PHILOSOPHY = Love of Wisdom = the term logos in ancient Greek

= PHILIA means Love scholarship have different

= SOPHIA means Wisdom connotations example:
LOVE = strong desire for a particular object  Heraclitus = a Greek Philosopher
WISDOM = correct application of knowledge of the late 16th century BCE
understands logos as reason or
>>Philosophy refers to the strong desire of a human the underlying principle of all
person to possess knowledge and apply it correctly. that is.
Basic Questions in Ontology:
Philosophy = science that studies beings in their  What is being?
ultimate causes, reasons and principles through the  Why do things exist, rather than not exist at
aid of human reason alone. all?
Being/Beings = all things that exists: material (ex.  What is the meaning and nature of Reality?
Stones, trees, car air, water) or immaterial (ex.  What is the underlying Principle of all that
God, Soul and Spirit) exists?
 Is there nothing?
>> Philosophy uses reason as a tool which can be
expressed in many forms such as the ability to 2. SPECIAL METAPHYSICS
reflect, question particulate ones thoughts and  Cosmology = studies the world (or
analyze certain phenomenon or events. universe) including its origin,
>> Philosophy attempts to understand things in a dynamicsand characterisitics,
critical and logical manner. as well as the laws that
govern its order.
Karl Jaspers = understands philosophy as a = kosmos means world
discipline in which questions are more important = logos means study
than answers. Basic Questions in Cosmology:
 What is the origin of the world?
MAJOR BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY  What is the basic material of which the
(Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic, Ethics) world is formed?
 Metaphysics = the study of things beyond the  How do things arise?
physical concepts or things that  In what consists its fundamental form or
cannot be experienced (ex. God, principle of order?
freedom and soul)  Is the world or universe infinite?
= Foundation of Philosophy
= Aristotle calls it the first  Psychology or Anthropology
philosophy =Psychology is the specific
= Metaphysics has been sub branch of philosophy
understood as the study of that that studies the soul or mind.
which exists beyond the physical. = Studies the nature and
= meta means beyond/after dynamics of the human
= physika means physical/nature person as a whole with
emphasis on the way the
Metaphysics is subdivided into two: person’s mind functions and
1. GENERAL METAPHYSICS OR ONTOLOGY the way she behaves.
= the specific branch of philosophy = psyche mean soul or mind
that studies beings in their ultimate = logos means study
causes, reasons, and principles Basic Questions in Psychology:
through the aid of reason alone.  What is the nature of the human person?
= studies the first principles or the  Is there such things as human nature?
essence of all things  What is the meaning and purpose if any, of
= onto means being or that which is life?
that is everything that exists  Is there life after death?
= logos means knowledge or study  How do we account for the existence of
sufferings in the world?
  Natural Theology or Theodicy
= Study of God
= Justification of the
goodness of God in the face
of the existence of evil in the
world.
= theos means God
= the word theos was coined
by the famous 18th century
German philosopher named
Gott fried Wilhelm Leibniz in
his 1970 work entitled
Theodicee
Basic Questions in Theodicy:
 Is there God?
 What and who is God? If He exists at all?
 How do we prove the existence of God?
 If God exists, how do we justify the
existence of evil and suffering in the world?
 Does a belief in God really necessary?
 Epistemology = Study of the nature and scope
of knowledge and justified belief.
= It analyzes the nature of
knowledge and how it relates to
similar notions such as truth, belief
and justification.
= episteme means knowledge
= logos means study
Basic Questions in Epistemology:
 What is knowledge?
 What do we know?
 How is knowledge acquired?
 What are the structures and limits of
knowledge?
 What makes justified beliefs justified?
 Logic = Study of the principles and criteria of a
valid argument.
= Attempts to distinguish sound or good
reasoning from unsound or bad reasoning.
= logos means science of correct thinking
Basic Questions in Logic:
 What is the correct reasoning?
 What distinguishes a good argument from a
bad one?
 How can we detect a fallacy argument?
 What are the criteria in determining the
validity of an argument?
 What are the types of logic?
 Ethics = Morality of human actions.
= Concerned with questions on how human
persons ought to act, and the search for a
definition of a right conduct, and a good
life.
= ethos means custom or habit
>> Ethics is NOT the same with Morality.
Ethics = Denotes the theory of right action and the
greater good.
= Theory
Morality = the rightness and wrongness of a
human action.
= Practice
Basic Questions in Ethics:
 What is right conduct as that which cause
the realization of the greatest good?
 How do we determine a right conduct? In
other words, what makes a right conduct
right?
 What is good life and can we attain it?
