Pursuing Wisdom and Facing the Challenges of the 21st Century

Philosophy

 Etymologically, the word “philosophy’ comes from the two Greek words, philo, meaning “to
love” and sophia, meaning “wisdom”. Philosophy originally meant, “love of wisdom” and in
a broad sense, wisdom is still the goal of philosophy. Philosophy is also defined as that by
natural light of reason studies the first cause of highest principles of all things.
How to explain Philosophy in the following studies:
1. Science – it is called science because the investigation is systematic. It follows steps or it
employs certain procedures.
2. Natural Light of Reason – Philosophy investigates things not by using any other
laboratory instrument or investigative tools, neither on the basis of supernatural
revelation, otherwise it becomes theology; instead, the philosopher uses his natural
capacity to think or simply, human reason alone or the so - called unaided reason.
3. Study of all things – This sets the distinction between philosophy from other sciences. All
other Sciences concern themselves with a particular object of investigation.
First Cause or Highest Principle
1. Principle of Identity: Whatever is is, and whatever is not is not.
2. Principle of Non - Contradiction – It is impossible for a thing to be and not to be at the
same time, and at the same respect.
3. Principle of Excluded Middle – A thing is either is or is not, everything must be either be
and not be.
4. 4. Principle of sufficient Reason – nothing exists without a sufficient reason.
“Virtue is not something to be taught or acquired through education, but rather, it is merely an
awakening of the seeds of good deeds that lay dormant in the mind and heart of a person.”
Branches of Philosophy
• Metaphysics - only an extension of a fundamental and necessary drive in every human
being to know what is real. The question is how to account for this unreal thing in terms
of what you can accept as real.
• Ethics - explores the nature of moral virtue and evaluates human actions. It is generally
the study of the nature of moral judgement.
• Epistemology – deals with nature, sources, limitations and validity of knowledge (Soccio
2007) Epistemological questions are basic to all other philosophical inquiries.
Epistemological data explains how we know what we claim to know.
• Logic – Greek word logike (coined by Zeno, the Stoic(c. 340-265B.C.) It means treatise on
matters pertaining to the human thought logic is concerned with the truth and the
validity of our arguments regarding such objects.
• Aesthetics – the science of the beautiful in its various manifestations including the
sublime, comic, tragic, pathetic, and ugly.
What are three dimensions of Filipino thought?
1. LOOB: Holistic and Interior Dimensions
Kagandahang-loob, kabutihang-loob and kalooban are terms that show sharing of one’s self to
others. According to Mercado (1992), interiority manifest itself in freedom. Loob puts one in
touch with his fellow beings. Great Philippine values, in fact are essentially interpersonal.
2. Filipino Philosophy of Time
 Filipinos are definitely optimistic. He looks to the future with hope because he believes
that life’s wheel cannot stay down forever. He also looks at every event in life as fortunate or
unfortunate, or as passing or other else.
TIME – is considered cyclical. Gulong ng palad (literally, “wheel of fortune.”
3. Bahala Na
Subconsciously Bahala na attitude is a part of the Filipino life. It means to live everything
to God who is Bathala. It is one of the most outstanding Filipino virtues. It also refers to the
courage to take risks.
4. Filipino Thought and Values: Positive and Negative Aspects
The Philippine values and system in line with Filipino philosophy, are in grim need to be
used as positive motivation. The Filipino sees himself belonging to a small, primary group in the
society.

Philosophy: Transcending and Aiming a Life of Abundance

Abundance comes from the Latin term, “abundare” meaning, to overflow nonstop.
Aguilar 2010 stated that abundance means to overflow non-stop. Abundance is outflowing
than in-coming. It does not refer to the increase of material things or people but our relationship
with others, ourselves, and with nature.
1. Abundance is not what we gather but we scatter
2. Abundance is not what we keep but we give away.
3. Abundance is not what we hold but what we share.
(money and heart, money and values, money and relationships, money and deeper
happiness).
4. Abundance is a choice.
5. Abundance is to evolve into a higher being.

