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PHILOSOPHY MIDTERM
REVIEWER
date @September 23, 2021

lesson 1&2

status complete

MODULE 1: doing philosophy

1. Identifying and discussing the meaning, etymology, scope, history and

significance of Philosophy as a discipline.

MEANING:

as science, study of being in light of reason and critical thinking

the study of the basic ideas about knowledge, right and wrong, reasoning, and the
value of things

is a way of thinking about the world, the universe, and society. it works by asking
and being curious about the nature of human thought, the nature of the universe,
and the connections between them

the ideas in philosophy are often general and abstract

ETYMOLOGY

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 is a combination of two greek words: "philo" - love, "sophia" - wisdom. together it
means "love of wisdom"

a philosopher is somebody who loves wisdom

it is said that pythagoras was the first to call himself a philosophos or "lover of
wisdom". in calling himself this, he was not claiming to be wise. instead, he was
merely saying that he was somebody who valued or cherished wisdom.

philosophy helps people think, thereby opening us to new understanding and

bringing positive solutions that are helpful to us and to the people around us

SCOPE

seeks a logical understanding of reality as a whole. It aspires to achieve real

understanding of the universe's general structure and man's connection to it

it seeks to investigate the nature of matter, life, soul and God, and their
interrelations of one another

HISTORY

before philosophy, any investigation regarding the nature of things would be labeled
as phusis or "nature" by thales who was the first thinker

back then, there was no distinction between science, philosophy or religion

and then in ancient greek times, people were engrossed with myths to such an
extent that in order to grant their wishes, they had to offer something for their gods
and goddesses

it started when the greeks started to think more about facts than mythology

philosophy began when the greek started getting curious and stopped asking only
practical questions

SIGNIFICANCE OF PHILOSOPHY AS A DISCIPLINE

philosophy is the mother of all discipline, the supreme ruler, science of sciences,
and the self-awareness of all sciences

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 philosophy is often regarded as the mother of all the sciences, because it was the
pre-Socratic philosophers who first tried to study the nature of the world

it is a discipline that seeks truth about the ultimate questions about reality, the good,
and the meaning of life

and philosophy studies everything, from physics to mathematics, to ethics, law and
politics, to psychology, sociology, and language.

2. Understanding the philosophical views of different ancient Greek philosophers

on the nature of reality.

THALES

the father of western philosophy, and first person recorded in history to attempt
philosophizing

was known to be one of the 7 sages or wise men in greece

believed that water is the primordial stuff of reality

as we all know, we are surrounded by water. all countries around the world are
surrounded by water and it also falls from the sky. plants and animals need water to
survive. if you squeeze something hard enough, water will emerge. water is absorbed
into dirt and rocks. and in turn water dissolves things. water evaporates, and
condenses, and freezes, it is capable of becoming vapor or solid and of returning to
liquid unchanged. water really is quite magnificent, it is fundamental to life, and has
some really interesting properties all of which probably led to thales theory that all is
water.

his reason for claiming it to be water is that it is everywhere. water is everywhere. it

can change into solid, liquid, gas. therefore water is the originating principle of all
things

he believed that everything is made of water, and everything came from water.

ANAXIMANDER

was a student of the father of western philosophy, thales.

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 believed in apeiron

WHAT IS APEIRON?

the fundamental substance of reality is the infinite or also known as apeiron. apeiron
has no precise characteristics or attributes, it is ageless and eternal. apeiron is based
from speculation and not observation. as what most philosophers beliefs are. merely
speculations. however, philosophers, including anaximander's baffling belief,
philosophers are wise and intelligent for thinking very hard about their theories.
although, they dont have solid evidence, they use their logic and reasoning. even
without proof, people still believe them because of how good they are at contemplating
and reasoning and standing for what they know is true.

