Doing Philosophy  Principle of identity: whatever is is; and whatever is not

is not.
What is philosophy?
 Etymology: from the Greek word:  Principle of Noncontradiction: it is imposible for a
Philo: “to love” thing to be and not to be at the same time and at the same
Sophia: “wisdom” respect.
 Philosophy is defined as the attitude of the mind that by the
natural light of reason studies the first causes or the highest  Principle of excluded Middle: a thing is either is or is
principles of all things. not.

Holism  Principle of Sufficient Reason: nothing exists without a

 Holism in general terms is the idea that all the properties of a sufficient reason for its being and existence.
given system cannot be determined or explained by its  since its beginnings, the focus of philosophy have changed.
component parts alone, but the system as a whole determines in (ex.: astronomy, physics, psychology, sociology, etc.)
an important way how the parts behave.
 Holism comes from the Greek word "holos" meaning "all" or  Basic problems like-the nature of the universe, the standard of
"total" justice, the validity of knowledge, the correct application of
 Aristotle summarizes holism as “The whole is more than the reason, and the criterea of beauty and truth-have been the
sum of its parts.” domains of philosophy from the beginnings to the present.

Types of Holism The Virtue of Emptying

 Epistemological Holism: is the claim that a single scientific  Suspending one's judgement and conclusion about a matter and
theory cannot be tested in isolation, because a test of one theory mentality exploring the pros and cons, the characteristics, and
always depends on other theories and hypotheses. the purpose of an idea or situation.
 One aspect of this is that the interpretation of observation is
"theory-laden" (dependent on theory); another aspect is that example:
evidence alone is insufficient to determine which theory is  Taoists consider an empty cup more useful than a full one
correct.
 Semantic Holism: is a doctrine in the Philosophy of Language  In Christian Philosophy, poor in spirit means compassion.
to the effect that a certain part of language (e.g. a term or a
complete sentence) can only be understood through its relations  Buddhists refrain from misuse of the senses, thereby
to a (previously understood) larger segment of language, emphasizing a unified whole.
possibly the entire language.
 Moderate Holism: (or Semantic Molecularism) is a  Without the virtue of emptying, students will only learn partial
compromise position, which holds that the meanings of words philosophy that is knowledge-based without becoming holistic.
depend on some subset of the language (not the entire
language). The argument then arises as to which parts of a Branches of Philosophy
language are "constitutive" of the meaning of an expression.
 There are Five (5) branches of philosophy namely:
Partial Point of View
 Metaphysics
 In philosophy, a point  of view is defined as a way or a method  Ethics
how one sees or perceives the reality or a phenomenon.  Epistemology
 Logic
 Therefore,  when one says a partial point of view, he has  Aesthetics
clearly stated and admitted that  the way he sees reality or
certain phenomenon is based on a single factor or  causal
agency. Methaphysics

 A partial point of view  then is a perspective that is based on  An extension of the fundamental and necessary drive in every
one of the component parts of a whole. human being to know what is real.

Four things to consider in Philosophy  The concept of thought, idea, existence , reality, being, and
other abstract ideas of life are understood and analyzed using
Scientific Approach: what is physically seen in the world and vice versa.
 its investigation is systematic;
 follows certain steps or employs certain procedures;  Reality in metaphysics is reffered as “true reality,” meaning, it
 an organized body of knowledge. is the fundamental source and basis of all reality in the world
and in existence.
Natural Light of Reason:
 the philosopher uses his natural capacity to think or  Metaphysics assumes that the reality we see with our eyes is
observe the world and people. just a temporary cover of the true reality that exists beyond
what our senses could perceive.
Study of All things:
 philosophy is not one-dimensional or partial.  Both idealist and the materialist metaphysical theories are
 Philosophy is multidimentional or holistic. similarly based on unobservable entities: mind and matter.

First Cause or the Highest Principle:  Although we can experience in our minds thoughts, ideas,
 something is the main and first cause why an event or desires, and fantasies, we cannot observe or experience the
situation took place. mind itself that is having these thoughts, ideas and desires.

 The first principles are the following:

 It is this tendency to explain the observable in terms of the
unobservable that has given metaphysics a bad name to more  Ethicists: persons who study morality from the perspective of
down-to-earth philosophers. philosophy. they appeal to logical arguments to justify claims
and positions involving morality.
 Nothing we experience in the physical worldwith our five
senses is real.  Philosophy insists that obedience to moral law be given a
rational foundation.
 Reality is an invisible but concrete true representation of all
physical reality that the eye can see. Five main framework of Ethics:

 It is unchanging, eternal, immaterial, and can be detected only Divine command:

by the intellect.  In this framework, a strong sense of individualism does
not exist, but rather, the collective is emphasized. It
 Plato called these realities as the theory of forms. poses the question “what does God ordain us to do?”
Consequentialism or utilitarianism:
Theory of forms  the basis of what is considered good in this framework is
depending whether or not the consequence of a certain
 A Form is the idea about what a thing is. action is desirable or produces the most desirable
outcome. Inshort, “what has the most desirable
 Plato was not concerned with trees, he was concerned with the consequence is the good.”
ideal Forms of concepts such as Beauty, Truth, Justice and the Deontological Ethics:
Good.  This means that a person has a moral duty to do what is
right regardless of what the person thinks or feels
 The most important form is the Form of the Good. In the about the situation. Whatever is a persons moral duty
material world we can label things as good, but this does not is the persons basis of what is good.
tell us what goodness is.
Virtue Ethics:
The world of forms  This ethical theory ignores the consequences, duties, and
social contracts. it it focuses instead on character
 Plato says that there must be somewhere where these Forms development of individuals and their aquisition of
exist. good virtue ethics.
Relativism:
 As a form is unchanging as it is not a physical object and it can  Relativism is the idea that views are relative to
never die, so it cannot be in the material world. differences in perception and consideration. There is no
universal, objective truth according to relativism; rather
 Plato suggests that in our world there are only shadows and each point of view has its own truth. The major
images of the Forms. categories of relativism vary in their degree of scope and
controversy.
 When we are born, we have some recollection of what the Epistemology
Forms are – he suggests evidence for this is that we all have a  epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified
basic understanding of what beauty is without being taught it. belief.

 However, through our lives we lose the idea of the True forms.  It deals with the nature, sources, limitations, and validity
of knowledge.
 The Philosopher is someone who tries to escape the material
world and see the Forms that lie behind it. Epistemology explains:
 How we know what we claim to know;
The allegory of the cave  how we can find out what we wish to know; and
 how we can differentiate truth from falsehood.
 Plato uses the Allegory of the Cave to demonstrate his theory
of Forms Epistemology addresses varied problems like:
 the reliability, extent, and kinds of knowledge;
 truth;
 language; and
 science and scientific knowledge.

Now, how do we acquire reliable knowledge?

 Human knowledge may be regarded as having three parts:

 Empiricism;
 Rationalism; and
 Pragmatism

Empiricism

 the view that knowledge can be attained only by experience.

 according to empiricists, real knowledge is based on what our

senses tells us is really out there, not what people make up in
Ethics their heads.

 The branch of philosophy that explores the nature of moral  Knowledge for empiricists are based on facts and evidence that
virtue and evaluates te morality and virtue of human actions. we can see and perceive in the world.
  a work of art helps us rise from purely physical existence
 Empiricists believe that general ideas a formed from the into the real of the intellect and the spirit.
examination of facts. This method is called induction.  art is not something merely like craft or applied arts, but
something of weight and significanceto humankind for it
not only feeds our thirst for material beauty but also to
Rationalism our soul.

 for rationalists (advocates of rationalism), real knowledge is

based on logic, laws, and methods that reason develops.  It brings us in touch with our culture

 it is more important to find a general law according to which  art helps us in not only appreciating beauty, but also in
particular facts can be understood or judged. preserving our culture.

 the method rationalists follow is deduction.  art works of the past depicts how the people of the past
lived, on how they encountered life's daily struggle, and
 An example of real knowledge that rationalists give is on the problems they have on the past and its relation to
mathematics. the problems people may encounter in the future.

 Hans-Georg Gadamer, a German Philosopher said that

Pragmatism our tastes and judgements regardinAg beauty work in
connection with one's own personal experience and
 it means that meaning and truth of an idea are tested by its culture. Gadamer believd that our culture consists of the
practical consequences. values and beliefs of our time and our society.

 the value in use is the real test of truth and meaning.

Logic

 The term “logic” comes from the Greek word “logike” which
means a treatise on matters pertaining to the human thought.

 Logic does not provide us knowledge of the world directly.

 Logic only is considered as a tool, and, therefore, does not

contribute directly to the content of our thoughts.

 Its concern is the truth or the validity of our arguments

regarding such objects.

 The first Philosopher to devise a logical method was Aristotle.

 his philosophy is based on claims about propositional structure

and the body of argumentative techniques.

 For him, truth is the conformation or the agreement of the mind

with reality.

 Logical reasoning makes us certain that our conclusions are

true.

Aesthetics

 is the science of the beautiful in its various manifestations.

 this includes:
 the sublime
 the comic
 the tragic
 the pathetic
 the ugly

 to experience aesthetics therefore, means whatever experience

has relevance to art, whether the experience be that of the
creative artist or of appreciation

The importance of aethetics

 It vitalizesour knowledge
 It makes our knowledge of the world alive and useful.
 it makes us appreciate, for example, a play, a poem, or a
story, and be able to integrate these to our own lives.

 It helps us live more deeply and richly