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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCING PHILOSOPHY
1.1 Meaning and Nature of Philosophy
It is difficult to define philosophy in terms of a specific subject matter, due to its universal nature. It has no specific subject matter to primarily deal with. It deals primarily with issues. • But, not incomprehensible and elusive as it is often thought to be. • It is the study of general & fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, k/ge, truth, beauty, law, justice, mind and language. • Etymologically, it come from two Greek words: philo and sophia, w/c mean love and wisdom respectively. Thus, literally philosophy means “love of wisdom”. • The ancient Greek thinker Pythagoras was the first to use the word philosopher to call a person who clearly shows a marked curiosity in the things he experiences. ❖ Anyone who has curiosity may raises questions such as: – Does God exists? What is reality? What is the ultimate source of Being/existence? – What is k/ge? What does it mean to know? How do we come to know? – What is value?, and the like, is really showing a curiosity for becoming wise about the phenomena of the world and the human experiences. • Therefore, seeking wisdom is among the various essences or qualities of philosophy. But all wisdoms are not philosophy. • The wisdom that philosophers seek is not the wisdom of the expertise or technical skills of professions. Acc. to Socrates wisdom of philosophy as a pursuit of wisdom needs: - ✓ critical habit and eternal vigilance about all things, ✓ the continuous search for truth, and to go beyond the common understanding ✓ questioning of the apparent to interrogate the obvious means to deal creatively with the phenomenal world; but it does not mean denying the obviously real. ✓ to speculate about things that other people accept with no doubt. ✓ Touch and move by the feeling of wonder. o Socrates once stated that Wonder is the feeling of a philosopher and Philosophy begins with wonder about existing world and its order. • We all have touched & moved by the feelings of wonder. Thus, we all participate, more or less, in philosophical issues, even though thinking alone cannot make us philosophers • But, questioning/criticism is not the final end of philosophy, Though raising the right question is the beginning & direction & essence of philosophy. • Raising the right question is an art that includes the ability to see what is not really obvious & to imagine d/t possibilities & alternatives. Therefore, philosophy is: • a rational and critical enterprise that tries to formulate and answer fundamental questions through an intensive application of reason. • an application that draws on analysis, comparison, and evaluation. • It involves reason, rational criticism, examination, and analysis. • Philosophy has a constructive side, for it attempts to formulate rationally defensible answers to certain fundamental questions concerning the nature of reality, value, knowledge and truth. • At the same time, its critical side is manifested when it deals with giving a rational critic, analysis, clarification, & evaluation of answers given to basic metaphysical, epistemological, & axiological questions. • The other thing is, Philosophy is an activity. • It is not something that can be easily mastered or learned in schools. • It is not theory, but extraordinary ability to critically think, to conceptualize, to analyze, to compare, to evaluate, and to understand- i.e., to philosophize • what makes someone a great philosopher is not the produced philosophy, but his/her outstanding ability to philosophize. • Philosophy also means the various theories or systems of thought developed by the great philosophers, such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Royce, James, Dewey, Whitehead, and others. • Philosophers disagree with theologians, scientists and others b/c of: – they view things from different points of view and with different assumptions, – they live in a changing universe, – they deal with an area of human experience in w/c the evidence is not complete. • To learn & understand philosophy: it is important to read d/t thought or writings of philosopher. i.e., to be confronted with philosophical questions, to use philosophical language, to become acquainted with differing philosophical positions & maneuvers, to read the philosophers themselves, & to grapple with the issues for oneself. • Philosophy, as an academic discipline, distinguished from other academic disciplines by- Its systematic, logical and flexible approach to the ultimate reality of the universe, human life, knowledge experience, truth and values and its holistic and evolutionary nature. 1.2 Basic Features of Philosophy 1) Is a set of views or beliefs about life & universe, w/c are often held uncritically. – refer to this meaning as the informal sense of philosophy or “having” a philosophy. When a person says “my philosophy is,” – And this usually referred to an informal personal attitude 2) It is process of reflecting on & criticizing our most deeply held conceptions & beliefs – This is the formal sense of doing philosophy – Having philosophy in the formal personal sense and doing philosophy are important and not independent of each other. 