 What is the difference between human act
and actions that are based on instinct?
 What do people think as right?
LOGIC:  LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING
MODULE WEEK 1
“What is Philosophy”?
Introduction
Philosophy begins in wonder… Why and
how? These two questions are the main enterprise
of philosophy. Needless to say that man is indeed
inquisitive and by nature desire for understanding.
As he is endowed with senses, especially the sense
of sight, he has always been puzzled by the things
that surround him, particularly those things
peculiar to him. There are certain things that he
knows for what they are, but man is insatiable. He
wants to go deeper and explore the thing that need
to be expounded. In other words he is just not
satisfied to see the effect; he wants to know the
cause. For this reason, man has been questioning
the origin of all beings. That’s why philosophy
“began with man’s sense of wonder and curiosity
expressed in question.”  
So man’s starting point in his search for
answers began with why and how. And he knows
that the answer to his question can create another
question. In other words, man lives in the world
where question is unlimited.
DEFINING PHILOSOPHY
Etymologically speaking, philosophy came from
two Greek words: Philia, which means love and
sophia, which means wisdom ,  thus  philosophy is
a love of wisdom.  
Now, what is the meaning of love and wisdom in
this context?  Love and wisdom in this context is
the strong desire of the human person to possess
knowledge and apply it correctly.  That is why it is
not wonder why we always hear and read some
sages or wise men, for instance, Socrates,
Confucius, Gautama Buddha, and Lao Tzu. 
Traditionally, however, philosophy is defined as a
science that studies beings in their ultimate
reasons and principles through the aid human of
reason alone. Take note, philosophy explains
trough reason alone and in that case, it simply goes
back to our introduction on the question ‘why and
how’?
Different Definitions of Philosophy of the different
philosophers.
Socrates:
The wisest person is the one who does not know
what he knows.
Aristotle:
Man by nature desires for understanding.
Heracriluts:
The only changeless in this world is change.
Karl Jaspers:
Questions are more important than answer,
because answers themselves will in turn become
questions.  goodness of God in the face of evil?
Arthur Schopenhauer:
‘The two main requirements for philosophising are:
firstly, to have the courage not to keep any
questions back; and secondly, to attain a clear
consciousness of anything that goes without saying
so as to comprehend it as a problem.
William James:
"Philosophy is the unusually stubborn attempt to
think clearly."
In short, there is no single definition of philosophy
because philosophers in themselves have different
perspective, however, most of them employ only
reason to come up their own philosophy.
Jurgen Habermas: (Preface to Legitimation Crisis)
[Philosophy is] . . . clarification of very general
structures of hypotheses.
Davis, Grady Scott:  Warcraft and the Fragility of
Virtue, p. 172:
Reading philosophy won't make someone good, it
can only clarify how a person of practical reason
deliberates about actions.
Dan Shannon:
Those who either follow a rational method in their
argument for discovery or who engage in the
content of philosophical speculation, specifically on
the question, `Whether it is possible to gain
knowledge of the absolute?', would be eligible for
the title `philosopher.'
Robert Ginsberg:
Philosophy is a creative art of making problems.
. . . Philosophy probes problems. It tries to show
what a problem is in the sense of what is
problematic about it. It explores alternative
possibilities of dealing with the problem.
Hawaii Rent-All:
A philosopher has a problem for every solution.
Jesus Christ: The greatest philosopher
I’m the way, the truth, and the life.
Now, going back to Karl Jaspers’ definition of
philosophy--- questions are more important than
answers.  
So, let us have some basic questions on philosophy.
1. What is the origin of the world of everything
that exist?
2. Why do these exist rather than not exist at all?
3. Is there God? If so, how can we justify the
4. What is the meaning and purpose of life? Why
do we have to suffer?
5. If one is suffering from unbearable pain, such as
cancer, is it morally right to resort to
euthanasia or assisted suicide?
These are just some of the basic questions in
Philosophy attempted to address, and in doing so,
philosophy uses reason as a tool which can be
expressed in many forms such as the ability to
express ideas, articulate one’s thoughts, and
analyze certain phenomenon or event.
In short, philosophy attempts to understand things
or beings in a critical and a logical manner.
In when we speak of being/beings in our first
definition of philosophy, we mean all that things
exist, whether material or immaterial. An example
of material are:  house, building, tree, dog, man,
air, and everything that we see. For immaterial are:
the notions of God, soul and spirit, and all of these
are beings for the simple reason that it
communicates something to us.
 Thus, philosophy studies their ultimate causes,
reasons, and principle through the aid of reason
alone.