HAPPINESS AND PURPOSE OF HUMAN LIFE

Being sad is part of human experience. Tears are nothing to be ashamed of; it is healthy for man
to cry, once in a while. But why does man become sad or gloomy? We are sad when we do not have
something that we want. Some of us are unhappy because we desire many things that we cannot get, or
we want things that we do not really need in the end.

Conversely, we become happy when we do have something that we want. Once man discovers
that he has what he wants, he indulges in the pleasure that it gives. But after some time, the satisfaction
wears off. And man searches again. He tries other goods but neither do they endure. No man has been
perfectly happy in this life. There is no lasting pleasure in this world. Perfect happiness can only come from
the possession of a good that is perfect in every way. Such a good has to be desirable in and for itself. It
cannot be just a means or an instrument; it must be permanently and fully satisfying. All good on this
earth, then, have their limitations.

HAPPINESS

- Happiness is the desire satisfied by the conscious possession of the good

- Happiness is not the same as joy or gladness. It is a lasting condition, not a passing feeling or
emotions
- Happiness is the basic motive in everything we do

• People who are happy have learned what it means to love or to choose the good. Such men have
identified the good and make it a part of themselves.
• Knowledge and desire of the good (knowing and loving) constitutes man’s ways of attaining his
purpose in life
- Happiness is not doing what one wants to do but in wanting what one has to do.

3 TYPES of GOODS that are bound up with HUMAN ACTION

When man acts, he chooses a certain good which becomes the goal of his action.

1. bonus delectabile (pleasurable good)- that goal is pleasing the sense

2. bonus utile (useful good)- the goal is the advantage or usefulness to be gained
3. bonus honestum (just good)- the goal is the goodness of the act itself, as grasped by the
intellect

2 KINDS OF GOODS

1. Natural good
- it is the good that is possessed by man according to man’s motive; fulfils man’s temporal needs e.g.
health

2. Supernatural Good
- it is the good which goes beyond man’s powers or faculties; good that gives eternal satisfaction e.g.
God
- is said to be the final end of man, that which brings happiness and purpose to his life
- that purpose is considered as: TO KNOW, LOVE, and SERVE GOD

Some VIEWS on HAPPINESS and the GOOD

• Everything that is done out of envy for the good in another has no value in the long run. Such
behavior only leads to greater unhappiness.

• Man may also become unhappy by transforming a temporal good into a final end. All goods on
this earth have their limitations; they can never fully satisfy the longings of the human spirit.

• Upon attaining the natural goods, man realizes that he must have something other than himself.
Otherwise, he would feel empty and unfulfilled inside. Thus, man should reach out for a good
outside himself and allowed it to transform his being from good to better, becoming selfless and
not self-centered. He shall be a virtuous man.

• Only in the living of virtues can man truly say, “Life is worth living.”
 PERSON

A. Who Am I?
There are factors that affect the formation of the “I” that can be considered the individuating
characters- what makes the “I” unique from the others.
1. Biology- the biophysical and psychological make-up of the person; eg. features, the way
one talks, walks, temperament, etc.
2. Culture- assimilation of language, customs, values, etc.
3. Free Acts- because of freedom, there are differences in choices, behaviors, etc.
4. End- Greek word: “telos”; the specific goals or ends of each person;
“Man is a teleological being.” Each one has and acts towards his end. The free acts are
inclined to reach the end. I f free acts do not coincide with the end, there is an “identity
crisis.”

B. Definition of a Person
Boethius: “individua substantia rationale naturae” – an individual substance with a rational
nature. A person is an individual substance because he exists in himself and is complete. A person has a
rational nature since he is endowed with the intellect and free will. Since a person is acting freely towards
his end, his personhood is a project for one’s self- “life project.”

