MODES OF DOING

PHILOSOPHY
 In this chapter you will be able to:

A. recall how some representative

thinkers in history arrive on some views
on the human person
OBJECTIVES B. distinguish the many ways and
emphasis on viewing the human person

C. analyze different facets of issue

 In a Pythagorean sense,
Philosophy is a reflective
activity whose end is wisdom
HOW DO WE
DO
PHILOSOPHY? Therefore, it’s like meditating
on the things in this world
 In depth analysis of views

PHILOSOPHY Getting away from mundane way of things that

would require that we think through
arguments for or against an issue
AS AN
EXERCISE OF Differentiating true knowledge from mere
opinion
REASON
It is a mode of living that breaks away from
the routine
HOW PHILOSOPHERS
DIFFER FROM OTHER
PEOPLE?
+ Unlike ordinary persons who go
about their normal lives doing
the same routine of breathing
and sleeping, philosophers do
not take things for granted; they
subject to rational scrutiny the
many aspects of life.
 + This lesson will teach you what is the criteria of

ACCEPTABLE OR acceptability for different principles

+ This makes no person out of their own lives

NOT? + This will help you decide on the path you want to
take in life
MODES OF DOING
PHILOSOPHY
HOW PYTHAGORAS + It is nothing more than the vision of things as
they are, the vision of the cosmos as it is in the
UNDERSTAND light of reason, the wisdom is also nothing more
than the mode of being and living that should
WISDOM? correspond to this vision.
What is that knowledge that leads What do we regard as
to wisdom? knowledge?
PHILOSOPHY
AS
KNOWLEDGE
OF REALITY
PLATO

+ Posits that the reason or minds goes

through certain levels before it reaches the
highest form of knowledge.
+ In his book ”The Republic”, he describes
how our mind moves from sensible things
to intelligible ones.
EXAMPLE
 According to Plato, the things that we
see or experience through our senses
are mere appearances, copies of
original things beyond the world.

APPEARACE
VS REALITY
Example: Water
LEVELS OF
KNOWLEDGE
(PLATO) CONJECTURES UNDERSTANDING
AND BELIEFS AND REASON
 When we direct our mind to the
shadows or reflections of things, all
we get are conjectures about these
things.

CONJECTURE
(OPINION)
A representation of a real thing is
still a copy
 When we know the things
through the senses, our
perception of these things is
called belief.
BELIEF
(OPINION) For Plato, belief is the
content of the mind about
things that are still
becoming.
EXAMPLE
UNDERSTANDING AND REASON
(KNOWLEDGE)
+ In understanding , the mind comprehends as it reflects on such abstract
entities as cubes squares, and other mathematical ideas, which are only
derived through thinking.
+ Even if we represent a square as a drawing, we refer to the square
itself, to the thought of square itself.
+ Unlike the visible tree, the idea of the tree is the being of a tree. It does
not change because it is original
UNDERSTANDING AND REASON
(KNOWLEDGE)
+ Beauty, justice, and good are attainable through reason. We perceive
beautiful things in the world, but beauty is only knowable through
reason.
+ With this, it is important to know what is the reality and the
appearance only. The opinion vs knowledge.
ARISTOTLE

Two kind of knowledge; empirical (sensory) and theoretical (speculative)

Empirical – we know a thing because we sensed it

Theoretical – refers to knowledge by which mind contemplates on the

principles or causes of things. This concludes that universal principles are
more important than empirical data.
 PHILOSOPHY AS
KNOWLEDGE FROM
DOUBT AND SELF
RENE DESCARTES
+ Started the shift in mode of Philosophizing
+ Regarded as the father of modern Philosophy
+ According to him we ordinarily suppose that the mind knows reality
adequately as it thinks of the data from the senses. Unfortunately, the
senses tend to err or judgments that rely on senses are prone to error.
STEPS TO ASCERTAIN THAT THE MIND WILL
HAVE “CLEAR AND DISTINCT” KNOWLEDGE”

FIRST, Accept the truth of the phenomenon based only on the criteria of clarity
and distinctness”

SECOND, the mind must simplify its objects until it reaches in its apprehension
the irreducible parts

THIRD, the mind must be guided in its reasoning starting from the simplest to
complex

FOURTH, complete enumeration and review to avoid any object of inquiry left
behind
DOUBT EVERYTHING DOUBTABLE
+ All knowledge from the senses are doubtable
+ Triangle having three angles is not doubtable, however a triangular
island viewed from afar is doubtable
+ Mathematical truths can be established without a doubt, empirical
truths or truths informed by senses are suspect.
HOW ABOUT THE SELF?
+ Consciousness or self is certainly a clear and distinct entity
+ From the self perspective, all other things can be known either by
intuition or deduction.
+ Intuition – knowledge that enters the mind, which does not lead any
opportunity to shed doubt
+ Deduction – attained through rigorous reasoning
 True science or knowledge can only
EGO COGITO, come from the self, unless it comes
from indubitable content

ERGO SUM (I (mathematical and intuititive)

THINK,
THEREFORE I Knowledge of the mind will only
come from deduction
AM)