Reading+Material+3+(The+Human+Person+as+an+Embodied+Spirit)

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
First Semester, A.Y. 2021-2022

Reading Material #3
Introduction to the Philosophy of Human Person

Topic: The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit

Learning Competencies:
At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to:

a. recognize the concept of monism and dualism in relation to humans as
embodied spirits;
b. reflect on the self, and the possibilities and limitations of humans physically
and spiritually; and
c. construct a comprehensive evaluation of one’s limitations and possibilities for
transcendence.
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Concept Notes
A. Key Concepts: Limitations, Transcendence, and the Soul
• Limitation
o A limiting rule or circumstance.
o Represents the prevention of something from growing or extending beyond
certain limits.
• Transcendence
o The act of moving beyond physical needs and realities.
o Existence beyond material existence.
• The Soul/The Mind
o An inner, transcendental possession of living things.
o The human soul is interconnected with a man’s will and thinking; can think,
dream, imagine, memorize, reason out.

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B. The Concept of Monism and Dualism
• Monism – a theory that sees man as a basic unity; it rejects the splitting of man into
two parts and views him as a unified organism of great complexity and varied
functioning.
• Dualism – a theory that sees man as split into two divisions, particularly the mind and
the body; the mental and the physical (soul and body, spirit and body). Dualism
suggests that man is mind and body, that mental events are correlated with physical
events, that the mind influences the body.

C. The Human Person Across Cultures
• Hinduism – oldest living religion.
o Hinduism is primarily concerned with samsara or reincarnation, bound to the
law of Karma (action). It is a quest for a man’s soul to arrive at Moksha, an
enlightened state wherein one attains one's true selfhood and finds oneself one
with the Brahman.
o The Brahman state is where a soul attains the ultimate reality or the absolute
Truth; the All-Comprehensive Reality.
o The four primary values of Hinduism consist of the worldly values (wealth,
pleasure), and the spiritual values (duty, enlightenment).
o The Trimurti or the three chief Hindu gods also play a significant role in the belief
of the Hindus in rebirth; Brahma is considered as the creator, Vishnu is
considered to be the preserver, and Shiva, the destroyer.

• Buddhism – rooting from Siddhartha Gautama or The Buddha.
o Buddhism generally is the search for the answers to the riddle of life’s sufferings,
disease, old age, and death.
o Attending to one’s dharma or duty, with right spiritual attitudes coupled with a
self-imposed discipline whereby bodily desires would be channeled in the right
directions, the Buddha believes one can achieve the ultimate state of the soul or
nirvana.

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o Nirvana is a state of spiritual joy, without negative emotions or fears. Attaining
Nirvana or reaching enlightenment means extinguishing the three fires of greed,
delusion and hatred.

o The Four Noble Truths
▪ Life is full of suffering;
▪ Suffering is caused by passionate desires, lusts, cravings;
▪ Only as these are obliterated, will suffering cease;
▪ Such eradication of desire may be accomplished only by following the
Eightfold Path of earnest endeavor.

o The Eightfold Path
▪ right belief in and acceptance of the “Fourfold Truth”;
▪ right aspirations for one's self and for others;
▪ right speech that harms no one;
▪ right conduct, motivated by goodwill toward all human beings;
▪ right means of livelihood, or earning by one's living by honorable means;
▪ right endeavor or effort to direct one's energies toward wise ends;
▪ right mindfulness in choosing topics for thought; and
▪ right meditation, or concentration to the point of complete absorption in
mystic ecstasy.

• Christianity – pioneered by St. Augustine of Hippo and St. Thomas Aquinas
o Christianity has always concerned itself with the theistic hypothesis or God’s
existence as much as the nature of man
o For Augustine, philosophy is amor sapiential, the love of wisdom; it's aim is to
produce happiness and wisdom is as existent as the Divine Logos (divine reason).
o Augustine thinks that the human being is a compound of body and soul, and
that, within this compound, the soul – conceived as both life-giving element and
the center of consciousness, perception and thought – is, ought to be, the ruling
part.

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o Augustine insists that the mind is created in the image of God, not because it is

capable of self-knowledge, but because it has the potential to become wise (to
remember, and know and love God, its creator).
o For St. Thomas Aquinas, of all creatures, human beings have the unique power
to change themselves and things for the better because the human being is a
moral agent.
o Aquinas maintains that the soul is capable of existing apart from the living body
after the death of the body, because the soul is incorruptible.
o Although, Thomas knows and accepts Aristotle’s assertion that it is as pointless
to ask whether soul and body are one because they are.

Handout 3 | The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit