L1 - Doing Philosophy
sufficient reason for its being and existence
A philosophical question always contains a bigger problem.
The Meaning of Philosophy
- Etymologically: word “philosophy” comes from two Greek words,
Philo, meaning “to love”, and Sophia, meaning “wisdom”
- Philosophy: originally meant, “love of wisdom”, and in a broad
sense, wisdom is still the goal of philosophy
- defined as the science that by natural light of reason studies the
first causes or highest principles of all things
Science
- called science because the investigation is systematic
- follows certain steps, or it employs certain procedures
- an organized body of knowledge just like any other sciences
Natural Light of Reason
- Philosophy investigates things not by using any other laboratory
instrument or investigative tools
- isn’t based on supernatural revelation, otherwise it becomes
theology
- the philosopher uses his natural capacity to think or simply,
human reason alone or the so-called unaided reason
Study of All Things
- distinction between philosophy from other sciences
- all other sciences concern themselves with a particular object of
investigation
- anthropologists’ study human beings in relation with the society
- sociologists study society, its form, structures, and functions
- botanists focus their attention to plants
- linguists limit themselves with language
- theologians investigate God
- a philosopher studies human beings, society, religion, language,
God, and plants, among other concerns.
First Cause or Highest Principle
- a principle is that from which something proceeds in any manner
whatsoever. The First Principles:
+ Principle of Identity – whatever is is, and whatever is not is not;
everything is what it is. Everything is its own being, and not being
is not being
+ Principle of Non-Contradiction – it is impossible for a thing to be
and not to be at the same time, and at the same respect
+ Principle of Excluded Middle – a thing is either is or is not;
everything must be either be or not be; between being and
not-being, there is no middle ground possible
+ Principle of Sufficient Reason – nothing exists without a
Metaphysics
- only an extension of a fundamental and necessary drive in every
human being to know what is real
- how to account for this unreal thing in terms of what you can
accept is real
- big part of the metaphysician’s task is to explain that part of our
experience, which we call unreal in terms of what we call real.
Ethics
- How do we tell good from evil or right from wrong? Ethics is the
branch of philosophy that explores the nature of moral virtue and
evaluates human actions. Ethics is generally a study of the nature
of moral judgments.
Epistemology
- deals with nature, sources, limitations, and validity of knowledge
(Soccio 2007)
- Epistemological questions are basic to all other philosophical
inquiries
- (1) how we know what we claim to know
- (2) how we can find out what we wish to know
- (3) how we can differentiate truth from falsehood.
- addresses varied problems: the reliability, extent, and kinds of
knowledge; truth; language; and science and scientific knowledge
Logic
- Reasoning is the concern of the logician
- could be reasoning in science and medicine, in ethics and law, in
politics and commerce, in sports and games, and in the mundane
affairs of everyday living
- varied kinds of reasoning may be used, and all are of interest to the
logician
Aesthetics
- also spelled esthetics, the philosophical study of beauty and taste
- closely related to the philosophy of art, which is concerned with the
nature of art and the concepts in terms of which individual works
of art are interpreted and evaluated
L2 - 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. In making rational choices, first, we suspend beliefs and
judgment until all facts have been gathered and considered.
Logic and critical thinking serve as paths to freedom from half-truths and
deceptions.
- Though facts are important, critical thinking also takes into
consideration cultural systems, values, and beliefs.
- Critical thinking helps us uncover bias and prejudice and open to
new ideas not necessarily in agreement with previous thought.
Two basic types of reasoning: Deductive and Inductive
Inductive reasoning
- based on observations in order to make generalizations
- reasoning is often applied in prediction, forecasting, or behavior.
Deductive reasoning
- draws conclusion from usually one broad judgment or definition
and one more specific assertion, often an inference.
Validity and Soundness of an Argument
- Based on the previous example (or Syllogism), if the two premises
are constructed logically, then the conclusion must follow logically,
the deductive argument is valid
- does not necessarily mean that the conclusion is true or false
- validity comes from a logical conclusion based on logically constructed
premises (Reed 2010)
Strength of an Argument
- On the other hand, inductive arguments cannot prove if the
premises are true which will also determine the truth of the
conclusion
- proves only probable support is a strong argument
- While an inductive argument that fails to provide such support is
weak, a strong argument with true premises is said to be cogent
- both a statistical argument and a predictive argument, which are
two common patterns of inductive reasoning. Also, the conclusion
does not follow necessarily from the premises
Fallacies
- a fallacy is a defect in an argument other than it having false
premises
- to detect fallacies, it is required to examine the argument’s
content
- some of the usually committed errors in reasoning and thus,
coming up with false conclusion and worse, distorting the truth
Appeal to Pity (Argumentum ad misericordiam)
- a specific kind of appeal to emotion in which someone tries to win
support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent’s
feelings of pity or guilt
Equivocation
- a logical chain of reasoning of a term or a word several times but
giving the particular word a different meaning each time
- example: Human beings have hands; the clock has hands. He is
drinking from the pitcher of water; he is a baseball pitcher
Composition
- infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is
true of some part of the whole. The reverse of this fallacy is
division
Division
- One reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be
true of all or some of its parts
Against the Person (Argumentum ad hominem)
- attempts to link the validity of a premise to a characteristic or
belief of the person advocating the premise
- in some instances, questions of personal conduct, character,
motives, etc., are legitimate if relevant to the issue
Appeal to force (Argumentum ad baculum)
- argument where force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as
a justification for a conclusion
Appeal to the people (Argumentum ad populum)
- argument that appeals or exploits people’s vanities, desire for
esteem, and anchoring on popularity
False cause (post hoc)
- that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by
this one
- also referred to as coincidental correlation, or correlation not
causation
Hasty generalization
- One commits errors if one reaches an inductive generalization based
on insufficient evidence
- commonly based on a broad conclusion upon the statistics of a
survey of a small group that fails to sufficiently represent the
whole population
- Begging the question (petition principii)
- a type of fallacy in which the proposition to be proven is assumed
implicitly or explicitly in the premise

Applying Logic and Fallacies in Determining Truth from

Opinion
- Tractatus identifies the relationship between language and reality and
to define the limits of science
- is recognized as a significant philosophical work of the twentieth
century
- It is in the possibility of agreeing or disagreeing with reality, thus
being true or false, that the meaning of the picture lies.

WITTGENSTEIN (Ludwig)
- same thoughts occur later when Wittgenstein describes spoken and
written language, that is, propositions, as one of these pictures and
defines its meaning in terms of its capacity for being true or false.

- If the purpose of a sentence is to inform or state a fact,

some of its words must refer to things, events or
properties. In other words, some of its words must refer
to things, events or properties. In other words, some of its
words have cognitive meaning.
- However, words also have emotive meaning – that is, they also may
have emotive whether positive or negative overtones.