Philosophy – Lesson 1

Philia
Doing Philosophy - Love of friendship/ fondness and appreciation of the qualities
of the beloved.
Agape
Philosophy
- Unconditional love of God/brotherly Love for all humanity.
- Refers generally to ideas, views, principles, perspective, or
belief held either by individuals or groups of individuals,
regardless of the specific nature of ideas, views, principles,
Philosophy is the appreciation or fondness of wisdom.
perspectives or belief.
Wisdom
Etymology
- Refers to understanding of the meaning, reason or cause of
- the origin of the word
things.
- The word philosophy comes from two Greek words, philo or
- The application of knowledge/ what we acquire.
philien, meaning “to love”, and Sophia meaning “wisdom”.
Philosophy originally means, “Love of Wisdom” Knowledge
- It was the ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras who coined
the word philosophia or philosophy. - Refers to the acquisition of ideas, information, theories, and
- Pythagoras preferd to be called a philosopher rather than a the application of certain scientific principles and formula, or
sophist – which literally means a “wise man” or “one who the mastery of certain methods or procedures.
knows”
3 kinds of Love
Eros
- Sexual desire/ intensely desire something.
What Makes Philosophy Unique Philosophy in their Ultimate causes and Principles.
- Because it investigates, reflects and understands the
fundamental or underlying meaning, reasons, and causes of
The Scientist and the Philosopher
all things.
The Scientist provide facts, information, and theories that
benefits us in our everyday concern. (provide Knowledge)
Philosophy as Known by natural reason alone
The Philosopher has the ability to weave all the facts and
information and form them into one idea and enables. (Seek - Because it relied mainly on one’s mental and rational
wisdom) capacity.

Definition
As an Academic discipline
- Philosophy is the science of things in their ultimate causes
and principles as known by natural reason alone.
Philosophy as Science
- It is the science because it is not based on mere opinion or
hypothesis.
- The concepts and principles of philosophy are based on
certain facts and they have to be analyzed, demonstrated, or
proven before being reduced to a system.
Philosophy as the Science of all things
- It is considered the science of all things because it studies all
realities which can be known and understood by human
reason.
Allegory of the Cave Symbol
The allegory of the Cave symbolizes the main idea of this Shadow
allegory is the difference between:
- Represents a false vision of the truth, an illusion about
- People who simply experience their sensory experiences, and reality.
call that knowledge.
Fire
Belief vs Knowledge
- The fire inside the cave represents the sun. the sun outside
The goal of education is to pull people out of the “cave” and the cave signifies philosophical truth, knowledge.
enlighten them in the real world with real objects.
The Freed Prisoner
“Once a human being gains knowledge, going back to
- Represents the philosopher, who seek knowledge outside the
complete ignorance is impossible.”
cave and outside of the senses.
Light
Plato’s Cave Allegory show four stages of life
- Symbolize enlightenment and wisdom, darkness symbolizes
The first stage is imagination. In this stage human beings are ignorance.
only imagining what reality is.
Cave
The second stage is the stage of thought. This stage occurs
- Represents the World, the region of life which revealed to us
when the person realizes that there are real things, what Plato calls
through the sense of sight.
the forms that exist outside of the shadow world,
When his eyes adjust, he is able to take in the actual sun and
its light, and this stage of understanding.
Eventually he reaches full enlightenment which Plato called
the form of God,
Asking framework questions
Foundational/Internal Questions
This are question that are directed at our framework,
generally referring to our belief systems or world views which serve
as the bases or foundation of our interpretation of the things and
events in the world and how we make sense of our lives in relation
to our natural and social environment.
Example: what are the causes of earthquake?
These questions are considered internal to the framework, for
they can be answered using the rules and concepts of the framework.
External Questions
- These are questions that we ask about a framework itself.
(Like whether it is a coherent or effective framework.
- These questions are considered external to the framework,
for they cannot be answered using the rules ad concepts of
the framework.
Example: what is the nature of causation?
Internal questions are not framework questions and hence are
not philosophical questions, but external questions are framework
questions and hence are philosophical questions.
Philosophy as an Activity
Two ways of understanding the nature of philosophy.
- One sees philosophy as a collection of theories; the other
sees it as an activity.
- one states that study philosophy is to know the various
philosophical theories; the other states that to study
philosophy is to engage in the very act of doing philosophy.
Philosophy studied as an activity that emphasis the features
of philosophy as a dynamic, critical, and creative discipline.
Dynamic
- it is dynamic because it does not stop at certain results.
- It continues to search for new and better solutions to the
problems, old and new that it deals with.
- Philosophy’s search for truth is a continuous process.
Critical
- It is critical because it examines and analyzes the
assumptions of our frameworks or perspectives of things,
including those frameworks provided by philosophy itself in
this connection philosophy is also a self-critical discipline.
Creative
- It is creative in that it leads to the formulation of new and
better framework or perspective.
Nature and function of Philosophy
Philosophy is a human activity
- Only the human person has the capacity to think, to
rationalize, to reflect and to be aware of everything.
Philosophy is perennial research
- Philosophers have a great belief that philosophy is a
perennial activity. It is a never-ending search for truth.
Philosophy is a Social Activity
- As Aristotle said, “man id a social being. Nobody will able
to survive without the help of others.”
Philosophy is a disinterested search
- Philosophy offer practicality because influences our thoughts
and ideas, and these can be the basis for going on in life and
later on, in achieving goals and fulfilment.
Philosophy is a search for the intelligible structure
- As a philosophy is searching for truth, it is therefore, using
reason. Philosophy is the activity of mind. The goal of
philosophy is the attainment of truth.
Philosophy deals with the totality of beings.
- Philosophy deals with the whole creation. It is a search for
the meaning of life and the existence of the whole universe.
It even seeks for the meaning of what is beyond this life.
Function
- Philosophy integrated itself with other disciplines to achieve
a comprehensive and coherent world view.
- Philosophy analyzes the very foundations of other
disciplines.
Philosophy analyzes and criticizes treasured beliefs and
traditions.
Kinds of Philosophy
Five general types
1. The Thematic Types
- distinguished from one another according to the topic of the
issues being addressed.
2. The Positional Types
- Distinguished from one another according to the solution
that is being proposed for a certain issue.
3. The Methodological Types
- Distinguished from one another according to method used to
resolve a certain issue.
4. The Regional (or Geographical) Types
- Distinguished from one another according to the
geographical location in which philosophizing transpires or
flourishes.
5. The Historical Types
- Distinguished from one another according to the historical
period in which philosophizing occurred.
Philosophical Reflection 5. Considering different perspective
- Openness of minds leads one to the next element of
- Is a more profound examination of the underlying meanings
philosophical and critical thinking.
or causes of the problems regarding human existence.
6. Questioning and challenging beliefs
- The ultimate end is to find the underlying meaning and
- Questioning can become a means to contradict a different
reasons behinds one’s experience in life.
view without any basis or reason.
- One of the benefits of practicing philosophical reflection is
that people become critical thinkers.
Critical Thinkers
- Are creative
- People understands clearly or particular situation and
determine whether such situation presents a problem that
needs an explanation or practical solution.
Elements of Critical Thinking
One goal of Philosophical reflection or philosophizing is to
arrive at the truth and avoid error.

