Introduction to Philosophy of the

Human Person Quarter 2 – Module 3:

Human Person and Society

Introduction to

Philosophy of the Human Person

Quarter 2 – Module 3:

Human Person and Society

ii

What I Need to Know

Men -- by their nature – are political animals. This ancient saying of Aristotle has

never lose its appeal. Perhaps the reason is that despite the long course it traversed

in the history, it still capsulizes one of the essential elements of human nature –

human’s endowed innateness to gather themselves and create a community where

they share their commonalities and fix differences.

In this module, learners will understand how individuals form societies and, in turn,

how does society transform them. Importantly, learners will be able to explain how

human relations are transformed by social systems.

This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to help you master

the different philosophical concepts of about human freedom, and thereafter examine

the its relationship with responsibility. The scope of this module permits it to be used

in many different learning situations. The language used recognizes the diverse

vocabulary level of students. The lessons are arranged to follow the standard

sequence of the course. But the order in which you read them can be changed to

correspond with the textbook you are now using.

After going through this module, you are expected to:

1. identify the different types of society;

2. differentiate their qualities;

3. explain digital society and digital citizenship;

4. identify the effects of being a member of digital society.

ii

What I Know

Learning Task No 1. Before delving into the discussion, learners must fill

out the table below about the things they have learned from society and their

contributions to it:

Things you learned

from society

How did you learn

them?

Impact on you

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Things you have

contributed to society

How did you share

them to the

community?

Impact on Society

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

ii

What’s In

Learning Task 1: Essay. Read the following situations below and answer the

questions thereafter. In answering the questions try to appreciate the situations

using the social norms you remember.

Situation Number 1: A Very good friend of yours visits you and your

family in your house. Your mother who was delighted by her presence

cooks her best dish for your friend. Your friend loved the whole lunch that

she kept complementing your mother for being such a good cook. At the

end of her visit, she expresses her gratitude to the whole family. Before she

leaves, she approaches your mother and asks, “how much do I pay you for

the lunch you cooked for me? (Ariely, 2010)

Situation Number 2: You are going through a very rough time. You feel so

down that you need some one to talk to, you send a text message to your

friend asking her if she could come over to make you feel better. Your

friend gives you a call then tells you she will be there in 20 minutes. You

are so happy to see her; you gave her a big hug and then pour your heart

out. After crying to her for 30 minutes, she gives comforting piece of

advice. You finally say that you feel so much better. Your friend then says,

“That’s good to know, now that we’re done, could we settle my expenses for

this – 20 pesos for the phone call, 35 pesos for the tricycle ride going here,

20 pesos for the tissue paper your drew from my pocket and 500 pesos for

the time I lost to working productivity because I had to come here.

Thanks!”

Questions:

1. Is there something wrong with the friend’s response to your

mother’s hospitality?

2. Is there something problematic about your friend asking for

payment for her loving presence?

3. What makes these two reactions awkward for you?

4. By making a reference to the society where you belong, what is

your initial response upon reading the situations?

ii

What’s New

Learning Task 3: Picture Analysis: Learners must analyze the pictures below by

answering the questions following each of them. In this instance, learners must presume

the prevailing thinking and even priorities during those times and guess what makes them

transformed.

Picture No. 1:

1. What are the distinct

features of this society?

2. Do you think what are

their priorities during this

time?

3. By seeing the picture,

what do you think are the

norms they have?

4. What caused the

transformation of this

society?

Picture No. 2:

1. What are the distinct

features of this society?

2. Do you think what are their

priorities during this time?

3. By seeing the picture, what

do you think are the norms

they have?

4. What caused the

transformation of this society?

ii

Picture No. 3:

1. What are the distinct

features of this society?

2. Do you think what are

their priorities during this

time?

3. By seeing the picture,

what do you think are the

norms they have?

4. What caused the

transformation of this

society?

What is It

A. Pre-Industrial Societies

a. Tribal Society - the term “tribe” denotes a group of peoples

living in a primitive setting under a leader or chief. The term

‘tribal society’ associates it to other meaning such as

“primitive society” or “preliterate society.” The word ‘tribe’ has

become an important technical term which pertains to a

political unit in a certain territory. The term’s use is rooted

from Latin which is associated to the political divisions or

orders of the Roman empire. Tribal societies are small in

scale; bound to their spatial and temporal range of relations

in terms of society, law, and politics; and possess a moral

code, cult, and wide range of belief system. The language

systems of tribes are unwritten which provides a narrow

extent of communication. At the same time, tribal societies

show a self-sustaining structure which is absent in the

modern society. This is achieved by the close connections

that exist between tribal organizations, and by the focusing

of a leader or person to multiple roles. Unity and coherence

exist in tribal values that are closely related to social groups

and are provided with an intensity characteristic of all

“closed” systems of thought.

