Philosophy 01 notes

Introduction to Philosophy of the human person

what is philosophy - The rational investigation of the truths and principles

of being, knowledge, or conduct.
'philo' (love) and 'sophia' (wisdom).

definition of etymology - the study of historical linguistic change,

especially as manifested in individual words.

Pre Socratic age

Thales is a Greek mathematician, astronomer, and pre-Socratic philosopher

from Miletus in Ionia. Thales’s theory, it states that the philosophy of nature
had developed from one source.

Archi - source is water.

Pythagoras - Pythagorean theorem.

All things are numbers because it can be calculated. If one thing cannot be
explained by mathematics therefore it is not a thing. Music, astronomy, and medicine he
also contributed.
Allegedly he invented the word philosophy
(Probably not true because he didn't make any books)
He also believed that every soul is immortal. That if a person dies their soul will be
transported to a animal and if the animal soul dies it will just transport to another animal.
He also didn't engage in sexual activities and other types of pleasure He thinks that it is
spiritually exhausting and dangerous. Because he wants to focus more on himself.

Democritus - everything is composed of 'atoms'

Laughing philosopher - Democritus.
two forms of knowledge - legitimate knowledge and bastard knowledge.
legitimate knowledge - may evidence/proof that makes things legit.
bastard knowledge - insufficient and subjective, perception through senses.

Greek golden age

Plato: allegory of the cave -

It's about the inability to find out the truth about life or anything. The
shadows are what we see; the objects as seen from outside the cave are what
is real.

Aristotle: taxonomy -
He assumed that creatures could be grouped in order from lowest to highest.
with human species being the highest. source Dave garden.

Father of taxonomy - father of taxonomy/father of science. Was the first to

classify all living things. Some examples are vertebrates and invertebrates.

Medieval period

St Augustine - city of God

St Augustine was the bishop of Hippo (Annaba, Algeria), renowned theologian
and prolific writer
Definition of City of God, new Jerusalem, paradise, heaven.

City of God, is a book of Christian philosophy written in lain by Augustine

of Hippo. The book was in response to allegations that Christianity brought
about the decline of Rome.

People need government because they are sinful served as a model for church-state
relations in medieval times.

William of Ockham - Ockham's Razor

William of Ockham was an English Franciscan friar, scholastic philosopher,
and theologian, who is believed to have been born in Ockham.
His philosophy convinced that belief in God is a matter of faith alone.

Ockham's Razor/Law of economy/Law of parsimony

"entities should not be multiplied without necessity".

The principle that in explaining a thing no more assumptions should be made

than are necessary. The principle is often invoked to defend reductionism or
nominalism.

Modern age

Niccolò Machiavelli - "the end justifies the means"

Niccolò Machiavelli was an Italian diplomat, author, philosopher, and historian
who lived during the Renaissance. He is best known for his political treatise
The prince.

The end justifies the means?

Is it better to do a good thing that results in a bad thing, or is it better?
to do a bad thing that results in a good thing.

used to say that a desired result is so good or important that any method, even
a morally bad one, may be used to achieve it they believe that the end justifies
the means and will do anything to get their candidate elected.

Consequentialism - origin of the ends always justifies the means,

Rene Descartes - Cogito Ergo sum

Rene Descartes - mathematician and first modern philosopher
Rene Descartes - cartesian plane, geometry and algebra.

Cogito Ergo sum translates to "I think, therefore I am" in latin.

is a first step in demonstrating the attainability of certain knowledge.

- I don' think that I exist

- Thinking is a way of existing
- Therefore, I don't think that I am thinking.
- I am thinking therfore I exist

assuming one’s existence.

Branches of philosophy

Divided into 2

Descriptive (logic, Metaphysics, epistemology, Ethics major branches of Philo)

answer the question what is?
Study of knowledge

Metaphysics
-Considered one of the major branches in philosophy
-study of reality
- (Carl Marx, human thoughts and ideas are shaped by the environment)
Ontology - What is the nature of existence
Cosmology - Origin and organization of the universe

Idealism - exists when there is someone thinking of an object. Dependent on human

thought

Materialism - excessive obsession onto the material

people are occupied by material things.
independent of human thought.

