PHILOSOPHY OF MAN
DAVAO MEDICAL SCHOOL FOUNDATION

SOCRATES
Socrates, an influential philosopher of
ancient Greece, never took notes on
his own teachings; rather the notes of
his pupils, including Plato, are the
only record of his work.
Socrates championed the ideal of
reason and required that people act in
accordance with their reasoned
values.
His criticism of injustice in Athenian
society led to his prosecution for
corrupting the youth of Athens.
True to his principles, Socrates
refused the opportunity to recant his
criticisms and accepted the death
sentence passed at his trial.
Despite his followers’ plans for his
escape, he died in confinement,
calmly drinking a lethal dose of
hemlock, in 399 BC.

THE LIFE OF SOCRATES
 470-399 BC
 An ancient Greek philosopher who is credited for
having laid the foundation for Western philosophy
 Sophroniscus (father)
 Phaenarete (mother)
 Xanthippe
 His wife far younger than him
 They have 3 sons, and they were quite
young when he abandoned them
 There was a belief that he took over the
profession of his father as stonemasonry, but
reported to have been loitering around schoolyard
looking for children to befriend them
 DISCUSSING PHILOSOPHY
 The most important art and profession for him
where he devotes himself
 He serve as Athenian army but slipped out of the
battle in order to return to Athens to check out
handsome young children
 He refused to accept payment for his teachings,
maintaining that he had no positive knowledge to
offer except the awareness of the need for more
knowledge
 PLATO”S DIALOUGE
• Features Socrates as:
1. A Teacher denies having disciples
2. A pious man but executed for religious
improprieties
3. Disparages the pleasure of the
senses, yet it is executed by youthful
beauty
4. Devoted to the education of the boys
of Athens, yet indifferent to his own
sons
 HIS TRIAL AND EXECUTION
 It serves as the climax of his career
 He admitted in court that he could
have avoided his trial in the first place
by abandoning his philosophy and
going home to tend his business
 After he was convicted, he could have
avoided the death penalty by agreeing
to pay a small fine and once in prison
he could have escaped

THE SOCRATIC METHOD
SOCRATIC METHOD
• The most important
contribution of Socrates to
the Western philosophy
• A method of inquiry by
answering a question with
a question
ELENCHOS
• Another term referring to
the Socratic method which
he largely applied to the
examination of key moral
concepts like the God and
Justice, for which he was
regarded as the “Father
of political Philosophy
and Ethics”
 NEGATIVE METHOD OF
HYPOTHESIS ELIMINATION
 A series of questions are posed to
help a person or group of persons
determine their underlying beliefs as
well us the extent of their knowledge
 Arriving at the truth by continually
questioning, obtaining answers, and
criticizing the answers
 A better hypothesis could steadily
identify and eliminate those which
lead to contradiction
 HYPOTHESIS
 A statement that is assumed to be
true for the sake of argument
 CONTRADICTION
 A statement, or the making of a
statement, that opposes or disagrees
with somebody or something

SOCRATES PHILOSOPHY OF MAN
1. Good education does not create good citizens such
that some good fathers who are successful in life do not
produce sons of their own quality
2. Moral excellence is more of a matter of divine bequest
than potential nurture
3. Virtue cannot be taught
4. Knowledge is not gained from instruction and study,
but from divine dispensation
5. Authoritarianism is better than democracy. A wise and
noble tyrant ruler is the ideal alternative to the random
decision made by a democratic ruler
6. Wrongdoing is a consequence of ignorance, that those
who did wrong knew no better
7. The art of love is the love of wisdom and man could
actually become wise who takes in pursuing the art of
love
8. Midwives are barren due to age, and women who have
never give birth are unable to become midwives
9. The best way for people to live is to focus
on self-development rather than the pursuit of
material wealth
10. Friendship and a sense of true community
is the best way for people to grow together as
a populace
11. Humans possessed certain virtues. Virtue
is the most valuable of all human
possessions. The most important virtues for a
person to have is intellectual virtues
12. Truth lies beneath the shadows of
existence, and that it is the philosopher’s job
to show the rest how little they really know
13. For a man to be truly good and not just act
with right opinion, he must come to know the
unchanging good in itself
14. Ideals belong in a world that only the wise
man can understand
15. A wise ruler cannot tell people how to live
when he does not yet understand himself

