CHAPTER Understanding

1 PHILOSOPH
Y
By Doing It
CHAPTER 1 UNDERSTANDING
PHILOSOPHY BY DOING IT

LESSON 1 A Holistic Perspective:

The Philosopher’s Way

What it Means to be
LESSON 2 a Philosopher

What makes a Question

LESSON 3 Philosophical
 LEARNING
by DOING

Not all things are

learned and
understood by
simply reading
about them.
PRELIMINARIES
 “
PRELIMINARIES
Like all activities,
philosophizing is something
which is EASIER TO DO than
define.
After you began to engage
in this activity, you might
want to try to DEFINE IT
YOURSELF.
Roque Ferriols, SJ (Ferriols,
2001)
PRELIMINARIES
Of course, we can still
begin with a definition
of what philosophy is.

That would be easy. For

we can search from
many available sources
of information.
PRELIMINARIES

However, it would only

make us understand
philosophy from the
PERSPECTIVE of an
OUTSIDER.
PRELIMINARIES
LEARNING PHILOSOPHY
AS AN OUTSIDER

Not different from a

student learning about
the LIFE OF A LION in the
Sahara through a TV show,
while comfortably
COUCHED in the living
room.
PRELIMINARIES

To TRULY understand
what philosophy is, we
must IMMERSE
ourselves in it.

(Heidegger,
Martin Heidegger 1958)
PRELIMINARIES
If I want a foreigner to
understand what a mango
taste like, it is not
enough for me to simply
describe the taste in
words. I WILL LET HIM
TASTE IT.

The same is true for Philosophy

LESSON 1
A HOLISTIC
PERSPECTIVE:
The
Philosopher’s
LESSON 1
LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, students
are expected to;

Distinguish a holistic perspective

from a partial point of view.

Do a philosophical reflection on a
concrete situation from a holistic
perspective.
To introduce us to this
experience of PHILOSOPHIZING,
we begin this Chapter with an
exercise on developing a
holistic perspective.
ACTIVITY
TIME
 DEVELOPING
HOLISTIC
PERSPECTIVE
The poem written by JOHN
GODFREY SAXE on the Indian
Legend of the SIX BLIND MEN &
THE ELEPHANT

John Godfrey Saxe

SIX BLIND MEN
& THE
ELEPHANT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTe-jUW2Pi0

https://www.youtube.com
John Godfrey Saxe
/watch?v=JTe-jUW2Pi0
 GUIDE
QUESTIONS
1. Did anyone among :
the blind men gave the
correct answer? Why or why not?
2. In the context of the elephant story, what do
you think is a holistic perspective? What is a
partial point of view?
3. What is the importance of a holistic
perspective as pointed out by the poet
John Godfrey Saxe?
ANALYSI
S
Philosophy & its
Holistic
Approach
 ANALYSIS
Philosophy & its
Holistic
Approach
A philosopher’s way of
thinking can be
described as
“ABSTRACTIVE.”
 ANALYSIS
Philosophy & its
Holistic
Approach

ABSTRACTIVE because it
rises from the level of
everyday life to a higher
level that gives a bird’s eye
view of the whole.

How ants see the world How eagles see the world
Philosophy & its Holistic Approach
Recall these experiences.

climbing a tower standing on the viewing things from an

mountain peak airplane window
PICTURE
ANALYSI
S
There is always danger in a
one-sided perspective.
 “The moss on my pond looks
like an aerial picture.”

The bark of this tree looks

like a painting.
Only when the blind men
learn to perceive the
elephant as a whole would
they appreciate how each
part makes up one thing.
 CRADLE OF PHILOSOPHY

The first philosophers hailed

from the ancient Greek
Civilization.
 WHAT MAKES THIS
CIVILIZATION SPECIAL?

They don’t have the

airplanes, satellites, or
spaceship that would
allow them to see the
world from a holistic point
of view.
 WHAT MAKES THIS
CIVILIZATION SPECIAL?

These great thinkers

in the past used
their minds
“to see the whole.”

They had insight.

 “
SEEING with
Insight the
mind.
Roque Ferriols, SJ
means (Ferriols,
2001)

”
PHILOSOPHICAL
INSIGHT
This means that to be able
to think philosophically,
you must learn to look
beyond what is
immediately before you.
PHILOSOPHICAL
INSIGHT
Moreover, you must learn
to see how a thing is
RELATED to everything
else. A mark of holistic
perspective.