Ways of Doing

Philosophy
 Lesson Objectives

• Distinguish opinion from truth

• Analyse situations that show the difference
 Key Questions

• What are the different ways of doing

philosophy?

• How can philosophy guide us in

distinguishing opinion from truth?
 Philosophizing
To philosophize is to think philosophically or just
deeply and reflectively. On a long car trip, after you
run out of school gossip, you and your friends
might philosophize on the nature of man, or the
question "What is beauty?“

It teaches critical thinking, close reading, clear

writing, and logical analysis.
 Phenomenology
Phenomenology: On Consciousness
• Phenomenology was founded by Edmund Husserl.
• It comes form the Greek word phainómenon
meaning “appearance.”
• This focuses on careful inspection and description of
phenomena or appearances, defined as any object
of conscious experience, that is, that which we are
conscious of. (Johnston 2006)
• The condition of being conscious: the normal state of
being awake and able to understand what is
happening around you.
 Phenomenology
• Husserl’s phenomenology is the thesis that
consciousness is intentional.
• Phenomenology is a philosophy of experience. For
phenomenology the ultimate source of all meaning
and value is the lived experience of human beings.
• Phenomenology uncovers the essential structures of
experience and its objects.
• The word “Phenomenon” comes directly from the
Greek word Phainomenon meaning “appearance.”
Phenomenology is the scientific study of the
essential structures of consciousness. By describing
those structures, Husserl believes that we can find
certainty, which philosophy has always sought.
 Phenomenology
• Examples
▪ I walk carefully around the broken glass on the
sidewalk.
▪ I intend to finish my writing by noon.

Remember, Phenomenology, it is the study of things,

or things as they appear in our experience, or the
ways we experience things. It studies conscious
experiences from the subjective or first person point
of view.
 Methods of Philosophizing
Existentialism: On Freedom
• Existentialism is the philosophical belief we are each
responsible for creating purpose or meaning in our own
lives. Our individual purpose and meaning is not given
to us by Gods, governments, teachers or other
authorities.
• Existentialism is a philosophical theory that people are
free agents who have control over their choices and
actions. Existentialists believe that society should not
restrict an individual's life or actions and that these
restrictions inhibit free will and the development of that
person's potential.
 Methods of Philosophizing
• Existentialism is a philosophy that emphasizes individual
existence, freedom and choice. It is the view that
humans define their own meaning in life, and try to make
rational decisions despite existing in an irrational
universe.

• What do you live for?

• What is your essence in life?
• What is your purpose in life?
Methods of Philosophizing
Methods of Philosophizing
Methods of Philosophizing
 Methods of Philosophizing
Postmodernism: On Cultures
• Postmodernism is not a philosophy.
• “Postmodernism” has come into vogue as the name for a
rather diffuse family of ideas and trends that in significant
respect rejects, challenges, or aims to supersede
“modernity”.
• Postmodernists believe that humanity should come at
truth beyond the rational to the non-rational elements of
human nature, including the spiritual.
• Beyond exalting individual analysis of truth,
postmodernists adhere to a relational, holistic approach.
 Methods of Philosophizing
Analytic Tradition
• For analytic philosophers, language cannot
objectively describe truth because language is
socially conditioned.
• Analytic philosophy is the conviction that to some
significant degree, philosophical problems, puzzles,
and errors are rooted in language and can be solved
or avoided by a sound understanding of language
and careful attention to its workings.
 Methods of Philosophizing
Logic and Critical Thinking: Tools in Reasoning
• Logic is centered in the analysis and construction of
arguments.
• Critical thinking is distinguishing facts and opinions
or personal feelings.
• Critical thinking also takes into consideration
cultural systems, values, and beliefs and helps us
uncover bias and prejudice and be open to new
ideas not necessarily in agreement with previous
thought.
 Methods of Philosophizing
• Two basic types of reasoning:
▪ Inductive reasoning which is based from
observations in order to make generalizations.

Example:
My mother is Irish. She has blond hair. Therefore,
everyone from Ireland has blond hair.

The first notebook I pulled from my bag is red. The

second notebook I pulled from my bag is red.
Therefore, all my notebooks are red.
Methods of Philosophizing
Deductive reasoning which draws conclusion from
usually one broad judgment.

Example:
My mother is Irish. Everyone from Ireland has
blond hair. Therefore, my mother has blond
hair.

The first notebook I pulled from my bag is red.

All notebooks in my bag are red. Therefore,
second notebook I pulled will be red too.
 Methods of Philosophizing
• A deductive argument is said to be valid if the
premises logically lead to the conclusion. A
deductive argument is said to be sound if it is valid
and has true premises.

