Learning Objectives:

 Distinguish a holistic perspective from a

partial point of view
 Recognize human activities that emanated
from deliberate reflection
 Realize the value of doing philosophy in
obtaining a broad perspective on life
Approaches in Doing
Philosophy
 Critical or Analytic Philosophy
 Speculative or Metaphysical Philosophy
 Reductionist Philosophy
 Holistic Philosophy
Analytic Philosophy
 Two fundamentals tasks:
1. Analysis and definition of our
fundamental concepts
2. Clear and resolute criticism of our
beliefs
Which came
first: is it the
chicken or is
it the egg?
https://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/stories/finally-answered-which-came-first-the-chicken-or-the-
egg
 “Bias against Muslims”
 Because of the terrorist acts of a small group of
bandits like the Abu Sayyaf, many Christians,
especially those who are not exposed to Islamic
traditions and live in cities predominated by
Christians, would carry their prejudice against
all Muslims and regard them as terrorists and
troublemakers.
 According to Broad, it is important to subject
our beliefs and biases to constant criticisms to
be able to test whether or not they are worth
holding on to.
 Philosophy gives us a venue and an excuse for
criticizing and examining our concepts and
beliefs in order to gain a broader perspective in
life.
Speculative Philosophy
 It tries to find an underlying explanation or general
principle that could explain reality in its entirety.
 According to Broad, it aims to reach some general
conclusions as to the nature of the universe; and as to our
position and prospects in it. It is an attempt to think
synoptically of all the facts – the results might be trivial
but the process will remind us of the extreme complexity
of the world.
 Abstraction – the process of extracting
a unifying explanation from the
multiplicity of the things around them.
Reductionist Philosophy
 It refers to understanding complex ideas by reducing
them to their parts or individual constituents.
 It is analogous to the levels of organization in science
in which an organism can be broken down into organ
system, organ, tissue and cells.
Holistic Philosophy
 It works on the assumption that all properties in a given system cannot
be broken down but its component parts alone, but rather the system
as a whole entity decides how the individual parts behave.
 Holism proponents contend that one must understand reality as a
whole.
 The properties of the parts contribute to the understanding of the
whole. However, the properties of the parts can only be fully
understood through the dynamics of the whole. Thus, the primary
focus of holism is the relationship between the parts or its
interconnectedness and interactions.
Two Main Types of Holism
 Epistemological Holism – claims a scientific theory cannot be
tested individually, since testing a single theory would always
depend on other established theories and hypotheses
 Semantic Holism – every word has meaning only in relation to
other words, sentences, or the language in which it is used. It
suggests that a certain part of language, a term or a complete
sentence, can only be understood through its relation to a larger
segment of language or possibly the entire language.