PHILOSOPHY

Prepared by Raizza Corpuz Etymology Politics

INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY A. Meaning of Philosophy Political Philosophy
• MEANING What is Philosophy? Explores the relationship between citizens and
• NATURE The term “philosophy” comes from the Greek governments
• SCOPE language. It consists of two words : Liberty
• GOALS • philos, (love, or philia )– friendship, affection Legal Justice
• IMPORTANCE • sophos (learned scholar, sage, or Property Ownership
• BRANCHES • sophia - wisdom, knowledge, talent) Citizen's Rights
• EPOCH “philo” - love System of Law
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? WHERE IT “sophia” - wisdom Politics
BEGINS? THUS: Questions:
1. Philosophy is the love of wisdom
FROM WONDER 2. Philosophy attempts to answer life's Big How should government be organized?
TO WANDER Questions What makes a government legitimate?
Wonder 3. Philosophy is about Questions Who decides who the leaders should be?
• To be filled with curiosity or doubt 4. Philosophers ask Questions about what people What laws are good and necessary?
• An event inexplicable by the laws of nature; Believe How should law be enforced?
a miracle. 5. Philosophy is about Examining Ourselves &
• A feeling of puzzlement or doubt. Our Aesthetics
Source: Thesaurus Dictionary Beliefs Sensori-Emotional Values
Wander: Verb THERE ARE MANY QUESTIONS but there Explores the nature of beauty, art, and taste with the
• Walk or move in a leisurely, casual, or are SOME BIG QUESTION creation and appreciation of beauty
aimless way. What? Aesthetics
• An act or instance of wandering. verb. roam Why? Questions
- ramble - rove - straynoun. wandering - stroll HOW What is beauty?
- saunter -ramble What are the REASONS for a particular belief? What is art?
Source: Thesaurus Dictionary Have you ever looked in the mirror and asked: What is the value of beauty and art?
The Unexamined Who should judge what is beautiful or artistic?
• Philosophers’ definition-arises out of Life is not worth How should art and beauty be judged?
wonder, out of curiosity, out of desire to Ethics Aesthetics
learn, and to understand things. Discussion:
• -According to the Philosopher, Philosophy Politics On the left is Marcel
is a process of analysis, criticism, Religion Duchamp's ready-made
interpretation and speculation Metaphysics “sculpture” called
• Analysis-if we know how to synthesis and Logic “Fountain”. It's a factory made urinal on a stand.
antithesis. Epistemology Is this “Art”?
• Synthesis- put idea together or event of the Aesthetics Why / Why not?
same characteristic. Science Is it beautiful? Offensive?
• Antithesis- remove from or put it out, Philosophy Why?
removing ideas Branches of Philosophy
• Criticism- is a process of commenting or Ethics Logic
giving a judgment, even if its positive or Questions: Rules for Thinking
negative. How should we live? The systematic principles (or rules) for thinking rationally.
• Interpretation-demonstration of ideas. What is good and evil? Inferences are made by construction of Arguments
• Speculation-being satisfied. What is the best way to live? Rules of Logic determine which arguments are VALID
Etymology- or etymological definition of What is Justice? and which are FALACIES
Philosophy living.” (Socrates) Is right and wrong the same everywhere or Logic
Who am I? different everywhere? Religion
Why am I here? Ethics Philosophy of Religion
What should I do with my life? Epistemology Branch of philosophy concerned with questions regarding
Have you ever looked in the mirror and Knowledge Science religion
asked: OR??? Explores the nature and limitations of knowledge Nature & Existence of God
Examining Our Beliefs Definition of knowledge Theology
Behavior Examination of Religious
I talk to my friend Investigates how knowledge is obtained Experience
Beliefs and Values Analysis of Religious language and texts
I believe that my friend is real Explores the relationship between belief, truth Relationship between Religion and Science
World-View and knowledge Religion
I Exist. Questions
Other People Exist. Epistemology Does God exist?
What is ‘Philosophy’? Questions: What is God?
