REVIEWER IN PHILOSOPHY
often used in sociology and
(First Monthly Examination)
LESSON 1: CONCEPT OF PHILOSOPHY
➢ Etymology of Philosophy
o Greek word “philo” means love
and Latin word “sophia” means
wisdom
o Love of wisdom or love of truth
➢ Philosophy - defined as the science
that concerns with a being, its ultimate
reasons, its causes, and its principles
that can be acquired with the aid of
divine and human reasons.
- defined as the knowledge of all
things in their first principle or causes
as seen by the natural light of
reason.
- scientific knowledge, that is,
knowledge through causes.
Philosophy explains the reason why.
- seeks the comprehensive, all-
inclusive view of reality. It is the
knowledge of all things.
- explains and shows being in its
formal and ultimate or final causes
- attains genuine knowledge by
understanding the inner intelligible
structure of being, its unchanging
inner essence through the process of
mental abstraction.
- as a superior kind of knowledge
endeavors to dig down the very root
of things and through the exercise of
reasons tries to study things in their
deepest and most general aspects
- about asking questions
- study of general and fundamental
problems, such as those connected
with existence, knowledge, values,
reason, mind, and language.
- is the rational attempt to formulate,
understand, and answer fundamental
questions.
➢ “Philosopher” – someone who
practices Philosophy
- “lover of wisdom”
- Traced back to Pythagoras
➢ Pythagoras – Greek Mathematician and
philosopher
- supposed to disclaimed the title
“sophist” or “wise man”, for the
reason that no man, but GOD alone,
is truly wise
➢ Meaning of Person
o In philosophy, a person is a being
that has a certain capacities or
attributes.
o It is a composite of characteristics
that make an individual a “self.”
o The plural “persons” is often used
in philosophy and law whereas
the word persons or people is
government
➢ Meaning of Human
o It is defined as a rational being
endowed with composite
characteristics as distinct from
lower animals.
o Human person is used together
to distinguish it from other kinds
of persons such as corporate
person, ecclesiastical person,
person in grammar, etc
➢ Wisdom - morality that is not innate but
can only be acquired through
experience.
➢ Levels of Wisdom
o Natural Wisdom - entails a
person to understand a thing, a
concept or an idea by mere
reason and can be properly
acquired or verified by the five
external senses
▪ Internal Sense includes
sense of knowledge,
abstraction, judgment,
reasoning, imagination and
instinct.
▪ External Sense – pertains
to the five senses.
o Supernatural Wisdom -
acquired by the reason illumined
by faith
- this is the wisdom that
transcends natural wisdom and
fully understand the spiritual
truths of God
➢ Nature of Philosophy
o Philosophy is a set of views or
beliefs about life and the
universe, which are often held
uncritically
o Philosophy is a process of
reflecting on and criticizing our
most deeply held conceptions
and beliefs.
o Philosophy is a rational attempt to
look at the world as a whole.
o Philosophy is the logical analysis
of language and the clarification
of the meaning of words and
concepts
o Philosophy is a group of
perennial problems that interest
people and for which
philosophers always have sought
answers
➢ Nature of Philosophy
o Dynamic and progressive
o Being-on-the-way
o Life-long search for the meaning
of experiences
 o A life-long process of dialogic
interaction between the OBJECT
and SUBJECT
o an INFINITELY STUPENDOUS
PERFECTION OF SELF
➢ The Perspective of Philosophy of
Human Nature
o Partial Perspective - focus of
philosophy is the human person
in relation to self: his intellect and
freewill as a unique individual
(psychology) limited in his
capacity to do good (ethics) and
to know (epistemology) and his
place in society (political
philosophy)
o Holistic Perspective - human
person is seen as a whole or its
entire functioning system, not as
a collection of parts that is. Their
functioning cannot be fully
understood solely in terms of their
component parts
➢ Comparison between Philosophy and
other Sciences
➢ Importance of the Study of
Philosophy
o It leads us to a broader
understanding of man and
experience.
o It gives man pleasure and
satisfaction.
o It serves man a better
understanding of himself and his
fellow human beings.
o It leads us to a broader
understanding of man and
experience.
o It gives man pleasure and
satisfaction.
o It serves man a better
understanding of himself and his
fellow human beings.