A tarantula is a spider. Therefore, tarantulas have eight

legs." For deductive reasoning to be sound, the
hypothesis must be correct. It is assumed that the
statements, "All spiders have eight legs" and "a
tarantula is a spider" are true. Therefore, the
conclusion is logical and true.
 Methods of Philosophizing
• An inductive argument is the use of collected
instances of evidence of something specific to
support a general conclusion.

Example:
Joe wore a blue shirt yesterday. Joe's shirt today is
blue. Joe will wear a blue shirt tomorrow as well.
 Methods of Philosophizing
Fallacies
Fallacies are common errors in reasoning that will
undermine the logic of your argument. Fallacies can
be either illegitimate arguments or irrelevant points,
and are often identified because they lack evidence
that supports their claim. Avoid these common
fallacies in your own arguments and watch for them
in the arguments of others.

Appeal to ignorance (Argumentum ad

ignorantiam)
▪ What has not been proven false must be true
and vice versa.
 Methods of Philosophizing
• Common fallacies
1. Appeal to pity (Argumentum ad misericordiam)
An appeal to pity fallacy is committed when the
arguer attempts to influence the listener not by
providing good reasons for the conclusion, but by
mentioning sad or difficult circumstances that are
irrelevant to the issue.

"You need to pass me in this course, since

I'll lose my scholarship if you don't."
Methods of Philosophizing
2. Appeal to ignorance (Argumentum ad
ignorantiam)
▪ What has not been proven false must be true
and vice versa. Concluding that something is true
since you can't prove it is false.

"No one knows it is true; therefore it is false," or

"No one knows it is false, therefore it is true.“
Methods of Philosophizing
3. Appeal to force (Argumentum ad baculum)
▪ An argument where force, coercion, or the threat
of force is given as a justification for a conclusion.
▪ A fallacy committed when an arguer appeals to
force or to the threat of force to make someone
accept a conclusion.

'If you don't let me win the race, I can't be

your friend anymore.

"Agree with me or I will hit you".

 Methods of Philosophizing
4. Appeal to the people (Argumentum ad populum)
▪ a fallacious argument that concludes a proposition
must be true because so many, or most, people
believe it.

5. Against the Person (Argumentum ad hominem)

▪ type of fallacy occurs when someone attacks
the person instead of attacking his or her
argument.
 Methods of Philosophizing
5. False cause (post hoc)
▪ an argument that draws the conclusion that one
event is directly caused by another event without
evidence to prove this.
A black cat crossed my path, and then I got into a car
accident. The black cat caused the car accident.

6. Hasty generalization
▪ sometimes called the over-generalization
fallacy. It is basically making a claim based on
evidence that it just too small. Essentially, you
can't make a claim and say that something is true
if you have only an example or two as evidence.
 Methods of Philosophizing
6. Hasty generalization
▪ sometimes called the over-generalization
fallacy. It is basically making a claim based on
evidence that it just too small. Essentially, you
can't make a claim and say that something is true
if you have only an example or two as evidence.

“Everyone that signed up for the diet program said

they lost weight. People will lose weight if they go on
this diet.”
Methods of Philosophizing
7. Equivocation
▪ A logical chain of reasoning of a term or a word
several times, but giving the particular word a
different meaning each time.

I told my family that I'd miss the reunion

because I'm coming home from vacation
that week. I get home Thursday, and the
reunion is Friday, but I didn't lie to them about
when I would be home
Methods of Philosophizing
8. Composition
▪ Something is true of the whole from the fact that
it is true of some part of the whole.
“If one runner in a race runs faster, he or she can
win. Therefore, if every runner in the race runs
faster, they can all win.”

9. Division
▪ Something true of a thing must also be true of all
or some of its parts.

The United States is the richest country in the

world. Therefore, everyone in the United States
must be rich and live well.
 Methods of Philosophizing
10. Begging the question (petitio principii)
▪ An argument where the proposition to be proven
is assumed implicitly or explicitly in the premise.

Jane is an intelligent, insightful,

well-educated and personable individual,
which begs the question: why does she stay at
that dead-end job?

Chocolate is healthful because it's good for

you. That begs the question. How do you know
chocolate is good for you?
 Activities
1. How can truth have different interpretations?
2. Share your experiences on the times you did not use
reason in your life but rather, you relied more on
emotions or opinions of other people. What did you
learn from the experience?
3. Cite examples of how fallacies are used in daily life.
For example, when you watch advertisements based
on the popularity of endorsers, do you tend to buy
their product?