CN:____
BUCAL NATIONAL INTEGRATED SCHOOL
Bucal 2, Maragondon, Cavite
Introduction to The Philosophy of The Human Person
Week 8
WORKSHEET: ENHANCEMENT
Performance Standard: The Learner writes a philosophical reflection on the meaning of his/her
own life PPT11/12-llh-8.1
Objectives:
1. Enumerate the objectives he/she really wants to achieve and to define the projects he/she
really wants to do in his/her life.
2. Reflect on the meaning of his / her own life
Discussion
Death: What is your initial reaction when you read the title of this part of the module? Is death
really a terrifying phenomenon? If death is a dreadful thing, what makes it fearsome? On the other
hand, death, as part of human reality, may have meaningful messages. At this junction, we will try to
uncover the mystery of death by rationalizing its phenomenon so that we get to understand it
better, accept it as part of human nature, and treat it as a condition that allows us to create a
meaningful existence.
Phenomenological Notion of Death
According to Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) in his book Being and Time, death is (a) certain, (b)
indefinite, (c) one’s property, (d) non-relational, and (e) not to be outstripped.
Death is certain. As part of humanness, we are all born (in Heideggerian sense, we are “thrown”) in
the world. The world is governed by time. We, humans, are existing in time, thus, as being thrown in
the world, we have beginning and since we are finite beings, we also have end – death. Birth and
death are two things we cannot remove from our existence. Whether we like it or not, we will die.
Death is indefinite. While death is sure to come, it is however indefinite as to when it will come.
Death is impending, meaning to say, it can happen anytime. We do not know exactly when. That is
why, we should try to live the best life that we can for we never know the day of our end.
Death is one’s property. The death of the person belongs to him. Nobody can experience his death
except himself. There can be no proxies or substitutes for a person in experiencing death.
Death is non-relational. This means that when we die, we die alone. We have no choice but to face
it on our own. Death also removes all our relations to others. In contemplating death, we realize our
own individuality and independence from the world.
Death is not to be outstripped. Death cannot be taken from a person. Even the person himself
cannot remove the possibility of death in his life. One cannot make himself live forever. Even though
we see in fiction movies the idea of immortality, death, in real life is a definite reality which we
nothing can be done to be outstripped.
