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Intro To Philosophy

The document serves as an introduction to a philosophy module, outlining the nature and importance of philosophical inquiry. It discusses the distinction between philosophical and scientific questions, the domains of philosophy, and the skills developed through studying philosophy, such as reasoning and critical thinking. Additionally, it emphasizes the value of philosophy in fostering curiosity and understanding across various disciplines.

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Ansh agarwal
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13 views22 pages

Intro To Philosophy

The document serves as an introduction to a philosophy module, outlining the nature and importance of philosophical inquiry. It discusses the distinction between philosophical and scientific questions, the domains of philosophy, and the skills developed through studying philosophy, such as reasoning and critical thinking. Additionally, it emphasizes the value of philosophy in fostering curiosity and understanding across various disciplines.

Uploaded by

Ansh agarwal
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Introduction to Human Sciences

Philosophy Module
(or ‘the region of liberating doubt’)

Faculty: Ashwin Jayanti


What is Philosophy?
●
What is Philosophy?
●
What is a philosophical question?
– How is it different from a scientific/technological
question?
●
Why study philosophy?
What is Philosophy?
●
What is Philosophy?
– Philo: love
– Sophia: wisdom
●
Why study philosophy?
– The oldest surviving discipline!
– Learn to reason and argue and disagree
– Learn to not conform to readymade beliefs masquerading as truths
– Dunning-Kruger effect
●
The less people know about an area or how to do something, the more likely they are to overestimate their
ability to do it or understand it. The more ignorant we are, the more brazen we are in our belief about our
abilities and knowledge.
●
‘Socratic irony’ as an antidote to the above!
– Socrates:
●
“The unexamined life is not worth living.”
What is a Philosophical question?
●
Normative vs. descriptive
●
Philosophy usually deals with normative questions
●
It is also involved in clarifying concepts, such as
– Justice, language, meaning, sport, truth, knowledge, etc. etc.
●
Philosophy questions assumptions
– That observation leads to knowledge
●
It involves providing arguments in support of a conclusion.
– A good argument gives the reader a good reason to believe in the conclusion.
– The history of philosophy is the history of arguments that have stood the test of time.
– Hence, thesis!
●
Think of an activity/subject that you are truly fond of….
– ...philosophize it!
Philosophy (in the context of other IHS
disciplines)
●
Political science
●
Sociology
●
Economics
●
History
Philosophy (in the context of other IHS
disciplines)
●
Philosophy as the oldest discipline in Western thought
– Philosophy as sticking it out to the unanswered questions
– Other disciplines as branching off out of philosophy as certain
questions are answered satisfactorily
●
Biology
●
Physics
●
Science
●
Linguistic
●
Psychology
●
AI??
Domains of Philosophy
●
Logic
– What is right reasoning?
●
Epistemology
– How is knowledge possible?
●
Ontology and Metaphysics
– What exists?
– What is the relation between mind and world?
●
Ethics
– What is right or wrong? Good or bad?
●
Axiology
– What is value?
●
Aesthetics
– What is beauty?
●
Philosophy of x
– Where x = law, economics, history, society, technology, politics, sport, etc. etc.
Which of these are philosophical
questions? And Why?
●
List of questions
What concerns Philosophy?
●
Questions that science cannot answer
●
Questions involving justification of the claims we
make
●
Analysis of concepts
●
Normative questions
Why Philosophy?
●
Clarity of thought
●
Realize what it is that we don’t know
●
Understand each other’s views and participate in the eternal
conversation.
●
Greater understanding of the world
●
Inculcate curiosity for various domains of knowledge and see
how they hang together
●
Hilary Putnam’s classic answer
– “because bad philosophy is all around !”
In this module, we shall
●
Start with logic and clarify how to differentiate good
reasoning from bad
●
Look at how to make inferences and recognize
improper inferences
●
Logic as normative
– Concerned not with how we reason (descriptive)
●
But with how we ought to reason (normative)
To become good philosophers
●
Do the assigned readings for the class
●
Seek clarifications until you’ve attained clarity
●
Exercise your reasoning by arguing against anything
you are not in agreement with
●
Make no assumptions and take nothing for granted
●
Practice, practice, practice
– In everyday life…
Usual Suspects

https://rcfrey.wordpress.com/2013/11/07/historiography-and-comparison/
Unusual Suspects
●
Who studies philosophy?
– Source: www.apaonline.org/whostudiesphilosophy
Philosophical Toolbox
●
Wonder
●
Curiosity
●
Logic and reasoning
●
Quest for understanding
●
Thirst for books
●
Quest for clarity
●
Interdisciplinary adventurousness
Philosophical Attitude
●
Socratic Irony
– “All I know is I know nothing”
●
Philosophy is not mere opinion
– Not just a matter of opinion
– Values: coherence and consistency and reason
– Philosophy is not ‘right to one’s opinion’
●
It is sound argumentation; the premises must give us reason to
believe in the conclusion
●
Hence logic and critical thinking
●
Truth vs. Relativism
– Philosophy guards against relativism
– A true belief matches the way the world actually is
– We cant have two conflicting yet true beliefs
●
Either one is true, the other false
●
Honesty and Courage
– To seek truth, we must admit our own ignorance
– Must admit our own gaps in reasoning
– No belief as immune to scrutiny or criticism
– Takes courage to admit when one is wrong
Bertrand Russell on ‘the value of
philosophy’
●
“Philosophy, though unable to tell us with certainty what is the
true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest
many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them
from the tyranny of custom.”
●
“Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what
things are, it greatly increases our knowledge as to what they
may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of those
who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt,
and it keeps alive our sense of wonder by showing familiar
things in an unfamiliar aspect.”
– From The Problems of Philosophy
For Next Class:
●
Read:
– Copi and Cohen, Introduction to Logic, "Basic logical
concepts"
– Chapter 1, “What is Philosophy?”, from Stich and
Donaldson, Philosophy: Asking Questions, Seeking
Answers
Hitchhiker’s Guides to Philosophy
●
Non-Fiction
– Peter Catapano and Simon Critchley, The Stone Reader: Modern
Philosophy in 133 Arguments
– Bertrand Russell, Wisdom of the West
– Will Durant, The Story of Philosophy
– Robert Pirsig, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry
into Values
– T.Z. Lavine, From Socrates to Sartre: The Philosophical Quest
– Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern
Science
– A.C. Grayling, Philosophy: A Guide Through the Subject
●
Fiction
– Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World
– Umberto Eco, The Name of the Rose
– Apostos Doxiadis and Christos Papadimitriou, Logicomix: An Epic Search for Truth
– Albert Camus, The Stranger
– Jean-Paul Sartre, Nausea
●
Podcasts
– Philosophy Bites
– ABN The Philosopher’s Zone
– BBC In Our Time
– Hi-Phi Nation
●
Documentaries/Movies
– Examined Life
– Philosophy and the Matrix
– Being in the World
– Philosophy: A Guide to Happiness
– The Joy of Logic
– The Man from Earth
– Cartesius
– Agora
– Hannah Arendt
– Genius of the Ancient World
– What is Democracy?

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