This document discusses the nature of philosophy. It begins by explaining the etymology of the word philosophy, derived from the Greek words for love and wisdom. It then provides several definitions of philosophy focusing on its aim to understand reality as a whole through rational inquiry. The document outlines some of philosophy's main branches including epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy. It concludes by emphasizing philosophy's importance in providing wisdom, guiding decisions around new technologies, and helping people live purposeful lives.
This document discusses the nature of philosophy. It begins by explaining the etymology of the word philosophy, derived from the Greek words for love and wisdom. It then provides several definitions of philosophy focusing on its aim to understand reality as a whole through rational inquiry. The document outlines some of philosophy's main branches including epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy. It concludes by emphasizing philosophy's importance in providing wisdom, guiding decisions around new technologies, and helping people live purposeful lives.
This document discusses the nature of philosophy. It begins by explaining the etymology of the word philosophy, derived from the Greek words for love and wisdom. It then provides several definitions of philosophy focusing on its aim to understand reality as a whole through rational inquiry. The document outlines some of philosophy's main branches including epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy. It concludes by emphasizing philosophy's importance in providing wisdom, guiding decisions around new technologies, and helping people live purposeful lives.
This document discusses the nature of philosophy. It begins by explaining the etymology of the word philosophy, derived from the Greek words for love and wisdom. It then provides several definitions of philosophy focusing on its aim to understand reality as a whole through rational inquiry. The document outlines some of philosophy's main branches including epistemology, logic, metaphysics, ethics, aesthetics, and political philosophy. It concludes by emphasizing philosophy's importance in providing wisdom, guiding decisions around new technologies, and helping people live purposeful lives.
GEC-108 Instructor LEARNING OBJECTIVES •Explain the intrinsic value of philosophy. • Describe the fundamental philosophical subfields, the methods of inquiry. 1 PHILOSOPHY: ITS ETYMOLOGY
2 DEFINITIONS OF PHILOSOPHY
3 IMPORTANCE OF PHILOSOPHY
4 BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? 1 ETYMOLOGY OF PHILOSOPHY
•Derived from the Greek words
“Phylos” meaning “to love” and “Sophie” meaning “Wisdom”. PHILOSOPHY •Philosophy literally means ‘love of wisdom’. It is an attempt to arrive at a rational conception of the reality as a whole. It enquires into the nature of the universe in which we live, the nature of the human soul, and its destiny, and the nature of God or the Absolute, and their relation to one another. 2 SOME DEFINITIONS OF PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY •It enquires into the nature of matter, time, space, causality, evolution, life, and mind, and their relation to one another. It is the art of thinking all things logically, systematically, and persistently. It is the art of thinking rationally and systematically of the reality as a whole. PHILOSOPHY • Plato rightly conceived of philosophy as the persistent attempt to seek clear notions. It examines, clarifies, and explains popular and scientific concepts of matter, space, time, causality, evolution, mechanism, teleology, life, mind or soul, God or the Absolute, right and wrong, good and evil, beauty and ugliness, arid the like, and arrives at a rational conception of the reality. Clarification of concepts is the task of philosophy. PHILOSOPHY It is the critical analysis of the popular and scientific concepts, and the discovery of their relations to one another. It is a rational attempt to integrate our knowledge and interpret and unify our experiences. PHILOSOPHY • Philosophy is the rational attempt to have a world- view. It endeavors to reach a conception of the entire universe with all its elements and aspects and their interrelations to one another. It is not contented with a partial view of the world. It seeks to have a synoptic view of the whole reality it tries to have a vision, of the whole. The different sciences deal with different departments of the world. Philosophy is regarded now more as an interpretation of human life, its source, value, meaning, and destiny, than as an enquiry into the nature of the world, soul, and God. It tries to understand the universe in relation to man. WHAT IS YOUR PHILOSOPHY IN LIFE? WHY IS PHILOSOPHY IMPORTANT? 3 1)Philosophy can give us wisdom; 2)Philosophy can also help people makes important decisions about the use of new technology such as bioengineering, stem cells, etc. Philosophy may prove to be a more helpful guide since philosophy grows organically with new knowledge while religion tends to be more tied to the past. WHY IS PHILOSOPHY IMPORTANT?
3)Philosophy is also a strong
foundation on which to build important personal things such as career, faith, and relationships. 4)Philosophy can help people live more purposeful and fulfilled lives. 4 A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY 1. EPISTEMOLOGY • The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (including limitations) of knowledge. It addresses four main questions. 1) What is knowledge? 2) How is knowledge acquired? 3) What do people know? 4) How do we know what we know? 2. LOGIC •is the study of reasoning. Logic is often divided into two parts, inductive reasoning, and deductive reasoning. The first is drawing general conclusions from specific examples, the second is drawing logical conclusions from definitions and axioms. 3. METAPHYSICS •is concerned with explaining the fundamental nature of being and the world. 4. ETHICS •also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy which seeks to address questions about morality; that is, about concepts like good and bad, right and wrong, justice, virtue, etc 5. AESTHETICS •is the branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, taste, and the creation and appreciation of beauty. •It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensory-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste 6. Political Philosophy
• is the study of concepts such as liberty, justice, property,
rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal code by authority: what they are, why (or even if) they are needed, what makes a government legitimate, what rights and freedoms it should protect and why, what form it should take and why, what the law is, and what duties citizens owe to a legitimate government if any, and when it may be legitimately overthrown, if ever. References:
• De, Guzman, et.al. 2018. Ethics (Principles of Ethical Behavior in Modern Society). Mutya Publishing, Inc.
