who is a humanwho is a humanwho is a humanwho is a humanwho is a human

who is a human

2. WHO IS A HUMAN
PERSON?

3. •WHAT CONSTITUTE THINGS
IN THE WORLD?
•ENTITIES THAT EXIST HAVE PROPERTIES
THAT MAKE THEM TO BE WHAT THEY
ARE ESSENTIALLY IN THE UNIVERSE:
•ANIMATE (COGNITION & MOVEMENT)
•INANIMATE
•CONSCIOUSNESS
•UNCONSCIOUS

4. EXISTENCE
I. Physical
Spatio-tempor
al,
Observable,
Quantifiable
Consciousnesss-I
ndependent
II. Non-Physical
Non-spatio-tempoo
ral, non-observable,
non-quantifiable

A. Abstract
Consciousness-
Independent

B. Mental
Consciousness-De
pendent

5. GUIDE QUESTIONS:
•WHAT ARE THE
ESSENTIAL COMPONENTS
THAT MAKE UP A HUMAN
PERSON?

6. There are two general kinds of philosophical study of the human person:
the metaphysical approach, which focuses on the
kinds of substances or materials and capacities
that uniquely make up a human person; examines
the essential components of a human person.
the existential approach, which focuses on the
kind of life, or mode of existence, that is unique
to a human person, examines the essential
features of the human way of life.

7. WHO OR
WHAT?
Metaphysical approach deals with the
WHAT of a human person
The existential approach deals with
the WHO of a human person.
Both approaches are
important for a
broader
understanding of
human personhood.

8. MAN IS BODILY, MAN HAS A BODY, MAN IS
A BODY
One undeniable fact about a human
person is that he/she has a body, which
has certain physical properties, the ones
usually studied in biology.

Physical or Material Substance

9. MAN IS NON-BODILY
Human person also has a non bodily
component, something that is in addition to
his/her body.

Mental States

This other human component is sometimes
referred to as the “soul,” sometimes as the
“mind,” and sometimes as the “spirit.”

10. SOUL; MIND; SPIRIT
Each term emphasizes a certain aspect of the non-bodily
human component:
1.SOUL emphasizes its life-giving function
2.MIND - its consciousness,
3.SPIRIT - its non-bodily, non-biological, or
nonphysical nature.

11. ENTITIES IN THE UNIVERSE HAVE
PROPERTIES WHICH MAKE THEM TO BE
ESSENTIALLY WHAT THEY ARE.
•BODILY,
PHYSICAL,
MATERIAL
SUBSTANCE
•NON-BODILY,
SPIRITUAL,
IMMATERIAL
SUBSTANCE

12. WHAT PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTION
CAN ARISE FROM THE BELIEF THAT
HUMANS ARE COMPOSED OF BODILY
AND NON-BODYLY COMPONENTS?

13. SOME POSSIBLE PHILOSOPHICAL QUESTIONS
Which one is more important?
How do they interact? How are two
different substances relate to one another?
Which makes up the human person
essentially?

14. The possibility that humans
have a non physical
component gives rise to the
question of what essentially
makes up a human person, or
which component, the body or
the soul, essentially defines a
human person.

15. ESSENCE, what makes up a
human person as a human person
so that when it’s not in him/her,
he is no longer considered as
human person

16. MAN IS BODILY
ALONE
MAN IS
SPIRIT
MAN IS BOTH HIS BODY
AND SPIIRIT/SOUL/MIND

17. MAN IS BODILY
ALONE
Human person is essentially just his/her
body and nothing more; humans do not
have a spiritual component.
Unspirited body view

18. Materialism
It is the claim that every thing — every
thing that exists — is a material thing.
Non-bodily experiences can be
explained by physical states.
PHYSICALIS
M

19. MAN IS MORE
IMPORTANTLY HIS
SPIRITHuman person is essentially just his/her spirit, it maintains that
though the human person has both body and spirit but claims
that it is the spirit that essentially defines the human person.
The body is here seen as a nonessential component of the
human person, while the body is dependent on the spirit for it
makes the body alive, the spirit is not dependent on the body.
disembodied spirit view
SUBSTANCE
DUALISM