C. Characteristics of a Person
1. Self-knowing: a person is aware of himself, of his identity. He can identify his thoughts,
feelings, words, actions, etc. He has an interior world open to oneself but hidden from
the others. This concept is called “intimacy.” It is to have something that only one knows.
It signifies inner life, what belongs to oneself, what is “personal.” ‘No one knows my
thoughts unless I express them.’
• This intimacy is so central to man that there is a natural sentiment that
protects it: “shame/modesty” which is the natural protection of one’s
intimacy, spontaneously covering or hiding what is intimate from the gaze of
strangers. Shame or modesty gives rise to the concept of privacy, a refuge
where strangers are not welcome. It refers to everything that is proper of the
person since this is part of his intimacy: body, clothes, cabinet, room, house…
The most important characteristic of the intimacy is that it is not static but is
something alive, source of new things, creative. It is capable of growing
(thoughts, plans, inventions, etc.) Many novelties arise from it.
• From this creativity, one can conclude that no interior world is the same as
another, because each one is something unrepeatable. ‘Nobody can be who I
am.’ The person is unique because he is someone.
2. Self-possessing: a person is the master of his own actions and the principle of his actions.
He charts his own destiny towards his end through his own choices. Aristotle thus
defined a free being as a “causa sui” when he becomes the final end of his own actions
and does not depend on others. He is the cause of his own inner life (intimacy) and its
manifestations (choices, actions, conduct, behaviors, etc.).
• Self-possession is also self-determination. Self-determination is possible only if
the person is not determined from the beginning. The greater the
indetermination (can’t be determined or forced to think, say, or do
something), the greater also the capacity to determine oneself, and the
stronger will be the resulting individuality.
3. Self-giving: a person is a being capable of giving. He is fulfilled as a person when he
takes part of his intimacy and gives it to another as something valuable, and the other
person accepts it as his. This is what love, or the use of the will, consists of.
• The more that we give and receive, the richer is our intimacy. There is nothing
more “enriching” than a person with things to teach or say, with a rich and
full intimacy.
• Because of the person’s capacity to give oneself, he is also capable of
commitment- to bind one’s self to do something.
• To go out of oneself is what is most proper of a person. Furthermore, giving
oneself to others contributes to self-possession.

D. Value and Dignity of each Person

Though a person belongs to a community, he does not disappear into a collectivity. His
importance as an individual, someone with a personal identity takes priority. The characteristics of a
person point out to his absolute value. For this reason, a person demands respect. If he were not
respected, neither could our own person be respected.
 We can also say that “a person is an end in himself,” not a means. “Act in such a way that you
treat humanity, either your own person or the person of another, always as an end, never merely as a
means” (Kant). To use persons is to instrumentalize them, i.e., treating them as if they were not free
beings by use of force or violence, or to use them to achieve our own ends, manipulating them.

Therefore, respect for persons means acknowledging their dignity. This is founded on the fact that
all persons possess equal dignity and deserve to be treated as such. That is, they have to be treated
as persons with their own identity, different from others. Not to acknowledge this identity is a certain
form of oppression.

E. The notion of RIGHTS of a PERSON

The recognition of a person’s dignity and value has appeared in the notion of human rights.
“Human rights are those rights that are inherent to and cannot be removed from the human condition,
or the manner of being proper to man, and which should be recognized, guaranteed, and protected by
positive laws.”

Such rights are common to all men and are non-negotiable. Neither can they be left to the
decision of the majority. Respect for these rights is expressed in moral principles and juridical norms,
which make them more concrete.

Reference: Yepes Stork, Ricardo. Fundamentos de Antropologia, EUNSA, Pamplona, 1996.

NATURE OF MAN

MAN is composed of body and soul in substantial union.

SUBSTANTIAL UNION means that body and soul act as one, they don’t form two entities but one substance.

From this definition we can distinguish two essential elements:

1. BODY which is the material component of man known through sense experience. Body as a matter,
exist in space, that is, has size, shape, color, height, etc., is measured by time.

2. SOUL which is the spiritual aspect of man, grasped by the mind or by the use of reason (comparison of
living thing from dead one: both have body or material component but only the former has life; ergo, the
soul must have been the principle of life).

