LEARNER’S PACKET NO.

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QUARTER 1

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Name: _____________________________________________ Grade Level: 11/12

Week/Date: _________________________

I.
MELC: Distinguish opinion from truth. PPT11/12-Ic-2.1

II.
WHAT IS EPISTEMOLOGY?
There is no one correct definition of epistemology. The one that I’m going to
use came from the philosopher Ayn Rand: Epistemology is a science devoted
to the discovery of the proper method of acquiring and validating knowledge”
(Rand 1990).

The purpose of epistemology therefore is two-fold:

1. To show how we can acquire knowledge.
2. To give us a method of demonstrating whether the knowledge we
acquired is really knowledge (i.e., true).

THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE

According to Ayn Rand knowledge is a “mental grasp of reality reached either by

perceptual observation or by a process of reason based on perceptual observation”
(Rand 1990). When you know something (be it the behavior of your friend, the
movement of the planets, or the origin of civilizations) you understand its nature. You
identify what it is. And it stays with you. Knowledge is a retained form of awareness
(Binswanger
2014). So how do
you acquire
knowledge? Miss
Rand’s definition
gives us two
ways: First, we
can acquire
knowledge using
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our senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, and smelling. How do you know that the
table is brown? Because you see it. How do you know that fire is hot? Because you
feel it. This method of acquiring knowledge is called empiricism and it has many
adherents in the history of philosophy such as John Locke, George Berkley, and David
Hume.
Second, we can acquire knowledge by thinking with the use of our minds (what
philosophers call the rational faculty). This is what rationalism advocates. (Some well-
known rationalists in history are Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried
Wilhelm Leibniz).

However thinking is just half of the story of knowing (in fact the second half). The
reason is that thinking involves content. To think is to think of something. You cannot
think about nothing. This is where sense perception enters the picture by feeding our
minds with data coming from the outside world so that we can have something to think
about.

ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE

1. Reality. To know is to know something. This “something” is what philosophers call

reality, existence, being. Let us employ the term existence. Existence is everything
there is (another name for it is the Universe [Peikoff 1990]). It includes everything we
perceive (animals, plants, human beings, inanimate objects) and everything inside our
heads (e.g., our thoughts and emotions) which represents our inner world.
Existence is really all there is to know. If nothing exists knowledge is impossible.
2. Perception. Our first and only contact with reality is through our senses. Knowledge
begins with perceptual knowledge. At first the senses give us knowledge of things or
entities (what Aristotle calls primary substance): dog, cat, chair, table, man. Later we
became aware not only of things but certain aspects of things like qualities (blue, hard,
smooth), quantities (seven inches or six pounds), relationships (in front of, son of) even
actions (jumping, running, flying). These so called Aristotelian categories cannot be
separated from the entities that have it. Red for example cannot be separated from
red objects; walking cannot be separated from the person that walks, etc.
3. Concept. After we perceive things we began to notice that some of the things we
perceive are similar to other things. For example we see three individuals let’s call
them Juan, Pablo and Pedro who may have nothing in common at first glance. But
when we compare them with another entity, a dog for example, suddenly their
differences become insignificant. Their big difference to a dog highlights their similarity
to one another (Binswanger 2014) We therefore grouped them into one class or group,
named the group (“man” or “human being”) and define what that group is to give it
identity (Peikoff 1990). We now have a concept which according to one dictionary

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means “an abstract or generic idea generalized from particular instances” (Merriam-
Webster Dictionary)

4. Proposition. When we use concepts in order to classify or describe an “existent”

(a particular that exist be it an object, a person, an action or event, etc) (Rand 1990)
we use what philosophers call a proposition (Binswanger 2014). A proposition is a
statement that expresses either an assertion or a denial (Copi, 2002) that an existent
belongs to a class or possess certain attribute. Proposition is usually expressed in a
declarative sentence. When I say, for example, that “Men are mortals” I am making an
assertion of men which are affirmative in nature (thus the statement is an affirmative
proposition). When I make an opposite claim however, “Men are not mortals” I am
denying something about men and thus my statement is negative in nature (thus the
proposition is called a negative proposition)

5. Inference. How do we demonstrate that the statement is true? By providing an

argument. According to Hurley an argument “is a group of statements, one or more of
which (the premises) are claimed to provide support for, or reason to believe one of
the others (the conclusion) (Hurley 2011).
THE NATURE OF TRUTH
Now that we know how we know, it’s time to see whether the knowledge we acquired
is “really” knowledge i.e., is true. This is the second part of epistemology: validating
one’s knowledge.
You can only validate the above statements if you observed yourself using your
senses. Feel your body. Are you breathing? Feel your pulse. Observe your body. Is it
moving? These and countless examples provided by your senses proved that you’re
alive (Abella 2016).
Not all statements however can be validated directly by the senses. Some beliefs or
ideas need a “multi-step process of validation called proof’ (Binswanger 2014).
Nevertheless proof rests ultimately on sense perception.
Statements based on sense perception are factual and if we based our beliefs on
such facts our beliefs are true (Abella 2016).
For example the belief that human beings have the right to life rests on the
following claim:
1. Human beings are rational animals.
2. Animals (including human beings) are living organisms.

TRUTH VS OPINION

Identifying truth however can sometimes be tricky. The reason is that there are times
when we strongly held an idea that we feel “deep down” to be true. For example
religious people strongly believed that there is life after death. Some people who
embraced democracy may passionately embraced the idea that the majority is always
right. Or on a more personal level you may feel strongly that your sister is “selfish”.
However we must not confused strongly held beliefs with truth. Truth is knowledge
validated and when we say validated we mean they are based on the facts of reality.

