3. The Field of Philosophy has asked
significant questions that led to be
the understanding of what human
being is and how he/she must be
handled.
This is why Philosophy is a very
important foundation of Guidance
and Counseling.
Every counseling practitioner
should have a philosophy of
human beings and how their
problems evolve in order to
establish a philosophy of helping
4.
5. Gifted thinker of ancient Athens
who helped lay the foundation of
western philosophy
The methods he used and the
concepts he proposed, along with
his courageous defense of his ideas
against his enemies, profoundly
influenced the philosophical and
moral tenor of western thought
over the centuries.
His refusal to compromise his
intellectual integrity in the face of
a death sentence set an example
for the entire world to follow!
(469-399 BCE)
Socrates said, that the true way of
human life is to love true knowledge
6. •Method of elenchus
-(i.e. rigorous questioning
technique)
•Designed to “sting” people into
realizing their own ignorance
-Provoke genuine intellectual
curiosity
•True knowledge gained only by
constantly questioning
assumptions that underly all we do
-To achieve truth is to engage in a
permanent state of critical thinking
7. VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
Plato's understanding that the soul has three
parts is at least an initially fruitful way to begin
to think about human nature.
Socrates was a rationalist and believed that the
best life and the life most suited to human
nature involved reasoning.
Socrates believed that nobody willingly
chooses to do wrong.
8. The being in human is an inner-self. This inner-
self is divine, cannot die, and will dwell forever
with the gods.
Only human beings can distinguish virtue,
which is knowledge, from ignorance (root of
moral evil).
The human being is so constituted that
he "can" know the good. And, knowing
it, he can follow it, for no one who truly
knows the good would deliberately
choose to follow the evil. Only the
human being has these capabilities.
The mind of man is constantly reaching
out for more and more knowledge, just
as his will is desirous of more and more
love.
VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
9. Socrates used the claim of wisdom
as his moral basis
Chief goodness consists in the
caring of the soul concerned with
moral truth and understanding
“Wealth does not bring goodness,
but goodness brings wealth and
every other blessing, both to the
individual and to the state”
“Life without examination
(dialogue) is not worth living”
He would want you to evaluate
society and your own life
regularly!
10. The unexamined life is not worth living.
He is rich who is content with the least; for
contentment is the wealth of nature.
Death may be the greatest of all human blessings.
The nearest way to glory is to strive to be
what you wish to be thought to be.
Enjoy yourself -- it's later than you think.
One thing only I know, and that is that I know nothing.
11. (429-347 BCE)
The “idealist” or “utopian” or “dreamer”
Born into a wealthy family in the second year
of the Peloponnesian War
Name means “high forehead”
Student of Socrates
Left Athens when Socrates died but returned
to open a school called the Academy in 385
BCE
Wrote 20 books, many in the dialectic style (a
story which attempts to teach a specific
concept) with Socrates as the main character
12. •Idealist, believes in order and
harmony, morality and self-
denial
•Immortality of the soul
•Virtue as knowledge
•Theory of Forms – the
highest function of the human
soul is to achieve the vision of
the form of the good
13. VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
Human nature depend on Plato's theory of
soul. Soul has three parts, and each part
develops in different manner in different
people, and the nature of man depends on
how his soul is formed. This is a spontaneous
affair.
Rational, social animals. Plato tended to
identify our nature with reason, and our souls,
as opposed to our bodies.
Who we are depends on what kind of a soul we
have—a philosopher soul, a guardian or warrior
soul, or an artisan soul. This is the general role
we should play in society.
Success or failure at life depends upon
what sort of society we live in. Human
life needs to be political for Plato, spent
in the discovery of the proper manner in
which sociality ought to be organized,
and then in the practical implementation
of that ideal in our own societies.
We are rational and social creatures, but
we become who we are in society. In
order to become what we truly are, we
must live in the true (or ideal) society.
Essence is grasped by rational analysis, as
it is separate from change.
