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Philosophy of Man
Thus, the more urgent questions are not
something like “what the world is made of?” but
rather “what is good?”, “what is right?”. “what is
just?”
Socrates believed that man’s soul pre-existed his
body. In his original ideal existence as a soul or
pure mind in the realm of ideas, man knew all
things by direct intuition, and had all this
knowledge stored in his mind.
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PLATO: DUALISTIC NATURE OF MAN
Philosophy of Man
A human being is composed of body and soul.
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ARISTOTLE: THE COMPOSITE NATURE OF
MAN
Philosophy of Man
Man, in his present earthly existence, is a
composite nature of body and soul, mind and
matter, sense and intellect, passion and reason.
Philosophy, therefore, aims at the development of
the WHOLE MAN, the full realization and
actualization of all man’s power and
potentialities – primarily of his rational
prerogatives and secondarily of the emotional,
social, political, esthetic and economic aspects of
his composite being. 6
June 01, 2011
Philosophy of Man
MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY
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Christianity and Philosophy
THE ORIGINS OF CHRISTIAN PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy of Man
By the middle of the second century, Christians
felt the need to have to recourse to theological
speculation in order to:
1. Express more precisely the dogmatic formulas
contained in the symbols of faith.
2. To tear down heretical arguments.
Philosophy of Man
spiritual substances, God and Forms in the Mind of
God. In the physical world are images, material
objects, space and time.
Philosophy of Man
Everything important about life has been
revealed in the scriptures – The Old and The
New Testaments.
While faith in the revealed word of God required
to know what is true, we must also have reason
(philosophy) to help us to understand what we
believe.
Aquinas was not afraid that reason might lead
people astray from God’s truth, but rather
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welcomed it as another avenue to God
June 8, 2011
Philosophy of Man
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
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The Revival of Reason
THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERNITY
June 8, 2011
During the middle ages, the Catholic Church
incorporated the Ptolemaic system into the
Christian view of the world. On this view, God
Philosophy of Man
made the world to be the center of everything.
Psalm 93 (addressing God) also claims: “Thou hast
fixed the earth immovable and firm.”
In the 16th century, a Polish churchman called
Copernicus pointed out that many of our fearsome
mathematical problems would melt away if we
treated the sun as the center of the solar system.
When he did this, he showed that the planetary
movements that were becoming increasingly
difficult to explain suddenly made good, clear
sense.
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DESCARTES’ PHILOSOPHY OF MAN: “I
THINK THEREFORE I AM”
June 8, 2011
For Descartes, his self is his nonphysical mind, or
soul:
1. If I exist and my body may not exist, then I am
Philosophy of Man
not my body.
2. I exist.
3. My body may not exist.
4. Therefore, I am not my body.
For Descartes, human beings are very different
from animals and everything else in nature. We
can do lots of things in a mechanistic way, such as
refuse to act on a strong desire, plan future
events, make decisions, and so on. We can do all
these things because we are not entirely physical 13
things; we are also nonphysical things; we have
minds.
DESCARTES’ PHILOSOPHY OF MAN: “I
THINK THEREFORE I AM”
June 8, 2011
So, we are bodies and minds
It is the job of science to study bodies along with
Philosophy of Man
the rest of nature; and it’s the job of philosophy to
study the mind.
Although he recognizes the importance of the
body, Descartes, like Plato before him, believes
that what is essential to being a self is the
nonphysical mind, not the body.
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June 8, 2011
Philosophy of Man
15 The 19th Century and Beyond
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY
THE 19TH CENTURY
June 8, 2011
It was a time of greatly increased activity in the
sciences of man and correspondingly rapid
development of various disciplines.
Philosophy of Man
Perhaps the most significant theme , common to
all branches of science, was the declining
influence of religion.
Theological discourse was thus only human
discourse.
Herder: “It is necessary to read the Bible in a
human manner, for it is a book written by men
for men.”
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June 8, 2011
Philosophy of Man
INTELLECTUALBACKGROUND OF
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY:
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Nietzsche and Kierkegaard
SOREN KIERKEGAARD (1813-1855)
June 8, 2011
Rejected the intellectualization of God. He
believes that reason plays no role in religion.
He believed that we desire more than anything
Philosophy of Man
else is a close personal relationship with God.
If we never fulfill this desire, we will never be
happy.
To have a personal relationship with God is to
have absolute faith in Him, a belief that is not to
be proven by evidence that He exists.
However, a fulfilling relationship with God can
be freely chosen by us or not.
“Man’s existence can only become significant
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when one realizes his own freedom.”
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE (1844-1900)
June 8, 2011
“God is dead and we have killed Him.”
This meant that the essence of God in modern
Philosophy of Man
man was dead.
Also dead was the part of a person that
recognized universal God-given ideals of reason
and truth, goodness and beauty.
He rejected reason as the core of human nature.
June 8, 2011
Derived from the word “Existence” which comes
from the Latin word “Existere” which means to
“stand out”, “to emerge” or “to come out
Philosophy of Man
from”
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SOME THEMES OF EXISTENTIALISM
June 8, 2011
Rejection of reason and of the idea that man is,
by nature, a rational being.
Philosophy of Man
Existentialism takes man as the center of
attention. The focus is on the individual and
more importantly, the uniqueness of each
individual.
June 8, 2011
“Life is an empty bubble
Philosophy of Man
in the sea of nothingness.”
Man comes from nothingness
Life is meaning-less
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SARTRE’S PHILOSOPHY OF MAN
June 8, 2011
“Existence precedes
essence.”
Philosophy of Man
Human beings have no fixed nature or essence.
We are not born into this world with a certain
way to be. Instead we are pure potential for
becoming whatever we choose to become.
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