1. Understanding
- Means “to have a mental grasp” of things, of reality, of
issues at hand, or of the subject matter.
2. Thinking by and for one self
- Is using one’s power or ability to think or reason out.
3. Thinking Proactively
- Uses intelligence, knowledge and abilities in order to deal
with different situation and issues.
4. Being open minded
- Is open to ideas and opinions of others.
 The value of philosophy
- Philosophy does not aim to satisfy the material needs of man.
- It does not answer the question what, when, who, and how.
- Is to provide food for the mind and nourishment for the
spirit.
- The basic question of philosophy is “why”
- More important is the question rather than the answer.
- Philosophy nurtures the mystery further as an essential part
of reality.
- Philosophy guides people to ask questions and enables them
to free their minds from accepting anything without
questioning it.
In other words
: an intelligent person asks intelligent and sensible questions.
: a wise person Questions, unquestioned truth.
It is followed by a simple act of inquiry and then by the
search for answer. Once a person acquires wisdom, his/her mind
becomes open to realities ad enables him/her to see things in a new
light and experience.
To engage in a philosophical activity, a person will need two
basis components – Reason and Experience.
Reason
- Enables a person to reflect on or examine the underlying
meaning or causes of things or realities.
Experience
- Provides a person with the initial data so that he/she would
be able to speak his/her subsequent reflection or
examination. It is also experience that keeps a person rooted.

