CHAPTER II

THE NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY AS AN AUTONOMOUS BRANCH OF

KNOWLEDGE

OBJECTIVES:
1. Understand the nature of philosophy.
2. Know to differentiate the phenomenology and metaphysics.
3. Figure out the different kinds of causes.

NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is a word invented by the founder of the Italic school. Cicero describes how
Leontius, King of Phliasi, ask Phythagoras (580-497 BC) to state the art that gave value to his life.
The reply was simple: he knew no art; he was a philosopher. From that moment, people who
engaged in the investigation of the most important truths were no longer called “wise” but
“philosophers” that is lover and seekers of wisdom. This remark of Phythagoras was extremely
noble, moral and has a far- reaching effect. Andronicus of Rhodes, who put Aristotle’s works in
order, placed the books dealing with ens after those on physics.This seems to have been the
origin of the word “metaphysics.” Metaphysics, like “philosophy” was pressed into use without
indicating any matter for the mind to work on. It did nothing more than show the place assigned
to the ontological works in the Aristotlelian corpus.
Philosophy is the knowledge (scientia) of things by their ultimate causes or reasons (per
ultimas causas vel rationes). This has been the stand of Aristotle ever since and it was adopted
by the Scholastics.
Philosophy has been described as anthropocentric. Its problems are drawn from human
experience. Its method is critical reflection on the data of human experience. Philosophy is
critical reflection on human life and experience to discover its total human meaning and
possibilities and thus be in the service of total human growth.
 First, philosophy is the search for the total human meaning of man’s existence and
experience. It is inquiry into the total context, which makes a human experience meaningful and
enables man to integrate his life and experience as a whole.

PHENOMENOLOGY AND METAPHYSICS

The method of philosophical inquiry or critical reflection, which is in line with

contemporary moral philosophy and perhaps, the one best suited to Filipino mentality and
though is both phenomenological and metaphysical. Phenomenological can be taken as an
attitude: “Just look and see what you can see”, or a method of accurate description of what is
there and immediately given in experience (the world of phenomena).
Metaphysics, on the other hand, is critical reflection on the immediate data of experience
to discover the real human meaning. The very purpose of phenomenological and metaphysical
reflection is simply to exteriorize man’s interiority, to explicitate what is implicit in man’s
existential experience. Philosophy is an explicitation of the essential meaning of an experience,
which is necessary and universal, i.e a priori. This is to be found not only in Filipino experience
but also always and everywhere in shared human experience. In a nutshell, the starting point of
philosophical reflection is always experience and from experience we reason back to its ultimate
cause. Consequently, the method is experiential and distinctively rational.

PHILOSOPHY: SOME DEFINITION

Philosophy is the science of all things studied from the viewpoint of their ultimate causes
under the light of the human reason alone. This definition is a traditional scholastic thing.
Nevertheless, it is a useful definition.
Explanation: Philosophy is a science. Science is an orderly body of knowledge and so is
philosophy. Philosophy is not simply based on mere opinions opinions or theories but “certain”
knowledge obtain from demonstration and reduced to a comprehensive rational system.
Philosophy is a valid science that leads us to valid reality.
The material object (subject matter or the things being studied) of philosophy is all things;
its formal object (under what viewpoint or special aspect is the object being studied) is the
ultimate causes, reasons or principles. With this qualification, philosophy is differentiated from
the positive sciences such as Biology, Physics, Chemistry, etc. These special sciences “proximate”
causes of their subject matter.
KINDS OF CAUSES
In philosophy, there are different four kinds of causes. These are: (a) material, (b) formal,
(c) efficient and (d) final. Ordinarily, when we talk of cause, we talk of that which brings about
its ordinary existence. In philosophy, if we talk of causes, we got to a broader definition. Cause
is the explanation of something. If we are to understand man philosophically, we try to
understand him from the four kinds of ultimate kinds of causes.

(a) Material cause (Greek: hyle) explains the being’s determinableness, its potentiality.
(b) Formal cause (Greek: morphe) explains the whatness, the form of the being.
(c) Efficient cause (Greek: aitia) explains a being’s origin, its howness
(d) Final cause (Greek: telos) explains the reason for a being’s existence, its whyness. This
is also known as the first cause of being.

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
For our purpose, it is just sufficient to enumerate and give a concise but brief description of the
different branches philosophy as is commonly done.
1. Social Philosophy: This is a philosophical study of the sociality of man, on the nature of human
society, including its various principle;

2. Logic: Derived from the Latin “Logike” which means “a treatise on matters pertaining to
human thought, it was coined by Zeno, the Stoic. It is defined as the philosophical study of the
science and art of correct inferential thinking. It is the scientia scientiarum (science of sciences)
and the ars of atrium (art of all arts);
3. Cosmology: It studies the material world and the ultimate constituent principles of material
beings. It is derived from the Greek term “cosmos” and “logos” which mean universe and study
respectively. It tries to explain the origin and nature of the universe as well as the theories on
the origin of the universe including creationism and evolutionalism to mention a few.

4. Psychology: It is a study of the principle of life of living beings and on the nature of vital
operations and of vital powers.

5. Ethics or Moral Philosophy: It studies human acts and their morality and the Natural Law
governing them.

6. Ontology or General Metaphysics: It is a study of beings in general, on the reasons and

principles of the reality things. It was first introduced by Aristotle (384-322 B.C). It is derived
from meta ta phisika which simply means “with the things of nature.” It also deals with the
meaning of existence and tries to resolve the question of whether existence is identical with
space, time, nature, spirit or God;

7. Theodicy: It is a study of the First Cause of Contingent Beings and of emergent reality.

8. Epistemology: It is a study of valid knowledge and its principles. It is derived from the Greek
term “episteme” which means knowledge and “logos” which means study. It is synonymous
with the Latin term “scientia”;

9. Axiology: It is the philosophical study of values. It seeks to answer the question like “what is
value?” “what values are supposed to be desire in life?” this brings forth into focus living values
and how men live by them. This part of philosophy is lengthily discussed in the “Living Values:
An Education Programme (LVEP)” section of this philosophical treatise.
10. Hermeneutics: It is a branch of philosophy (derived from Hermes who is the messenger of
gods), which gives the service of uncovering meaning. Hermeneutics has evolved from merely
being the science of interpreting texts to being and studying the very meaning of structure of
human understanding and existence itself. It calls for “dialonguing.”

Name: ____________________________________ Section: __________________

Faculty: ___________________________________ Date:_____________________

Direction. Explain and discuss the following:

1. Define philosophy. Mention and define its different branches.

2. What are the kinds of causes in philosophy?
3. Differentiate phenomenology and metaphysics.
4. What is nature of philosophy?
5. What are the essential traits of philosophy?

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