Republic of the Philippines

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
Region I
San Fernando City
La Union

MODULE AND ACTIVITY SHEETS IN INTRODUCTION

TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON
GRADE 11/12 1ST QUARTER, WEEK 1
MELC: 1.1. Distinguish a holistic perspective from a partial view point.
1.2. Realize the value of doing philosophy in obtaining a broad perspective on
life.
1.3. Do a philosophical reflection on a concrete situation from a holistic
perspective.

 K to 12 BEC CG: PPT11/12-Ia-1.1; PPT11/12-Ib-1.3;PPT11/12-Ic-I.4

Objectives:
1. Differentiate holistic perspective from a partial point of view.
2. Identify the different ways of philosophy.
3. Do a philosophical reflection on your life experiences from a holistic perspective.

Prepared by:

NORMA TERESITA F. CEREZO

SHS Teacher I
 What I Need to Know

Philosophy has been around since the dawn of western civilization. The golden age of Greek
philosophy took place in Athens in the 5th century BC. The works of Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle informed thousands of years of thought, becoming central to thought in the Roman
world, the Middle Ages, and then resurfacing in the Renaissance and later.

Starting at the height of the Roman republic, Christian thought was central to philosophy at least
until the Enlightenment. In the 18th century, questions of how we come to know what we believe
we know (epistemology) and new ethical schools began to form. By the late 1800’s, questions of
language, logic, and meaning took center stage, and the 20th century played host to one of the
largest bursts of philosophical work ever seen. Today philosophical thought is applied to almost
every component of life, from science to warfare, politics to artificial intelligence.

In this module, we aim to be able to become aware of how we apply philosophy to our daily life.

At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:

1. Understand the difference between a holistic perspective from a partial point of
view.
2. Identify the different ways of doing philosophy.
3. Do a philosophical reflection on your life experiences from a holistic perspective.

What I Know

Before going on, check how much you know about this topic. Answer
the pretest below:.

What is your own

understanding of the word Philosophy?

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 What’s New

1 Doing Philosophy
The Six Blind Men and the Elephant

Long ago six old men lived in a village in India. Each was born blind. The other villagers loved
the old men and kept them away from harm. Since the blind men could not see the world for
themselves, they had to imagine many of its wonders. They listened carefully to the stories told
by travelers to learn what they could about life outside the village.

The men were curious about many of the stories they heard, but they were most curious about
elephants. They were told that elephants could trample forests, carry huge burdens, and frighten
young and old with their loud trumpet calls. But they also knew that the Rajah's daughter rode an
elephant when she traveled in her father's kingdom. Would the Rajah let his daughter get near
such a dangerous creature?

The old men argued day and night about elephants. "An elephant must be a powerful giant,"
claimed the first blind man. He had heard stories about elephants being used to clear forests and
build roads.

"No, you must be wrong," argued the second blind man. "An elephant must be graceful and
gentle if a princess is to ride on its back."

"You're wrong! I have heard that an elephant can pierce a man's heart with its terrible horn," said
the third blind man.

"Please," said the fourth blind man. "You are all mistaken. An elephant is nothing more than a
large sort of cow. You know how people exaggerate."
"I am sure that an elephant is something magical," said the fifth blind man. "That would explain
why the Rajah's daughter can travel safely throughout the kingdom."

"I don't believe elephants exist at all," declared the sixth blind man. "I think we are the victims of
a cruel joke."

Finally, the villagers grew tired of all the arguments, and they arranged for the curious men to
visit the palace of the Rajah to learn the truth about elephants. A young boy from their village
was selected to guide the blind men on their journey. The smallest man put his hand on the boy's
shoulder. The second blind man put his hand on his friend's shoulder, and so on until all six men
were ready to walk safely behind the boy who would lead them to the Rajah's magnificent
palace.

When the blind men reached the palace, they were greeted by an old friend from their village
who worked as a gardener on the palace grounds. Their friend led them to the courtyard. There
stood an elephant. The blind men stepped forward to touch the creature that was the subject of so
many arguments.

The first blind man reached out and touched the side of the huge animal. "An elephant is smooth
and solid like a wall!" he declared. "It must be very powerful."

The second blind man put his hand on the elephant's limber trunk. "An elephant is like a giant
snake," he announced.

The third blind man felt the elephant's pointed tusk. "I was right," he decided. "This creature is as
sharp and deadly as a spear."

The fourth blind man touched one of the elephant's four legs. "What we have here," he said, "is
an extremely large cow."

The fifth blind man felt the elephant's giant ear. "I believe an elephant is like a huge fan or
maybe a magic carpet that can fly over mountains and treetops," he said.

The sixth blind man gave a tug on the elephant's coarse tail. "Why, this is nothing more than a
piece of old rope. Dangerous, indeed," he scoffed.

