PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSONUniversity of San AgustinAY: 2014-2015: First Semester

CHAPTER 1: INTRAPERSONAL DIMENSIONLecture 3: The Human Person as Actor

Karol Wojtylas Concept of the PersonA Summary

Introduction It is a paradox that even with the flood of new scientific data about human beings, there is an increasing need for some philosophical, unifying and foundational concept of the human being. Our age is an age of violent controversy concerning man, the essential meaning of his existence and consequently, the nature and value of his being. Fragmentation of man in theory and practice into mutually separate functions and dimensions some of which are then absolutized and others simply suppressed to the reduction and reification of man.

The Man-Act Structure Osoba (Polish) person, means, sovereign person or subject of an act We only get to know the nature, depth, and structure of something through its action, the way it manifests itself. It is mainly through human acts that we are given access to the very dynamic reality of the person because the act is the fullest manifestation of man-person in the dynamism proper only to him. Man-acts the only basis of genuine reflection on the nature of man; action (acting connotes dynamism) reveals the person and we look at the person through his actions Experience is the point of departure (experience of man): man has a subjective experience of himself where he comes into cognitive relation to himself and man has an experience of other men whose position relative to him as a subject of experience is that of objects of experience; he who experiences is man and he whom the subject of the experience experiences is also man.; he is both the subject and the object. Experience of man: man-acts (active moment) the human person experiences himself as the active causal agent of his action and something-happens-in-man (passive moment) the dynamic subject of what takes place in him without his active causal participation.

The Moment of Efficacy (Marked by qualities giving the power to produce an intended effect) Efficacy means, the experience of myself as an agent responsible for the particular form of dynamization of myself as the subject. The moment of efficacy allows man to experience himself as the cause of his action, making his action both humanus and voluntaris, a human act as distinguished from acts of man over which the person has no efficacious control conscious action which proceeds from cognition and hence from the will and connotes moral responsibility.

Man: A Personal Supposit Man is the subject, the suppositum of all his actions and of those that happen in him. As subject-supposit, man is a real, actually existing being, the man-being that actually exists and hence also really acts. Man as Supposit is given in experience. Man has an immediate experience of himself as the concrete subject one who is, who exists and who acts, as subject of his own existence and action; he is a lived experience of his being such.

Self-fulfilment of the Person Fulfilment implies a movement from what is incomplete to a plenitude which is proper to that being. Self-fulfilment shows that in acting, man fulfils himself. This reveals the potentiality inherent in the person. By performing an act man fulfils himself in it. Man is being essentially becoming a human being. Action accompanies becoming.

Self Determination I will the crucial moment of self-determination is based; an experience of an intentional directing towards an object; I will, while acting, man does not just determine his action but also himself. The experience of I will clearly reveals to us that this experience never consists merely in something that only happens in man; rather, it always occurs as an instance of acting. Man, through his consciousness (reflexive), is an active agent of his actions and experiences (only if he knows that he possesses and governs himself.) Self-possession is connected more with the will than with knowledge. Only the one who possesses himself can determine himself. Self-governance means that on every act, the person governs himself. In very decision and choice, the person exhibits his power over himself; he becomes his own master; incommunicable, No one else can want for me

The Will The faculty and agency of acting person. It is to will, that the human person owes specifically human form of dynamism self-determination and human action. In the exercise of freedom, man is not bound to objects; he is bound to value the object; I will is object oriented, I want something come towards the good. The will is naturally and intrinsically attracted towards the good as its proper end. Intentionality is object-oriented and self-determination is subject-oriented. The will reveals and realizes every instance of self-determination, it is still subordinate in relation to the person in that it is ultimately the person, through his will, who determines and governs himself and not the will that determines and governs the person. Self-fulfilment in and through action not only indicates the persons ontological becoming and self-actualization but also involves a moral or axiological dimension. It is not solely identified with the mere performance of the action; it depends on the moral value of the act. When the striving of man for truth, goodness and beauty met by a morally good action, there is authentic self-fulfilment.

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