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY What is knowledge? What is the nature of the relationship between God and
Branches of Philosophy How is knowledge acquired? humans?
-derived for Greek words etimos and logos How do we know what we know? Is God active in the world?
Etimos-root, origin, cause, basis, history What is Epistemology? How?
Logos-study Epistemological Questions Is there life after death?
Etymology-study of the history of the word Metaphysics What is the relationship between Religion and
Philosophy comes from the Geek Words Knowledge Science Ethics? ...Religion and Science?
Philia and Sofia. Explores the fundamental nature of reality and Religion
being Pantheism
Sofia-wisdom
Ontology
Philia-love, desire for, interest in
Existence What is God?
Philia and Sofia join by Pythagoras-600 B.C. Objects God is the Universe and the
Episteme-means knowledge Properties Universe is God.
Wisdom-defining deeply, wise, according to Space and Time There is no distinction between God and the universe
etymology Cause and Effect (nature).
-is an awareness of something which is basic. Metaphysics Some forms of Buddhism are examples of pantheism.
-knowledge of the basic principle. Questions: Religion
Knowledge-is only a million formation What is real? Panentheism
-simple data that comes from the outside What is reality? What is God?
that pass to our senses. What is reality like? God is in the Universe and the
Metaphysics Universe is in God

Philosophy of Science
Science
Concerned with the assumptions,
foundations, methods and implications of
science.
Empirical Verification
Inductive Logic
Objectivity of the Observer
Philosophy of Science
Questions
What is the natural world?
How should we study nature?
What methods are useful in the study of
nature?
Can science establish Natural
Laws which are absolute (true everywhere
and for everyone)?
What are the limits of scientific knowledge?
HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
What are the origins of philosophy?
The Ancient Greek World
Socrates (c.469-399BCE) called philosophy
down from the skies.’ (Cicero)
Teacher of Plato
The Death of Socrates
(Jacques-Louis David, 1787)
• Socrates most important contribution to
Western thought is his dialogical method of
enquiry, known as the Socratic method where
one finds truth by eliminating what one
knows to be false by following a line of
enquiry to a contridiction.
• Socrates believed that his wisdom sprung
from an awareness of his own ignorance. He
knew that he knew nothing, and that all error
came out of ignorance.
• Socrates believed that the best way for
people to live was to focus not on
accumulating possessions, but on self-
development. Socrates believed that “ideals
belong in a world that only the wise man can
understand” making the philosopher the only
type of person suitable to govern others.
• Socrates views angered the leaders of
Athens and he was accused of being
antidemocratic and corrupting the youth of
the country. Though neither charge
demanded the death sentence the number of
jurors who voted to condemn him to death
was actually larger than the number who
voted to convict him in the first place. In
other words even jurors who believed he was
innocent condemned him to death. If he was
not anti-democratic before, this most
certainly convinced him, and others of the
flaws in a democratic system.
• Though Socrates left no writings of his own
his exploits have been chronicled by a
number of ancient writers, formost among
them Plato whose works are based on the
teachings of Socrates.
The Death of Socrates
Methods of Philosophy
Philosophy an Introduction
Contemporary – 1900 ~ present
Ancient Greek Philosophers
School of Athens - Raphael Sanzio
“The unexamined life is not worth living. ...
Wisdom begins in wonder. ... There is only
one good, knowledge, and one evil,
ignorance.”
(Socrates, 469 - 399 B.C.)
“The philosopher is in love with truth, that is,
not with the changing world of sensation,
which is the object of opinion, but with the
unchanging reality which is the object of
knowledge.”
(Plato, 429 - 347 B.C.)
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence,
then, is not an act, but a habit. ... At his best,
man is the noblest of all animals; separated
• Greek Philosophers
– Pythagoras- universe followed the same laws that govern
music & numbers
Legacy
• Socrates used the claim of wisdom as his moral basis
• Pythagorean Theorem- determine the length of the sides of • Chief goodness consists in the caring of the soul concerned
a triangle with moral truth and understanding
• Sophists- professional teachers
– Taught students how to win arguments
• “Wealth does not bring goodness, but goodness brings
wealth and every other blessing, both to the individual and to
– Rejected the idea of an Absolute Right the state”
& Wrong • “Life without examination (dialogue) is not worth living”
• Socrates- criticized
Sophists
• He would want you to evaluate society and your own life
regularly!