b. Feudal Society - Feudalism refers to the economic, political,

and social system that prevailed in Europe from about the

ninth to the fifteenth century. Due to the lack of effective

centralized government during this period, kings and lords

granted land and provided protection to lesser nobles known

as vassals. In return, these vassals swore oaths of loyalty

ii

and military service to their lords. Peasants known as serfs

were bound to the land and were subject to the will of their

lords. One social class system or economic form was not

realized for Europe over the whole Middle Ages. A new

economy after medieval period known as capitalism is still in

progress. Medieval world is known for its traditional land

economy and military service, and an urban society. These

led to a feudal-based social-class system and trade &

commerce based on money or capital. For the urban or town

environment, merchants, artisans, and customers formed

the core of the society. They saw manufacture as the most

important business to produce goods for sale and buy in the

local market economy. Local products was to have an impact

in other areas, such as regional fairs, port cities, and far

trade destinations.

B. Industrial society is the one which uses advance technology to

drive a masssive production industry that will support a large

population. For example, the United States is an industrial society

because a huge portion of its economy is tied to jobs that involve

machine work, like factory farming or auto-assembly plants, that

has a combination of machine and human employees to produce

goods. The objective of an industrial economy is the fast and

efficient manufacturing of standardized products. The same goes if

one avails a car, there is a chance that the car was mass produced

because it operates similarly to other models, and its parts can be

replaced with other parts because they are identical.

C. Post Industrial Society - is marked by a progress from a

manufacturing-based to a service-based economy. Post

industrialization is most evident in countries and regions that were

among the first to experience the Industrial Revolution, such as the

United States, western Europe, and Japan. Daniel Bell, an

American sociologist, first coined the term ‘post-industrial’ in 1973

in his book “The Coming of Post-Industrial Society: A Venture in

Social Forecasting,” which describes several features of this kind of

society. Post-industrial societies are characterized by:

a. a shift from the production of goods to the production of

services;

b. the replacement of manual laborers with technical and

professional workers (computer engineers, doctors, and

bankers) as the direct production of goods is moved

elsewhere;

c. the replacement of practical knowledge with theoretical

knowledge;

d. focusing to the theoretical and ethical implications of new

technologies, which helps society avoid some of the negative

ii

features of introducing new technologies, concerning

environment and energy;

e. the development of recent scientific disciplines—that involve

new forms of information technology, cybernetics,

or artificial intelligence—to evaluate the theoretical and

ethical implications of new technologies;

f. an emphasis on the university and polytechnic institutes

which produce graduates who innovate and lead the new

technologies contributing to a postindustrial society; and

g. the changing values and norms which reflects the influences

on the society. In an instance, outsourcing of manufactured

goods changes how members of a society see and treat

foreigners and immigrants. Also, those individuals previously

occupied in the manufacturing sector find themselves with

no clearly defined social role.

DIGITAL SOCIETY AND THE INFORMATION AGE

Digital technologies have wildly affected our interactions and activity in

the 21st century. They have significantly changed our way of learning, working

and socializing. In this modern world we rely with the use of modern

technology which has led to considering the possible outcome for the society,

concerning how we would take part in interaction, and how we can use these

digital tools and communication channels.

Having our heads of digital society in our minds, we first have to think

of the information society; which are correlated with the progress and

development of digital information and communication technologies to the

internet at least. Information society plays a vital role with regards to the

circulation and control of made-up ideas which affects political, economic,

social and cultural aspects. So, what does this mean for the everyday citizen?

These informative societies have paved many opportunities reaching

bigger audiences like never before. With a wider scale of the world’s

demography, primarily Westerners, have access to sources and technologies

which enables them to connect with enough activities whether economic,

social, political, or educational. We can manipulate the phasing of learning

(e.g. free sources) or businesses (e.g. online selling) without a large sum of

money used as a capital and we can share our ideas and perspectives to the

international audiences as we connect beyond.

What do we mean by digital citizenship?

Now, one of the main terms in the modern world is the ‘digital citizen’.

What does this actually mean? A digital citizen is a person who is

knowledgeable and responsible enough to effectively use different social

platforms in the internet. They often engage in useful topics and issues that

will help build a better society, politics and government. If we will dig deeper,

digital citizenship might look simple. We might think that it is just about using

the internet safely. However, we also need to consider and understand that

ii

this citizenship can get complicated, especially if we are going to criticize and

show interest in sensitive topics as we start to become a digital citizen, using

digital media to actively participate in society and politics.