The art and wonder of Philosophizing

-
The philosophizing is making speculation or theories about
fundamental or serious issues in a complicated and difficult manner.
Philosophizing begins with wondering and posting questions
why man uses philosophy to satisfy his/her curiosity.
PHILOSOPHY – LESSON 2
METHODS OF PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy as speculation/speculative thinking.
Speculation is derived from the Latin word “specula”,
which means “watch tower”.
It implies a vision above that of an ordinary person.
Speculation is sometimes considered as detached because it’s
an activity best done alone in isolation. It is often a result of
contemplation which you can do on your own.
It is still said to be a philosopher vision because to speculate
also means to participate in the world and use the experience as
basis or resource of ideas.
Speculation is what helps you to take the broadest possible
perspective on a subject of inquiry.
Thus, speculation as a model of philosophical inquiry will
help you explore and take in a variety of perspective about the
human person through personal contemplation while at the time
having an experience of the world.
Philosophy as Critical Thinking/Analysis
To criticize means to “Judge” and or to “Analyze”.
Philosophy as critical thinking or analysis, questions, judge, and
premises that may be gained through speculation.
One mode of critical analysis is logical. In logical analysis,
a statement is reduced into its simplest form, called elementary
sentence, which is the verified through observation.
Another mode of critical analysis linguistic, where
meanings or words are analyzed for their clarity and
consistence.
Linguistic analysis requires a clear definition of words to
avoid ambiguity or vagueness and therefore ensures clarity of
claims.
Philosophizing has to involve both the speculative and the
critical aspects of looking at things since philosophy is directed
toward a holistic perspective and a broader view of explaining the
word.
Philosophy as Reflective Inquiry
It is clear that while speculation can be detached because
contemplation can be done alone, reflective inquiry has to happen
with others who are likewise involved in the process of thinking.
 Philosophizing is not purely an intellectual exercise. It
also involves the whole being of a person of his or affective part.
It must involve one’s creativity and attitude.

Phenomenological Method
Phenomenology, “the science of the essence of
consciousness”, was founded by Edmund Husserl. Edmund
Husserl thought of philosophy as a rigorous science or the science of
science.
For Husserl, our consciousness is always intentional. That
is, consciousness always intends or that is always tends to
wardom object.
Consciousness is all about the consciousness of something
that is other than itself. This means that our consciousness reaches
out to the real objects of our experiences.
The phenomenological method or the process of knowing the
meaning things as they are in themselves is called epoche.
Epoche or bracketing refers to the reduction of our
experiences. In this method, the natural attitude about the world
or reality is suspended.
The most basic aim of phenomenology is to provide
fundamental description, free from all the distortion of
presupposition and prejudices. In short, we suspend our
judgement. No bias.
Logical And Critical Thinking
Logic is centered in the analysis and construction of
argument. Logic and critical thinking serve as paths to freedom from
half-truths and deception.
Critical thinking is distinguishing facts and opinions or
personal feelings. In making rational choices, first, we suspend
beliefs and judgment, until all facts have been gathered and
considered.
2 basic types of reasoning
Inductive reasoning
- Is from observation order to make generalization. This
reasoning is often applied in prediction, forecasting or
behavior.
Deductive Reasoning
- Draws conclusion from usually are broad judgment or
definition and more specific assertion, often an inference.
Fallacies
- A fallacy is a defect in an argument other than it having false
premises. To detect fallacies, it is required to examine the
arguments content.
1. The fallacy of equivocation is committed when several
meanings of a word or phrase become confused in the
context of one argument. Giving the particular word a
different meaning each time.
Example: "All laws should be respected and obeyed. The law
of gravity is a law. Therefore, the law of gravity should be
respected and obeyed."
2. The fallacy of composition is committed when one reasons
from the qualities of the parts of a whole to the qualities of
the whole itself. Something is true of the whole from the fact
that is true of some part of the whole.
Example: "Every part of this machine is light in weight.
Therefore, the whole machine is light in weight."
3. The fallacy of division, which is the reverse of composition,
is committed when one reasons from the qualities of a whole
to the qualities of the parts of the whole. Something true of a
thing must also be true of all or some of its parts.
Example: "Filipino cultural minorities are disappearing. Juan
is a Filipino cultural minority. Therefore, Juan is
disappearing."
4. The fallacy of argument from ignorance is committed,
when it is argued that a proposition is true simply on the
basis that it has not been proven false, or that it is false
because it has not been proven true. This is a fallacy because
our ignorance of how to prove or disprove a proposition does
not necessarily establish either its truth or falsehood.
Whatever has not been proved false must be true, vice versa.
Example: "Mental telepathy must be accepted as a fact; for
nobody has proven that it is impossible."
5. Against the Person (Argumentum and Hominem),
attempting to refute an argument by attacking the opposite
son’s personal character or reputation using corrupted.
6. The fallacy of appeal to the person is committed when one
evaluates an argument by means of citing something about
the person who asserts the said argument. In this case, an
argument is often claimed to be wrong because of some
negative qualities of the person who asserted the argument.
Appeals or exploits people’s vanities, desire for esteem, and
anchoring a popularity.
Example: "She cannot be a good president, for she comes
from a broken family."
7. The fallacy of appeal to pity is committed when one
appeals to pity to cause the acceptance of a conclusion. Tries
to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or
her opponent’s feelings of pity or guilt.
Example: "This employee certainly deserves a promotion,
for he can hardly feed his starving family."
8. The fallacy of appeal to popular will is committed when
one appeals to general, common, popular, or stereotypical
prejudices or beliefs to cause the acceptance of some
conclusion.
Example: "We should drink this brand of beer, for it is the
regular drink of successful men after a hard day's work."
9. The fallacy of appeal to force is committed when one
appeals to force, often with subtlety, to cause the acceptance
of a conclusion. An argument where force, coercion, or
threat to force, it is given as justification for a conclusion.
Example: "It is your duty to pledge allegiance to the new
constitution, for otherwise rebellion charges will be filed
against you."
10. The fallacy of false cause is committed when one attributes
a wrong cause to something, which is often due to a mere
temporal succession of two events. Since the event followed
this one that even must have been caused by this one.
Example: "Edgar Allan Poe's literary genius must have been
caused by drinking liquor, for it is said that before he would
write he would first drink some liquor."
11. The fallacy of begging the question is committed when
reasoning is circular in that the conclusion is already
assumed in the premises. This is a type of fallacy in which
the proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly in the
premise.

