INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

WEEK 2

Content Chapter 1: Doing Philosophy

Content Standard The learner understands the meaning and process of doing philosophy
Most Essential Topics Lesson2: The Beginnings of Doing Philosophy
Performance Standard The learner reflects on a concrete experience in a philosophical way.
MELCs 1.3.Do a philosophical reflection on a concrete situation from a
holistic perspective

Chapter 1 Objectives:
This chapter will provide an introduction of philosophy as a discipline. The essential
question that this Chapter would address is: “What is Philosophy?” This includes the background
on the nature of philosophy as a mother discipline, the nature of philosophic question and the
reason why philosophy is a second-order inquiry. After this brief introduction on the nature of
philosophy, an overview of the beginning s of Western Philosophy will follow.

Lesson 2 Objectives:
This lesson will give a concise background on the beginnings of Western Philosophy as
well as a brief description of the practice of doing philosophy from the Western and Eastern
tradition. This will give an idea of how the pre-Socratic philosophers in ancient Greece went about
their philosophic endeavor and pursuit of philosophy.

Guide Questions:
1. Imagine a world without these philosophers. What do you think might have happened if Thales
failed to go against the mythological tradition of ancient Greece?
2. To what extent is philosophy helpful in your quest for ‘knowledge’ for its own sake?
3. As a student, do you think it is possible to merge the practice of both Eastern and Western
Philosophy? Why? Explain your answer.

MOTIVATIONAL ACTIVITY: Tell us what you know:

On a sheet of paper, the students will answer this specific question:

“What do you know about ancient Greece?”

The students will write one or 2 worded statements about their background knowledge on Ancient
Greece.
 LESSON 2: THE BEGINNINGS OF DOING PHILOSOPHY

Pre-Socratic Period:
1. The Milesians - First group of thinkers who gave us a non-mythological account of the
nature of reality and the universe without the aid of instruments, by merely using their
rational faculty together with their ability not only to observe but speculate.
-They were considered as Hylozoists - Everything in this universe is alive or animate
and material.

A. Thales of Miletus

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● Father of Modern Science

● Considered as the Father of Philosophy
● Used Science and Logic.
● First known Philosopher in Greece.
● Also an expert in Mathematics.
● Used geometry to measure the height Of a Pyramid and the distance between ships in the
shore.
● The underlying substance in this world is water.

B. Anaximander of Miletus

© Photo by tommy (apeiron) 2017

 ● A student of Thales who latter succeeded him.
● Also an Astronomer, Mathematician and Scientist.
● Inferred that the universe is also composed of laws like human societies. Once it is
disturbed, there will be turmoil.
● Created a map.
● The fundamental substance of reality is the infinite or the apeiron.

C. Anaximenes of Miletus

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● Concluded that the fundamental must be air.

● Air holds our souls together; it encompasses the whole world.
● He concurred that the earth and other heavenly bodies are like floating saucers in the air.
● The earth is Flat and Round.

2. Pythagoras

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● Great Contributions to Math

● Pythagorean Theorem
● Had an idea that the world is round
● Idea of a square.
● Leader of a religious cult known as the Pythagoreans.
● He treated philosophy as a religion, for him it was a way of life.
● Considered Philosophy and Math as a purification of the soul.
● Gave importance to Contemplation
● Primary constituent of reality is numbers. Everything can be explained through numbers.

3. Heraclitus of Ephesus

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● Everything is constantly changing. “You cannot step and the same river twice”
● Believed in Libertinism.
● Everyone is free to make their own choice and everyone has a free will.
● Everything is made out of fire.

4. Parminedes of Elea

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● Things don’t change - the past and the present are set.
● Time, freewill and change are just illusions.
● The only permanent thing in this world is Being.
● Fatalism – We have a fate and we are stuck to it.
● Determinism – Everything in this world was already determined by someone before us.
5. Anaxagoras
● There is not just one element reality is made out of.
● There are many seeds or elements as there are kinds of things. All things have a portion
of everything
● The idea of nous or the mind – conceived as external but is infinite and is self – ruled.
● It has the greatest strength and power over all things.

6. Zeno of Elea
● A loyal follower of Parmenides. Supported his idea that reality is being and that we are
all interconnected with one another.
● Created a lot of Paradoxes - a statement that, despite apparently sound reasoning from
true premises, leads to an apparently self-contradictory or logically unacceptable
conclusion.