- “Poor

people are just lazy”

Introduction to Philosophy - “God is omnipotent”
- Philosophy involves evaluating arguments.
Philosophy
- Our primary concern is to do what is right and to believe what is - To give an argument for a claim is to give reasons (evidence) for
true. that claim.
- Philosophy provides us with some of the intellectual/conceptual - As this suggests, claims are not the same things as
skills we need to achieve this. arguments.
- But these skills are dif=icult to acquire.
- What counts as good vs. poor reasons (evidence)?
Reading Philosophy - Good: Perception/Introspection/Rational intuition/
- Reading philosophy is not like reading other sorts of texts. Reasoning/Empirical data/Expert opinion
- It is not simply a matter of memorizing facts. - Poor: Hearsay/Social conditioning/Popular opinion/Blind
- It involves being able to understand and evaluate claims
(views, positions, theories, analyses, etc.). faith
- That is, it is a matter of understanding the claims
philosophers are arguing for and the reasons they give for
them. Philosophy
- Philein means “love”
Philosophical Lingo - Sophia means “wisdom”
- Grasping philosophical concepts is of the utmost importance to - Philosophy means “love for wisdom”
understanding what philosophers are claiming (and why). - Love always seeks unity with the object, it desires to possess its
- So, you should make sure to identify all terms or phrases that you object
do not understand. - Wisdom means the good exercise or application of knowledge
- Look them up in the dictionary (or better yet, in a - Truth is the ultimate object of knowledge and is being shown and
philosophical dictionary). practices by a man of wisdom
- To philosophize, therefore, is to be in a quest or to have the desire
Doing Philosophy towards living the truth
- Philosophy is not merely a matter of developing and defending
one’s own view. History of Philosophy
- It requires understanding, considering, and giving fair weight to ✓ Chinese Philosophy
competing alternative views. - “Zhe-xue” or “Che shueh” known as Zhe means “wisdom” and
- You will often see both of these things going on in the papers you Xhe means “study”
read. - Philosophy is the translation of words into action or the
- It is important to distinguish the philosopher’s own view from application of theory into practice
those he/she are arguing against.
- Philosophy requires that we consider the rational implications/ ✓ Hindus Philosophy
consequences of our beliefs. - “Darsana” means seeing not only through the eyes, but through
- Often, upon examination, we =ind that our beliefs lead us to the whole being of the one that sees
unacceptable conclusions: - Seeing the whole of reality through a total advertence and
involvement
 - is a substantial unity
Vernacular DeAinition of Philosophy - is subjective and objective
- Science that investigates all things in the ultimate causes, reasons,
and principles through reason alone 1. Intellect and Will
- “love for wisdom” “the quest for truth”. It is the truth that explains - Rational nature/intelligence to understand the world
that which is referred to as philosophy - Not only to reason but to choose freely
- social science - Implies systematically among at something
- it is a science because it undergoes systematic investigarion
2. Man is a substantial unity
How to attain wisdom? - A union of body and soul, an embodied spirit
Empty Yourself. I am a body (subject); I have a body (object)

- Man possesses a complete speci=ic/unique nature

1. Intellect – an empty cup is more useful than a full one (Taoist);
means simplicity & humility
Man is not merely an individual substance with a unique existence
2. Spiritual – poverty in spirit (Christian); means compassion
3. Physical - retain from misuse of the senses (Buddhist); ✓ freedom to self-govern the world
emphasizing a uni=ied whole ✓ rational nature/intelligence to understand the world
3. Subjectivity and Objectivity
*Science by natural light of reason that studies the =irst causes or
- Judgements and claims people make
highest principles of things
- Objectivity is based on facts
- Subjectivity is based on feelings
Four Things were Considered:
1. Science
2. Natural Light of Reason Where & When did Western Philosophy Start?
3. Study of All Things (Holistic) - Philosophy started whit our sense of wonder
4. First Cause or Highest Principle - The sense of wonder starts with the “why” and the “how” of life
First Causes/Highest Principles Wonder
1. Principle of Identity - An emotion comparable to surprise and awe the people feel when
— everything is its own being, and not being is not being perceiving something rare of unexpected
2. Principle of Non – contradiction - It is emotion/passion leading to philosophy and science
— impossible for a thing to be and to be not the same at the same We become to absorb in the everydayness of life.
respect
3. Principle of Excluded Middle
— a thing is either is or is not; no middle ground possible Ancient Greece
— between intellect and will of a human - Philosophy started
4. Principle of SufCicient Reason - A breakaway from narrative of mythology
— nothing exists without a suf=icient reason - Myth – Philosophy – Science (August Comte) + Applied Science –
Technology
Human Person - All ethnics have their own myths
- Gifted with both will and intellect (rational and free) - Traditional myths, arti=icial myths, myths, and fairytales
 - Passed by word of mouth (life of myths) - Was more concerned with the mystical problems of puri=ication and
immortality
Role of Myths - Mathematics is the best puri=ier of the soul
1. Entertainment – dramatic stories ✓ Mathematical thought could liberate men from thinking about
2. Formation and encourage group self-consciousness, formation of particular things and lead their thought, instead to the
tribe, ethics, nation (justi=ication why our tribe is super ordinate) permanent and ordered world of the universe
3. Formation and consolidation of moral and social system (model ✓ Also source of therapeutic result for certain nervous disorders
phenomena – archetypes) as well as elements affecting man’s inner life
4. Base of religion - Good health is the outcome of harmony or balance or proper ratio of
certain opposites
The =irst philosophers wanted to study the origin of the world - The true number or =igure refers to the proper balance of all the
Physis – origin of the world elements and function of the body
- Number represents the application of limit to unlimited
These philosophers tried to discover principle that could uniformly,
consistently, and comprehensively explain all natural phenomena and the
events in human life

Example: Thales (Water), Pythagoras (Numbers), Anaximenes (Air),

Democritus (Atoms)

Thales (624 – 546 BC)

- Water is the world stuff
- He asserted that the world originated in water and was sustained by
water and that the earth =loated on water
- Water is the essential of life

Anaximenes (585-528 BC)

- Pupil of Anaximander
- Primary element was determinate
- Air is primary substance

Heraclitus (504 – 501 BC)

- He maintains that everything is in constant change
- In his consciousness of change, Fire make the world stuff
- “You can’t step twice on the same river”
- If the world is =ire, man, too, has =ire in him in the form of heat

Phytagoras
- Everything can be explained by numbers