San Jose Community College

San Jose, Malilipot, Albay

A.Y. 2020-2021

LEARNER'S MODULE
Social Science and Philosophy
Prelim (Understanding Philosophy)

Course Content 3: Problems of Philosophy

Learning Outcomes: At the end of the lesson, the students must be able to:
1. Describe problems touching the external world.
2. Describe problems touching the mind.
3. Describe reality.

Appearance & Reality

Rene Descartes (1596–1650): first employed method of approaching his subject
embraces the Cartesian technique of radical doubt. He decided to believe in nothing that he did
not discern as clearly and distinctly true. He imagined the possibility of a mischievous demon,
who disordered reality in order to deceive humans. "Subjective things are the most certain."
Bertrand Russell uses radical doubt to separate reality from illusory appearance, a distinction
not motivated by a demon, but by the suggestion that reality is simply ordered in a way that is
not immediately present to our senses.
Example: "I am now sitting in a chair, at a table of a certain shape, on which I see sheets
of paper with writing or print." Let's say, you're the speaker, and you claim the table's surface is
smooth and even. How sure are you about its texture? What if you used a microscope and you
saw roughness and hills and valleys, and all sorts of differences that are imperceptible to the
naked eye? What is its real texture?
Sense-data are the things that are immediately known in sensation (such things as
colors, sounds, smells, harnesses, roughness, and so on. Sensation is the experience of being
immediately aware of sense-data. Physical object provides the sense-data.
Bishop Berkeley (1685-1753): first brought prominently forward the reasons for
regarding the immediate objects of our senses as not existing independently of us. His Three
Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, in Opposition to Skeptics and Atheists, undertake to
prove that there is no such thing as matter at all, and that the world consists of nothing but
minds and their ideas. Do matter really exists?
Activity 1:
1. Do you believe in the idea that "look can be deceiving"? Give three real-life situations which
support the statement.
2. Robert claims his ball's blue but his color-blind friend Alex argues it's red. Which do you think
saw the real color of the ball?

Activity 2:
Walk around your house. Look for ten objects you think have deceiving appearances. Draw
each of them, and write how their appearances mask the reality.

Activity 3:
Ask your mother to sit on a chair. In front of her, scratch a matchstick. Let the flame die out.
Afterwards, cover her eyes with a handkerchief. Scratch another matchstick, then hastily touch
a glass on her arm. Answer the following questions:
1. What is your mother's reaction after the glass was placed directly in contact to her arm?
2. What do you think causes her reaction?
3. How will you relate the situation to the word reality?

The Existence and Nature of Matter

We commonly mean by 'matter' something which is opposed to 'mind', something

which we think of as occupying space and as radically incapable of any sort of thought or
consciousness. Many philosophers held that an object does not depend for its existence upon
being seen by them, it does depend upon being seen (or otherwise apprehended in sensation)
by some mind -- not necessarily the mind of God, but more often the whole collective mind of
the universe. This they hold chiefly because they think there can be nothing real -- or at any
rate nothing known to be real except minds and their thoughts and feelings. "Whatever can be
thought of is an idea in the mind of the person thinking of it; therefore nothing can be thought
of except ideas in minds; therefore anything else is inconceivable, and what is inconceivable
cannot exist." Berkeley claimed matter is really nothing but a collection of ideas. Leibniz (1646-
1716) claimed that what appears as matter is really a collection of more or less rudimentary
minds.
A formal statement of the problem goes: "Granted that we are certain of our own
sense-data, have we any reason for regarding them as signs of the existence of something else,
which we can call the physical object." What is simpler and more plausible is the hypothesis
that independent physical objects exist "whose action on us causes our sensations." Examples:
(1) Man becomes hungry between one meal and the next. If he does not exist when he is not
observed, then it is harder to imagine him becoming hungry when he does not exist. (2) When
watching someone speak, we perceive sense-data like moving lips and uttered sounds, and we
naturally believe that another person is expressing his thoughts, much as we would if we acted
in a similar way. We draw an unconscious analogy between how we think of our own behavior
and how we perceive the behavior of others. That is, it is difficult to imagine that the person
does not exist independently.

Activity 4:
1. What if somebody let you inside a room while your eyes were closed? Would you believe him
if he'll say a lion was inside? Even when you can't see it? Or much more can't hear the lion?
Why?
2. How will you differentiate reality and imagination?

Activity 5:
Draw a representation/symbolism of the idea that "everything around us are not real and just
part of imagination." Write a brief explanation.

Truth and Falsehood

There are two types of knowledge. (1) ‘Knowledge by Acquaintance’ pertains to anything of
which we are directly aware, without the intermediary of any process of inference or any
knowledge of truths. (2) ‘Knowledge of Description’, always involved some knowledge of truths
as its source and ground.

All our knowledge, both knowledge of things and knowledge of truths, rests upon
acquaintance as its foundation.

 Acquaintance by memory: We often remember what we have seen or heard or had

otherwise present to our senses, and that in such cases we are still immediately aware
of what we remember, in spite of the fact that it appears as past and not as present.
 Acquaintance by introspection: We are not only aware of things, but we are often aware
of being aware of them. (Examples: 1. When I see the sun, I am often aware of my
seeing the sun; thus 'my seeing the sun' is an object with which I have acquaintance; 2.
When I desire food, I may be aware of my desire for food; thus 'my desiring food' is an
object with which I am acquainted.)
  Acquaintance with Self: acquaintance to 'I' that which is aware of things or has desires
towards things.
 Acquaintance with Universals: acquaintance with general ideas such as whiteness,
diversity, brotherhood, and so on. (Awareness of universals is called conceiving, and a
universal of which we are aware is called a concept.)

