Introduction to Philosophy of the

Human Person
Quarter 2
Module 3:
Human Person and Society
Objectives
1. identify the different types of society;
2. differentiate their qualities;
3. explain digital society and digital citizenship;
4. identify the effects of being a member of digital society.
Learning Task 1: Essay. Read the following situations below and answer the
questions thereafter. In answering the questions try to appreciate the situations
using the social norms you remember.

Situation Number 1: A Very good friend of yours visits you and your
family in your house. Your mother who was delighted by her
presence cooks her best dish for your friend. Your friend loved the
whole lunch that she kept complementing your mother for being
such a good cook. At the end of her visit, she expresses her gratitude
to the whole family. Before she leaves, she approaches your mother
and asks, “how much do I pay you for the lunch you cooked for me?
(Ariely, 2010)
Situation Number 2: You are going through a very rough time. You feel so
down that you need some one to talk to, you send a text message to your
friend asking her if she could come over to make you feel better. Your
friend gives you a call then tells you she will be there in 20 minutes. You
are so happy to see her; you gave her a big hug and then pour your heart
out. After crying to her for 30 minutes, she gives comforting piece of
advice. You finally say that you feel so much better. Your friend then says,
“That’s good to know, now that we’re done, could we settle my expenses for
this – 20 pesos for the phone call, 35 pesos for the tricycle ride going here,
20 pesos for the tissue paper your drew from my pocket and 500 pesos for
the time I lost to working productivity because I had to come here.
Thanks!”
Questions:

1. Is there something wrong with the friend’s response to your

mother’s hospitality?
2. Is there something problematic about your friend asking for
payment for her loving presence?
3. What makes these two reactions awkward for you?
4. By making a reference to the society where you belong, what is
your initial response upon reading the situations?
Learning Task 3: Picture Analysis: Learners must analyze the pictures below by
answering the questions following each of them. In this instance, learners must presume
the prevailing thinking and even priorities during those times and guess what makes them
transformed.
A society (/səˈsaɪəti/) is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction
Society
or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to
the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Societies are
characterized by patterns of relationships (social relations) between individuals who
share a distinctive culture and institutions; a given society may be described as the
sum total of such relationships among its constituent members. In the social sciences,
a larger society often exhibits stratification or dominance patterns in subgroups.
a. Tribal Society - the term “tribe” denotes a group of peoples living in a primitive setting under
a leader or chief. The term ‘tribal society’ associates it to other meaning such as “primitive
society” or “preliterate society.” The word ‘tribe’ has become an important technical term
which pertains to a political unit in a certain territory. The term’s use is rooted from Latin
which is associated to the political divisions or orders of the Roman empire. Tribal societies
are small in scale; bound to their spatial and temporal range of relations in terms of society,
law, and politics; and possess a moral code, cult, and wide range of belief system. The
language systems of tribes are unwritten which provides a narrow extent of communication.
At the same time, tribal societies show a self-sustaining structure which is absent in the
modern society. This is achieved by the close connections that exist between tribal
organizations, and by the focusing of a leader or person to multiple roles. Unity and
coherence exist in tribal values that are closely related to social groups and are provided with
an intensity characteristic of all “closed” systems of thought.
b. Feudal Society - Feudalism refers to the economic, political, and
social system that prevailed in Europe from about the ninth to the
fifteenth century. Due to the lack of effective centralized government
during this period, kings and lords granted land and provided
protection to lesser nobles known as vassals. In return, these vassals
swore oaths of loyalty iiand military service to their lords. Peasants
known as serfs were bound to the land and were subject to the will of
their lords. One social class system or economic form was not realized
for Europe over the whole Middle Ages. A new economy after medieval
period known as capitalism is still in progress. Medieval world is
known for its traditional land economy and military service, and an
urban society. These led to a feudal-based social-class system and
trade & commerce based on money or capital. For the urban or town
environment, merchants, artisans, and customers formed the core of
the society. They saw manufacture as the most important business to
produce goods for sale and buy in the local market economy. Local
products was to have an impact in other areas, such as regional fairs,
port cities, and far trade destinations.
B. Industrial society is the one which uses advance technology to
drive a masssive production industry that will support a large
population. For example, the United States is an industrial society
because a huge portion of its economy is tied to jobs that involve
machine work, like factory farming or auto-assembly plants, that
has a combination of machine and human employees to produce
goods. The objective of an industrial economy is the fast and
efficient manufacturing of standardized products. The same goes if
one avails a car, there is a chance that the car was mass produced
because it operates similarly to other models, and its parts can be
replaced with other parts because they are identical
C. Post Industrial Society - is marked by a progress from a
manufacturing-based to a service-based economy. Post
industrialization is most evident in countries and regions that were
among the first to experience the Industrial Revolution, such as the
United States, western Europe, and Japan. Daniel Bell, an
American sociologist, first coined the term ‘post-industrial’ in 1973
in his book “The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in
Social Forecasting,” which describes several features of this kind of
society. Post-industrial societies are characterized by:
a. a shift from the production of goods to the production of
services;
b. the replacement of manual laborers with technical and
professional workers (computer engineers, doctors, and
bankers) as the direct production of goods is moved
elsewhere;
c. the replacement of practical knowledge with theoretical
knowledge;
d. focusing to the theoretical and ethical implications of new
technologies, which helps society avoid some of the negative
features of introducing new technologies, concerning
environment and energy;
e. the development of recent scientific disciplines—that involve
new forms of information technology, cybernetics,
or artificial intelligence—to evaluate the theoretical and
ethical implications of new technologies;
f. an emphasis on the university and polytechnic institutes
which produce graduates who innovate and lead the new
technologies contributing to a postindustrial society; and
g. the changing values and norms which reflects the influences
on the society. In an instance, outsourcing of manufactured
goods changes how members of a society see and treat
foreigners and immigrants. Also, those individuals previously
occupied in the manufacturing sector find themselves with
no clearly defined social role.
Learning Task 4: Using an overlapping Venn diagram, learners must analyze
all the differences and similarities of the 3 major historic societies. Use the
rubrics as guide for answering
DIGITAL SOCIETY AND THE
INFORMATION AGE
Digital technologies have wildly affected our interactions and activity in
the 21st century. They have significantly changed our way of learning, working
and socializing. In this modern world we rely with the use of modern
technology which has led to considering the possible outcome for the society,
concerning how we would take part in interaction, and how we can use these
digital tools and communication channels.
What do we mean by digital
citizenship?
A digital citizen is a person who is knowledgeable and responsible
enough to effectively use different social
platforms in the internet. They often engage in useful topics and issues
that will help build a better society, politics and government. If we will
dig deeper, digital citizenship might look simple. We might think that it is
just about using the internet safely. However, we also need to consider
and understand that this citizenship can get complicated, especially if we
are going to criticize and show interest in sensitive topics as we start to
become a digital citizen, using digital media to actively participate in
society and politics.
What does this all mean then in the
digital age?
The virtual society and the technological devices today are starting to reshape the
human person and human interactions and relationships. More and more interactions
are done in the virtual world than in the actual world. People are more thrilled to see
their virtual selves than their actual selves. They are more themselves online than
offline. And this leads one to ask, “Who am I?” in a more complex manner. People
seem to start manipulating personalities as they exhibit different behaviors in
different worlds. People fall in love in virtual worlds. Someone breaks up with a
partner through a text message. Human relations seem to start losing an important
element in living – commitment. Virtual worlds and disembodied relations lack
commitment. We can always step back and retreat in a virtual world. We can always
create a new self when our avatars die or when it has become undesirable. We can
always ignore message.
THE DISEMBODIED SUBJECT
The dissatisfaction and frustration of the human person with bodily
limitations drive the person to prefer a disembodied human relation. At the
outset, it must be clarified that the term disembodied subject does not mean
that in the technological society, human persons are no longer living with
their bodies. However, in a manner of speaking, people are slowly putting
aside their bodies in relating with others because the technological society
offers an alternative which apparently resolves human of an embodied
subject. Face_x0002_to-face interaction is too stressful and difficult while
virtual interactions are relatively easier. Consequently, we find many cases
where people prefer communicating using virtual world, even if the person
involved is someoneseen on a regular basis. Moreover, the disembodied
interaction among people is aggravated by modern technological devices.
The different gadgets that are produced today support disembodied human
relations. The scene which the technological society creates is very familiar
to us: we see a family, or friends,gathered around a table or in a room, but
with very minimal actual embodied human interaction.