The gardener led his friends to the shade of a tree. "Sit here and rest for the long journey home,"
he said. "I will bring you some water to drink."

While they waited, the six blind men talked about the elephant.

"An elephant is like a wall," said the first blind man. "Surely we can finally agree on that."

"A wall? An elephant is a giant snake!" answered the second blind man.

"It's a spear, I tell you," insisted the third blind man.

"I'm certain it's a giant cow," said the fourth blind man.

"Magic carpet. There's no doubt," said the fifth blind man.

"Don't you see?" pleaded the sixth blind man. "Someone used a rope to trick us."

Their argument continued and their shouts grew louder and louder.

"Wall!" "Snake!" "Spear!" "Cow!" "Carpet!" "Rope!"

"Stop shouting!" called a very angry voice.

It was the Rajah, awakened from his nap by the noisy argument.

"How can each of you be so certain you are right?" asked the ruler.

The six blind men considered the question. And then, knowing the Rajah to be a very wise man,
they decided to say nothing at all.

"The elephant is a very large animal," said the Rajah kindly. "Each man touched only one part.
Perhaps if you put the parts together, you will see the truth. Now, let me finish my nap in peace."

When their friend returned to the garden with the cool water, the six men rested quietly in the
shade, thinking about the Rajah's advice.

"He is right," said the first blind man. "To learn the truth, we must put all the parts together. Let's
discuss this on the journey home."

The first blind man put his hand on the shoulder of the young boy who would guide them home.
The second blind man put a hand on his friend's shoulder, and so on until all six men were ready
to travel together.

What is It

Partial vs Holistic view

In philosophy, understanding something depends on the point of view used in studying that
object, concept, or situation.

A partial point of view, by definition, is incomplete. It's admitting that one's perception is
limited by other factors or based on a single factor.

Having a holistic view is having a view where we understand both the whole and the parts of
something, and, we understand how the parts, when brought together, make up the whole. When
you have the whole picture of something, you have many perspectives (these are the parts of the
whole).

The meaning of Philosophy:

Oxford dictionary defines philosophy as the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge,
reality, and existence, especially when considered as an academic discipline.
Wikipedia states that Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental questions about
existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. You will notice that it is the same
thought as that of the Oxford meaning and other dictionaries as well.
Etymological meaning of philosophy - The word philosophy is derived from Greek words –
Pholos and Sophia. Philos means love and Sophia means wisdom. Thus philosophy means love
of wisdom. In this way search of wisdom or truth is called philosophy.

Therefore, our course is mainly finding answers to questions about many things, about anything
and about everything. We reflect and think about our experiences, our thoughts, our actions and
that of others too.

How it started:

Origin of Philosophy
Philosophy has been around since the dawn of western civilization. The golden age of Greek
philosophy took place in Athens in the 5th century BC. The works of Socrates, Plato, and
Aristotle informed thousands of years of thought, becoming central to thought in the Roman
world, the Middle Ages, and then resurfacing in the Renaissance and later.

Starting at the height of the Roman republic, Christian thought was central to philosophy at least
until the Enlightenment. In the 18th century, questions of how we come to know what we believe
we know (epistemology) and new ethical schools began to form. By the late 1800’s, questions of
language, logic, and meaning took center stage, and the 20th century played host to one of the
largest bursts of philosophical work ever seen. Today philosophical thought is applied to almost
every component of life, from science to warfare, politics to artificial intelligence.

Branches of Philosophy:

The branches of philosophy are divided into the many fields of philosophy:

Aesthetics
Aesthetics is study of the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and the creation of personal kinds of
truth.
Aesthetics is the philosophical study of beauty and taste. It is closely related to the philosophy of
art, which is concerned with the nature of art and the concepts in terms of which individual
works of art are interpreted and evaluated.
It deals not only with the nature and value of the arts but also with those responses to natural
objects that find expression in the language of the beautiful and the ugly. However, the terms
such as beautiful and ugly seem too vague in their application and too subjective in their
meaning. What is perceived to be beautiful for one person may be otherwise for another.

 Applied aesthetics – application of the philosophy of aesthetics to art and culture.

Epistemology
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that studies the source, nature and validity of
knowledge. It asks the following central questions -

1. How is knowledge different from belief?

2. What can we know?
3. How does knowledge arise?
4. Can there be objective knowledge?

Epistemology is the study of the nature and scope of knowledge and justified belief. It analyzes
the nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth, belief and justification.
It also deals with the means of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different
knowledge claims. It is essentially about issues having to do with creation and dissemination of
knowledge in particular areas of inquiry.

The kind of knowledge usually discussed in Epistemology is propositional

knowledge, "knowledge-that" as opposed to "knowledge-how" (for example, the knowledge that
"2 + 2 = 4", as opposed to the knowledge of how to go about adding two numbers).