WEEK 2
Methods of Philosophizing

 A fact is a statement that can be verified. It can be proven to be true or false through
objective evidence.
 An opinion is a statement that expresses a feeling, an attitude, a value judgment, or a
belief. It is a statement that is neither true nor false. Or it may feel true for some, but false
for others.
Other Tips on Facts and Opinions

 Opinions may sometimes look like facts because of professional or technical-

sounding words: Example, State funded and accredited schools are far superior to private
institutions.
 A false fact is still a fact: Example, A majority of experts agree that smoking daily can
improve your health.
 Predictions are opinions because they cannot be verified right now: Example, By the
year 2025, Americans will have socialized medicine.
 Value (or judgment) words often represent opinions: Example, Antonio Banderas is the
most handsome actor in the movie Interview with the Vampire.
 The word “should” usually signal an opinion: Example, Government regulation of our
private lives should be halted immediately.
Various ways of doing philosophy
A. Phenomenology on Consciousness
 Phenomenology is the study of structures of consciousness as experienced from the
first-person point of view.
 It is defined as any object of conscious experience, that is, that which are conscious of
(Johnston 2006)
 Phenomenology comes from the Greek word phainómenon, meaning “appearance”.
B. Existentialism: On Freedom
 One’s search for truth might be based on one’s attitude or outlook. Existentialism is not
primarily a philosophical method unlike phenomenology.
 We are self-conscious and exist for ourselves, which means we are free and responsible for
who we are and what we do.
Outlook or Attitude supported be diverse doctrines centered on certain common themes.
 the human condition or the relation of individual to the world;
 the human response to that condition;
  being especially the difference between the being of a person and the being of other kinds
of things;
 human freedom;
 the significance (and unavoidability) of choice and decision in the absence of certainty
and;
 the concreteness and subjectivity of the life as lived; against abstractions and false
objectifications.
C. Postmodernism: On Cultures
 Postmodernism is not a philosophy. It is at best a holding pattern, perhaps a cry of
despair. It highly talks about world philosophy, the philosophy of many cultures, but
such talk is not a philosophy either. (Shields 2012).
 Postmodernists believe that humanity should come at truth beyond the rational to the
non –rational elements of human nature, including the spiritual. Post Modernists
consider that to arrive at the truth, humanity should realize the limits of reason and
objectivism.
D. Analytic Tradition
 A loosely related set of approaches to philosophical problems
 Involve studies of the language in which the concepts in question are, or can be,
expressed.
 According to one tradition in analytic philosophy (sometimes referred to as formalism),
for example, the definition of a concept can be determined by uncovering the
underlying logical structures, or “logical forms,” of the sentences used to express it.
 Another tradition, sometimes referred to as informalism, similarly turned to the
sentences in which the concept was expressed but instead emphasized
their diverse uses in ordinary language and everyday situations, the idea being to
elucidate the concept by noting how its various features are reflected in how people
actually talk and act.
E. Logic and Critical Thinking
 Logic is centered on the analysis and construction of arguments.
 Logic and critical thinking serve as paths to freedom from half-truths and
deceptions.
 Critical thinking is distinguishing facts and opinions or personal feelings. In
making rational choices, first, we suspend beliefs and judgements until all facts
have been gathered and considered.
DEDUCTIVE REASONING & INDUCTIVE REASONING

 Inductive reasoning is based from observations in order to make generalizations. This

reasoning is often applied in prediction, in forecasting, or behavior.
 Deductive reasoning draws conclusion from usually one broad judgement and definition
and one more specific assertion, often an interference.
Example:
 All philosophers are wise. (Major premise)
 Confucius is a philosopher. (Minor Premise)
Therefore, Confucius is wise. (Conclusion)
F. Fallacies
 A fallacy is a defect in an argument other than it having false premises. To detect
fallacies, it is required to examine the argument’s content. Here are some of the
committed errors in reasoning and thus, coming up with false conclusion and worse,
distorting the truth.
 An idea that a lot of people think is true but is in fact false.
 A false or mistaken idea.
Example: It is a common fallacy that women are worse drivers than men.
A fallacy is a general type of appeal (or category of argument) that resembles good
reasoning, but that we should not find to be persuasive.
Are fallacies arguments?

