Lesson 2: Methods of Philosophizing

Philosophizing will give way to the following:

 A way to reveal the truth about the different stages of life and everything
associated with it.
 To reveal the fulfillment of the purpose of each stage of life.
 To express the way to the realization of these things in a relevant way in
order to obtain the best compromise of what we all face in life.
 To find an avenue for full and unrestricted expressions of philosophical
sentiments and stands concerning contemporary issues.

It is to theorize or
speculate about
fundamental or
issues of utmost
importance in a
tedious, grand
It has to be
approached in and overbearing It is a process of
broader perspective manner. explaining or
for to philosophize, arguing a point
“one has to be open
minded to know of view or idea in
something as it is and terms of one’s
act upon it as it should philosophical
be relevantly within theories.
priorities”.

PHILOSOPHIZING
It must also guide It is a quest – a
us to a deeper search, a
understanding of continuing
“oneself”. journey

It is very important to
It deals with a note that in
subject matter or philosophizing, the
a particular choice of words, the
manner the answer is
question using a delivered and the
particular tenor of the voice are
method of as important as the
response. essence of the answer
itself.
 Socratic Method Phenomenological
Method
METHODS OF
Hermeneutical PHILOSOPHY Analytic Method
Method

1. THE SOCRATIC METHOD

 Didactic dialogue expressed in the critical examination and cross-

examinations of the positions of every participants of the conversation.
 Based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to
draw out ideas and underlying presumption.

Intellectual midwifery (MAIEUTIC)

 Intends ultimately to guide the students to further qualify their presuppositions
in order for them to arrive at a truth that is clear and free from all doubts.
 Intends not to create a new truth but only as a guide at arriving at the truth.
 Participants do not force-fit their own beliefs on others, instead, they work
together to arrive at the truth.

Learned Ignorance
 What one must do is to admit that one knows nothing so that he can open
himself for wisdom.
 It is when we admit that we do not know that there is so much to know that,
the more we know, the more that we do not know, that we begin to seek the
truth and acquire wisdom.
Three steps in Arriving at the Truth
Step 1: Give an initial definition of a thing or concept.
Step 2: Look for characteristics not captured in the initial definition.
Step 3: Give a new definition.
2. THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL METHOD
 It is based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events
("phenomena") as they are perceived or understood in the human
consciousness, and not of anything independent of human consciousness.
 The rigorous study of our conscious experience.
 determination of the nature of our conscious lived experiences

PHENOMENOLOGY
Comes from two Greek words “phainomenon” which means
appearance and “logo” meaning study or reason.
Hence, “PHENOMENOLOGY” means study of phenomenon or
anything that exists of which the mind is conscious. Therefore
phenomenology is the investigation of the essence or the nature of
material things or things that appear to us.

“That I exist and that the I that

exists is essentially a thinking I
- the cogito”
“I think; therefore I am.”
DOUBTING=THINKING=EXISTING

RENE DESCARTES- Father of Modern Philosophy

He initiated the philosophical revolution in modernity with his establishment of a
method that seeks ground all of our truth-claims upon the most universal and self-
evident certitude.
  Our everyday lived experiences are
intentional and perspectival.
 Whenever we become conscious of certain
objects, the image that is derived from such
awareness is never the entirety of the object.
 For Husserl, Phenomenology studies the
structure of various types of experience
including:
o Perception
o Thought
o Memory
o Imagination

EDMUND HUSSERL -Forerunner of Modern Phenomenology

For Edmund Husserl, “objects transcend their intentional state. What we think of
while being consciousof them are not just mere representations but actual objects
whose hidden parts are hyphotesize. He further argues that in order to answer the
questions of how we can have knowledge of the world; we ought to turn our attention to
the study of our experience of it.
HUSSERL’S PHENOMENOLOGY
 Attempts to describe what is given to us in experience.
 It deals with the determination of the nature and structure of human conscious
experience.
 Reflecting upon our everyday immediate or lived experiences in order to gain
some understanding of its underlying orders, occurrence, and structure.
3. HERMENEUTICAL METHOD
Hermeneutics
- Identified as the philosophical art of interpretation
- Act of dealing with the original meaning of the text, recreating the textual
meaning which lays bare for open interpretation
 The multi-dimensional opening to the
meaning of the text is possible because of
the capacity of the reader to situate text
according to the context of his own life.

The human person (DASEIN) sees life as a

text to be analyzed, hence to interpret. For
DASEIN, life is a text that needs an
interpretation.
In Philosophy, MAN as DASEIN.

DASEIN means “being there” in the world.

