Introduction to Philosophy

WONDER AND CURIOSITY

PHILOSOPHY
• Etymology: philia = LOVE
Sophia = WISDOM

• Wisdom is still the goal of philosophy.

• Philosophy is also defined as the science that by

natural light of reason studies the first causes or
highest principles of all things.

• Involves the examination of varying views.

• Philosophy is a way of living

• It is a way of existing that is guided by a

deliberate appreciation and mindful awareness
of that very existence, made possible by the
openness and wonder of questions. (Rodriguez,
et.al., 2018)
Philosopher
• A Philosopher – A LOVER OF WISDOM.
• Originally coined by Pythagoras.

NOTE!!! SOPHISTS – Literally translated as: A WISE MAN

– A group of individuals who taught
oratory for a fee.
– All truths are relative as based on
human interests.
PHILOSOPHY

WISDOM
Being Philosophical
• Being able to think carefully, in a manner
that suggests a deliberate examination
not only of what we think, but why we
think about a certain thing in a particular
way.
The Nature of Philosophy and
Philosophical Inquiry
• Philosophy is often perceived as a conversation: PHILOSOPHY
IS COMMENTARY.

• Philosophers give reasons and support for their points of view,

constructed throughout the years of critical thinking and
disciplined analysis, involving the consideration of other
possibilities and asking lots of questions.

• Questions tackled in Philosophy pertain to fundamental causes

and principles, as well as why we might hold them as meaningful,
true, or viable.
The Nature of Philosophy and
Philosophical Inquiry
• We go beyond listing the stuff we know to asking about
the underlying principles behind things – pertaining to
BIG AND DEEP QUESTIONS.

EXAMPLES:

What sort of thing is a number, if they need numerals to

represent them?
Do we invent, or do we discover mathematical principles?
The Nature of Philosophy and
Philosophical Inquiry
• Philosophical questions do not have a standard answer
because it has many ways of understanding questions
and answers.

• A major part of Philosophy is the indefiniteness of its

questions and answers – which is now the starting point
of sciences.
Being Philosophical
• A continuing quest to refine and
reevaluate assumptions, those ideas or
ways of thinking that thinkers have taken
for granted as true, or even
commonsensical, or as proven.
Philosophy as an Activity
“Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity.”
- Ludwig Wittgenstein.

• Philosophy as a collection of theories – studies the end-products of

philosophy.
• Philosophy as an activity – studies the very process of
philosophizing.

• The activity of philosophy consists of the clarification of our thoughts

and propositions (Wittgenstein).
• This can be extended to the analysis of our experiences and assumptions.
Philosophical Activity can …
Be done by anybody.

Give way to the development of new philosophical

doctrines.
Conceived within a particular geographical and temporal
context.

Enables people to evaluate previously formulated

theories.
 CREATIVE
DISCIPLINE

PHILOSOPHY
(Philosophical
Activity)

DYNAMIC CRITICAL
 Know
Theories PHILOSOPHI
ZE
AN OVERVIEW OF MAJOR PERIODS IN PHILOSOPHY
I- ANCIENT PERIOD (8th Century BCE-3rd Century Century CE)
a. Pre-Socratic (Cosmocentrism)
b. Socratic (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle)
c. Classical Philosophy After Aristotle (Focus on Ethics)
d. Initial Scientific Investigations about the World (Reason-Based Observations; non-
mythological explanation of phenomena)
II- PATRISTIC, MEDIEVAL, and RENAISSANCE PERIOD (1 st Century CE – 15th Century CE)
a. Patristic Age (Age of Church Fathers)
b. Middle Age
1. Early Middle Age aka “The Dark Ages”
2. High Middle Age
3. Low Middle Age (Gradual Transition to the Renaissance Period and
eventually the Modern Period)
c. Renaissance Period (revival of critical philosophical thinking as separate
from theology)
d. Theocentrism
 AN OVERVIEW OF MAJOR
PERIODS IN PHILOSOPHY
III-MODERN PERIOD (16th Century CE – 19th Century CE)
a. Rationalism on the Continent
b. Empiricism in Britain
c. Kant’s Copernican Revolution
d. Anthropocentrism
e. Predominantly Epistemological
IV-CONTEMPORARY PERIOD (19th Century CE – Present)
a. Addressing the Absurdity and Mechanistic Status of Human Life
brought by the Modern Period
b. Specialization in Philosophy
c. Professionalization of Philosophy
d. Inclination towards the Relativity of Truth
Kinds of Philosophy
Philosophical Inquiry and Discourse
• The aim of philosophical inquiry is to gain
insight into questions about knowledge,
truth, reason, reality, meaning, mind
and value.
ARGUMENTATIVE
• Other human endeavors, not least art and
literature, explore aspects of these same DISCURSIVE
questions, but it is philosophy that
mounts a direct assault on them, in the
hope of clarifying them and, where possible,
answering them
PHILOSOPHY CANNOT
DIVORCE ITSELF FROM
THE ONGOING COURSE
OF HUMAN LIFE
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
• The scope of philosophy is so comprehensive, the topics covered by philosophy
are widespread and are divided into different branches with their respective foci.

