ETHICS Ethics and Philosophy

Lesson 1
Introduction to Philosophy
and its branches
 Discussion Outline
• Etymology of Philosophy
• Philosophers and Sophists
• Branches of Philosophy
• Ethics as a branch of philosophy

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 ETYMOLOGY OF
PHILOSOPHY
Ancient Greek terms:
• Philo = love
• Sophia = wisdom

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Philosophers and
Sophists
• Philosophers:
• lovers of wisdom
• Pythagoras was the first to use the term
“philosopho”
• Sophists:
• self-proclaimed “wise men”
• group of intellectuals who taught a way of
argumentation called eristic which is aimed
to win arguments rather than arrive at the
truth.

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 Aesthetics – concerned with beauty and art

Logic – the art of reasoning

BRANCHES OF Metaphysics – concerned with the

PHILOSOPHY nature of reality and existence

Epistemology – concerned with truth

and knowledge

Ethics – concerned with the study of morality

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AESTHETICS
The branch of philosophy concerned
with the nature of beauty and art.
Some questions in aesthetics:
• What is art?
• Can art be political?
• Are artists devoid of morality?
• What is the relationship
between beauty and
subjectivity?

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 LOGIC

The branch of philosophy

concerned with the art of correct
thinking.
Some topics in logic are:
• Argument validity
• Argument soundness
• Fallacies (i.e. ad hominem,
appeal to pity, hasty
generalization)

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 The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature
of reality and existence.
Some questions in metaphysics:
METAPHYSICS • Are we free?
• Does God exist?
• Is time merely a concept created by humans?

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 The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of
truth and knowledge.

EPISTEMOLOGY Questions in epistemology:

• When can we say we know something?
• What is truth?
• How are facts related to truth?
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 ETHICS
The branch of philosophy concerned with the
study of morality.
Some questions in ethics:
• What are good actions?
• What kind of person should one be?
• Should murder be permitted?
• What makes ‘lying’ an immoral act?
• Why do certain cultural practices allow
the killing of animals while others don’t?
Which of them are right?

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 Any Questions?
Open Forum

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