Our knowledge of truths, unlike our knowledge of things, has an opposite, namely error.
We may believe what is false as well as what is true. Theory of Truth proposes 3 requisites: (1)
allows truth to have an opposite, namely falsehood, (2) makes truth a property of beliefs, but
(3) makes it a property wholly dependent upon the relation of the beliefs to outside things.
Truth and falsehood are properties dependent on the relation of the belief to something not
contained in the belief. However, 'relation of the mind to a single object' does not admit the
truth/falsehood opposition; the belief would always be true.
Example: In literature, we know that Othello holds the false belief that Desdemona loves
Cassio. Since no such object 'Desdemona's love for Cassio' does in fact exist, then
Othello cannot have a relation to that object. But what if somebody doesn't know that
the object doesn't exist? Once he heard that "Othello believes that Desdemona loves
Cassio" he won't have an idea whether the belief is true or false.

"When an act of believing occurs, there is a complex, in which 'believing' is the uniting
relation, and subject and objects are arranged in a certain order by the 'sense' of the relation of
believing." The mind which judges in the act of judgment is the subject. The terms about which
it judges are the objects. "A belief is true when it corresponds to a certain associated complex,
and false when it does not." A belief is true when a corresponding fact exists.
Example: Regine Velasquez believes that Sarah Geronimo loves Matteo Guidicelli. The
subject is Regine's mind, the objects knitted into a complex are "Sarah G", "loving", and
"Matteo". The associated complex is known to be fact since the former is married to the
latter.

A true belief is not knowledge when it is deduced from a false belief. Example: If a man
(in 1972) might claim that he knows that the last Prime Minister's last name started with 'B', he
might believe correctly since the last prime minister during that time was Sir Henry Campbell
Bannerman. However, if this particular man holds his belief because he believes the minister's
name was Mr. Balfour, then his belief could not be granted as proper knowledge. The premises
"All Greeks are men; Socrates was a man" are true. The inferred conclusion that "Socrates was
a Greek" is true in itself but does not follow from the premises. Thus, this process of inference
cannot be said to lead to knowledge.
 Bertrand Russell claims that it frequently comes about that a person will hold a true
belief, not because she has validly inferred it, but because she has been familiar with some
piece of intuitive knowledge. Consider the beliefs created in the act of reading. If the
newspapers announce that a king has died, then upon reading it our belief is justified, as the
papers are usually correct when making such statements. However, our belief is based on
knowledge that a sense-data exists, that of print which delivers news. Comprehension of
meaning occurs, but not realization from direct experience. Although the reader could
theoretically draw an inference from printed letters to meanings, she does not perform that
act; she reads and associates an act of inference. Derivative knowledge: the result of intuitive
knowledge even if by mere association.

A belief is true if it corresponds to: (1) Knowledge of fact, and (2) Knowledge of
perception. When 7:30 AM comes, and you say your school is conducting their flag ceremony
(as mandated by the government) even if you're absent, it is derived from knowledge of fact. If
you say the school is conducting a flag ceremony while you're around, the statement is derived
from knowledge of perception.

Activity 6:
Make a Venn diagram, showing the similarities and differences of ‘intuition’ and ‘ideas derived
from proof.’

Activity 7:
1. Is there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt
it? What is it? Why do you say so?
2. If the statements "all Greeks are men" and "Socrates was a man" are true, would you
conclude that "Socrates was a Greek"? Why do you say so?
3. How can you prove that the sun is setting in a particular instance?

Activity 8:
Think of 4 real-life situations showing the ideas of 'knowledge by fact' and 'knowledge by
perception' which greatly influence your life. Present your ideas in a form of fable. Replace the
characters with animals who have similar attitudes or personality.

References:
Solomon, Robert C, and Kathleen M. Higgins. (2010), “The Big Questions: A Short Introduction
to
Philosophy”. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. (USA).
Bowie, Lee G., Michaels, Meredith W., and Solomon, Robert C. (2004), Twenty Questions: An
 Introduction to Philosophy, fifth edition (Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth).
Cohen, Martin (1999), 101 Philosophical Problems, second edition (London and New York:
Routledge).
Craig, Edward (2002), Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction (Oxford: Oxford University Press).
Riddling, Zaine (2001), Philosophy: Then and Now (Access Foundation).
Warburton, Nigel. (2011), A Little History of Philosophy. (Yale University Press: New Haven and
London).
Copleston, F. C. History of Philosophy. 9 vols. New York: Image/Doubleday, 1976.
Hocking, W. E. Types of Philosophy. New York: Scribner’s, 1939.
Bertrand, Russell. The Problem of Philosophy.
Davies, P. and Gegersen, N.H. (2010). “Information and the Nature of Reality”, Cambridge
University Press.
De Haro, Sebastian. (2019). Science and Philosophy: A Love-Hate Relationship. Free School
Lane,
Cambridge CB2 3RH, United Kingdom.