• The various kinds of Philosophy can be classified into five general types, namely:

1. The Thematic Types – according to the topic of the issues addressed. Otherwise
known as the disciplinal philosophies. This is categorized as the major topics of
philosophical investigations: referred to as areas of philosophy.
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
2. The Positional Types – according to the solution that is being
proposed for a certain issue. The positional types correspond to what are
called philosophical schools of thought or philosophical views or
positions. When a philosophical view addresses a group of
philosophical issues in a coherent manner, it is usually called a
philosophical system.

3. The Methodological Types – according to method used to resolve an

issue. They correspond to philosophical movements, approaches, and
traditions.
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

5. The Historical Types – under this classification are

the kinds of philosophies that are distinguished from
one another according to the historical period in which
philosophizing occurred.
 THEMATIC HISTORICAL METHODOLOGICAL POSITIONAL GEOGRAPHICAL NATURE OF
INQUIRY
• Logic • Western • Analytic • Metaphysics – • Western • Speculative
• Metaphysics Philosophy Philosophy Dualism, Philosophy:
• Epistemology • Phenomenology Monism Metaphysics
• Ethics Ancient • Hermeneutics • Epistemology – German Philosophy Epistemology
• Aesthetics Medieval • Marxism Rationalism, French Philosophy Cosmology
• Social-Political Renaissance • Existentialism Empiricism Greek Philosophy **Ontology
Philosophy Modern • Feminism • Ethics – British Philosophy Theodicy

KINDS OF
• Axiology Contemporary • Postmodernism Deontology, American
• Philosophy of Postmodern Consequentialism Philosophy • Practical
Language • Existentialism –
• Philosophy of • Eastern Atheistic, • Eastern Logic

PHILOSOPHY
Man Philosophy Theistic Philosophy: Ethics
• Philosophy of Aesthetics
Mind The Vedic Period Indian Philosophy Axiology
• Philosophy of The Epic Period Chinese Philosophy
Science The Sutra Period Japanese Philosophy
• Philosophy of The Commentary Filipino Philosophy
Religion Period
• Existentialism The Renaissance
• Phenomenology Period
Importance of Philosophy
• THE CHARGE OF FUTILITY

• In Bertrand Russel’s book, The Value of Philosophy, he presents

two main reasons behind the charge that philosophy is a futile
activity, and how science contrasts with the same:
 ARGUMENTS BEHIND THE
CHARGE OF THE FUTILITY OF
PHILOSOPHY
1. Philosophy deals with indefinitely
answerable questions while science
deals definitely answerable
questions.
 
 The answers that philosophy delivers  
vary from philosopher to another.
 
 There is no objective way to
determine whose answer is better.
 
 Science provides definite answers to
the questions it deals with and it has
objective means of resolving issues
that it handles.
 
Philosophy does the preliminary work for science in finding definite answers to certain questions.
COUNTER ARGUMENTS IN RESPONSE TO EACH ARGUMENT ON THE CHARGE
OF FUTILITY OF PHILOSOPHY
The kinds of questions that philosophy deals with is different with that of the sciences. The
questions dealt with by science are already known with a certain degree of certainty that
allows it to be answered in a precise or definite way.
 
Philosophical questions do not have any established means of answering them.
Most scientific questions did not start out as scientific questions – they started out as
philosophical ones, question that were thought to be indefinitely answerable. Since the
means (technology) to test these hypotheses were not yet available and plentiful prior to the
1900’s. Another reason was the imprecise formulation of the questions – there was no exact
language to explain certain phenomena (e.g. Math becoming the language of science
making certain questions clearly scientific).
 
Philosophy, when examining unscientific questions, aims to determine whether such
questions can eventually become scientific. This can be done by examining all possible
angles to these questions, all possible formulations for these questions, and all possible
answers to these questions. All of which is for the purpose of determining which
perspective is the most promising or offers the best possible explanation.
 ARGUMENTS BEHIND THE CHARGE OF
THE FUTILITY OF PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy does the preliminary work for science in finding definite answers to certain questions.
1. The Impracticality of Philosophy
 Philosophy has no real practical benefits
since doesn’t really satisfy our material
needs.  
 