Epistemology - Greek word "episte" Knwoledge "ology" study of

Raises questions about the nature of knowledge

Deductive logic - 97-100% true,

all humans are mortal, Aristotle is human, Aristotle is mortal

Inductive logic - probability only

80% of humans are left-handed, mike is human, mike is left handed

Axiology - Explores the natures of values

Normative
Aesthetics - concerned with art and beauty,

Plato - anti art - tripartite soul

1.rational
2.emotional
3.physical desires

Aristotle - pro art - our body needs to experience full range of emotions
to stay balance.

Ethics - Study the rightness and the wrongness of human action

Medical ethics, Legal ethics, Business ethics, media ethics
-answer the question what ought?
-explains thing as they should be.

Social and political philosophy

Social philosophy - is the philosophical study of questions about social behavior

(typically, of humans)

(society cannot manage itself without politics and government.

Politics and government cannot exist without the people/society.
what makes a government legit? when it is acknowledge by people.
1987 constitution)

Priori vs Posteriori

Priori - a knowledge is prior to sense experience

example - one could think and deduce that 2+2=4

Posteriori - A knowledge is gained only after sense experience has already

occurred.
example -one could never close their eyes, look within and
discover that the titanic sunk on April 15, 1912

Objective truth and subjective truth

Objective truth - 2+2=4

Subjective truth - god created the world (basis is religous belief)

Truth - lies at the heart of any inquiry. it is a fact that is verified.

(truth - the objective requirement for knowledge)

Knowledge - simple data that comes from the outside that pass to our senses.
it must be truthful to gain validity and acceptance.
(definition of knowledge - justified through belief)
(knowledge - pursiut of truth)

Truth fallacy - believe something is true but really isn't

Theories of truth

Correspondence theory - statement is true if it corresponds to an object in

reality
example - the table is round
X is true if and only if, x corresponds to some fact.
x is false if and only if, x does not correspond to any fact.

Coherence theory - statement is true if it is complementary ot coherent to

others belief
example - God created the world (true for Catholics and other religion
but false for atheits).

Pragmatic theory - statement is true if it is beneficial depending on our

perspective
example - Mapua is a good university (true because of ABET accredited, true
because of high passing rate in the boards, false because of activities).

Constructivist theory - Statement is true if it is a SOCIAL NORM

example - young people should respect the elderly

Consensus theory - Statement is true if there’s an agreement that something

is true
Example - light is a particle (Scientist agreed that it is a particle).
God and the human person
God is the pinnacle of perfection according to St. Thomas Aquinas

Free will V. Determinism

Determinism - suggest that the individual has no complete control pertaining

to his consciousness

Hard Determinism - individuals are fully and completely subject to this external
force and that will, and agency does not exist
Belief in god - god is omnipotent
(Gods plan is inevitable)
Soft Determinism - external factors do exist but that the extent of their influence
is subject to debate.

John Locke - Free will is just an illusion

(pre determination)
(Case in America – The client cannot be imprisoned since the actions are pre-
determined)
(until now debatable)

Baron D'holback - Human actions are part of the physical world, bound by its physical
laws, better explained through reductionism. Reductionism is the view
that all parts of the world and of our own experience can be traced back
or reduced - to one singular thing.

Laplace's demon

- Pierre-Simon Laplace
- Suppose that there exist an observer (ie the demon) outside the universe
which can calculate the position and momentum of every particle in any
given instance with infinite percision, then that entity would be
able to accurately predict the next instance.