ANAXIMENES

a student of anaximander

is best known for his doctrine that air is the source of all things

much like thales' theory that water is the primordial stuff of reality, wherein he said that
water is everywhere, therefore water is the source of everything. anaximenes believed
that air is everywhere. air was the primary substance that held the universe together. he
believed that air was infinite and divine. he came up with the concept of condensation
and rarefaction as the process and motion leads to changes in the air, and air that is
condensed forms winds, things like that. he said “Just as our soul...being air holds us
together, so breath and air encompass the whole world.” the analogy compared
atmospheric air as the divine and human air as souls that animate people

PYTAGORAS

he considered philosophy and mathematics as good for the purification of the soul

believed that the primary constituent is numbers

believed that the nature of reality ultimately was mathematical

most of us first heard the name “Pythagoras” when we were in our math class
studying geometry, but few recall that he is not only a mathematician but also
actually a philosopher

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 this is because everything contributes numbers. for example, this crystal has a length,
width, height, weight. these are all mathematical statements. it can be measured. you
can measure anything in the world. and since everything has a measurement,
everything is composed of numbers. mathematics is everywhere. we use math and see
numbers everyday. from looking at the time to counting sheep in order to fall asleep.
therefore numbers are the source of everything.

HERACLITUS

fire is his first principal

he believed that the only thing permanent is change since everything in the world in
constantly changing.

what does fire have to do with change? heraclitus did not mean to say that all things
literally come from fire. instead, this world order, much like fire, is constantly changing,
transforming eternally. because fire changed everything. it's like a metaphor. for
example, when you set paper on fire, it will change. it's no longer paper but ash.

he also believed that "you cannot step in the same river twice"

the world constantly changes and that no two situations are exactly the same. just as
water flows in a river, one cannot touch the exact same water twice when one steps into
a river because the water and life within a river are always changing, and so are you. so
are we. everything in the world is constantly changing.

PARMINEDES

believed that being is what's constant in this world

he contradicts heraclitus' concept of change because parminedes believes that

being is the only thing constant in this world

he doesn't believe in the concept of change because to him, change is just an

illusion.

the only thing happening in the world is "being", and not change

what is being? being is indestructible. therefore, it contradicts the idea of change since it
is incapable of being destroyed or ruined. it is also immovable, complete, doesn't have

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 beginning or end. being is the material or immaterial existence of a thing. anything that
exists is being.

EMPEDOCLES

reality is made of 4 elements: water, fire, air, and earth

devised the theory that all substances are made of four pure, indestructible
elements: air, fire, water, and earth

however, his four elements actually represented an increase in the number of

fundamental substances. thales had proposed that a single element – water – made
everything. then a philosopher by the name of anaximenes proposed air, not water, was
the basic stuff of the universe. finally, yet another philosopher, heraclitus, said fire was
actually the true substance all others were made of. empedocles probably could not
square the idea of a single element world with his own observations, and therefore he
increased the number of elements. he described air, fire, water, and earth as “the root of
all things.” he believed everything in the universe was made of four elements, including
living organisms.

he also believed himself to be immortal and had magical powers

thus, to prove his immortality, he jumped into the mouth of a volcano

ANAXAGORAS

believed in the idea of "nous" also known as the mind

he believed that matter is infinitely divisible

the mind is infinite and self-powered. mind is the supreme principle, the greatest power,
that is mixed with nothing but it exists alone itself by itself. mind is the purest of all
entities.

ZENO OF ELEA

name is zeno of elea because he worked with pariminedes who was a leader of
eleatic school

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 much like his mentor parminedes. zeno believed that there is no motion. there is no
such thing as motion as there is no such thing as change.

ZENO'S PARADOXES

1. achilles and the tortoise

first, the tortoise is given a head start. for achilles to overtake the tortoise, achilles would
first have to cover the distance to the point where the tortoise began. in that time, the
tortoise would have moved, so achilles would have to cover that distance. giving the
tortoise time to amble forward a bit more. logically, this would carry on forever. how ever
small the gap between them, the tortoise would still be able to move forward, while
achilles was catching up. meaning that achilles could never overtake. this paradox
suggests that all motion is impossible.

SIMPLE: basically, achilles will never be able to overtake the tortoise because he'll have
to cover the distance that the tortoise walked over first. even though achilles is super
close to the tortoise, he'll still never be first because the tortoise already went by that
path before him.

2. arrow paradox

basically it's not moving because each bit of "movement" is just another moment in time
where the objects position changes. imagine it like animation frames. it's not moving, it's
merely an illusion. zeno states that for motion to occur, an object has to change the
position it occupies in space. a shooting arrow can only occupy one position, which is
going straight forward. the position doesn't change. therefore, the arrow is motionless.