– left no writings behind Plato (429-347 BCE)
– Believed in absolute truth • The “idealist” or “utopian” or “dreamer”
– Socratic Method- asked pointed questions to force pupils
to discover their own knowledge
• Born into a wealthy family in the second year of the
Peloponnesian War
– Sentenced to death for his teachings • Name means “high forehead”
• Plato- Socrates student • Student of Socrates
– Republic book that explained ideas about
gov’t
• Left Athens when Socrates died but returned to open a
school called the Academy in 385 BCE
• Wrote 20 books, many in the dialectic style
– Philosopher King –ruled using logic & wisdom, 2nd group- (a story which attempts to teach a specific concept) with
warriors, 3rd rest of ppl Socrates as the main character
– Women’s rights believed men & women should have Plato’s Ideas
access at an education • Idealist, believes in order and harmony, morality and self-
– Academy- Plato’s school denial
• Aristotle- student of Plato • Immortality of the soul
– Lyceum- Plato’s school • Virtue as knowledge
– “golden mean”- do nothing in excess • Theory of Forms – the highest function of the human soul
– Politics- in book he compares governments is to achieve the vision of the form of the good
– Mixture of oligarchy & democracy – he felt would be the Plato’s Cave Exercise
best gov’t excavation of the Lyceum 1. Read through the allegory of the cave as a class
• Greek Historians 1. When reading, highlight any parts of the story that is
– History is the study of human past detailed and offers you a clear mental picture
– Herodotus wrote the history of the Persian Wars 2. Now, instead of writing about the cave, draw a picture of
• Tried to separate fact from fiction but still used mythology the cave using your highlighted material
to explained some events 3. Share your drawing with some classmates around you.
• “father of history” What differences do you have?
– Thucydides wrote History of the Peloponnesian 4. What do you think about the allegories made?
War
• Stressed the importance of having accurate facts Anti-Democratic Plato
• Primary Source- fought in the war • Most perfect form of government: “Philosopher
THREE TRIUMVIRATE IN ANCIENT Kings” (i.e. very smartest) rule over an essentially
PHILOSOPHY communistic society
Ancient Greek Philosophy • Why Philosopher Kings?
Philosophers – Plato believed they alone possess the intellectual capacity
• Socrates, 469-399 to achieve the highest form of human contemplation
– Believed that one arrives at the truth by questioning the • Such penetrating powers of insight necessary to distinguish
assumptions on which all things are based between truth (i.e. that which is eternal and unchanging and
• Plato, 428-347 therefore is “really real”) from that which is untrue
– Student of Socrates (changeable stimuli received by our faulty instruments of
• Aristotle, 384-322 perception that serve to trick us into thinking that something
– Student of Plato is in fact “real”)
– “THE” philosopher by Medievalists Plato’s Impact
Greek Philosophy & Its Origins • Plato’s thinking on the immortality of the soul,
• Philosophy = love of wisdom Plato’s conception of a world beyond the sensory and his
• Mesopotamians and Egyptians contemplated how the god-like form of good have very much shaped Christian
natural world around them worked thinking on God, the soul, and an afterlife
• Early Greeks (time of Homer, c.800 BCE) used • Nietsche called Christianity “Plato for the people”
mythological stories to explain the natural world Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
• 7th Century BCE – Greeks looked for new, more practical • The “real” or “encyclopedist” or “inspired common sense”
explanations or “the prince of those who know”
Socratic Philosophers • Studied under Plato at the Academy
So Many Questions… • Son of a Macedonian doctor, returned home to become the
• What should we do? (i.e. how should we behave) teacher of Alexander of Macedon for three years, beginning
• What is the meaning of life? in 343 BCE
• What is the meaning of happiness? • Later returned to Athens to open school called the Lyceum
• Is perfection possible? in 335 BCE
• What constitutes the good or just life? Mark Steel Lectures: Aristotle
• What is virtue? 1. Why were there so many philosophers during?
