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Introduction To Philosophy: ' Ethics
Introduction To Philosophy: ' Ethics
Introduction to Philosophy
What is philosophy
Socrates
My wisdom consists in accepting that I knew nothing. According to socrates.
“What makes the human person unknowledgeable is the fact that he know nothing and yet he did
not know that he knew nothing.”
He claims that he know everything and yet ending up with knowing nothing. A Sophist
He claims that he does not know anything and yet, ending up with knowing everything. A
philosopher.
It can help us clarify our thoughts.
It digs the root causes of the peoples problem and discovers new solutions and remedies to
human ills.
It give us a clear understanding of the human person and the reason for his existence.
Began when the human person became aware of the things around him. Philosophy.
Curiosity.
Seaport of Miletus - the birthplace of philosophy.
Rich Melisians(residents of the seaport town of miletus), Ionians -considered as the first
philosophers.
The Beginning of Philosophy
Anaximander of miletus
Agreed to his teacher (Thales) that there are a single basic stuff out which everything came from.
He disagreed with him, If everything come from water, then where could this water came from.
Anaximenes
Parmenides of Elea
His philosophy focused on the problem of the one and the many.
There is no change. Change is only an illusion. We are just being deceived. He claimed.
Heraclitus of Ephesus
Empedocles of Sicily
Pythagoras of Samos
Ancient Period
Where did everything come from?
Focused on the origin of the cosmos. Ancient philosophy. Considered to be Cosmocentric.
Medieval Period
Where did everything come from?
The beginning of the universe must be coming from an infinite being which they called theos
or god.
Does this god really exist? Is there really a god?
Medieval philosophy is considered as Theocentric.
Modern Period
Believe that god truly exist. But only in mind.
How do we know what is in our mind is real?
Is knowledge possible?
Is man really capable of acquiring knowledge?
Modern philosophy is considered as Ideocentric.
Contemporary Period
Rising political repression.
They focused their attention on the dignity of the human person.
Is there a human dignity?
Contemporary philosophy is considered as Anthropocentric and Homocentric.
The rise of modern science brought the human person to set aside reasoning.
Philosophy does not have a proper object. People believe it.
Contemporary philosophy has become ineccessible.
Philosophy is the only means that is capable of providing a common ground between believers
and non-believers.
Definition of Philosophy
A human, consequently, a social activity which consists in man a perennial and a disinterested
search for the intelligible structure of the totality if being.
Philosophy is a social activity. Man is a social being.
Philosophy is a perennial search. A never ending search for truth.
Philosophy is a disinterested search. does not provide practical solutions to problem.
Philosophy is a search for the intelligible structure. Using reason in order to acquire truth.
Philosophy deals with the totality of being. Deals with whole of creation, anything and
everything under and beyond the sun.
Branches of Philosophy
Philosophy of Thought
Philosophy of Reality
Philosophy of Morality
John Locke
Considered the human as a thinking and intelligent being that has reason and reflection and
can consider itself at itself.
Man will always search for good.
Immanuel Kant
Considered the human as an autonomous self - regulating, who is capable of making moral
decisions by and for himself.
He believe that man can decide on his own acts.
Viktor Frankl
Human being is able to live and even to die for the sake of his ideals and values.
Man is a being who is always in search for meaning.
Erich Fromm
believed that conscience enables the person to know what ought.
Conscience became the reason why the human person is aware of the goals of life.
Moral - If an action to be done has consequences that will make our life easy
Immoral - if an action could inflict us pain or suffering
Confucius, Plato, and Aristotle held that philosophers must be the rulers of all people
Definition of Ethics
Kinds of action
Actus Humanus - Actions that are done by human person based on his knowledge and full consen
of thw will
Actus Hominis - actions that are done in the absence of either knowledge or will or both
knowledge and will.
Dilemma - comes from the Greek words dis (diV) which means twice, and lemma (lemma)
which means assumptions or premise.
Cultural Relativism - It is the view that ethical systems and belief vary from one culture to
another.
No one can say that these laws by which we can judge whether such laws are true and the
others are wrong. (Moral relativism).
Ethical relativism is open to serious doubt and does not seem to be correct in all cases.