Ethics
Ethics – study of the right, the good, and the valuable

Ethics is that part of philosophy which deals with the good and bad, or right and wrong, in
human conduct. It asks:
What is the good?
What should I do?
What is a good life?
Is morality objective or subjective?
Is it absolute or relative?
Why should I be moral?
What is the relationship between self-interest and morality?
Where does morality come from?
What, if anything, provides the ultimate justification for morality?
Should one emphasize duty, happiness, or pleasure in moral judgments?

 Applied ethics – philosophical examination, from a moral standpoint, of particular issues in

private and public life that are matters of moral judgment. It is thus the attempts to use
philosophical methods to identify the morally correct course of action in various fields of
human life.
o Decision ethics – ethical theories and ethical decision processes
o Environmental ethics – studies ethical issues concerning the non-human world. It exerts
influence on a large range of disciplines including environmental law, environmental
sociology, ecotheology, ecological economics, ecology and environmental geography.
o Professional ethics – ethics to improve professionalism
 Computer ethics – deals with how computing professionals should make decisions
regarding professional and social conduct
 Ethics of artificial intelligence – specific to robots and other artificially intelligent
beings.
 Research ethics – application of fundamental ethical principles to a variety of topics
involving research, including scientific research
o Bioethics – study of the typically controversial ethical issues emerging from new
situations and possibilities brought about by advances in biology and medicine
 Medical ethics – ethics to improve basic health needs of humans
o Business ethics – individual based morals to improve ethics in a business environment
o Organizational ethics – ethics among organizations
o Social ethics – ethics among nations and as one global unit
o Descriptive ethics – study of people's beliefs about morality
o Normative ethics – study of ethical theories that prescribe how people ought to act
o Metaethics – branch of ethics that seeks to understand the nature of ethical properties,
statements, attitudes, and judgments
Logic
Logic – the systematic study of the form of valid inference and reason. It is the ability to test
arguments for logical consistency and understanding the logical consequences of certain
assumptions.

 Propositional logic
 Predicate logic
 Modal logic
Metaphysics
Metaphysics – traditional branch of philosophy concerned with explaining the fundamental
nature of being and the world that encompasses it. Metaphysics attempts to answer two basic
questions in the broadest possible terms: "What is ultimately there?" and, "What is it like?"
 Ontology – philosophical study of the nature of being, becoming, existence, or reality, as
well as the basic categories of being and their relations.
 Philosophy of mind – studies the nature of the mind, mental events, mental functions, mental
properties, consciousness, and their relationship to the physical body, particularly the brain.
 Philosophy of space and time – branch of philosophy concerned with the issues surrounding
the ontology, epistemology, and character of space and time.
 Philosophy of action – theories about the processes causing willful human bodily movements
of a more or less complex kind. This area of thought has attracted the strong interest of
philosophers ever since Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics (Third Book).

What’s more

For you to understand the lesson well, do the following activities.

Have fun and good luck!

Title of the Activity: My Success Factors!

Directions: Fill in the boxes with the factors that will help you attain your goal in your life

I. In each of the boxes, trace what happens if you study hard. The first box is studying
hard. The succeeding boxes will show what happens if you will do your best in
school.

II. Fill the center box with your future goal. The other boxes will contain the factors that
will help you attain that goal.
 What I have learned

III. Give the two different perspectives used in the activities above?

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What I can do
 Here are some enrichment activities for you to work on to master and
strengthen the basic concepts you have learned from this lesson:

Activity I:
Let us Philosophize!

Directions: Find and encircle words given below in the search box.

a. METAPHYSICS
b. ETHICS
c. EPISTEMOLOGY
d. LOGIC
e. AESTHETICS
Activity 2: Matching type: Match column A to column B. Write the letter of your
choice on the space provided.

letter of your
answer Branch of Philosophy Main Focus
A. To know the nature, sources and
1. Metaphysics limitations of knowledge

2. Ethics B. To know the reason behind the truth

3. Epistemology c. To know how to make it beautiful

4. Logic D. to know what is real

5. Aesthetics E. to know what is right from wrong

Great job! You have understood the lesson.

Are you now ready to summarize?

Assessment:

Give your own example of a situation where you apply any of the branches of
philosophy in your life using the following guide questions:

1. Describe the situation.

2. What branch/es of philosophy did you apply?

3. How are the branch/es of philosophy is being applied?

 Additional Activities

At this point, DO a philosophical reflection on a concrete situation from a holistic perspective.

Title of the Activity: A Friend in Need

Directions: Read the situation carefully. Reflect on it and come up with a holistic
approach to address the situation.

I. Mary Joy is your friend. She has been doing well in class since your elementary
days. She has been a consistent honor student. Last year Dagul, also your friend,
became her boyfriend. Dagul, just like Mary Joy, comes from a poor family. They
are both doing odd jobs during weekends in order to earn any amount to sustain their
school needs.
Yesterday, Mary Joy came to you saying she has a problem. She is pregnant. She
needs your advice on what course of action she must do.