PYTHAGORAS
Considered the first true
mathematician,
Pythagoras in the 6th
century by emphasized the
study of mathematics as a
means to understanding all
relationships in the natural
world.
His followers, known as
Pythagoreans, were the first
to teach that the Earth is a
sphere revolving around
the Sun.
This detail showing
Pythagoras surrounded by
his disciples comes from a
fresco known as the School
of Athens (1510-1511), by
Italian Renaissance painter
Raphael.

THE LIFE AND TEACHINGS OF PYTHAGORAS
 582-507 BC
 An Ionian, Greek, born on the
island of Samos, a Mathematician
and philosopher, founder of the
Mathematical, mystic, religions,
and scientific society called
Pythagorean
 FATHER OF NUMBERS
 A title given to him because of
the “Pythagorean Theorem”
which bears his name
 MNESARCHUS
 His father, a merchant from
Tyre
 PYTHAIS
 His mother, a native of Samos
 HOMER
 A book which he recites, aside
from playing lyre and poetry
MATHEMATIKOI
• (Mathematicians) Members of the secret society,
Pythagoreans, which was established by
Pythagoras when he migrated from Samos to
Crotone
He and his followers believed that everything was
related to Mathematics and through Mathematics
everything could be predicted in rhythmic patterns
or cycles
According to some beliefs, he died at the hands of
a soldier, because he refused to trample a bean-
field while fleeing
He was considered as one of the world’s greatest men,
but he wrote nothing, and his doctrines is difficult to
identify even the trustworthiness of his life accounts
because many legends is gathered around his name at
an early date
His Life

PYTHAGORAS PHILOSOPHY OF HUMAN PERSON
1. Learn to be silent. Let your quite mind listen and absorb
2. Help a man in raising a burden, but do not assist him in laying it down for it is a sin to encourage
indolence
3. It is better to learn none of the truth about Mathematics, God, and the Universe at all than to learn a
little without learning all
4. Women should function on equal terms with man in society
5. Do not vex with sharp words a man swollen with anger, do not vex yourself with anger
6. Numbers constitute the true nature of things
7. DOCTRINE OF REBIRTH OR TRANSMIGRATION
• Since there is a transmigration of souls, man should follow various rules of living which would enable the
soul to achieve a higher rank among the gods
8. Men are classified into three: lovers of wisdom, lovers of honor, and lovers of gain
9. DOCTRINE OF VEGETARIANISM
• Man should abstain from eating meat and any sort of beans in order to attain inner health

HEDONISM
1. Pleasure is the sole or chief
good in life and the pursuit
of it is the ideal aim of
conduct
2. All actions can be measured
n the basis of how much
pleasure and how little pain
they produce
3. Action is good if it gives
worldly pleasure or temporal
happiness to men, action is
bad if it’s not
4. The good action is the
pleasant action, the bad
action is that which
produces pain
EGOISTIC OR CYRENAIC
HEDONISM
• It stresses the gratification of one’s
immediate personal desires without
regard for other people is the
supreme end of human existence
RATIONAL HEDONISM
• It points out that true pleasures is
attainable only by reason, and they
stressed the virtues of self-control
and prudence
PLEASURE OVER PAIN
TYPES OF HEDONISM IN ANCIENT
GREECE
BASIC CONCEPTS
Hedonistic philosophy of men has sexual or
libidinal connotation
It is an ethical theory that expounds on the
pursuit and enjoyment of pleasure as the
man’s goal in life
It also stressed that knowledge is rooted in the
fleeting sensations of the moment and is futile to
attempt the formulation of a system of moral values
in which the desirability of present pleasure is
weighed against the pain they caused in the future

TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHTS IN HEDONISM
Grouped under Jeremy
Bentham
It holds that the value of
pleasure could be
quantitatively understood
This means that it’s not
just the number of
pleasures, but their
intensity and how long
they lasted that must be
taken into account
 Grouped under John Stuart
Mill
 It holds that pleasure has
different levels :
A. Higher Quality Level
 Higher quality pleasure is
better than lower quality
pleasures
 More elaborate beings, like
men, tend to spend more
thought on other matters
and hence lesser time for
simple pleasure
B. Lower Quality Level
 Lower quality pleasures are
simple beings
 Pigs, have easier access to
simple pleasures since they
do not see other aspects of
life
QUANTITATIVE APPROACH QUALITATIVE APPROACH

EPICURUS
Greek philosopher
Epicurus was a prolific
author and creator of an
ethical philosophy based
upon the achievement of
pleasure and happiness.
However, he viewed
pleasure as the absence of
pain and removal of the
fear of death.
This bust of Epicurus, a
Roman copy of a Greek
original, is in the Palazzo
Nuovo in Rome, Italy.

EPICUREANISM
 A system of philosophy based on
the teachings of Epicurus, founded
in 307 BC
 A form of Hedonism because it also
declares pleasure as the sole
intrinsic good
 DIFFERENCE TO HEDONISM
I. Its conception of absence of
bodily pain as the greatest
pleasure
II. Its advocacy of a simple and
moderate life
 THE GARDEN
 Is an Epicurean school that has
been a moderate ascetic
community which rejected the
political doctrine of Athenian
philosophy, and it includes women,
and slaves as members, and were
probably vegetarian
 EPICURUS (340-270 BC)
 The proponent of Epicureanism,
who was an atomic materialist
following the steps of Democritus
 His concept on materialism led him
to attack superstition and divine
intervention
1. The pleasure of the individual is the sole
or chief goal in life:
• To arrive to this goal, man must live in such a way as to
derive the greatest amount of pleasure possible during
one’s lifetime, yet doing so moderately in order to avoid
the suffering incurred by over-indulgence in such
pleasures. This emphasizes the pleasure of the mind
than a physical pleasure
2. A Moderate Pleasure Can Result To:
• ATARAXIA
• a state of tranquility and freedom from fear
• APONIA
• Freedom from fear and absence of bodily pain constitute
happiness in the highest form
3. Peace of mind and Freedom from bodily
pain
• The highest pleasure can be obtained through
knowledge, friendship, and using virtuous and temperate or
modest life
PEACE OF MIND AND ABSENCE OF BODILY PAIN
BASIC CONCEPTS

4. Man can enjoy simple pleasure by
abstaining from bodily desire such as sex
and appetite
 Appetite can lead to dissatisfaction if taken too
richly
 Sex can increase lust and dissatisfaction with the
sexual partner
5. God is neutral to men
 They do not interfere in the world we live in
6. Gods are mere physical being like men
 They are up in the distant place of the cosmos
without thought for what happens to mankind
7. Humans and gods souls are made from
atoms
 God souls adheres to the body without escape
 Human souls leave the body because the forces
surrounding the atoms do not possess the fortitude
to hold it
8. Man has a free will
9. Human thoughts are merely atoms that serve
randomly due to the fact that ever-curious
minds of people wonder anxiously about their
role in the universe
10. Death is a threat to one’s peace of mind
11. Marriage is a threat to one’s peace of
mind
12 Artificially-produced desire must be
suppressed.
• Learning, culture, civilization, socio-political
involvement are artificially produced desires that
should be discouraged because they give rise to
desire that are difficult to satisfy thus resulting in
disturbing one’s peace of mind
13. While very pleasure is in itself good,
not all pleasures are to be chosen
• Since certain pleasures are produced by means which
entail annoyances many times greater than the
pleasure themselves
14. There can be no life to come
• Since the soul is of such a nature as to be dissolved
immediately on leaving the body into the primordial
tombs to which it was compounded
15. Virtue in itself had no value
• If it does not serve as a means to gain happiness
16. Feelings (PATHE) can tell the individual
what brings about pleasure and what
brings about pain