 Strictly and classically speaking, while we may say that an argument is fallacious
or commits a fallacy, the term "fallacy" does not refer to an argument, but to an error of
some identifiable kind.
 All of the arguments that are guilty of that error may be said to be instances of that
fallacy, so fallacies are strictly and classically considered to be types of arguments.
Types of Fallacies
A. Appeal to pity fallacy is also known as argumentum ad misericordiam
 Appealing to a person's unfortunate circumstances or sharing a sad story is used as a
way to exploit someone's emotions in an attempt to get them to accept a conclusion.
 The term ad misericordiam is Latin for compassion or pity.
B. Appeal to ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam
 Whatever has not been proved false must be true, and vice versa.
 a proposition is true simply on the basis that it has not been proved false or that it is false
simply because it has not been proved true.
C. Equivocation
 calling two different things by the same name
Example:
o Human beings have hands; the clock has hands.
o He is drinking from pitcher of water; he is a baseball pitcher.
D. Composition
 Something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole.
Example:
o This tire is made of rubber, therefore the vehicle of which it is a part is also made of
rubber.
o If we have all the best players on our team, we will always win.
o Paul is the smartest student in our school. Since he is in my class, I must be in the
smartest class.
E. Division
 This fallacy involves someone taking an attribute of a whole or a class and assuming that
it must also necessarily be true of each part or member.
Example:
o The United States is the richest country in the world. Therefore, everyone in the
United States must be rich and live well.
o Because professional sports players are paid outrageous salaries, every
professional sports player must be rich.
F. Ad hominem is a Latin word that means “against the man.”
 As the name suggests, it is a literary term that involves commenting on or against an
opponent, to undermine him instead of his arguments.
 People start to question the opponent or his personal associations, rather than evaluating
the soundness and validity of the argument that he presents.
As a logical fallacy, it is of four basic types.

 Abusive: When you abuse a person or use invectives to attack his/her argument, it is
abusive ad hominem.
 Circumstantial: It means when you attack a person’s situation or circumstances that
might have motivated the argument.
 Guilt by Association: It means to associate the person with something negative.
 Tu Quoque “you also”: It means to evoke the past actions of somebody to attack his
argument.
G. Appeal to Force (Argumentum ad baculum)
 When force, coercion, or even a threat of force is used in place of a reason in an attempt to
justify a conclusion.
 The phrase "ad baculum" is a Latin phrase meaning "(appeal) to the stick."
 A baculum or baculus (both forms were used) was a walking-stick or cane. Naturally,
such sticks were sometimes used to give a miscreant a good drubbing.
Example:
o If you don’t accept X as true, I will hurt you.
o "I'd like to punch him in the face." - Donald Trump (Feb. 2016, at a campaign rally,
remarks directed at a protester who was being escorted out of the rally.)
H. Appeal to the people
 An argument (generally considered a logical fallacy) based on widespread opinions,
values, or prejudices and often delivered in an emotionally charged way.
 Also known as argumentum ad populum. Appeal to the majority is another term often
used to describe a large number of people in agreement as a valid reason or argument.
 "The argumentum ad populum used in democratic political rhetoric can make political
argumentation appear to be reason-based when it is not and subvert and undermine
reason-based deliberation in democratic political argumentation."
I. False Cause
 Since that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one. This
fallacy is also referred to as coincidental correlation, or correlation not causation.
Example:
o “Tumaas na naman ang presyo ng bilihin. Siguro kaya konti lang ang nakakain.
Dahil sa presyo. Hindi, dahil mataas ang cholesterol.”
J. Hasty Generalization
 “If it’s true in this case, it is true in all cases.”
 When one makes a hasty generalization, he applies a belief to a larger population than
he should base on the information that he has.
Example:
o You visit a new country and the first person you meet in the airport is rude. You
send a message to a friend back home that everyone in this new country is rude.
o Christine has a terrible experience with a boyfriend. She decides that all boys are
mean.
o Sarah has four male friends who do not like Hillary Clinton. She decides that all
men must not like Hillary Clinton.