20. MAN IS MORE
IMPORTANTLY HIS
SPIRITHuman person is essentially just his/her spirit, it maintains that
though the human person has both body and spirit but claims
that it is the spirit that essentially defines the human person.
The body is here seen as a nonessential component of the
human person, while the body is dependent on the spirit for it
makes the body alive, the spirit is not dependent on the body.
disembodied spirit view
SUBSTANCE
DUALISM

21. Human person is essentially the unity of body and spirit. It claims
that the human person has both body and spirit but that the human
person is essentially the unity of these two components which
means from the body and the spirit cannot exist independently of
one another - each will not survive with the absence of the other.
The spirit/soul is that component which makes a body a human
body.
Embodied spirit view
MAN IS BOTH HIS BODY
AND
SPIIRIT/SOUL/MIND

22. IF ONE CLAIMS THAT HUMANS
ARE SIMPLY BODY, HOW DO WE
EXPLAIN OUR NON-BODILY
EXPERIENCES OF THINKING AND
EMOTIONS?

23. THOUGHT AND EMOTIONS ARE
REFERRED TO AS “MENTAL STATES”
Those who denies the existence of non-bodily or
non-material component of the human person
associates what we call mental states with physical
states. It means that emotions and thought are nothing
but something that happen physically.
Man is body alone
Man is body alone

24. MIND-BRAIN IDENTITY THEORY
MENTAL STATES (thoughts and emotions) are
actually physical states.
It claims that what we call the “mind” is nothing but
the brain, and what we call “mental states” are nothing
but the neural states of the brain - to be in pain, for
instance, is just for the C-fibers in the brain to be
stimulated.
Man is body alone
Man is body alone

25. BEHAVIORISM
It claims that what we call “mental states” simply refer to
one’s inclinations or tendencies to show certain behaviors.
For instance, to be in pain is to be inclined to cry, to
remove the source of pain, and others; or to believe that it
is raining is to be inclined to bring an umbrella when one
decides to get out of one’s house.
Man is body alone
Man is body alone

26. Plato and Rene Descartes believe that the spirit (called
“soul” by Plato but “mind” by Descartes) and the body
are two different kinds of entities or substances in that
the body is physical while the spirit (soul or mind) is
nonphysical. The spirit is independent of the body in that
the spirit can survive without the body while the body
cannot survive without the spirit
Man is body alone
Man is body alone
SUBSTANCE
DUALISM

27. The belief that the Spirit/Soul can exist independently of
the Body results to belief in Immortality of the
Soul/Spirit.
PLATO’S ARGUMENTS FOR THE IMMORTALITY
OF THE SOUL:
1. Generation of Opposites
2. Theory of Knowledge: Recollection
3. Simplicity of the Soul (Soul has no parts)
Man is spirit/soul
Man is spirit/soul
PLATO:
IMMORTALITY

28. Descartes views reality as composed of two
different types of substances:
1. mind (the nonphysical kind)
2. matter (the physical kind).

Man is spirit/soul
Man is spirit/soul
DESCARTES: MIND &
BODY

29. Mind is conscious but
not extended in space
(not observable &
quantifiable), not
determined
laws of nature and is
free or has free will.
Man is spirit/soul
Man is spirit/soul
DESCARTES: MIND &
BODY
Matter is extended in
space but not conscious.
Being
physical, matter is
determined by the laws
of nature and thus is not
free or
has no free will

30. Minds include
the imperfect
minds of humans and
the perfect mind of
God.
Man is spirit/soul
Man is spirit/soul
DESCARTES: MIND &
BODY
Matter includes
plants, animals,
human bodies, and
the rest of nature,

31. What made Descartes think that there are
two distinct substances?
Man is spirit/soul
Man is spirit/soul
DESCARTES: MIND &
BODY

32. Descartes’ argument begins with his thought that all of our beliefs
about the existence of material things can be called into doubt.
“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
DESCARTES:
DOUBT
The first is that I never have believed myself to feel anything in waking
moments which I cannot also sometimes believe myself to feel when I
sleep, and as I do not think that these things which I seem to feel in sleep,
proceed from objects outside of me, I do not see any reason why I should
have this belief regarding objects which I seem to perceive while awake.