LEUCIPPUS AND DEMOCRITUS

believed that the ultimate substance of reality is atoms

their belief is what we believe in to this day

all matter was composed of small indivisible particles called atoms. they believed that
atoms are too small for human senses to detect but they are infinitely many, they come
in infinitely many varieties, and that they have always existed all throughout time.

3. Applying various philosophical approaches in different situations.

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 ANALYTICAL

based on the idea that philosophical problems can be solved through an analysis of
their terms, and pure, systematic logic

since it is an analysis and definition of fundamental concepts, you have to have a

clear and resolute criticism belief

based on the idea that philosophical problems can be solved through an analysis of
their terms, and pure, systematic logic.

analytic philosophers rely heavily on the vocabulary, assumptions, and equations of

symbolic logic in their arguments

SPECULATIVE

founded upon intuitive insight. meaning this is merely based on you, you're just
assuming something without actually knowing the exact thing. it's your own opinion
or speculation on something

a philosophical approach informed by your impulse to construct a narrative of a

certain situation

it pretends to know facts beyond the realm of possible experience

REDUCTIONISM AND HOLISM

these are contrasting approaches

the difference between the two contrasting approaches comes from their differences
in focus

REDUCTIONIST

introduced by rene descartes

it refers to understanding complex ideas by reducing them to their parts or individual

constituents

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 you take everything one by one

we can understand how something works when we break it down into pieces and
study its individual components to understand it as a whole

HOLISTIC

all properties in a given system cannot be broken down by its component parts
alone but as a whole

properties of the parts contribute to the understanding of the whole

can only be fully understood through the dynamics

of the whole

relationship between the parts or its interconnectedness and interactions.

the parts of the system. each piece has a connection and contribution to each other.
therefore, we cannot break it down into pieces because then we wouldn't be able to
understand it as a whole

4. Identifying and understanding Plato’s Metaphysical System and its relation to

the basic question of Epistemology.

who is plato? plato is the student and successor of socrates.

plato has a metaphysical system wherein there are 2 worlds. the first world is the
world of forms and ideas. this is the world of real knowledge, and where everything
is ageless and eternal. this world is the ultimate basis of everything, meaning, this
world is perfect.

the second world is the world of opinion/imitation. this world is the world we're living
in right at this very moment. although, everything that we see in this world is nothing
but a secondary copy or imitation.

now, relating the metaphysical system to the basic question of epistemology: "how
do i know that what i know is true?".

well, we were once part of the world of forms and ideas. we were souls. and in that
world we had real knowledge, we were ageless and eternal. but then, we were

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 cursed because of a mistake we made. making us lose our perfect knowledge. and
leading us to living in the world of opinion/imitation.

according to plato, we know that what we know is true because we judge it from our
past experiences. since we were once part of the world of forms and ideas, we are
just recalling and remembering what we once knew before in that world. so,
according to plato, we remember what we truly knew in the world of forms and
ideas.

5. Determining the connections between Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, the movie
Matrix and Rene Descartes’ method of systematic doubt— Skepticism.

FIRST

in plato's allegory of the cave, there were a group of prisoners that were chained
since childhood in an underground cave, wherein they were unable to move their
heads and could only look forward

when connected to the matrix, the people who were living their lives inside the
simulation, are the prisoners

SECOND

behind them was a fire burning. there was a wall built between the fire and the
prisoners, and people were carrying various objects including human images and
shapes of animals, to portray a shadow on the prisoners side of the wall. the
prisoners believed the shadows were reality

this is related to the whole simulation of the matrix. it was made by robots to control
and keep the people away from knowing the truth. making them think that they are
living in the real world

THIRD

one of the prisoners is freed from his shackles and compelled to stand up suddenly
to lift his eyes to the light. in doing all this, he felt pain as the brightness of the fire
hurts his eyes making it difficult to see

neo is the prisoner who has been freed from his shackles or from the matrix. neo
also had a difficult time adjusting to the real world causing him to panic

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 FOURTH

the prisoner is then told that what he had seen before was all a cheat and an
illusion. he is then dragged out the cave which is rough and steep out into the light
of the Sun in the outside world

morpheus told neo that the life and world he was living in was all a lie. the matrix
wasn't the real world, it was merely an illusion