Theory of Human Nature (what are we?)
Theory of the self (who are we?)
Normative implications for human
existence (How should we live)
Articulating the vision: how do the
normative implications follow from the
theory of human nature?
14. Plato’s thinking on the immortality of
the soul, Plato’s conception of a world
beyond the sensory and his god- like
form of good have very much shaped
Christian thinking on God, the soul,
and an afterlife
...
Nietsche called Christianity “Plato for
the people”
15. " Courage is knowing what not to fear "
" The community which has neither poverty
nor riches will always have the noblest
principles. "
" Good people do not need laws to tell
them to act responsibly, while bad
people will find a way around the laws. "
" Opinion is the medium between knowledge
and ignorance. "
At the touch of love everyone becomes a
poet.
Ignorance, the root and stem of all evil.
Thinking: the talking of the soul with itself.
Human behavior flows from three main
sources: desire, emotion, and knowledge.
The greatest wealth is to live content with
little.
For a man to conquer himself is the first
and noblest of all victories.
We are twice armed if we fight with
faith.
16. (384-322 BCE)
The “real” or “encyclopedist” or “inspired
common sense” or “the prince of those who
know”
Studied under Plato at the Academy
Son of a Macedonian doctor, returned home to
become the teacher of Alexander of Macedon
for three years, beginning in 343 BCE
Later returned to Athens to open school called
the Lyceum in 335 BCE
17. •Believed in the Golden Mean
-i.e. all things follow the middle course; by avoiding
extremes, one will enjoy a maximum of happiness and a
minimum of pain
•Called the “encycolpedist” as he had a profound love of
order
•Numerous fields of scientific study he either invented or
contributed to:
-Logic, biology, zoology, botany, psychology, chemistry, a
stronomy, cosmology, metaphysics, ethics, political theory,
constitutional history, history of sport
•Founder of scientific method
-A valid and reliable process by which all scientific
analyses of a given phenomenon could take place
•Led to explosive advances in the Greek scientists’
capacity to conduct scientific research
•Middle Ages’ scholars felt Aristotle knew almost as much
as God, therefore called him “The Philosopher”
18. VIEW OF HUMAN NATURE
Rational, social animals. Aristotle believed
both body and soul were parts of our nature.
Without a society, we wouldn’t "be" human—
but a God or a beast. But the self is also
something we realize by the specific way we
actualize our natural potentialities—which
virtues (or vices) predominate.
Theory of Human Nature (what are we?)
Theory of the self (who are we?)
Normative implications for human
existence (How should we live)
Success or failure (=the wasted life)
requires that we philosophize, in order
to discern our true human
potentialities. Once we determine that
this is moral and intellectual virtue,
then we must actualize these
potentialities.
Articulating the vision: how do the
normative implications follow from
the theory of human nature?
Rationality is our nature, because
rationality is our natural function
or telos, and a thing’s telos = its
nature. Rationality sets us apart from
other animals, it makes us human.
Natural things achieve success in life
by fulfilling their function or telos.
Unlike animals, we must choose our
course and life, so the key human
demand is determining the correct
choice.
19. Love is composed of a single soul inhabiting
two bodies.
We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,
then, is not an act, but a habit.
The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit
is sweet.
All human actions have one or more of these
seven causes: chance, nature, compulsions,
habit, reason, passion, desire.
Suffering becomes beautiful when anyone
bears great calamities with cheerfulness,
not through insensibility but through
greatness of mind.
I count him braver who overcomes his
desires than him who conquers his
enemies; for the hardest victory is over self.
You will never do anything in this world
without courage. It is the greatest quality
of the mind next to honor.
In all things of nature there is something of
the marvelous.
20. Taught us how to think
Provided a great deal of insight into the
natural world
Provided many of the most profound and
meaningful answers to the great
philosophical questions that have
befuddled humans since the dawn of
civilization
Provided a comprehensive, valid, and
reliable method by which we could test
whether or not a given idea is true