3) Rational attempt to look at the world as a whole. – Attempt to bring the results of human inquiry and combine the conclusions to have some kind of consistent worldview. – is to give a view of the whole, a life and a worldview, and to integrate the knowledge of the sciences with that of other disciplines 4) Logical analysis of language & clarification of the meaning of words & concepts. – It is to expose confusion and nonsense and to clarify the meaning & use of terms in science and everyday affairs. 5) Philosophy is a group of perennial problems that interest people & for which philosophers always have sought answers. – inquiry into the deepest problems of human existence 1.3 Core Fields of Philosophy A. Metaphysics : The term metaphysics is derived from the Greek words ✓ “meta” means -- (beyond, upon or after) and ✓ “physika” -- means (physics) • Literally, it refers “those things after the physics”. ▪ Potentially, it studies about the ultimate reality or existence. • It deals with issues about reality & existence of God, freedom, soul/immortality, the mind-body problem, form & substance r/ship, cause & effect r/ship, etc. ❖ The questions that Metaphysics primarily deals with are: – What is reality? What is the ultimately real? – What is the nature of the ultimate reality? Is it one thing or many d/t things? – Can reality be grasped by the senses, or it is transcendent/beyond? – What makes reality different from a mere appearance? – What is mind, and what is its relation to the body? – Is there a cause and effect r/ship b/n reality and appearance? – Does God exist, and if so, can we prove or test it? – Are human actions free, or predetermined by a supernatural force? – What is human being?, A thinking mind? A perishable body? Or a combination of both? – What is time? What is the meaning of life? ❖ Four Subsets or Aspects of Metaphysical Questions :- i) Cosmological Aspect • Cosmology consists in the study of theories about the origin, nature, and development of the universe as an orderly system. • It is concerned with questions such : – How did the universe is originate and develop? – Did it come about by accident or design? – Does its existence have any purpose? II) Theological Aspect • Theology is that part of religious theory that deals with conceptions of and about God. It raises questions like: – Is there a God? If so, is there one or more than one? – What are the attributes of God? – If God is both all good and all powerful, why does evil exist? – If God exists, what is his relationship to human beings and the” real world” of everyday life? III) Anthropological Aspect • Anthropology deals with the study of human beings & asks questions like: – What is the relation between mind and body? – Is mind more fundamental than body, with body depending on mind, or vice versa? – What is humanity’s moral status? – Are people born good, evil, or morally neutral? – To what extent are individuals free? Do they have free will?, or are their thoughts and actions determined by their env’t, inheritance, or a divine being? – Does each person have a soul? If so, what is it? • People have obviously adopted different positions on these questions, and those positions influence their political, social, religious, and educational ideals and practices. IV) Ontological Aspect • Ontology is the study of the nature of existence, or what it means for anything to exist. ❑Several questions are central to ontology: – Is basic reality found in matter or physical energy (the world we can sense), or is it found in spirit or spiritual energy? – Is it composed of one element (e.g., matter or spirit), or two (e.g. matter and spirit), or many? – Is reality orderly and lawful in itself, or is it merely orderable by the human mind? – Is it fixed and stable, or is change its central feature? – Is this reality friendly, unfriendly, or neutral toward humanity? B. Epistemology (Theory of Knowledge) • The word epistemology derived from the Greek words:- ✓ “episteme” meaning -- knowledge & understanding ✓ “logos” meaning ―study of • It is the studies of the nature, source, & validity of k/ge. • It deals with issues of related to the dependability of k/ge & the validity of the sources through which we gain information. ➢ Questions/issues with which Epistemology deals: – What is knowledge? What does it mean to know? – What is the source of knowledge?, Experience? Reason? Or both? – How can we be sure that what we perceive through our senses is correct? – What makes knowledge different from belief or opinion? – What is truth, and how can we know a statement is true? – Can reason really help us to know phenomenal things without being informed by sense experiences? – Can our sense experience really help us to know things beyond our perception without the assistance