33. We can imagine any sensory experience we have occurring in
sleep rather than waking life. But in sleep our seeming sensory
experiences do not reflect the reality of the material world
around us; so, we can image all of the sensory experiences we
have failing to reflect the world around us. That is, we can
coherently imagine a scenario in which there are no table,
chairs, pen, or other material things, even though in our
experience it seems to us that there are such things.
“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
DESCARTES:
DOUBT

34. When we conceive of
the possibility that
there are no material
things, are we
conceiving a situation
in which nothing at all
exists?
“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
Tricky Question

35. “I think, therefore I am.”
But how can I know there is not something different from those things that I
have just considered, of which one cannot have the slightest doubt? Is there not
some God, or some other being by whatever name we call it, who puts these
reflections into my mind? That is not necessary, for is it not possible that I am
capable of producing them myself? I myself, am I not at least something? But I
have already denied that I had senses and body. Yet I hesitate, for what follows
from that? Am I so dependent on body and senses that I cannot exist without
these? But I was persuaded that there was nothing in all the world, that there
was no heaven, no earth, that there were no minds, nor any bodies: was I not
then likewise persuaded that I did not exist?
“I think, therefore I am.”

36. “I think, therefore I am.”
Not at all; of a surety I myself did exist since I persuaded myself of
something [or merely because I thought of something]. But there is
some deceiver or other, very powerful and very cunning, who ever
employs his ingenuity in deceiving me. Then without doubt I exist also
if he deceives me, and let him deceive me as much as he will, he can
never cause me to be nothing so long as I think that I am something. So
that after having reflected well and carefully examined all things, we
must come to the definite conclusion that this proposition: I am, I exist,
is necessarily true each time that I pronounce it, or that I mentally
conceive it.
“I think, therefore I am.”

37. Descartes argues that we can doubt that we have a body, along
with the physical world, but we cannot doubt that we have a
mind, for to doubt is to be conscious and to be conscious is to
have a mind.
“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
INDUBITABLE
FACT

38. I have never judged that something could not be made by [God]
except on the grounds that there would be a contradiction in
my perceiving it distinctly [that is, in my conceiving of a
situation in which it is true.]
first Paragraph Sixth Meditation
“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
Descartes' Argument that He is Distinct from His Body
If one can conceive of something without contradiction, then that thing is
possible (it is possible for God to make that thing obtain)

39. I know that everything which I clearly and distinctly understand is capable of being
created by God so as to correspond exactly with my understanding of it. Hence, the
fact that I can clearly and distinctly understand one thing apart from another is
enough to make me certain that the two things are distinct, since they are capable of
being separated, at least by God... It is true that I may have...a body that is very
closely joined to me. But nevertheless, on the one hand I have a clear and distinct
idea of myself, in so far as I am simply a thinking, non-extended thing; and on the
other hand, I have a distinct idea of body, in so far as this is simply an extended,
non-thinking thing. And accordingly, it is certain that I am really distinct from my
body, and can exist without it.
“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
Descartes' Argument that He is Distinct from His Body

40. 1. If I can conceive of something without contradiction, then
that thing is possible (it is possible for God to make that thing
obtain)
“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
Descartes' Argument that He is Distinct from His Body
2. I can conceive of myself existing solely as a thinking thing, with no
body.
When we say you "conceive of" some situation, we don't mean that
you believe that that situation really obtains. We just mean that you
can coherently think about that situation. So, you can conceive of a situation in
which pigs fly; but you cannot conceive of a situation in which 2+2=5.

41. 3. I can conceive of my body existing solely as a non-thinking
thing, without me inhabiting it.

“I think, therefore I am.”
“I think, therefore I am.”
Descartes' Argument that He is Distinct from His Body
4. So it must be possible for me and my body to be separated.
5. So I am really distinct from my body, and it is possible for me to
exist without my body.

42. “I think, therefore I am.”
3. I can conceive of my body existing solely as a non-thinking thing,
without me inhabiting it.
Descartes' Argument that He is Distinct from His Body
4. So it must be possible for me and my body to be separated.
5. So I am really distinct from my body, and it is possible for me to exist
without my body.
1. If I can conceive of something without contradiction, then that
thing is possible (it is possible for God to make that thing obtain)
2. I can conceive of myself existing solely as a thinking thing, with no
body.

