes in this
world?
3. Ii is said that humans evolved from apes and monkeys. Then why do these animals exist
till date.?
4. If someone who has a split personality tries to commit suicide, will it be considered a
hostage situation.?
5. How much important a person has to become in today’s world, for his mrder to be
reported as assassination in newspapers.?
6. If a turtle doesn’t have shell, is it homeless or naked?
7. Why do they use sterilized needle for death by lethal injection?

Plato

Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

Death is not worse that can happen to men
Desires are only the lack of something: and those who have the greatest desires are in
worse condition than those who have none, or very slight ones.
If woman are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same
things.
Man…is a tame or civilized animal; never the less, he requires proper instruction and
fortunes nature, and then of all animals he becomes the most divine and most civilized
but if he be insufficiently or ill-educate he is the most savage of earthly creatures.
Philosophy of Man

Thinking is the talking soul with itself

We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when
men are afraid of the light
Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools, because they have to say
something.
You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.
No evil can happen to a good man, either in life or after death.
You cannot conceive that many without the one .

Socrates

All men’s soul are immortal but the souls of the righteous are immortal and divine
Be as you wish to seem
False words are not only evil themselves bt they infect the soul with evil
By all means marry: if you get a good wife you’ll be happy , if get a bad one. You’ll
become a philosopher
I ‘am not an Athenian or a Greek but a citizen of the world
Children today are tyrants they contradict their parents, gobble their food and tyrannize
their teacher
If a move would move the world he must first move himself
As for me all I know is that I know nothing

The Allegory of the cave by Plato

 The cave
 Imagine a cave, in which there are three prisoners. The prisoners are tied to
some rocks, their arms and legs are bound and their head is tied so that they
cannot look at anything but the stonewall in front of them
 These prisoners have been here since birth and have never seen outside of the
cave.
 Behind the prisoners is a fire and between them is a raised walkway.
 People outside the cave walk along this walkway carrying things on their head
including; animals plant wood and stone.
 The shadow
 So imagine that you are one of the prisoners. You cannot look at anything
behind or to the side of you - you must look at the wall in front of you.
 When people walk along the walkway , you can see shadows of the objects they
are carrying cast on to the wall.
 If you had never seen the real objects ever before you would believe that the
shadows of objects were real.
 The game
 Plato suggests that the prisoners would begin a ‘game’ of guessing which appear
next,
Philosophy of Man


If one of the prisoners were to correctly guess, the others would praise him as
clever and say that he were a master of nature
 The escape
 One of the prisoners that escapes from their bindings and leaves the cave.
 He is shocked at the he discovers outside the cave and does not believe it can be
real.
 As he becomes used to his new surroundings he realizes that his former view of
reality was wrong.
 He begins to understand his new world and sees that the sun is the source of life
and goes on an intellectual journey where he discovers beauty and meaning
 He sees that his former life and the guessing game they played is useless.
 The return
 The prisoner returns to the cave, to inform the other prisoners of his finding.
 They do not believe him and threaten to kill him he tries to set them free.