• How should a man best conduct his life? Aristotle’s time?
Socrates (469-399 BCE) 2. What does Plato mean by the perfect form?
• What little we know comes from his students, Plato and 3. What are some examples of what Aristotle researched?
Xenophon, and his enemy, Aristophanes 4. What is his ‘4 Essence’ theory?
• Humble birth 5. What did Politics address concerning nature?
• Wrote nothing down 6. Why did he feel the rich AND poor were unfit to rule?
• Founded no formal school – taught in the agora 7. How was he before his time?
• Believed material things would not bring happiness Aristotle, continued
• Died for his principles • Believed in the Golden Mean
Exercise – i.e. all things follow the middle course; by avoiding
• For each statement ask as many follow up questions as you extremes, one will enjoy a maximum of happiness and a
can with a partner. Record questions that were brainstormed minimum of pain
• Statement #1 – Only people over the age of 19 should be • Called the “encycolpedist” as he had a profound love of
allowed to drink order
• Statement #2 – Canada should abolish the sale of firearms • Numerous fields of scientific study he either invented or
to the public contributed to:
Socratic Method – Logic, biology, zoology, botany, psychology, chemistry,
• Method of elenchus (i.e. rigorous questioning technique) astronomy, cosmology, metaphysics, ethics, political theory,
• Designed to “sting” people into realizing their own constitutional history, history of sport
ignorance Aristotle, continued
– Provoke genuine intellectual curiosity • Founder of scientific method
• True knowledge gained only by constantly questioning – A valid and reliable process by which all scientific
assumptions that underly all we do analyses of a given phenomenon could take place
– To achieve truth is to engage in a permanent state of • Led to explosive advances in the Greek scientists’ capacity
critical thinking to conduct scientific research
Socrates’ End • Middle Ages’ scholars felt Aristotle knew almost as much
• Alcibiades, Socrates’ pupil, betrayed fellow as God, therefore called him
Athenians by defecting to Sparta in “The Philosopher”
Peloponnesian War Elements of the Art of Rhetoric
• Socrates scapegoated by Alcibiades’ actions, accused of • Ethos = Ethics
“not believing in the gods” and “corrupting the youth” – Appeal based on the trustworthiness/character of the
• Tried and sentenced to death speaker
• Refused to plead for lesser punishment – Relies on the reputation of the author
• Drank poison hemlock • Logos = Logic
– Appeal based on logic or reason
– Found primarily in scholarly articles and corporate
financial reports
• Pathos = Pathetic, sympathy, empathy
– Appeal based on emotion
– Found in advertisements
Legacy of Greek Philosophers
• Taught us how to think
• Provided a great deal of insight into the natural world
• Provided many of the most profound and meaningful
answers to the great philosophical questions that have
befuddled humans since the dawn of civilization
• Provided a comprehensive, valid, and reliable method
by which we could test whether or not a given idea is
true
Aristotle (384-322 BCE)
ARISTOTLE
• Aristotle is a towering figure in ancient
Greek philosopher, making contribution to logic,
metaphysics, mathematics, biology, botany, ethics,
politics, agriculture, medicine, dance and theater.
• He was a student of Plato who in turn studied under
Socrates. He was more empirically minded than Plato
or Socrates and is famous for rejecting Plato’s theory
of forms.
• As a prolific writer and polymath,
Aristotle radically transformed most, if not all, areas of
knowledge he touched. It is no wonder that Aquinas
referred to him simply as “The Philosopher.”
In his lifetime,
Aristotle wrote as many as 200 treatises, of which only
31 survive.
Saint Thomas Aquinas Saint Thomas Aquinas
“The
Philosopher”
Socrates
• Aristotle was the first to classify areas of human
knowledge into distinct disciplines such as
mathematics, biology, and ethics. Some of these
classifications are still used today.
