Chapter 2

ER 2: LESSON 1
NATURE OF MAN
JOHN CHRISTIAN J. LAGATA
INSTRUCTOR 1
“ By definition, HUMAN NATURE
includes the core characteristics
(feelings, psychology, behaviors) shared
by all people. We all have different
”
experiences of the humans in our life,
and this is where the disputes begin.
-Study.com-
This chapter shows how
•Ancient,
•Medieval,
•Modern and
•Contemporary Major Philosophers
…see Man as we are, be it good or bad. The
origin of our very nature and essences, the kind
of living and thinking of every man's activities.
NCIENT PERIO
PRE-SOCRATIC PERIOD
•primarily concerned with the basic stuff of
the cosmos
•Man was seen as a microcosm (miniature),
and the search for the truth about man was
simultaneously the search for the truth
about the universe.
•Thus, the ancient philosophical approach to
the study of man was COSMOCENTRIC.
CLASSICAL PERIOD
•The Greek philosophers Socrates,
Plato and Aristotle taught that
the proper way to solve the problem
of man is to first inquire into and
discover the true nature of man.
Socrates
• Man and virtue: Since knowledge is inborn, virtue
likewise is natural endowment, not an artificial
convention or habit of action to be acquired by
education. Virtue may indeed be taught, but this
is to be understood not as introducing something
foreign to the mind but rather as merely
awakening the seeds of good deeds that perhaps
lie dormant in the mind and heart of mind.
Knowledge is virtue, ignorance is vice.
Plato
• Man is only an imperfect copy of his real original self,
the perfect man, in the realm of ideas.
• Body and soul are two separate entities.
• SOUL (reason, spirit, appetite) – principle of life and
movement.
• the one who has the duty, the right, and the function to
guide, control, and rule the spirited and appetitive parts.
• The function of the rational part of the soul to seek
the true goal of human life.
Aristotle
• Man as “rational/political animal.”
• Aristotle’s theory of morality centers around his belief
that people have a distinctive end to achieve and
function to fulfill.
• For Aristotle, the principle of good and right was
imbedded within each person. Moreover, this principle
could be discovered by studying the human nature and
could be attained through actual behavior in daily life
(habit).
• MORALITY INVOLVES ACTION.
EDIEVAL PERIO
St. Augustine
Is the first Christian philosopher and the main authority in
medieval period. God is Absolute Spirit, Absolute Will,
Absolute Intelligence, Absolute Freedom, Absolute Good,
Absolute Power, and Absolute Holiness. God is the Creator,
He created man with a mortal body with an immortal soul and
gave them freewill. The source of evil is freewill, God created
man good, but the good of man ceases to be good when man
turn himself away from God. Man’s freewill makes him
imperfect. Man is capable of reaching perfection only if he
keeps himself good.
St. Thomas Aquinas
• He claims that man is substantially united by the
body and soul. Man is the point of convergence
between the corporeal and spiritual substances. The
soul is united with the human body and it is the
principle of life. The souls requires the body as the
material medium for its operation but the soul has
operative functions which do not need a material
medium. The soul are man’s intellect and will. Thus,
at death the intellect and will remain in the soul as it
is immortal and incorruptible.
MODERN PERIO
HOMAS HOBBE
•Everything is fundamentally matter in motion.
Hobbes materialism claim that every event in
the world is determined. Since human activity
is similar to the events in nature it follows the
behavior is absolutely determined. Human
being is essentially anti-social; essentially
egoistic and this egoism makes life difficult in
the natural state of things “LEVIATHAN”
JEAN-
JACQUES
ROUSSEAU
•Human is essentially good and that good
people are made unhappy and corrupted by
their experiences in society. He viewed society
as artificial and corrupt that results to
continuing unhappiness of man. The Social
Contract is the compact agreed to among men
that sets conditions for membership.
ONTEMPORAR
PERIOD
Karl Marx
• Human nature is derived from labor
since nature is the totality of human
activity considering that labor is human
activity “Labor Man”. Human nature rests
on labor; man should be productive. An
unproductive human person stops to be a
human being.
Soren Kierkegaard
• (Father of Existentialism)- Philosophy became the
search for the meaning of life. The search for truth
was now the search for meaning. The question of
what the meaning of man’s existence is more
important for the existentialist rather than its answer.
Kierkegaard – freedom is that which enables man to
pass from the aesthetic state to the ethical and
ultimately to make a leap of faith, the highest act of
man’s liberty.
Jean Paul Sartre
• – to exist is to live the absurdity of life.
Sartrean freedom – “existence precedes
essence” man first exists and then gradually
creates his own essence. Nothing
determines human freedom from creating
its own essence except freedom itself; man
cannot help but be free.
Martin Heidegger
• Man shapes his being as he lives. Knowledge
is subjected to the person’s decision and
varies from one person to another. Heidegger
equates freedom with self-transcendence in
time, the being-ahead-of-itself of dasein
(being-in-the-world) while having been and
making present entities in his world.
ER 2: LESSON 2
THE HUMAN PERSON

JOHN CHRISTIAN J. LAGATA
INSTRUCTOR 1
• The fundamental nature of humankind has long
challenged the great philosophers. Are people born
inherently good, evil, or somewhere in between? Is
human nature predetermined by a supernatural being
or self-directed? These ethical questions are crucial to
systems of government and justice, determining the
way people should live together in society, and when
and how punishment should be meted out to those who
don’t follow what is considered the “right” way to
behave (Duignan, 2010).
• The person is a rational being. His/Her nature emerges
and is fulfilled in one’s various relationship.
In Relation to Self
• He has intellect and free will.
• He has dignity.
• He is created in the image and likeness of God.
• He is ambivalent.
• He is limited.
• He is unique.
• He is an embodied subject.
• He is a historical subject.
In Relation to Others
Each person is of equal value with other
persons.
•God has gifted all with equality,
although natural inequalities may exist.
All are equal in basic rights and needs.
In Relation to Others
Each person is a social being.
• Every individual is oriented towards other people and
needs their company. He fulfils himself with and
through others. He is a relational being. To be a
human person is to be essentially directed towards
others. Human persons need to live in social groups
with appropriate structures which sustain human
dignity and the common good.
In Relation to World
Work
• The person interacts with the world through
his/her work. Work is a means to fulfil one’s
personhood and to glorify God.
Caretaker
• The things of the world are for all people to use –
not adored or amassed. All are responsible for the
preservation and development of the earth.

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ER 2: LESSON 1

THE HUMAN PERSON

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