Body has physical and earthly attributes like that of:

1. Minerals- man is made up of or possesses these proteins, ions, lipids, carbohydrates, etc. Man is also
capable of biological, physical and chemical changes

2. Plants- are like man in three aspects:

a. Nutrition-needed for existence or the maintenance of life
b. Growth- results when building processes are greater than the breaking-down, thus, an increase in
size and weight
c. Generation/Reproduction-an act in order to continue race

3. Animals- have three things in common with man

a. Sensation- living action which follows from the stimulation of a sense organ by an object and
which results in knowledge

Kinds of Senses
a.1. Outer Senses (External Senses)- sense of seeing, hearing, tasting, touching and
smelling
a.2. Inner Senses (internal Senses)
a.2.1 Consciousness- awareness of sensation, synthesis
of external and internal sense
a.2.2. Imagination- construction and reproduction of
an image or ability to picture material things in
their absence
a.2.3. Memory- power of recalling past experiences
and of identifying them as past
a.2.4. Instinct- tending to do good and well-being,
aversion to evil and danger

b. Power of Locomotion- movement, makes possible such skills as

 talking, walking, handling of tools, etc.

c c. Sensitive Appetites/Passions/Emotions- tendency to the good as identified by the senses;

essentially, an impulse to act
d Object of the Passions:
e c.1. concupiscible tendencies- tend to the good as enjoyable and that which can be achieved
easily
f love-hatred desire-aversion joy-sorrow
g c. 2. irascible tendencies- tend to the good which is difficult to attain
h hope-despair courage-fear anger

Some Points to Consider:

• In the material sense, man has characteristics like minerals, plants and animals. But man is more
than a material being because man is also a RATIONAL BEING
• What made him a rational being is the existence of his spiritual and rational SOUL.
• SOUL has basic features opposite of matter, it cannot be seen nor touched, no weight, color, or
shape, it is incapable of corruption. It cannot be broken down nor torn into two, thus, it is
immortal and must have been created by someone who is immortal himself: GOD
• SOUL, the principle of life, is different from “spirit” which is the principle of action. However, we
can say that, “the soul is spiritual” because it gives life to the body and causes it to act.

Kinds of Soul

1. Vegetative Soul

The vegetative soul is that which gives life to a plant. It is the lowest soul but not the lowest substantial
form. The lowest substantial forms, which are not souls, are those of non-living things.

The vegetative soul is the root or radical principle of the plant's powers and acts: nutrition, growth and
generation. The vegetative soul is formally one i.e. is one soul and virtually one i.e. has the power of one
soul. The vegetative soul is intrinsically dependent on matter and returns to the potency of matter when
the body fails.

2. Sensitive Soul

The sensitive soul is that which gives life to a brute (animal). The sensitive soul is infinitely superior to the
vegetative soul because it confers on the animal the ability to know and desire (that is, on the sensitive
level and not on the intellectual plane as that of man’s capacity). Animals are knowers and plants are non-
knowers - this is the difference between be and be-not, an infinite gulf.

The sensitive soul is the root or radical principle of the animal's powers and acts: vegetative functions,
senses and sensations, sense appetites and passions. The sensitive soul is formally one i.e. is one soul and
virtually two i.e. has the power of two souls - vegetative and sensitive. For the animal has the perfection of
the plant and more. The sensitive soul is intrinsically dependent on matter and returns to the potency of
matter when the body of the animal fails. That is why, when the animal dies, its soul dies with it.

3. Human Soul

The human soul is that which gives life to a man. The human soul is both a soul and a spirit, but it is not
two things - it is one spiritual soul. Because it is spiritual the human soul is created immediately by God in
the body prepared by the parents. The human soul being spiritual is also immortal and so it lives on after
the body dies. The human soul is not only a principle of life, it is also a thing in itself - as a spirit - and can
thus exist without the body.

The human soul is infinitely superior to the souls of animals and plants because it is spiritual and immortal
and has the properties of intellect and free will. The human soul united with its body is the root or radical
principle of all man's acts, habits and powers. Because man is both corporeal and spiritual certain of his
powers are organic i.e. belonging to body and soul, and others are inorganic i.e. belonging to the soul
alone. The organic powers e.g. nutrition, sight, imagination, irascible appetite etc have organs in the body
and fail when the body dies. They are said to remain radically in the separated soul. The inorganic powers,
i.e. intellect and will, are spiritual and so have no organ in the body, but continue to exist and operate in
the soul when it is separated from the body at death.