Example: "The soul is immortal, for it never dies"

12. The fallacy of hasty generalization (or converse accident) is

committed when one makes a generalization from a special
or accidental case, or simply from insufficient number of
cases. Converse accident is a case of weak inductive
reasoning. The fallacy is commonly based on a broad
conclusion upon the statistics of a server of a small group
that fails to sufficiently represent the whole population.

Example: "While running, Mario had a heart attack.

Therefore, running is bad for the heart."
Truths, Facts, and Opinion Coherence Theory
- A proposition is true if it is consistent with a system of other
preposition considered true.
Fact
- The truthfulness, therefore, of a person judgement
- Is a piece of information on having objective reality. (proposition) is based on his/her statements coherence to a
certain set of established beliefs.
Truth
Programmatic Theory
- On the other hand, is a proposition believe to be absolute
reality. - A proposition is true if it is useful.
- Contend that judgment must be continually verified and
Opinion validated by having close encounter and interaction to the
- Is a judgement base on personal conviction, which may not world.
be factual, truthful or false. - In order to know the truth, a person must engage oneself
with something that would give him/her the benefit or the
highest form of success.
Theories of Truth Kinds of Truths
Empirical truth and Rational truth
Correspondence Theory Empirical truth
- The truth of a proposition is determined by its relationship - is established by means of sense experience.
(correspondence) to the way things are in the world (reality).
- A proposition is true, if, and only if, what is condeds related Rational truth
to what is real. - is established by means of reason.
- Truth, therefore, corresponds to facts, hence, truth is
absolute. For example, the truth of observational statements such as "It is
raining" is an empirical truth; while the truth of definitions such as
"A triangle has three sides" and mathematical statements such as
"Five and five are ten" is a rational truth.
Synthetic truth and Analytic truth Empirical truths are contingent truths; whereas rational truths are
necessary truths. In simpler terms, a contingent truth is not always
Synthetic truth
true while a necessary truth is always true.
- extends our knowledge, (the information provided by the
Private truth and Public truth.
predicate is not contained in the information provided by the
subject) Private truth
Analytic truth - can only be known directly by the person who has the belief,
or makes the statement considered to be true;
- does not (the information provided by the predicate is
contained in the information provided by the subject). Public truth
All empirical truths are synthetic truths. - can, in principle, be known directly by everyone, (by "in
principle" we mean the occurrence or presence of the
Knowing that the table is brown, for instance, extends our
necessary conditions like the knowing person is a normal
knowledge about the table. We know what a table is and knowing
adult).
that it is colored brown adds to what we know already about a table.
The truth of psychological statements, or statements about one's own
On the other hand, definitions and identity statements are good
mental states, is a private truth. But empirical and rational truths are
examples of analytic truths.
public truths.
In the definition "The triangle has three sides," the
Subjective truth and Objective truth.
information about having three sides is already contained in the
information about being a triangle. Thus, knowing that a triangle has Subjective truth
three sides does not extend our knowledge about a triangle. The
- is dependent on the attitudes, preferences, or interests of a
same is true of knowing that a bachelor is an unmarried male, there
person or a group of persons.
is no extension of knowledge that happens.
Objective truth
Contingent truth and Necessary truth.
- is not dependent
Contingent truth is not true in all possible situations, whereas
necessary truth is.
Universal truth and Relative truth.
Something is universally true if its truth is acknowledged by
everyone.
Something is relatively true if its truth is acknowledged only by
some people.
Objective truths are usually universal truths as well; while
subjective truths are usually relative truths as well.
Certain truth and Probable truth.
Deductive truth
- the truth of the statement arrived at through the process of
deductive reasoning, is certain.
Inductive truth
- the truth arrived at through the process of inductive
reasoning, is merely probable.
Disciplinal kinds of truth.
- This gives rise to a number of kinds of truth, as many as
there are different areas of study. We may call these truths
disciplinal kinds of truth.
- For instance, we have religious truth, scientific truth,
psychological truth, biological truth, and economic truth.
Simply, religious truth concerns the truth of religious
statements or beliefs; scientific truth the truth of scientific
statements or beliefs; psychological truth the truth of
psychological statements or beliefs; and so on.