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Understanding Reality
in a Bigger Picture
Ms. Em Charise C. Benedicto, RPm
Version 1.0
Overview
Revealing the Whole
a. Disovering Philosophical Reflection
b. The Universal and the Particular
c. Truth and Dialectics
1
Philosophy is not only for philosophers. Every person has
the capacity to find the value of philosophy in his/her own
life. However, without a formal introduction to the
discipline, you may not be aware that you have been
engaging in philosophy.
Activity: Mother and I
In the empty box before each item, put a check mark (/) on the
experience that you think expresses moments of being in the
world of philosophy. Leave blank the item/s which you think are
not. Afterwards share your answer to the class
Your mother asked you to go to the market and you asked her what items you
need to buy.
Your mother asked you to go to the market and you asked how much is the budget
to take with you.
Your mother asked you to go to the market and you asked why it is wise to buy in
the wet market than in supermarket.
Your mother asked you to go to the market and you asked her why your family is
buying meat when a vegetarian’s life is more ideal.
Your mother asked you to go to the market and you asked yourself, “Why do
people have to buy things when God created nature where these goods come
from?”
Revealing the
Whole
Discovering
Philosophical
Reflection
● At some point in your life, you may have asked difficult
question through perhaps you never discussed them to
anyone.
● To think about it is to engage in a philosophical reflection
because it compels us to look at a particular experience
from a wider perspective.
● It is not an ordinary question, but a truly difficult one.
● To reflect philosophically is to
think about an important question
that does not have a definite or
ready answer.
● We are puzzled mostly about
things we cannot fully know or
understand because we can ask.
● One of the things human beings
ask is “Why am I here?” which is a
variation of the questions “Why was
I even born?,” “What am I here
for?” or “What is the purpose of my
existence?” Many also ask “Why
love when you only get hurt? and
“What if there is no after-life?”
● Many also ask “Why love when you only
get hurt?” and What if there is no afterlife?”
● Such questions usually come when we
are going through a really difficult time in
our life - perhaps when we are
heartbroken, when we feel lost, or when
we become conscious of our personal
struggles in this world
● The thing is, no amount of research would be able to provide a
definite and conclusive answer to some questions that puzzle us.
Yet they are the kind of questions that endure.
● We ask them every now and then. Sometimes, we think we have
found the answer, only to find ourselves asking the question
again.
● At other times, we get distracted and evade the question until
some situations bring us back to asking it again.
● Unless we deal with such kind of questions by engaging reflection,
the problem such questions raise will not go away.
● Difficult questions that do not have definite
answers like the ones we have been
describing are significant.
● They are questions that matter to us for
they reflect our desire to understand or at
least make sense of our experiences.
● The answers we find directly affect the
way we go through life.
● These sort of questions are called
PHILOSOPHICAL.
● When we ponder on a philosophical
question, we are engaged in a
philosophical reflection.
● Philosophy allows us the freedom to ask
even those questions that others believe
to already have a definite answer.
● Movies, song, and literatures are
examples of creative ways of asking a
philosophical question.
● Philosophy, on the other hand,
does not dictate conclusive or
final answers to philosophical
questions. As you perhaps
already know, love is not
something that can be exhausted
with a definition.
● In social media, we are made to believe
or defend the opposite that nothing lasts
forever. This is mostly referring to the
context of love relationships. When you
begin to agree, or disagree, it calls for a
philosophical thinking whether in jest or
in a serious mode.
● When we ask a philosophical question,
we do not simply inquire about a specific
question that is triggered by certain
situations.
● A philosophical question always contains
a bigger problem.
● The answer one finds will determine
his/her choices in life.
● Not to ask a philosophical
question is to go through life
confused and lost.
● There are things we encounter in
this world that are simply puzzling
and unsettling.
Perhaps you can relate with some of
these questions as examples of
questions that keep us wondering.
01 |
Why does man work at the expense of health?
02 |
Why is love complicated?
03 |
Why do people have to die?
04 |
Why can’t my parents understand me??
05 | Why do people say that ‘forever’ is not altogether
real in love and relationships?
The only solution to such
philosophical questions is to ask
them. The search for answers
only begins the moment we ask
a philosophical question.
Metaphysics
Big ideas arising from big questions
are mostly metaphysical ones.
Metaphysics is actually one of the
main branches of philosophy and it
deals with the so-called “being of
beings.”
Metaphysics
When we ask about the
origin of life and its destiny,
or why a stone can never be
water, it is surely covered by
metaphysics.
Metaphysics
The word has its etymology
in Aristotle’s book in Greek,
ta meta ta physika, meaning
beyond (meta) the physical
(physika) things.
Activity: Thinking Out Loud
01 | What philosophical questions have you
asked in the past or is asking right now?
02 | What makes your questions personally
significant?