 Science, through its inventions and
discoveries, provides us with more efficient
ways of satisfying our material needs.
 
COUNTER ARGUMENTS IN RESPONSE TO EACH ARGUMENT
ON THE CHARGE OF FUTILITY OF PHILOSOPHY
It is true that philosophy doesn’t really satisfy our material needs (e.g. nourishment / food, water, etc.).
Philosophy is focused on satisfying another kind of valuable human needs: THE NEEDS OF THE
MIND.
It is often the case that once all our material needs are satisfied, we still have questions about how to
improve the quality of our lives. This now calls for the significance of our non-materials needs (e.g.
human relationships, better spiritual life, and a deeper understanding of our place or purpose in the world
we live in.)
In addition, philosophy does not only satisfy the needs of the mind, the tools and methods that
philosophy uses such as: logic and the skills of critical thinking, can also be used to address questions
directly related to the satisfaction of our material needs.

 
Following Russel (1980,89) one can say that the idea that philosophy is a futile activity is a consequence of a lack of understanding of the goals of
philosophy and a limited view of what is valuable in life.
 
SOME MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY
 Philosophy …
 
 Supplements what is lacking in scientific explanations to come up with holistic explanations of things or events in
the world.
 Philosophy through its questions and investigations provides new insights about the world and the human person
that supplements the findings of the sciences.
 
For example: ARISTOTLE’S FOUR CAUSES
 
• Suppose that there is a wooden table in your presence.

• Material Cause – This refers to the composition of something – what a thing is made up of. Wood is the
material cause of the table because that is what the table is made from.
• Formal Cause – This refers to the form, shape, or design of something that makes it what it is. The table
is there because there is wood that is has the shape or form of a table. If it had been shaped as a chair, then
there wouldn’t be a table there.
• Final Cause – This refers to the purpose of something. The table is there because someone needs it there,
perhaps to put his/her things on.
• Efficient Cause – This refers to the one that initiates change in an object. There is a table there because
someone, a carpenter, made it. The carpenter is the efficient cause of the table because he was the one who
changed it from being a simple piece of wood to the table that we’ve been talking about right now.
A complete explanation of why there is a table in front of us, according to Aristotle,
should account for its four causes. 

• Science usually investigates the material, formal, and efficient causes of anything and
everything about the world. The final cause is not its concern. Philosophy investigates the
final causes of a thing.
•  Practice: Reflect on the existence of the human being and determine if science would
really explore in depth the final cause of the existence of every unique individual in the
world.
• Reflection: How about Religion, which also accounts for the final causes of things?
• Contributes to the development of some disciplines or areas of knowledge.
Philosophy, through its history, has contributed many different thoughts and insights to other subjects and
disciplines.

• Ancient Philosophy – Philosophy broke away from the mythological explanations of natural processes
and started the methods of explaining these processes in terms of observation and reasoning: giving
birth to the scientific method.
• Medieval Philosophy – Philosophy became a handmaid of Christian Theology. Philosophers during
this period used philosophy to clarify, justify, and show the consistency of Christian doctrines and
teachings, such as the beliefs in the existence of God and angels, the Holy Trinity, and the consistency
of God’s divine attributes with human freedom and the existence of evil in the world. Philosophy
strengthened the foundations of Christian Theology.
•  Modern Philosophy – Philosophy helped solidify the foundations of science, which was then re-
establishing itself after the long Medieval Period. This help came in the form of seeking ways to justify
the belief in the reality of the physical world / physical objects and the objectivity of scientific
knowledge.
• Contemporary Philosophy – the first half of this period, some philosophers clarified and justified
certain features of the foundations of mathematics. Their investigations contributed significantly to the
development of mathematics.
 Provides ethical guidelines, through its investigations in the area of ethics.

 Philosophy, in its investigations in the area of ethics, provides principles and standards for right
and wrong behaviour and actions.

 Contributes to social transformation, through its investigations in the areas of social and political
philosophy.
• The political thoughts and ideologies that we have in contemporary society were inspired by
the political philosophies of political philosophers like John Locke, Karl Marx, Thomas
Hobbes, Hannah Arendt.

 Expands the boundaries of knowledge.

 Philosophy encourages us to go beyond the limits imposed upon us by socio-cultural norms and
customs, prejudices, and ungrounded biases of our times in our lives.