• As the father of the field of logic, he was the first to
develop a formalized system for reasoning. Aristotle
observed that the validity of any argument can be
determined by its structure rather than its content. A
classic example of a valid argument is his syllogism:
All men are mortal; Socrates is a man; therefore,
Socrates is mortal.
Mathematics
Biology Ethics
Aristotle’s
ARISTOTLE’S LIFE
• Aristotle was born in 384
BCE at Stagirus, a now extinct Greek colony and
seaport on the coast of
Thrace. His father
Nichomachus was court physician to King Amyntas of
Macedonia, and from this began Aristotle’s long
association with the
Macedonian Court, which considerably influenced his
life.
• While he was still a boy his father died. At age 17 his
guardian,
Proxenus, sent him to Athens, the intellectual center of
the world, to complete his education. He joined the
Academy and studied under Plato, attending his
lectures for a period of twenty years.
ARISTOTLE’S LIFE
Aristotle’s
• It is reported that Aristotle’s writings were held by
his student Theophrastus, who had succeeded Aristotle
in leadership of the Peripatetic School.
ARISTOTLE’S WRITINGS
The works of Aristotle fall under three headings:
• Among his writings of a popular nature the only one
which we possess of any consequence is the interesting
tract On the Polity of the Athenians.
Aristotle’s
ARISTOTLE’S LOGIC
• Aristotle’s writings on the general subject of logic
were grouped by the later Peripatetics under the name
Organon, or instrument. From their perspective, logic
and reasoning was the chief preparatory instrument of
scientific investigation. Aristotle himself, however,
uses the term
“logic” as equivalent to verbal reasoning.
ARISTOTLE’S METAPHYSICS
• Aristotle’s editors gave the name
“Metaphysics” to his works on first philosophy, either
because they went beyond or followed after his
physical investigations. Aristotle begins by sketching
the history of philosophy. For Aristotle, philosophy
arose historically after basic necessities were secured.
It grew out of a feeling of curiosity and wonder, to
which religious myth gave only provisional
satisfaction.
Aristotle’s
• Aristotle sees the universe as a scale lying between
the two extremes: form without matter is on one end,
and matter without form is on the other end. The
passage of matter into form must be shown in its
various stages in the world of nature. To do this is the
object of Aristotle’s physics, or philosophy of nature.
It is important to keep in mind that the passage from
form to matter within nature is a movement towards
ends or purposes.
Everything in nature has its end and function, and
nothing is without its purpose. Everywhere we find
evidences of design and rational plan.
ARISTOTLE’S PHILOSOPHY OF NATURE
Aristotle’s
ARISTOTLE’S THE SOUL AND
PSYCHOLOGY
• Soul is defined by Aristotle as the perfect expression
or realization of a natural body.
From this definition it follows that there is a close
connection between psychological states, and
physiological processes. Body and soul are unified in
the same way that wax and an impression stamped on
it are unified.
Aristotle’s
ARISTOTLE’S ETHICS
• Ethics, as viewed by Aristotle, is an attempt to find
out our chief end or highest good: an end which he
maintains is really final. Though many ends of life are
only means to further ends, our aspirations and desires
must have some final object or pursuit. Such a chief
end is universally called happiness. But people mean
such different things by the expression that he finds it
necessary to discuss the nature of it for himself.
Aristotle’s
• Aristotle does not regard politics as a separate
science from ethics, but as the completion, and almost
a verification of it.
The moral ideal in political administration is only a
different aspect of that which also applies to individual
happiness. Humans are by nature social beings, and the
possession of rational speech (logos) in itself leads us
to social union.
ARISTOTLE’S POLITICS
Aristotle’s
ARISTOTLE’S ART AND POETICS
• Art is defined by Aristotle as the realization in
external form of a true idea, and is traced back to that
natural love of imitation which characterizes humans,
and to the pleasure which we feel in recognizing
likenesses. Art however is not limited to mere copying.
It idealizes nature and completes its deficiencies: it
seeks to grasp the universal type in the individual
phenomenon.