FIFTH

it is difficult for the prisoner's eyes to adjust to the brightness of the outside. he
struggles to see and at first can only bear to look down at the shadows and
reflections in the water but he then realizes that when he has adjusted and
accepted it. he would be able to look upon the Sun itself. he has learned that it is
because of the Sun that he can see anything at all. the Sun is in some sort the
cause of all these things that they had seen

neo had a hard time believing that the life and world he was living in was fake. but
soon started to understand everything that was happening

in relation to rene decartes method of systematic doubt, neo doubted everything

that morpheus and everyone had been telling him. from the matrix being fake all
along to doubting himself. he doubted everything that could be doubted until he
finally arrived at the answer and knowing the truth. neo gained the knowledge that
he was the one and anything that he could think of in the matrix could happen as
long as he put his mind to it. this is neo showing that he has truly acquired the
knowledge.

6. Analyzing the two main methodologies used in Philosophizing.

SOCRATIC METHOD

thought of by socrates himself

it is a process which has a flow. the flow is that with questions being asked on and
on, it leads to perfect knowledge on the answer

this is what socrates did to his students. he asked them question after question until
their prior knowledge revealed

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 it's like what teachers do to students. the teachers are the sharpeners and the
students are the knives that need to be sharpened

by asking lots of questions then students then answer what they know. as this goes
on, we will get to the perfect knowledge and arrive at what we're truly finding

you give definitions, then you question these definitions said, arriving at new
definitions which lead to getting additional and deeper knowledge

METHOD OF SYSTEMATIC DOUBT

made by rene decarte (pronunciation)

this is an exercise of skepticism, meaning the attitude of doubting knowledge

a way of searching for certainty through tentatively doubting everything

you doubt everything that can be doubted until you arrive at a clean and clear idea
that can no longer be doubted

so if it is possible to doubt, then we treat them as false, and we need to repeat this
process until we are unable to find something to doubt on.

7. Building relations between Plato’s divided line and Socrates’ famous saying
“An unexamined life is not worth living.”

plato was a student of socrates. he was also the successor of socrates

the analogy of the divided line was made by plato and presented in his book the
republic

it is divided into two parts: opinion and knowledge, respectively

OPINION

this produces appearance or reality as it appears to us, this is the lowest according
to plato

this is part of the world of opinion, or the world we're living in right now

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 the lowest is illusion. this is where images exist such as shadows and reflections.
why is this farthest away from the truth? imagine you're standing by a tree and you
can see its shadow. obviously you can see its vague shape and branches but
depending on where the light source is, its going to change shape. so you dont
actually know the real shape of the tree. therefore, you cant gain much knowledge
from it

belief is next. this is the state where objects exist. how we view the world. we
believe that this world is real. plato said this is where we could use our senses. for
example, you can hear my voice. but remember plato didn't think you could get
knowledge from using your senses. which is why he classifies this as belief.

KNOWLEDGE

next we have understanding. we're getting closer to attaining the truth and reality.
where some ideas are mainly mathematical forms. so math and geometry. plato
believes that math is one of the closest things to knowledge we can get in our world.
this is because when we think of concepts such as the perfect straight line or
perfect triangle. we are accessing things that are impossible for us to experience in
the physical world

lasty, we have reason. this is where pure ideas are so the forms and philosophy are
placed here. although plato is quite vague on how we access the forms. the basic
idea is that we can access them in the same way we can access the idea of a
perfect straight line using our minds!

CONCLUSION

plato believed that the closer we get to the world of forms and ideas, the closer we
get to the truth and reality when we had perfect knowledge

therefore, the world of opinion is where we are least likely to achieve the truth and
knowledge. because it leads us to getting further away from the world of form and
ideas and perfect knowledge

SOCRATES FAMOUS SAYING

if a person chooses not lead an unexamined life, they would find that their life lacks
value and purpose. an unexamined human life is deprived of the meaning and
purpose of existence. therefore. we must search, examine, contemplate in order for
us to attain perfect knowledge as we once did

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 📚 YAY DONE! good luck!!! may the crystals guide u amen <333
— domdomdomdomdomdodmodmodmdmod

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