If we look a little closer at the field of ‘citizenship studies’ this will lead

us to a better understanding of what digital society really means. A citizen is

defined as an individual character who is viewed as a member of a society

while citizenship considers an individual’s behavior in terms of rights,

obligations and functions of said citizen. Being a citizen of a state requires

tons of obligations and duties such as work, taxation and obedience of laws.

On the other hand, citizens also have their rights, it includes civil rights such

as freedom of speech and expression, to stand for what we believe in, and

rights to a private life; political rights, or the right to vote and social rights to

health care and welfare. In this course we will tackle these rights as we look

at real definition of what it means to be a citizen in the modern society and

how legislation and the government shape our ability to be democratic citizens

who can stand for the truth.

What does this all mean then in the digital age?

We have said that being a digital citizen requires active participation

online, not just access and use. In their book “Being Digital Citizens” (2015)

Isin and Ruppert suggest that if we constitute ourselves as digital citizens, we

have become subjects of power in cyberspace. We are enacting ourselves on

the internet, considering and understanding the opportunities presented by

this medium, such as anonymity, communication, and influence. In short, we

can use digital technologies to engage and participate on many levels in society

and political life.

The virtual society and the technological devices today are starting to

reshape the human person and human interactions and relationships. More

and more interactions are done in the virtual world than in the actual world.

People are more thrilled to see their virtual selves than their actual selves.

They are more themselves online than offline. And this leads one to ask, “Who

am I?” in a more complex manner. People seem to start manipulating

personalities as they exhibit different behaviors in different worlds. People fall

in love in virtual worlds. Someone breaks up with a partner through a text

message. Human relations seem to start losing an important element in living

– commitment. Virtual worlds and disembodied relations lack commitment.

We can always step back and retreat in a virtual world. We can always create

a new self when our avatars die or when it has become undesirable. We can

always ignore message. Virtual realities remove risks; and because we do not

want to risk, we patronize the virtual world. Commitment is hard. To commit

is to risk. In the virtual world, one’s anonymity lessens, if not completely

removes risks. When we are confronted with real social problems like war and

famine, discrimination harassment and corruption; we let the world know that

we condemn these evils and express participation in the abolition of these

problems. How? By a futile click to like. People in the modern technological

society ultimately make no real commitments

ii

THE DISEMBODIED SUBJECT

The dissatisfaction and frustration of the human person with bodily

limitations drive the person to prefer a disembodied human relation. At the

outset, it must be clarified that the term disembodied subject does not mean

that in the technological society, human persons are no longer living with their

bodies. However, in a manner of speaking, people are slowly putting aside

their bodies in relating with others because the technological society offers an

alternative which apparently resolves human of an embodied subject. Face-

to-face interaction is too stressful and difficult while virtual interactions are

relatively easier. Consequently, we find many cases where people prefer

communicating using virtual world, even if the person involved is someone

seen on a regular basis. Moreover, the disembodied interaction among people

is aggravated by modern technological devices. The different gadgets that are

produced today support disembodied human relations. The scene which the

technological society creates is very familiar to us: we see a family, or friends,

gathered around a table or in a room, but with very minimal actual embodied

human interaction. Everyone is glued to their devices – cellphones, tablets,

laptops, or any device and they are all probably interacting with their virtual

societies. One is busy with other things other than the persons within the

room or in the closest proximity. The kind of human interaction, which was

still present just two decades ago, is obviously altered now. And however much

we try and remind ourselves to refrain from being alone with our devices while

being with others, we always fall back into interacting with our gadgets. We

prefer to interact with our phones with the unfinished game that we are

playing, with the new music and movies we downloaded, or with our friends

who are probably in the situation – with other people as well, but alone with

their devices too. Interacting with actual embodied subjects, face-to-face, is

becoming more and more difficult today. It is indeed more difficult to relate to

other embodied subjects than to relate with things.

The practice of selfie is another move towards disembodied human

relations. People used to approach other people to take their photos. But the

regained popularity of selfie gave people the idea that they do not need the

other to take photos. And the invention of the monopod aggravates the

condition. The monopod allows us to take group selfies without missing a

member of our group. It has solidified the person to take our photos. Maybe

we will just disturb the person by asking him to take our photo. But maybe

we are more afraid of being rejected than by the idea of bothering the other.

ii

The virtual society and the

technological devices today

are starting to reshape the

human person and human

interactions and

relationships. More and more

interactions are done in the

virtual world than in the

actual world. People are more

thrilled to see their virtual

selves than their actual

selves. They are more

themselves online than

offline. And this leads one to

ask, “Who am I?” in a more complex manner. People seem to start manipulating

personalities as they exhibit different behaviors in different worlds. People fall in love

in virtual worlds. Someone breaks up with a partner through a text message. Human

relations seem to start losing an important element in living – commitment. Virtual

worlds and disembodied relations lack commitment. We can always step back and

retreat in a virtual world. We can always create a new self when our avatars die or

when it has become undesirable. We can always ignore message. Virtual realities

remove risks; and because we do not want to risk, we patronize the virtual world.