The Human Person as an Embodied Spirit

Transcendence in the Global Age

 In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the
basic ground concept from the world’s literal meaning (from Latin) of climbing or
beyond, with varying connotations in its different historical and cultural stages.
 Appreciating art has transcendent existence. Knowledge and law will also require
transcendence.
 Scientific knowledge and laws are transcending simple, phenomenal things to
abstract.
 The fact that we have a soul that is capable of coming to life and experiencing
profound and hidden values, which the flesh and its senses can never discover
alone.
 This spirituality in us is identified with the divine image in our soul.
1. Hinduism
 The Aum (Om) is the root of the universe and everything that exists and it
continues to hold everything together, the most sacred sound in which the
universe arose from and was the first thing God created. Brahman is Self-Hood
 Hinduism lies the idea of human being's quest for absolute truth, so that one's
soul and the Brahman or Atman (Absolute Soul) might become one. For the
Indians, God first created sound and the universe arose from it.
2. Buddhism
 The life experience and teaching of Prince Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha -he
who achieves his aim), a tradition that focuses on personal spiritual
development, solutions is lay in his own mind and is famous for its belief in
Nirvana; a place of perfect peace and happiness.
 In Buddhism, enlightenment (called bodhi in Indian Buddhism, or satori in Zen
Buddhism) is when a Buddhist find the truth about life and stops being reborn
because he has reached Nirvana and once you get to Nirvana you are not born
again.
 Buddhist believe a person can become enlightened by following the Middle Way.
 Buddha set about sharing his discovery with anyone who would listen to him.
 Four Noble Truths leading to the Eightfold Path to perfect character of
Arthaship Gautama taught the Four Noble Truths.
The Four Noble Truths of Arthaship Gautama
1. Life is full of suffering.
2. Suffering is caused by passionate attachment to desires, lusts, cravings.
3. Suffering can be ended by overcoming attachment to desires.
4. To end suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path.
Noble Eightfold Path
1. Right understanding/belief in the acceptance of the "Fourfold Truth
2. Right intent/aspiration for one's self and others;
3. Right speech that harms no one;
4. Right action/conduct, motivated by goodwill toward all human beings;
5. Right means of livelihood, or earning one's living by honorable means;
6. Right endeavor, or effort to direct one's energies towards wise ends;
7. Right mindfulness, in choosing topics for thought, and
8. Right meditation, or concentration to the point of complete absorption in mystic
ecstasy.
The Biblical God and Humanity

 Christian teachings of the immanence and involvement of God is of the same

substance as the created universe but accept that God’s divine nature was
hypostatically united to human nature in the person of Jesus Christ in an event
known as the Incarnation.

 Forgiveness is a decision to let go of resentment and thoughts of revenge. The

hardness of our heart is reinforced by whole series of rational arguments.

 Loneliness is a feeling of emptiness or hollowness inside you. Example: You feel

isolated or separated from the world, cut off from those you would like to have contact
with.

 Love is one of the most profound emotions known to human beings. It is a feeling of
strong or constant affection for a person.
Recognize the Human Body Imposes Limits and Possibilities for Transcendence
Hinduism: Reincarnation and Karma
Reincarnation

 The philosophical or religious concept that the non-physical essence of a living

being, starts a new life in a different physical form or body after biological death.
  It is also called rebirth or transmigration, and is a part of the Samsara doctrine of
cyclic existence. Samsara is a Sanskrit word meaning “to wander or pass through
a series of states or conditions”.
Karma

 Karma refers to intentional (usually moral) actions that affect one’s fortunes in this
life and next.
 According to the theory of Karma, what happens to a person, happens because
they caused it with their actions.
Nirvana

 Is a place of perfect peace and happiness, like heaven.

 The highest state that someone can attain, a state of enlightenment, meaning a
person’s individual desires and suffering go away.
 The state in which one is absolutely free from all forms of bondage and attachment.

The Human Person in the Environment

“A living being that contains a real and existing power to direct its own development toward
fulfillment through perfect, unconditional, and infinite truth, love, goodness, beauty, and
unity, and will do so if all the proper conditions are met.”
Environment

 The sum total of all surroundings of a living organism, including natural forces and
other living things, which provide conditions for development and growth as well as of
danger and damage.
Environmental Philosophy

 “Is the discipline that studies the moral relationship of human beings with the
environment and its non-human contents”
 “Philosophers believe that the human person has the ability to change the
environment to suit his purposes”
Anthropocentric Model

 “Humans are superior and central to the universe, thus it is human centered”
 Philosophical viewpoint arguing that human beings are the central or most
significant entities in the world and they are free to transform nature and use its
resources.
Ecocentric/Biocentric Model

 Believes that humans are not the only significant species on the planet, and that all
other organisms have inherent value and should be protected. This view advocates
ethical treatment of animals.

The ecological or relational integrity of the humans provides meaning of our morals and
values and it is nature centered. Devoted to preserving the totality of earth’s biodiversity and the
functioning of its life-supporting system.
MY ROLE AS A HUMAN:
 Human person has the ability to change the environment to suit his purposes.
 Humans are superior and central to the universe thus the universe is human centered.
 Humans are not the only significant species on the planet.
 The ecological or relational integrity of the humans provides meaning of our morals and
values and it is nature centered.