INTRODUCTION TO

PHILOSOPHY
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

Philosophy as an academic discipline: Philosophy as an operative system of

thought:
•Relies on an ongoing discourse tracing its
origin back to the earliest thinkers. • •It is a theoretical basis for a system of
thought (example: my “laundry philosophy
•Critical elements of engaging old and new
is to never mix whites with coloured
ideas with contemporary issues.
clothes).
•It is fundamentally rooted in a long
• •Can be limited as a cultural practice, and
tradition and engages those traditions with
may not necessarily be critical of its ideas.
critique.
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?

• Etymology – Philo + Sophia (Love

of Wisdom)
• Sophia is not simply a matter of
discerning things, it is a word used
in war, statecraft, and politics.
• This is also the reason behind the
affiliation of the goddess Athena
towards philosophy.
HOW PHILOSOPHY STARTED

•Philosophy started as a critique of poets in

their mythological explanation of the universe.
•The Pre-Socratics or the first
philosophers/scientists, argued against the
origin stories of mythology.
•The Pre-Socratics relied on sensory
observation to come up with theories on the
composition of the world and its operation.
Hades and Persephone
Egyptian Creation Myth
THE PRE-SOCRATIC
PHILOSOPHERS
PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY

•Was concerned with the “Urstoff” or the

“ultimate substance.”
•They were empirical scientists but were also
limited with their own sensory tools.•Started
philosophy as a discourse. The Pre-Socratics were
very critical of the theories of their predecessors.
•The Pre-Socratics answered the question of
“what is the universe?” Their primary concern
was cosmology.
THALES

•Was considered as the “first”

philosopher.
•Argued that the universe originates
from moisture.
•Water for Thales is the original
substance that made everything else
possible in the universe.
ANAXIMENES

•Anaximenes was a student of Anaximander,

who, in turn, was a student of Thales.
•Anaximenes proposed that the ultimate
substance is air. Anaximenes derived this
argument as a criticism of his predecessor,
Thales.
•Air is supposedly superior and much closer
to an originary substance since it can form
moisture.
HERACLITUS

• Opted that the universe operates on

the principle of change.
• Like fire, the universe has no
definite shape, it is always
changing.
• “Panta Rhei” – Perpetual flux
• “You cannot cross the same river
twice.”
PARMENIDES

•Argued that the universe does not

change, our understanding is limited to
how the world is “unveiled” (Aletheia).
•The universe is timeless, unchanging,
and permanent. Our understanding of
change is from our inability to see the
universe completely “unveiled.”
THE ATOMISTS (DEMOCRITUS AND
LEUCIPPUS)
•Leucippus and Democritus were both credited for
the idea of atomism. •They argued any object,
when divided into its smallest part, is made out of
an atom.
•They were responsible for our modern
understanding of chemistry and physics. Ironically,
“atoms” as they are understood today, can be
divided.
•The elements that they advanced were: Air, Water,
Fire, Earth, and Aether.
SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY
SOCRATES

• Was a character in Plato’s “Dialogues.” It is

unclear whether Socrates was real or fictional.
• The Dialogues were written in a conversational
format as if it were a play.
• Plato is often credited for the ideas that are
mentioned in these dialogues.
• From this point, Ancient Greek thinkers were
concerned with the anthropocentric question of
“What is man?”
PLATO
• Plato was the founder of the
Academy in Athens. His real name
is Aristocles.
• He was an aspiring poet.
• He was supposedly a student of
Socrates in the dialogues.
• He was Aristotle’s teacher.
• Proposed that ideal forms are
templates of our reality.
ARISTOTLE

• Aristotle was one of the most influential thinkers

from Ancient Greece. He was responsible for
systematising several branches of philosophy and
the sciences.

• Aristotle is credit for the following systems:

psychology, zoology, physiology, physics,
metaphysics, ethics, and many more.

• Unlike Plato, Aristotle believed that the essence of

things is within the things themselves, not in some
other world or plane of existence.

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