Lessons on

 On Holistic Perspective and Partial Point of View

 On What is Philosophy?
 On Doing Philosophy.
Holistic Perspective and Partial
Point of View
• Reminds on one of the story entitled “The Six Blind Men
and The Elephant”. To know what an elephant is just by
touching a certain part of the animal’s body.
• Partial Point of View- focused on certain aspects of the
whole. It views the little details of things but forgets or
tends to ignore, the bigger picture.
• Holistic Perspective- is the opposite of a partial point of
view. It examines each component part and how it is
connected with other component parts to form a cohesive
whole.
Holistic Perspective and Partial
Point of View
• These certain aspects have to be looked at as parts of a
far greater whole
• The finer details have to be viewed as part of the whole
picture.
• A holistic perspective does not make the perceiving
subject the measure of all things’ so to say.
•This is not to say that
one’s personal view on What is your View?
things is unnecessary and
entirely erroneous.

•Being holistic is one of

the characteristics that
scholars have attributed
to the postmodern ages.

•It is an opportunity to
compare one’s view with
that of the others and
thereby generating a
more holistic view of
things.
What is Philosophy?
• the study of the fundamental nature of knowledge, reality,
and existence, especially when considered as an
academic discipline.
•  (from Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of
wisdom“)
• The following definitions of philosophy must first be
studied:
1.Phythagoras’ “Love of Wisdom” : The
Practical Knowledge
• Philo is roughly
translated as “love” and
sophia as “wisdom”

• “love” is basically
defined as the attraction
to ‘desire for’ and
‘enjoyment of ‘
something.
1.Phythagoras’ “Love of Wisdom” : The
Practical Knowledge
• The Ionians in the East and Pythagoreans, among others,
in the west. The Ionians were matter philosophers.
• The earliest philosophers “busied themselves mainly with
speculations about the world around them” (1958).
Wisdom in this sense, is nothing but the Theoretical
knowledge.
1.Phythagoras’ “Love of Wisdom” : The
Practical Knowledge
• wisdom is about
practical knowledge.
• Practical knowledge –
philosophy is about
knowledge that is used in
day to day living in view
of a certain goal or end.
2. Aristelico - Thomistic Definition: Digging
into the Roots
• The ‘materialism’ which
characterized Eastern
Greek philosophy is well
articulated in the search
for basic staff out or
which the universe is
made.
• Purely theoretical
speculation- of what the
order universe is
ultimately made of.
2. Aristelico - Thomistic Definition:
Digging into the Roots
• The basic stuff of the universe created a certain tradition
that gave birth to the classical definition of philosophy.
• Purely theoretical speculation was so strong in him that
his tradition defined philosophy as the science which
inquires into ultimate reason, causes and principles of all
things in the light of human reason alone.
• The 3 key elements: A.) Science B.) Ultimate reason,
cause and principle (Ethics and Logic) c.)Human
Reason
Aristotle
• Born on 384 BC at
Stagira, Chalcidice
(Chalkidiki), Chalcidian
League, Northern Greece
• Died on 322 BC (aged
62) at Euboea, Greece,
Macedonian Empire
• Era Ancient philosophy
3. The East-West Synthesis: Theoria-Praxis
Continuum
• The division between the Eastern(theoria) and the
western (praxis) traditions of philosophy can be seen at
the root of almost all misconceptions about philosophy.
• This continuum is beautifully summarized by Jurgen
Habermas in this statement: theoria served as the guide of
praxis while the latter subserved the former.
• Praxis now becomes the standard and theoria is only
tapped to justify certain practices.
 4.) The Socratic Method: A
Deliberate Reflection
• Alfred North Whitehead
said that everything is
just a footnote Plato.
• The great thinkers of the
ancient period: Socrates,
Plato, Aristotle = the
infleunce of the three that
one would be safe in
assuming that the entire
history.
4.) The Socratic Method: A
Deliberate Reflection
• Plato and Aristotle are quite a number of book from
which one may study.
• Socrates , for no work written by the philosopher is
extant today.
• Socrates: The first couple of maxim credited to him
“Know thy self”(quoted from the oracle at Delphi) and
“Wisest is he who knows that he deos not know”.
Second, his trail and subsequent execution were based:
impiety and corrupting the minds of the young.
 5. Jasper’s Definition: Question
over Answers
• Philosophy is a discipline
wherein question
generate answers, as a
matter of course, but
answers instead of
clarifying things will
become questions
themselves seeking for
further answer.
Karl Jaspers
• Born on 23 February 1883
at Oldenburg, Germany
• Died 26 February 1969
(aged 86) at Basel,
Switzerland
• Studied at Alma mater
University of Heidelberg
• (MD, 1908)
• Era 20th-century
philosophy
Doing Philosophy
1. Doing Philosophy is
every man’s vocation- it is
only for those people who
are very much gifted either
intellectually ofr financially.
2. Doing Philosophy
entails digging into the
roots.-To matter money,
love or even life most
people fail to really
examine the roots of things.
Doing Philosophy
3.Doing Philosophy 4. Doing Philosophy
involves the marriage of necessitates deep
theoria and praxis- reflection- the problem of
emphasizes on both theory identity can only be solved
and practice working through deep reflection,
together with theory
functioning as a anchor or
guide for the practical
actions in practical
situations.
Doing Philosophy
5.Doing Philosophy is
primarily about questions
than it is about answers.-
finding solutions even
before the problem has been
properly identified. More
into asking questions rather
than finding answer.
6.Doing Philosophy leads
to a holistic perspectives.-
as defined, is a vista
wherein every facer and
every aspect is taken into
consideration.