➢ Branches of Philosophy
o Epistemology – inquires the
origin, nature, and the process of
acquiring and the validity of
human knowledge
o Metaphysics - understands the
nature of beings or reality in its
very essence
o Logic - study of methods and
principles used to distinguish
correct from incorrect, systematic
or orderly reasoning
o Axiology - studies the nature,
origin and significance of values;
vices and virtues; aesthetics and
ethics
▪ Aesthetics - investigates
how we define beauty or
taste, appreciate art, and
recognize connections
between forms found in
nature and mathematics to
artistic expressions across
the arts
▪ Ethics - determines the
morality of human actions
as well as the pursuit of a
good life. Concerns about
the nature of good and evil
o Political Philosophy - study of
fundamental questions about the
state, government, politics,
liberty, justice, and the
enforcement of a legal code by
authority. It is Ethics applied to a
group of people and discusses
how a society should be set up
and how one should act within a
society
➢ Philosophical Theories About Man
o Man is just a body or only a
soul or spirit.
▪ Karl Marx
▪ Man is merely a machine.
▪ Man is treated like a tool to
attain selfish motives.
o Man is reduced to a genital
organ.
▪ Sigmund Freud
▪ Man is treated as a sex
object only
o Man is a product of
imagination
▪ David Hume
▪ Man is not true or existing
o Man is an animal.
▪ Charles Darwin
▪ Man has no dignity
 ▪ Man is an accidental result
of change
▪ Man is nothing
o Man is union of body and soul
only
▪ Rene Descartes
▪ Man as no personhood
(non-spiritual)
o Man is an expression of the
idea of man.
▪ Georg Wilhelm Friedrich
Hegel
▪ Man has no freedom at all
➢ Pilosopo as Philosopher
➢ Are pilosopo and philosopher the
same?
LESSON 2: PROMINENT PHILOSOPHERS
➢ SOCRATES (470 BCE to 399 BCE)
o He was considered the foremost
philosophers of ancient times.
o He was credited with formulating
the Socratic method - means of
examining a topic by devising a
series of questions that let the
learner examine and analyze his
knowledge and views regarding
the topic.
➢ PLATO (427 BCE to 347 BCE)
o A student of Socrates, he wrote
down his mentor’s teaching and
incorporated some of his own
ideas into them.
o His most significant ideas
included his Theory of Forms,
which proposes that everything
that exist is based on an idea or
template than can only be
perceived in the mind.
o Plato is also known for his
dialectic- a method of inquiry
where two opposing ideas are
discussed in an attempt to arrive
at new knowledge. Plato’s lasting
contribution to learning was his
founding of the Academy, an
institution of higher learning.
➢ ARISTOTLE (384 BCE to 322 BCE)
o He attended the Academy and
was the prominent student of
Plato.
o For him, all ideas and views are
based on perception and our
reality is based on what we can
sense and perceive.
o His studies in logic led to the
formulation of a formal process of
analyzing reasoning which give
rise to deductive reasoning –
the process by which specific
statements are analyzed to reach
a conclusion or generalization.
➢ PYTHAGORAS (570 BCE to 495 BCE)
o A mathematician and scientist, he
was credited with formulating the
Pythagorean theorem
➢ HERACLITUS (535 BCE to 475 BCE)
o He proposed that everything that
exists is based on a higher order
or plan which he called logos.
➢ DEMOCRITUS (460 BCE to 370 BCE)
o He devoted himself to the study
of the causes of natural
phenomena
➢ DIOGENES OF SINOPE (412 BCE to
323 BCE)
o He was a known advocate of
living a simple and virtuous life.
➢ EPICURUS (341 BCE to 270 BCE)
o He believed that philosophy could
enable man to live a life of
happiness
➢ JOHN LOCKE (1632 – 1704)
o He was a prominent thinker
during the Enlightenment period.
o Coined the term tabula rasa
(blank slate) to denote that the
human mind is born unformed,
and that ideas and rules are only
enforced through experience
thereafter.
o Established the method of
introspection, focusing on one’s
own emotions and behaviors in
search of a better understanding
of the self.
➢ RENE DESCARTES (1596 – 1650)
o A French philosopher,
mathematician, and scientist
o Discards belief in all things that
are not absolutely certain,
emphasizing the understanding of
that which can be known for sure.
o Is recognized as the Father of
Analytical Geometry.