2 SPIRITUAL FACULTIES OF MAN

1. Intellect- comes from the Latin words “intus” (within) and “legere” (to read). It is also the power to
penetrate into the nature of things, what they are and what they are for. Its object is to find the
TRUTH which is the conformity of the mind with reality (“adequatio rei et intellectus”). Also, a being is
true insofar as it is.

Process of Understanding
a. Simple Apprehension- grasping what things are, starts with the outer senses to come up with
the idea (mental representation)
b. Judgment- making statements (affirmation or negations) about the thing
c. Reasoning- drawing conclusions from the statement made

Types of Intellect:
1. speculative intellect- contemplates beings/things as they are
2. practical intellect- the cause of the becoming of artificial things

2. Will- the intellectual appetite and the actual choice towards the good. Its object, then, is to choose the
GOOD.
The choice of good leads to HAPPINESS while the choice of something less than what will lead us to
our END is FRUSTRATION.

Freedom- that interior property of the will to determine itself towards the good and the means to reach
it; not exactly the power to do whatever one likes
Types of Freedom:
a. interior freedom- refers to the psychological choice: either of specification (this or that) or of
exercise (to want to or not to want to); a freedom that is constitutive of man, cannot be taken
from him
b. exterior freedom- refers to the actual performing of an action; can be hindered by external threat
or force

Faulty Interpretations of Freedom

1. Some identify freedom with absence of law or restraint

2. Others equate freedom with the other extreme, which suppresses individual freedom for the sake of
the law of the party
3. To others who have adopted a materialistic, hedonistic lifestyle, freedom is doing anything one likes,
gratifying every selfish need and passion without any corresponding responsibility and commitment
4. Anarchist advocate the total abolition of laws, civil authority and commitment
5. The determinists maintain that man has no freedom of choice, those outside forces (physiological,
sociological, economic, fatalistic theological and psychoanalytical) determine the will; that man is
stripped of moral responsibility: his guilt is transferred to some other source.

• These concepts of freedom refuse to acknowledge that "freedom means not the right to do what
you please, but the right to do what we should in order to attain the highest and noblest ends of
our nature.”

Restrictions and Freedom

• Certain restrictions are in fact a safeguard of freedom (a road is a restriction).
• There are two needs of man- precisely his greatest and noblest needs- that can never, in human
experience, be fully satisfied. These are man’s need for TRUTH and GOODNESS, his needs to
know and his need to love.

Relationship of Intellect and Will

The intellect specifies what is true and good to the will. The will acts on it.

COMPARATIVE TABLE of the SPIRITUAL FACULTIES OF MAN

INTELLECT WILL
FUNCTION To think To do/act

PURPOSE To Know To choose/Love

GOAL Truth Goodness

HIGHEST HUMAN
FULFILLMENT Wisdom Virtue

TRAINING OF THE INTELLECT

1. To seek the purpose and true end of life

2. To grasp universal truth
3. To understand and reason out truths and moral precepts and relate them to life
4. To make judgments based on an objective standard of morality
5. To analyze the cause and effect of decisions and behavior
6. To solve problems rationally

MOTIVATION OF THE WILL

1. To LOVE GOD and neighbor

2. To choose the higher good/ universal truths and moral values
3. To act upon a decision
4. To take the natural and logical consequences of a decision and act
5. To make responsible use of freedom
6. To exercise self-discipline and control the emotions
7. To persevere, sustain and commit
8. To change and improve
9. To practice virtues or good moral habits

THE INTEGRAL NATURE OF MAN

NATURE KNOWING APPETITIVE

INTEGRAL

OF MAN FACULTIES FACULTIES

MATERIAL - EXTERNAL SENSES

(corporeal/body) - INTERNAL SENSES EMOTIONS
(animal)

SPIRITUAL INTELLECT WILL

(soul) (conscience) (freedom)
(rational)

References:
Agapay, Ramon B. Ethics and the Filipino. Enchanis Press, Inc. Philippines, 1991.
Esteban, Esther. Education in Values. Sinag-Tala Publishing Co., Inc. 1989
Participant’s Handbook for the Seminar Series in Values Education. Center for
Research and communication, 1987
Perspective:Current Issues In Values Education, Book 4. Sinag-Tala Pub.Co., Inc. 1991.