of our reasoning ability? – What is the relationship and difference between faith and reason? • Epistemology seeks answers to a number of fundamental issues. • One is whether reality can even be known. • Skepticism- people cannot acquire reliable knowledge and that any search for truth is in vain. • As expressed by Gorgias, the Greek Sophist- nothing exists, and that if it did, we could not know it. • A full-blown skepticism would make intelligent action impossible. • A term closely related to skepticism is Agnosticism- a profession of ignorance in reference to the existence or nonexistence of God. • The other foundational issue to epistemology is whether all truth is relative, or whether some truths are absolute. • Is all truth subject to change? • Is it possible that what is true today may be false tomorrow? • If, however, there is Absolute Truth, such Truth is eternally and universally true irrespective of time or place. • Closely related to the issue of the relativity and absoluteness of truth are the questions of whether knowledge is subjective or objective. ❖ Sources of Human Knowledge: 1. Empiricism (knowledge obtained through the senses). • Empirical knowledge appears to be built into the very nature of human experience. • Too much of human k/ge forms in this way. 2. Reason- reasoning, thought, or logic is the central factor in k/ge that known as rationalism. • Rationalists emphasize humanity’s power of thought and the mind’s contributions to knowledge, by claiming that the senses alone cannot provide universal, valid judgments that are consistent with one another. • rationalism claims that humans are capable of arriving at irrefutable knowledge independently of sensory experience, by using formal logic. 3. Intuition- is the direct apprehension of knowledge that is not derived from conscious reasoning or immediate sense of perception. • It is often Immediate feeling of certainty. • claimed under varying circumstances as a source of both religious and secular k/ge. • The weakness or danger of intuition is that it does not appear to be a safe method of obtaining knowledge when used alone. • It goes astray very easily and may lead to absurd claims unless it is controlled by or checked against other methods of knowing. 4. Revelation- it has been of prime importance in the field of religion. • it presupposes a transcendent supernatural reality that breaks into the natural order. • Christians believe that such revelation is God’s communication concerning the divine will. • For them this form of knowledge has the distinct advantage of being an omniscient source of information that is not available through other epistemological methods. • a major disadvantage of revealed k/ge is that it must be accepted by faith & cannot be proved or disproved empirically. 5. Authority: Authoritative k/ge is accepted as true because it comes from experts ▪ For Example: In the classroom, the most common source of information is some authority, such as a textbook, teacher, or reference work. C. Axiology :- is the study or theory of value • The term Axiology stems from two Greek words- ✓“Axios”, meaning “value, worth”, and ✓“logos”, meaning “reason/ theory/ symbol / science/study of”. – Hence, Axiology is the philosophical study of value, which originally meant the worth of something. ▪ Deal with notions of what a person or a society regards as good or preferable, such as: – What is a value? – Where do values come from? – How do we justify our values? – How do we know what is valuable? – What is the relationship between values and knowledge? – What kinds of values exist? – Can it be demonstrated that one value is better than another? – Who benefits from values? Etc. ❑ Axiology deals with the issues of value in three areas namely Ethics, Aesthetics, and Social/Political Philosophy. I. Ethics (Moral Philosophy): is a science that deals with the philosophical study of moral principles, values, codes, and rules. • It may be used as standards for determining what kind of human conduct/action is said to be good or bad, right or wrong. • Raises various questions including: – What is good/bad? – What is right/wrong? – Is it the Right Principle or the Good End that makes human action/conduct moral? – Are moral principles universal, objective, and unconditional, relative, subjective and conditional? – What is the ultimate foundation of moral principles?, – The supernatural God? Human reason? Mutual social contract? Social custom? • Does God exist? If so, is He Benevolent and Omnipotent? • If God is Benevolent, why He creates evil things? If God does not create evil things, then, there must be another creator who is responsible to creation of the evil things? But, if it is so, how can God be an Omnipotent creator? • Why we honor and obey moral rules? For the sake of our own individual benefits?, or for the sake of others?, or just for the sake of fulfilling our infallible duty? • Ethics can be grouped into three broad categories: – Normative ethics , Meta-ethics and Applied Ethics. A. Normative Ethics is the reasoned search for principles of human conduct, including a critical study of the major theories about which things are good, which acts are right, & which acts are blameworthy. • Teleological Ethics, Deontological Ethics, and Virtue Ethics are the major examples of normative ethical studies B. Meta-ethics: • Is a discipline that deals with investigation of the meaning of ethical terms, including a critical study of how ethical statements can be verified. • Ethical terms as good or bad and right or wrong than with what we think is good or bad and right or wrong. • Moral Intuitionism, Moral Emotivism, Moral Prescriptivism, Moral Nihilism, and Ethical Relativism are the main examples of meta-ethical studies. C. Applied Ethics: • Attempts to explain, justify, apply moral rules, principles, standards, and positions to specific moral problems, such as capital punishment, euthanasia, abortion, adultery, animal right, and so on. • This area of normative ethics is termed applied because the ethicist applies or uses general ethical principles in an attempt to resolve specific moral problems. II Aesthetics- is the theory of beauty. • It studies about the particular value of our artistic & aesthetic experiences. • It deals with beauty, art, enjoyment, sensory/emotional values, perception, and matters of taste and sentiment. ❖ Typical Aesthetic questions: – What is art? What is beauty? What is the relation b/n art and beauty? – What is the connection b/n art, beauty, and truth? – Can there be any objective standard by which we may judge the beauty of artistic works, or beauty is subjective? – What is artistic creativity and how does it differ from scientific creativity? – Why works of art are valuable? – Can artistic works communicate? If so, what do they communicate? – Does art have any moral value, and obligations or constraints? – Are there standards of quality in Art? III. Social/Political Philosophy • It studies about of the value judgments operating in a civil society, be it social or political. Primarily deal with: – What form of government is best? – What economic system is best? – What is justice/injustice? – What makes an action/judgment can be just/unjust? – What is society? – Does society exist? If it does, how does it come to existence? – How are civil society and government come to exist? – Are we obligated to obey all laws of the State? – What is the purpose of government? D. Logic • Is the study or theory of principles of right reasoning. • It deals with formulating the right principles of reasoning; and developing scientific methods of evaluating the validity and soundness of arguments. ❑ The following are among the various questions raised by Logic: – What is an argument; What does it mean to argue? – What makes an argument valid or invalid – What is a sound argument? – What relation do premise and conclusion have in argument? – How can we formulate and evaluate an argument? – What is a fallacy?; What makes an argument fallacious? 1.4 Importance of Learning Philosophy ✓ To critically examine our living as well as the world we live in. o The ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates, once said that a famous philosophical statement: “The unexamined life is not worth living”. “I tell you that to let no day pass without discussing goodness and all the other subjects about which you hear me talking and examining both myself and others is really the best thing that a man can do, and that life without this sort of examination is not worth living.…” ✓ maintenance and actualizing needs (physical and psychological). ✓ self-fulfillment, creativity, self-expression, realization of one’s potential, & being e/thing ✓ It help to formulate and answer fundamental questions through an intensive application of reason. ✓ deals with the most basic issues faced by human beings through analysis, comparison, & evaluation. ✓ Assist us to actualize ourselves by promoting the ideal of self actualization. Characteristics of self-actualization: • Intellectual & Behavioral Independence – – to develop one’s own opinion and beliefs. • Reflective Self-Awareness – – To have a clear k/ge of oneself & the world in which one lives. • Flexibility, Tolerance, and Open-Mindedness – – we can understand the evolutionary nature of intellectual achievement and the ongoing development of human thought. – we can easily realize that no viewpoint is necessarily true or false. – we become more tolerant, open-minded, more receptive, and more sympathetic to views that contend or clash with ours. • Creative & Critical Thinking – we can learn how to refine our powers of analysis, our abilities to think critically, to reason, to evaluate, to theorize, and to justify to develop original philosophical perspective on issues, problems, and events; and to engage them on a deeper level. • Conceptualized & well-thought-out value systems in morality, art, politics - – studying philosophy provides us with an opportunity to formulate feasible evaluations of value; & thereby to find meaning in our lives.