Division of City Schools

COMMONWEALTH HIGH SCHOOL

Ecols St. Brgy. Commonwealth,
Quezon City

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL

First Semester – SY 2022 – 2023

INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

WEEK NO. 7 WORKSHEET NO. 6 QUARTER First Quarter

TOPIC METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING

CONTENT STANDARD The learner demonstrates various ways of doing philosophy
PERFORMANCE STANDARD The learner evaluates opinions
LEARNING COMPETENCY The learners will be able to evaluate truth from opinions in different situations
using the methods of philosophizing

READING: METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING

• The history of philosophy is like a long conversation of arguments and opinions from the time of the Pre-Socratics down to the
contemporary philosophers.
• Philosophers have contributed to the history of thought through their own methods of testing opinions and examining claims to
truth.
• A few words, however, must be said about the term “method” when it comes to philosophy.
• Gabriel Marcel clarifies that philosophy is not like the sciences which have a clear method of arriving at truths (Marcel, 1960)
• The methods of the sciences are a fixed process that can be repeated by anyone and still bring the same results.
• The method is detached from the scientist.

Philosophy is DIFFERENT…

• The method is not something you can simply detach from the person philosophizing.
• When you set out to answer the questions about the meaning of life, freedom, love, etc., what you are likely to find in your
search will be different from what your seatmate or friend will discover in his own search.
• This is because the journey of philosophizing is a very personal journey.
• For this reason, we cannot, strictly speaking, talk about “a method” or “the method” in philosophy.
• Nevertheless, each method or thought process written about philosophers brings about a glimpse of truth and wisdom which
we all identify with.

WESTERN THOUGHT: RENE DESCARTES

• Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650), a French philosopher says that only the mind, not the body can arrive at clear and distinct
ideas which cannot be doubted.
• He arrived at this truth by first, asking if objects that I come to know through my senses can be fully trusted.
• Descartes knew that the body and the senses cannot be trusted when it comes to arriving at indubitable truths.
• Example:
o We see things – a big burger on a billboard, a slim fashion model on a magazine cover – but find upon a closer look
that we have been deceived.
o Our senses have a deceptive nature.

What can be trusted then?

• In the process, Descartes comes to the conclusion that there is one thing that cannot be doubted, and that is, doubt itself.
• Even if he doubts that he is doubting, the doubting still clearly demonstrates that he is doubting
• From this insight, Descartes proceeds with asking what else he can find that cannot be doubted by the mind.
• He realized that doubting is thinking.
• Therefore, thinking cannot likewise be doubted. The more he doubts that he is thinking, the clearer it appears that he is
actually thinking.
• Finally, Descartes realizes the most important truth shown in this process.
• If there is doubting and thinking, there must be a thinker and a doubter. And that, of course, is Descartes himself.
• “I am! I exist!” When one thinks, one intuitively or immediately realizes that he exists.
• “Cogito, ergo sum” – I think, therefore I am.
 • When one thinks intuitively or immediately realizes that he exists.
• This is the first clear and distinct idea that one arrives at, namely, that thinking implies the thinker’s existence.
• By arriving at the one truth that has passed the test of justification, Descartes deduces other important – such as the
immortality of the soul and the existence of God.
• What this method, however, has shown is that the search for the truth leads to a detachment from the material world outside
of one’s mind and a focus on the inner world of consciousness and thinking.
• Therefore, modern thinking is characterized by objective and detached calculations.

ORIENTAL THOUGHT: THE WAY OF THE TAO (DAO)

Yin – Yang

• Chinese thought differs greatly from its Western counterpart, particularly with the Aristotelian logic.
• Central to this difference is the Taoist theory of Yin and Yang which permeates Chinese culture including traditional Chinese
medicine, martial arts, agriculture, etc.
• Yin and Yang refer to the two polarities of an entity – the bottom and the top, the inside and the outside,
• The Yin represents rest, darkness, the ground below or earth, while Yang is the opposite – activity brightness, the sky above
or Heaven.
• In nature, the moon is Yin and the sun Yang.
• Winter is Yin, summer is Yang.
• In the society, the emperor is Yang, the loyal subjects are Yin
• In the body, the head is Yang and the legs are Yin.
• Nothing escapes this Yin–Yang relationship.
• Something cannot be Yin and Yang at the same time; there is no pure Yin or pure Yang.
• Another very important aspect of Yin and Yan is their ability to transform the other – Yin transforms into Yang and vice versa.

Qi

• The central tenet of Taoism is that everything is Qi which literary means energy.
• Everything, body and mind, the world, and the things around us are Qi manifested in different forms and moving differently as
Yin and Yang – thinking/moving, resting/working, taking in/letting go.
• Because Qi is in everything, the relationship between human beings and the universe is very much intertwined.
• Unlike Western modern thinking where the thinker is separated from the world, - looking at the world from an objective point of
view, Taoist thought stresses the human being is one with the universe: everything that happens in the universe will ultimately
affect a man and everything that man does will affect the universe.

Tao (Dao)

• To understand the truth, therefore, is to understand the Tao.

• In common sense, the Tao refers to the way of doing anything or the pathway to some destination.
• In its higher meaning, Tao refers to the way of the universe, the way things are.
• As a spiritual system, Tao means the way of living in harmony with the changes in Nature.
• Thus, the path and the journey are all in one.

What is the oriental method of understanding truth?

• It is by striving to achieve balance in everything – a balance between thinking and moving, resting and working, taking in and
letting go.

WESTERN OR ORIENTAL?

• If we reflect on the huge differences between western modern thinking and oriental thought, we can see that neither of them is
fully right not fully wrong.
• Both are looking at the truth in different ways.
• Both are different approaches to arriving at truth.
• The truth that they share are truths we all relate to.
• No one has the final answer to everything.
• It remains the task of everyone to continually examine and reflect on the truth that they hold.
ACTIVITY 1: CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING

From the western perspective, what is the most effective way to philosophize? How about from the eastern perspective? (1-page)
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Doubting is the most effective way to philosophize in the western countries. Because philosophizing is a personal
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
journey and there is no methods because everytime a person philosophizes their method is different from each
other so it depends on you if you're going to follow one or make a method that you find effective in philosophizing.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Balancing is the most effective way to philosophize in the eastern countries. Because eastern countries believe that
everything in the world is balanced and is living in harmony so the journey in philosophizing is all in one.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ACTIVITY 2: APPLICATION

Read on the debates between the Catholic Church and the State on the RH Law (Responsible Parenthood and Reproductive Health
Act of 2012)

Is the debate a case of two different approaches to viewing truth? Explain. (1-page)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
RH Law was caused by a conflict of interests between the Catholic Church and the State's perspective approach to
witnessing and understanding the truth.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Catholic Churches have a number of beliefs that they follow to be within the doctrine they dictated with different
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
forms of authority. The state looks at things from a personal perspective as they work in the interest of the people
to maintain a form of sovereignity.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

JOURNAL ENTRY:

Write a 1-page reflection paper by answering these questions:

• How do you feel about knowing that there is no single method for arriving at truths?
• Do you feel uncomfortable? Or does it give you a sense of freedom? Why?

Prepared by: Checked by: Approved by:

HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES MRS. LORELINA G. MORERA DR. AGAPITO T. LERA
TEACHERS OIC Assistant Principal Principal IV