MISCONCEPTIONS TOWARD EPICUREANISM
• It posits pleasures as the ultimate good
or TELOS
• It advocates the partaking of pleasures
such as constant partying, orgasmic,
sexual excess, and expensive food
Misunderstanding
of the Epicurean
Doctrine:
• ATARAXIA
• Tranquility or peace of mind
• APONIA
• Absence of bodily pain
The truth is It
regarded the
combined aspects
to be the height of
happiness:
• Excess drinking is contrary to the
attainment of Ataraxia and Aponia,
prudence, therefore, is an important
virtue in seeking pleasure
Example:

UTILITARIANISM
It is an ethical doctrine that the moral worth of
an action is solely determined by its
contribution to overall utility
The ethical doctrine that the greatest
happiness of the greatest number should be
the criterion of the virtue of action
The doctrine that the value of an action or an
object lies in usefulness
• An 18th century British
philosopher founded the ethical,
legal, and political doctrine of
utilitarianism, which states that
correct actions are those that
result in the greatest happiness
for the greatest number of
people.
JEREMY
BENTHAM
• Bentham’s foremost proponent,
a significant philosopher in his
day
JAMES
MILL
• Son of James Mill who was
educated according to
Bentham’s principles and much
of his father’s work was
summarized by him while he
was still in his teens
JOHN
STUART
MILL

BASIC CONCEPTS OF UTILITARIANISM
The doctrine of utility is, that the good is whatever brings
the greatest happiness to the greatest number of people
The only purpose for which political power can be rightfully
exercised over any member of a civilized community,
against his will, is to prevent harm to others
The moral thing to do is the maximization of pleasure and
the minimization of pain
It is immoral to harvest healthy people’s organs to be given
to sick people
The well-being of all sentient things, including animals,
deserve equal consideration with that given to human
beings, thus it is often immoral to harm an animal even if the
animal itself not given a moral status
All societies are equally important. Viewing oneself as equal
to others in one’s society and at the same time viewing
one’s society as fundamentally superior to other societies
may cause an uncomfortable dissonance
 The tenet by which an
action is considered right
or wrong depending on
whether its outcome is
good or bad
 Developed by the
followers of classic
utilitarianism of Bentham
and Mill
CONSEQUENTIALISM

QUIZ NOV.25. 2010
1. A method of inquiry by answering a question with a question
2. Members of the secret society, Pythagoreans, which was
established by Pythagoras when he migrated from Samos to
Crotone
3. He refused to accept payment for his teachings, maintaining that
he had no positive knowledge to offer except the awareness of
the need for more knowledge
4. A statement that is assumed to be true for the sake of argument
5. “Man should abstain from eating meat and any sort of beans in
order to attain inner health” this principle is also known as_____
6. It stresses the gratification of one’s immediate personal desires
without regard for other people is the supreme end of human
existence
7. The tenet by which an action is considered right or wrong
depending on whether its outcome is good or bad
8. An Epicurean school that has been a moderate ascetic
community which rejected the political doctrine of Athenian
philosophy
9. This means that it’s not just the number of pleasures, but their
intensity and how long they lasted that must be taken into
account
10. Freedom from fear and absence of bodily pain constitute
happiness in the highest form is referred to as _____
ANSWERS
1. Socratic Method
2. Mathematikoi
3. Socrates
4. Hypothesis
5. Doctrine of
Vegetarianism
6. Egoistic or Cyrenaic
Hedonism
7. Consequentialism
8. The Garden
9. Quantitative Approach
10. Aponia