WHAT IS

PHILOSOPH
Y?
 The
allegory of
the CAVE
The cave of
deception
and
falsehood
 WHY DO PEOPLE
PHILOSOPHIZE?
What is
WHAT IS THE ROLE OF
PHILOSOPHY IN
NATION BUILDING?
 Philosophy comes from the two Greek
INTRODUCTION
words “philo/philia” meaning love and
“Sophia” meaning wisdom. Thus love
of wisdom. Love is an urge or a drive
of a will towards a particular object.
On the other hand, wisdom is the
application of knowledge. Thus
wisdom cannot be dissociated from
knowledge. Truth is the ultimate object
of knowledge. Philosophy is absolutely
committed to the truth, “the whole truth
and nothing but the truth.” Hence truth
is being practiced by a man of wisdom.
Technical definition of :

“Scientia rerum per

causas primas sub lumine
rationes naturalis.”

We may translate it as
“the science of beings in
their ultimate reasons,
causes and principles
acquired by the aid of
human reason alone”
Philosophy is a science: from the
Latin verb scire which means “to
know”. Thus science is about
possessing a certain kind of
knowledge. Some people say that
science is about knowing facts,
such as “leaves are green” that
“people get cancer” but that does
not make them scientists. Thus a
person has science when he
knows the reason for the fact,
such as why leaves are green, or
the cause of the fact, such as what
the cause of cancer is.
Philosophy is a science but its
being a science is totally different
from other sciences like
mathematics, chemistry, and
physics which have fixed
answers. In philosophy, answers
are left loosed or are open-ended.
It leaves the questioner the
answer to his questions. Thus, in
philosophy what is important is
the question, not the answer since
answers can become questions
themselves. Philosophy considers
correct questions as more
important than correct answers.
Philosophy is a
science of
beings: this
includes man,
God, everything
that is, or
becomes or is
known.
Philosophy searches for the
ultimate reasons, causes and
principles. This means that
philosophy studies the
ultimate whys and wherefore
of beings. Philosophy is not
concerned about the
physiology of an insect,
rather philosophy seeks to
answer the question: what
does it mean to be a living
thing as opposed to a non-
living thing?
Philosophy uses the
power of the
natural light of
reason. It
disregards the
divine revelation of
God.