You must understand dear student that the facts of reality are independent of your
thoughts, feelings or preferences (Ayn Rand calls this the primacy of existence [Rand
1982]). That is the characteristic of truth. For example the statement “Jose Rizal died
in 1896” is true. You may not like that statement or deny it strongly. That does not
change the fact that the statement is true because it is based on what really happened
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in the past. There are many sources that can validate the truth of that statement if one
cared to look.
However when you say that “Jose Rizal is the greatest man who ever lived” you are
stating your preference and not facts. This is an opinion. Now it is true that there are
many facts about Rizal but that statement is asserting something that is beyond what
the facts state. That statement represents not facts but your interpretation of facts
which may reveal your biases.
To summarize an opinion has the following characteristics:
1. Based on emotions
2. Open to interpretation
3. Cannot be confirmed
4. Inherently biased
While truth is:
1. Based on the facts of reality
2. Can be confirmed with other sources
3. Independent of one’s interpretation, preferences and biases

III.

ACTIVITY NO. 1. HASHTAG. Make a Hashtag (#) (at least five) of what you have
learned about the significance of Epistemology or act of knowing from the previous
lesson. Write the answers on your answer sheet.

#__________________________________________________________________
#__________________________________________________________________
#__________________________________________________________________
#__________________________________________________________________
#__________________________________________________________________

ACTVITY NO. 2. INQUIRE AND DISCOVER.

Directions: Your task is to read and analyze the passages. Write the answers on your
answer sheet.

1. Read the passage from “Plato’s Allegory of the Cave”

(Critical thinking, Communication, Character)
“Some prisoners are chained inside a cave, facing the back wall. Behind them is a fire,
with people passing in front of it. The prisoners cannot turn their heads, and have
always been chained this way. All they can see and hear are shadows passing back
and forth and the echoes bouncing off the wall in front of them. One day, a prisoner is
freed, and dragged outside the cave. He is blinded by the light, confused, and resists
being led outside. But, eventually his eyes adjusts so that he able to see clearly the
things around him, and even the sun itself. He came to realize that the things he
thought were real were merely shadows of real things, and that life outside of the cave
is far better than his previous life in chains. He pities those still inside. He ventures
back into the cave to share his discovery with the others—only to be ridiculed because
he can hardly see (his eyes have trouble at first re-adjusting to the darkness). He tried
to free the other prisoners but they violently resisted (the other prisoners refuse to be
freed and led outside, and they even tried to kill him)”.
(https://wmpeople.wm.edu/asset/index/cvance/allegory)

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2. What does this story mean?
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3. How does this passage from Plato help you turn your attention toward the right thing
(i.e., truth, beauty, justice and goodness)?

_________________________________________________________________________
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ACTIVITY NO. 3. REFLECTION.

Directions: Make a reflection paper on Truth. (Critical Thinking, Character, Creativity,
Communication). Write the answers on your answer sheet.

Guide Question: What is truth? How you tell the truth to others?
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ASSESSMENT

DIRECTION. Choose the best answer on the following questions/statements below.

Write the answers on your answer sheet.

1. Beliefs and statements are true if they are consistent with actual state of affairs.
A. correspondence C. pragmatic
B. coherence D. deflationary
2. Check the headline information fair, objective, and moderate
A. It’s time to consider other means of cash aid distribution
B. Other countries around the world have much better means in cash aid
distribution
C. Government vows to faster distribution of coronavirus aid
D. We can also learn lesson from Vietnam how they distribute their cash aid
3. Statements are true on the degree to which it "hangs together" with all the other
beliefs in a system of beliefs.
A. pragmatic C. deflationary
B. coherence D. correspondence

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4. Why do we need epistemology?
A. To overcome poverty C. To become geniuses
B. To acquire and validate knowledge D. To succeed in life
5. Knowledge is ultimately grounded on___________.
A. Emotions C. Beliefs
B. Convictions D. Sense perception

IV.

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER RUBRIC

CRITERIA SCORE POINTS DESCRIPTION

73-80 Excellent: Main concept easily identified; sub concepts branch appropriately from
main idea. Reflects essential information such as logically arranged, concepts
succinctly presented and no misspellings or grammatical errors.

25-32 Very Satisfactory: Main concept easily identified; most sub concepts branch from
main idea. Reflects most of the essential information such as generally logically
arranged, concepts presented without too many excess words and fewer than
CONTENT
three misspellings or grammatical errors.
80 points
17-24 Satisfactory: Main concept is quite identified; sub concepts don’t consistently
branch from main idea. Contains related information but logically unarranged and
contains numerous spelling and grammatical errors.

0-16 Fair: Main concept is not clearly identified; sub concepts don’t consistently branch
from main idea. Contains extraneous, not logically arranged and contains
numerous spelling and grammatical errors.

16-20 Excellent: Clean design with high visual appeal, four or fewer symbol shapes, fits
page without a lot of scrolling and color is used effectively for emphasis.

11-15 Very Satisfactory: Design is fairly clean, with a few exceptions. Diagram has visual
appeal with four or fewer symbol shapes, fits page well and uses color effectively
DESIGN most of time.
20 points
6-10 Satisfactory: Cluttered design with satisfactory aesthetic in visual appeal. Choice
of colors has lacks of visual appeal and impedes comprehension.

1-5 Fair: Design is in low visual appeal and information is unrelated to each other.

TOTAL

V.

ACTIVITY NO. 1. HASHTAG. ASSESSMENT

The answer may vary. 1. B
ACTIVITY NO. 2. INQUIRE AND DISCOVER 2. D
The answer may vary.
ACTIVITY NO. 3. REFLECTION. The 3. B
answers may vary. 4. B
5. D

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VI.

Bernal, Ferrer and Alac (2020). PHILO Quarter 1 Module 1: Doing Philosophy.
Department of Education Region ADM-SLMs

Prepared by:

RALPH C. NAVELINO
SDO Camarines Sur

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