After much thinking, you decided to come up with an action plan. Using the rows
below, indicate what possible results will she face for possible course/ of action.

ACTION 1: ACTION 2:
PROS CONS PROS CONS
II. Which of the two actions would you choose if you were in Mary Joy’s situation?
Why? (At least 150 words)
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III. Do you think you used a holistic perspective in your advice to Mary
Joy? How?
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Great job! You are done with this module.

Answer Key:

I.

II.
III. Two perspectives used:

1. Partial perspective – It focused only in one factor to become successful which is

to study hard.
2. Holistic perspective – It applied diverse viewpoints to determine the factors in
becoming successful.
 I.
letter of
your
answer Branch of Philosophy Main Focus
A. To know the nature, sources and
D 1. Metaphysics limitations of knowledge

E 2. Ethics B. To know the reason behind the truth

A 3. Epistemology c. To know how to make it beautiful

B 4. Logic D. to know what is real

C 5. Aesthetics E. to know what is right from wrong

II.
Own example of any of the branches of philosophy

Students’ answers will vary according to their personal experiences.

 ACTION 1: keep it a secret ACTION 2: tell her parents
PROS CONS PROS CONS
No one will She will feel guilt She will be Her parents will
know relieved of not scold her
lying
She can act Difficult to hide Her parents can She may stop
normal give sound schooling
advice
She can attend Others might Her parents are Other people will
school notice there to help her know
She will graduate She will have She will be at She will be
on time difficulty peace for her ashamed in front
concentrating honesty of others
No scolding yet Stress knowing
from parents she did not tell
them
She will have She will not be at
time to think for peace with
options herself

I. Personal opinion of student

II. Application of the lesson to the situation. Answers will vary.

Rubrics
Excellent Good Satisfactory Poor Needs
Skill Category Total points Total points Total points Total points Improvement
(90-100) ( 80-89) (70-79) (60-69) Total points
(59 below)
EASY: 25 – 30 pts 19 – 24 pts 13 – 18 pts 7 - 12 pts below 6 pts
Max: 30 -pts

Boxes filled 5 Filled 4 Filled 3 Filled 2 Filled 1 box

boxes boxes boxes boxes
Word search Found 1
found all 5 Found 4 Found 3 Found 2 word
words words words words
Action Plan
at least 9 At least 7 At least 5 At least 3 At least 1
entries entries entries entries entry
AVERAGE: 25 – 30 pts 19 – 24 pts 13 – 18 pts 7 - 12 pts below 6 pts
Max 30 pts

Diagrams At least 5 At least 4 At least 3 At least 2 1 answer

entries answers answers answers

Matching type 5 right 4 right 3 right 2 right 1 right

answers answers answers answers answer

Own example Nearly Generally Slightly

Accurately accurate correct correct Incorrect
explained explanation explanation explanation explanation

DIFFICULT: 34 – 40 pts 26 – 33 pts 18 – 25 pts 9 – 17 pts. 8 pts below

Max 40 pts

Personal Expressed Expressed Expressed Expressed Unable to

perspectives personal personal personal personal express
views well views views views personal
slightly views

Essay Explained Explained Explained Unexplained

well well somewhat Explained
partially slightly

Application Partially Unable to

Applied the Partially applied the Slightly apply the
lesson to the applied the lesson to applied the lesson to the
situational lesson to the lesson to situational
analysis the situational the analysis
situational analysis situational
analysis analysis
References:

A. Books
Christine Carmela R. Ramos, PhD. 2016. Introduction to the Philosopy of
the Human Person. Quezon City: Rex Bookstore, Inc.
pp. 2 - 24.

B. Online and Other Sources

Department of Education. http://www.deped.gov.ph/

Power Point Presentation: https://www.slideshare.net/arielgilbuena7/intro-to-

the-philosophy-of-the-human-person-chapter-1-the-process-of-doing-
philosophy
https://www.evphil.com/philosophy.html

Free word search puzzle maker: http://puzzlemaker.biz/

Super Scholar: History Of Philosophy: https://superscholar.org/history-of-

philosophy/#:~:text=The%20golden%20age%20of%20Greek,in%20the
%20renaissance%20and%20later.
Wikipedia, Outline of Philosophy:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outline_of_philosophy
Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://iep.utm.edu/marcel/
Encyclopaedia Britannica: https://www.britannica.com/topic/aesthetics
The basics of Philosophy:
https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_epistemology.html
Reason and Meaning: https://reasonandmeaning.com/2016/04/03/what-is-
philosophical-ethics/
Peace Corps: https://www.peacecorps.gov/educators/resources/story-blind-
men-and-elephant/