Martin Heidegger

Dasein’s Self Understanding in Time

In the past, Being was conceived as the most universal, indefinable and self-
evident thing. This led to a sheer reduction of being into a mere concept. Our
articulation of how things really mean to us is blurred most of the time by the pre-
existing ideas we inherited from people around us by the way of linguistic exchange.
The understanding of one’s life happens in time, and after her lifetime nothing
awaits for the human person. In short, the meaning of the Being of one’s life can only be
interpreted within the horizon of “historicity.”
Historicity refers to the state of experience that every human being is born and
is comforting herself with. Her modes of actions and understanding are in the sense
identified by the every word she is living. For the human person is not just in the
world, she is also engaged with it and is also determined by the world. This brings
us to the realization of the nature of life as “factical” : the human person simply exists.
Being in the world that tends to mold us, our project therefore is to liberate
ourselves from the “enframing” structure of our “everydayness”. This brings us to
what Heidegger identifies as “Hermeneutics of Factility.” For him, understanding is a
mode of being in the world, of living and acting in one’s world. Understanding the
meaning of one’s life therefore demands that one be open to the different ways that
manifests itself.

4. THE ANALYTIC METHOD

- Analytic philosophy in principle is directed upon either solving or decimating
the problems of philosophy in general. It seeks to ground the debate on the
diversified problems of philosophy under the right determination of the nature
of language.
- It tends to provide an accurate presentation on the nature of language in
order to solve the problems set by philosophy. Language being a picture of
reality is limited upon the determination of the world since what can be
spoken about is only the world.
 - Explains the nature of language by identifying logical statements with their
atomic parts and elements. It shows how language is related to what is real in
sensible terms.
 Philosophical method is a logical method that is centered on the
analysis of the structural meaning of language in reference to the
world.
 The world is all that is the case.
 Objects are simple-they are that which constitute reality.
 The meaningfulness of propositions rests in their picturing realities,
that is, their being a picture of state of affairs.
 For logical atomists, propositions are statements of facts and these
statements of facts point to the state of affairs of things in the world.
For language to be meaningful, it must picture what is real.
 A picture is a fact.

DISTINGUISH OPINION FROM TRUTH

In our daily lives, our ability to distinguish truth from opinion will:

 Serve as a guide in making an intelligent decision especially on financial

matters and investing.
 Assist in making solid conclusion on something that requires personal
judgment.
 Help in making factual reports specific to an incident or happening where
knowing what really happened is crucial.

The Seeking of the Truth by the Human Person

Only the human person is capable of higher order thinking by relying on the following
types of senses:
1. External (Seeing, hearing, smelling,
tasting and touching)
Physical faculties
2. Internal (Memory, imagination
consciousness and instinct)
3. The mind as its locus and thinking, its
Spiritual faculty
central activity.

What approach do we use to distinguish opinion from truth?

One of the approaches is to come up with definitions for each. Here under are some of
the definitions?

TRUTH: Defined
 In philosophy, there is no generally acceptable definition of truth. There are
however, various theories on truth (Estaris & Gallinero, 2017) which were
covered in Chapter 1 of the book.
 Truth can be described as the true state of any certain matter; it may be a
person, a place, a thing, or an event.
 Truths are based on observable facts.
 Truth needs to be supported by evidence. If there is no evidence, or insufficient
evidence, then the statement is an opinion.
 Truth is simply the mind corresponding with reality.
 The quality of being true is related to something clear, without any uncertainty.
 The CORRESPONDENCE THEORY basically says that a statement is a true
when it corresponds to some state of affairs.

OPINION
 Opinion is a personal belief or judgment that is not founded on proof or certainty.
 Opinion can be based on facts or emotions and sometimes they are meant to
deliberately mislead others.
 Opinion expresses someone’s belief, feeling, idea, or judgment about something
or someone.
 Opinion is having a hypothesis but not entirely sure that the idea is true.
 Opinion can be very biased. It is often used to persuade or convince a target
person.

Realize that the Methods of Philosophy Lead to Wisdom and Truth

Philosophy is the realization that:

 Wisdom comes from truth
 Truth comes from reality
 It looks at the general and fundamental problems concerning existence, reason,
mind and values.

One of the components of philosophy leads to wisdom and truth is CRITICAL

THINKING. Philosophers use this to address philosophical questions. This is important
as it lead one to analyze, explain, evaluate and restructure his thoughts on a certain
matter under study.

It also involves self-assessment where one can:

Provide a way of arriving at reasonable and informed

conclusions

Apply understanding and knowledge to new and

different problems

Change one’s point of view willingly and examining

and re-examining of ideas continues with a willingness
to say and accept that “I don’t know”.

Attributes of a critical thinker

He looks for evidence He examines the

He keeps on adjusting
to support his problems and reject
his opinions and looks
assumption and irrelevant and non-
for proofs.
beliefs. factual information.

In our current times, we are daily bombarded with so much information and
knowledge. We can research easily what we want and when we want to do it. Even with
this however, a student should realize by now that without the right context and
connection, what we learn, knowledge we get and information received mean nothing.
This is because knowledge is not equivalent, or even synonymous, to wisdom. For the
characteristics of wisdom are:

 Wisdom cannot be handed to you in silver platter.