What is dignity?
"what you are"
Intrinsic
Socially recognized

What is pride?
"who you are"
Earned self-validated

Degradation & Humiliation

Degradation - bumababa ang dignity
Humiliation - bumababa ang pride

Human dignity during world war 2

Constitution - Article 2, section XI 1987 constitution
R.A No. 10368 Human Rights Victims Reoaration and Recognation of Act 2013
Article 3, Section XII 1987 Constitution

Immanuel Kant - person was born with dignity along with pride

The telos of the human person

Telos - purpose
What is death?

Dictionary - permanent cessation of all vital functions

permanent - continuing and enduring. When you are dead 1923 you
are still dead 2099

Socrates - Considered to be the father of Philosophy

Put under trial in front of a jury

Death as cessation of consciousness:

He believes that it is just like a dreamless sleep
All the sickness, worries, exhaustion, go away

Death as separation of the soul from the body:

He believes that there is a place where all the dead gathers. One time, he even claimed
theorized that on that place, they are formless but can still converse and think everyone.

Meanwhile, in Plato’s Phaedo’s. He mentioned about the myth of afterlife. He mentioned

that when you die, your soul will be separated from your body and that's when you get
judged.

He mentioned that the bad people will go straight to Tartarus

(their version of hell) and their soul will be transferred to
hell.

The normal average, kind of people will be reincarnated as

normal animals or maybe humans again (different body), if they are lucky.

The holy people, on the other hand, will go to what he called a better place
an immaterial place where they live with the Gods and other good people

Philosophers, according to the same myth, automatically belong there.

Heidegger comes in
if you remember Martin Heidegger from your last lesson, one of his biggest
arguments is that man is a being for death

His Dasein concept comes from a German phrase being there

Death - absence
Absence - Not being there
Noth being there - is losing the concept of Dasein

Therefore, the moment you die you can no longer be considered as a man

He also attempted to rectify the common belief that is death is something that
just happens -- according to him, death is not like that, death is something
impending since birth

Birth = Death
Anxiety = fear
Anxiety is fearing something unavoidable (like death)

Fearing is fearing something avoidable the usual response is to avoid

the thing that scares us.

2 attitudes towards death

The inauthentic
authentic

the inauthentic attitude towards death

the anticipation of the possibility of death
Heidegger believes this is the key to real death

Dantes inferno
First circle - Limbo
second circle - Lust
Third circle - Gluttons
Fourth circle - greedy
Fifth circle - anger and wrath
Sixth circle - Heretics and saw Epicurus
Seventh circle - Violent people suffer
Eight circle - Fraud (Falsifiers, thieves, etc)
Ninth circle - Treacherous

In the end, he completed the journey through hell and made it back to earth

The inferno is only 1/3 of the trilogy. The remaining 2/3 talks about his
journey to purgatory and heaven.

The whole divine comedy is anchored on the belief that after we die
we will have what we call afterlife

Friedrich Nietzsche
1844-1900
"To live is to suffer; To survive is to find some meaning in the suffering"
Father of Nihilism - according to him we only get meaning from embracing
illusions

Arthur Schopenhauer
- first pessimist, counterpart of buddha
- 1. existence is a mistake, 2. The best thing for humans is to not exist

Albert Camus
1913 - 1960
- understanding that life is absurd is the first step to living a full life

The pursuit of Happiness

Epicureanism
Found by Epicurus, having pain and fear

- of God knows about suffering; cares about suffering; and can do something
about their suffering; then there shouldn't be suffering.

- A philosophy that Zeno of cilium believes that suffering is caused by a self

inflicted slavery, making happiness dependent on things
that we can't control

- stoicism believes that the only path to eudaimonia

is to acquire excellence of character while being deeply anchored with
determinism. It simply means that people can achieve happiness if they stop
being negatively affected by things they can’t control.

Utilitarianism
- is a type of a philosophy,
- J.S Mill and J. Bentham: both agree to the core of Unitarianism

Bentham
achieving happiness, no matter what

Mill
actions that are right in proportion will promote happiness and actions
that are wrong in proportion will not promote happiness.