Commitment is hard. To commit is to risk. In the virtual world, one’s anonymity

lessens, if not completely removes risks. When we are confronted with real social

problems like war and famine, discrimination harassment and corruption; we let the

world know that we condemn these evils and express participation in the abolition

of these problems. How? By a futile click to like. People in the modern technological

society ultimately make no real commitments. (Introduction to Philosophy of the

Human Person: Senior High School. (2020) Quezon City: Vibal Group Inc.)

The Senior High School faculty members of Camp

Vicente Lim Integrated School took a group selfie

while preparing modules for distribution.

ii

What’s More

Learning Task 4: Using an overlapping Venn diagram, learners must analyze

all the differences and similarities of the 3 major historic societies. Use the

rubrics as guide for answering.

Trib

al S

oci

ety In

du

strial

Society

Post- Industrial

Society

ii

This rubric will serve as a guide for scoring your Venn Diagram.

Performanc

e Areas Outstandin

g

4

Very

Satisfactory

3

Satisfactory

2

Needs

Improvemen

t

1

Concept

Arrangemen

t

Each

section of

the diagram

contains

four facts

easily

identified.

Each section

of the

diagram

contains

three facts

easily

identified.

Each section

of the

diagram

contains two

facts that are

somewhat

identified.

Each section

of the

diagram

contains very

few facts that

are not easily

identified.

Primary

Source

Content

The student

exhibits

mastery of

the material

as

evidenced

by attention

to detail.

Student

illustrates a

firmer

understandin

g of most of

the

similarities

and

differences

brainstormed

.

The student

displays a

limited

understandin

g of some

details on the

subject

matter.

Student

shows little

or no

understandin

g of the topic.

There are a

few details.

Linking

Content

together

Reflects

factual

information

that

corresponds

with the

appropriate

section of the

diagram.

Most of the

information is

factual and

seemingly

corresponds

with the

appropriate

section of the

diagram.

Reflects some

factual

information and

attempts to put it

in the

corresponding

section of the

diagram.

Contains non-

factual

information that

does not

correspond to

the appropriate

section of the

diagram

What I Have Learned

Learning Task 5: After reading the concept of digital society and digital

citizenship, learners must answer the following questions below:

1. What are the distinct features of digital society which make it significantly different from the previous societies?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

ii

2. In your own understanding, how does digital society form? _________________________________________________________________

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Do you think, what are the things digital society can offer compared

to the previous type of society? _________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

4. How post-industrial society and digital society connected to each other?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

5. What are the possible positive and negative effects of being citizen

of digital society? _________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

What I Can Do

Learning Task No. 6: Essay.

1. Compare and contrast our time to the 70s and 80s in terms of the

following:

a. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in a post-

industrial/technological society?

b. What are the advantages and disadvantages of living in BEFORE

post-industrial/technological society?

c. What are the differences of social relationships between those

living 70s-80s and to our contemporary era?

d. Concept of love and friendship

2. Is it better to go back to the tribal and feudalistic forms of society

where the sense of community is stronger? Explain your answer.

3. Applying everything you learned about digital society and

citizenship as well as with the disembodied subject, do you think an

examined life can be compatible with these societies?

ii

Assessment

True or False. Write the word True if the statement is correct and write the

word False if the statement conveys otherwise. Write your answer on a separate

sheet of paper.

1. Human societies remain the same. 2. Tribal societies have an established property right.

3. Post-industrial societies focus on development of mass production. 4. Virtual society relatively provides a new world for us.

5. The virtual society and the technological devices today are starting to reshape the human person and human interactions and relationships.

6. Virtual worlds and disembodied relations promote commitment. 7. One of the features of industrial society is that it emphasizes on

the importance of universities and polytechnic institutes which

produce graduates who innovate and lead the new technologies contributing to a postindustrial society.

8. Feudal society has its historical roots from Asia Minor. 9. The language systems of tribes are well-written which provides a vast

extent of communication. 10. Human society continuously develop as humans develops themselves.

ii

Additional Activities

Learning Task No. 8: Reflection. Write a short essay on how social contexts

surrounding a person can contribute to his or her upbringing, beliefs and

overall quality of life. Take sample from your personal experience.

My Social Upbringing