 Wisdom cannot be found in the Internet.
 Wisdom can only be gained through a personal quest to acquire it.
  In that quest for wisdom - philosophy is what you need.

Once you begin to gain wisdom, these things occur:

 You begin to understand your purpose and know how to achieve it.
 You begin to connect your wisdom to other people across space and time.
 You develop the ability to think and act using knowledge, experience and
understanding, common sense in mature or utilitarian manner.

As you continue your journey, you realize that you are addressing philosophy’s
main problem which is:
 To connect your senses (which are limited) and
 Your resultant ideas (which are deceptive) with the real world of what exists.

"And is there anything more closely connected with wisdom and truth?"
- Plato

"The life of theoretical philosophy is the best and happiest a man can lead."
- Aristotle

Evaluation is inherently a theoretically informed approach (whether explicitly or

not), and consequently any particular definition of evaluation would have been tailored
to its context as in this case which is about philosophy.

The following are the criteria that can be used to evaluate an opinion:

1. Source
 This is very important because you will be guided on whether the source is
credible or not. To evaluate a source, one must take a close look at:

a. Reputation of the source

Reputation is defined as the estimation in which a person or
thing is held, especially by the community or the public in general. It
is also favorable and publicly recognized name or standing for
merit, achievement and reliability,
A good example is when someone claims that “such brand
of Japanese car is the best in the market today”. Is he a car owner?
If so, what is his reputation as a car owner? What criteria did he
use in making the claim?
Criteria, as noted are necessary as even Autoindustria, a
private outfit which review cars used rating criteria to include:
- Performance
- Design
- Handling
 - Comfort and
- Value for Money in determining the Best Car in
the market today
b. Audience whom it was intended for
Who or which person or group is the target of the opinion
and whether it is intended to influence them. By knowing this, it will
help determine the motivation of the one giving the opinion as he
relates to the target audience.
c. Whether authentic documents were provided proof
This is also crucial in evaluation as it will show whether
sufficient specific supporting details were submitted.

Going back to the opinion which believes that such “car

brand is best in the market”, authentic documents from the
manufacturer should carry information in a specification sheet as to
the:
- Maker
- Model,
- Engine
- Maximum power
- Maximum torque
- Type of transmission
- Price as tested

2. Reliability
 This is defined as the ability to be relied on or depended on, as for
accuracy, honesty and achievement.
 It is the quality of being trustworthy or of performing consistently well.

In evaluating opinion from someone, we must:

a. Question how reliable the person is in giving the opinion.
b. Assess how long the person has spent studying the topic or
item which is the subject of the opinion.
c. What is the experience of the one giving the opinion in relation
to the subject matter?
d. Someone gave an opinion that “this brand X is the best car in
the market.” In this case, you may ask: is the one making the
claim a car aficionado and thus, is knowledgeable about cars –
most especially Japanese cars. If all that he owns is a bicycle,
never had the chance to own or drive a car, as a source of the
opinion he cannot be considered reliable and therefore, has no
reputation to speak of. If he insists on his claim, check where he
 get his information as each of the Japanese cars have service
centers throughout the country.

3. Purpose
 We should ask why the information was given.
 Is the intention of the opinion to: convince or persuade?

There is a need to make sure to evaluate his viewpoint for reasoning and
evidence.
Caution is needed when handling opinions as the giver may have hidden
agenda or motive. This is true in dealing with invitation to invest. Most promised
high interest rates than the usual just to convince investors to put in their money.

4. Bias
 Did the one who gave the opinion exhibited partiality, preference or
prejudice for or against an idea or person? We should be aware that:
- Bias is a tendency to lean to a certain direction, often to the detriment
of an open mind.
- Those who are biased tend to believe what they want to believe
refusing to take into consideration others’ opinion.
- Being biased means the lack of neutral viewpoint.
- From a cultural context, biases tend to take its roots within ethnic
groups, social class, gender or religion.

5. Assumption
It is defined as an idea that is formed but without any evidence to back it
up. One therefore, should ask what are the ideas presented. An assumption is an
idea which is accepted as true and yet no efforts are made to prove or
substantiate it.

Assumptions come in different forms and types. Examples are the

following:
- People might make the assumption that you’re intelligent if you wear
eye glasses, even though that is not true.
- People tend to assume that because someone is driving a flashy car
he is very rich. It turned out however, that he is just the driver of the
car.
- Another dangerous assumption is in making investment when we
assume that WHAT you agreed upon will be fulfilled by both parties.
Lastly, just thinking,

There is a very thin line that separates truth from opinion. It depends on the
degree of conviction one has over a claimed opinion. When this happens, opinion
sometimes, if we are not careful, can be perceived as truth.