43. Philosophers like Aristotle and St. Thomas
Aquinas maintained that Human person
can not be either SOUL or BODY alone.
Human person is soul and body
Embodied Spirit
Embodied Spirit
MAN IS HIS SOUL/SPIRIT AND
BODY

44. Aristotle regards the soul as the principle (or
cause) of life. The soul is what gives life to something.
Nonliving things have no souls. The body and soul are
two different aspects of the human person. The body is
the person’s material aspect or “matter,” while the soul is
his/her formal aspects, it has properties that distinguish
what kind of life and abilities do a living being has.
Embodied Spirit
Embodied Spirit
MAN IS HIS SOUL/SPIRIT AND
BODY

45. The soul of plants, called vegetative or nutritive soul, enables plants to
perform activities necessary for nourishment, growth, and reproduction.
The soul of animals, called sensitive soul, enables animals to perform the
activities necessary for nourishment, growth, reproduction, sensation, and
locomotion. And the soul of humans, called rational soul, enables humans
to perform the activities necessary for nourishment, growth, reproduction,
sensation, locomotion, intelligence or rational thinking, and freedom or
free
Embodied Spirit
Embodied Spirit
MAN IS HIS SOUL/SPIRIT AND
BODY

46. Because form cannot exist independently of
matter (the soul needs the body to exist),
Aristotle does not believe in the immortality of
the soul (including human souls).
Embodied Spirit
Embodied Spirit
MAN IS HIS SOUL/SPIRIT AND
BODY

47. Aquinas agrees with the idea of Aristotle that the human body and soul
are matter and form, respectively, of the same reality that makes up a
human person. But Aquinas adds something to the said idea. Aquinas
thinks that the rational soul of humans has a dual nature. There is a part
of it that is dependent on the body, but there is also a part of it that is not
dependent on the body. The rational soul’s vegetative and sensitive
abilities (the abilities it shares with the souls of plants and animals) are all
dependent on the body, but its rational ability to think is not dependent on
the body.
Embodied Spirit
Embodied Spirit
MAN IS HIS SOUL/SPIRIT AND
BODY

48. This is so because the vegetative and sensitive abilities
necessarily need the body to operate; but the ability of thinking
does not need any organ of the body to operate. Consequently,
Aquinas believes that while the vegetative and sensitive souls are
mortal, the rational souls are immortal.
Embodied Spirit
Embodied Spirit
MAN IS HIS SOUL/SPIRIT AND
BODY

49. Aquinas, however, still maintains that the human person is the unity of
body and soul—which implies that the soul that survives after the death of
the human body is no longer a human person. (Aquinas, for this reason,
calls the human soul “subsistent” rather than a “substance” to indicate
that the human soul, though immortal, is incomplete in nature—and
which can only be complete again once the body is resurrected to reunite
with its soul.)
Embodied Spirit
Embodied Spirit
MAN IS HIS SOUL/SPIRIT AND
BODY

50. Of these three views, there are at least three reasons why the embodied
spirit view should be the most preferable. First, it maintains human
freedom, which is negated by the unspirited view (being just a body, all
actions of a human person will be determined by natural laws). Second, as
it gives importance to the soul, it also acknowledges the value of the body,
which the disembodied spirit view neglects. And third, it can
accommodate opposing views, as we saw in the cases of Aristotle and
Aquinas, on the immortality of the human soul.
Embodied Spirit
Embodied Spirit
MAN IS HIS SOUL/SPIRIT AND
BODY

51. Aristotle and Aquinas dealt with what makes the human
being by their general theory of what makes substances
in the world- FORM AND MATTER.
Descartes differentiated substances into two types:
THINKING & EXTENDED. Generally whether we
admit the unity of SOUL and BODY or their strict
essential difference like the claim of SUBSTANCE
DUALISM, there arises a more serious philosophical
question: how are the two aspects of human being such
MIND/SOUL?/SPIRIT relate with the HUMAN BODY?
What is their causal relation if there are any?
MIND AND BODY
PROBLEM