“God created us all with his love, to be equally treated. “No human being is superior over another.” ― Ellen J. Barrier “When I look at a person, I see a person - not a rank, not a class, not a title.” ― Criss Jami It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels. -Saint Augustine The human person is a mystery, that all of us, to some degree, try to unravel. Every man, wherever he goes, is encompassed by a cloud of comforting convictions, which move with him like flies on a summer day. -Bertrand Russell “Human beings are too important to be treated as mere symptoms of the past. They have a value which is independent of any temporal process──which is eternal, and must be felt for its own sake.” ― Lytton Strachey, Eminent Victorians An unexamined life is not worth living. -Socrates Know thyself -Socrates ©Michael L. Cordero Introduction Philosophy of man is a philosophical exploration about the nature of the human person. The basic questions in philosophy of man are: Who am I? What am I? These questions are very important because our answer to these questions reflect how we view ourselves, others and life as a whole.1In philosophy of man our main objective is to understand who and what man is. Understanding man is to believe in his natural capacity to live a meaningful life. If philosophy is a desire or love of wisdom, then, philosophy of man is one’s desire to know who or what man is. No other being except man can know himself. As a whole, Philosophy of man is a course that delves“into the origin of human life, the nature of human life, and the reality of human existence.”2 The human person is a mystery, that all of us, to some degree, try to comprehend. What is man? Who am I? Our awe before the nobility and misery of man is mirrored in the words of the psalmist,“What is man that You should care for him? Yet You had made him little less than the angels, crowning him with glory and splendor.” (PS 8:4- 6)Shakespeare’s words, too, echo the spontaneous admiration and wonder that we experience when we come face to face with the marvel of man:What a piece of work man is! How noble in reason!How infinite in faculty! In form and moving how Express and admirable! In action how like an angel! In apprehension how like a God! The paragon of animals! And yet, to me, what is this quintessence Of dust? (Hamlet,ii,2)3 What is man? Who is man? What am I? The questions of who and what man is seems to be the most common yet the hardest questions that man has ever thought of. A funny story is recounted about how man struggled to answer these questions. It is said that in ancient Athens the followers of Plato gathered one day to ask themselves the following question:“What is a human being?” After a great deal of thought, they came up with the following answer: “a human being is a featherless biped (An animal or being that goes about on two feet (or two legs).” Everybody seemed content with this definition until Diogenes the Cynic burst into the lecture 1
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