is also defined as the attitude of the mind that by natural light of reason

studies the first causes or the highest principles of all things. Philosophy
"It uses scientific approach because the investigation is systematic. It follows
certain steps or it employs certain procedures. In other words, it is an organized
body of knowledge just like any other sciences. " 1. Scientific Approach.
"Philosophy investigates things, neither by using any laboratory instruments or
investigative tools, nor on the basis of supernatural revelation; otherwise, it
becomes theology. Instead, the philosopher uses his natural capacity to think or
observe the world and people." 2. Natural Light of Reason.
"This sets the distinction between philosophy and other sciences. All other
sciences concern themselves with 9 particular objects of investigation. For
example, anthropologists? study human beings in relation to the society;
sociologists study society its form, structures, and functions; botanists focus
their attention to plants; linguists limit themselves to language; theologians
investigate God; whereas, a philosopher studies human beings, society, religion,
language, God, and plants, among other concerns. " 3. Study of All Things
An idea which means something is the main and first cause why an event or situation
took place. It is a principle because everything in the world and every situation
has a starting point or a beginning. 4. First Cause or the Highest Principle.
THE BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY "Metaphysics
Ethics
Epistemology
Politics
Logic
Aesthetics"
"is the philosophical branch that studies reality, existence, the nature of being,
the physical world, and the universe." Metaphysics -
"also known as moral philosophy, is often referred to as the study of morality. It
seeks to address questions about how we should live our lives, how we define proper
conduct, and what we mean by the good life. It?s a study that teaches us what the
virtuous life is like and how we can put these virtues into practice." Ethics
"Whatever is my moral duty to do. This means that a person has a moral duty to do
what is right regardless of what the person thinks or feels about the situation.
For example, when a person sees Hitler drowning, he must save him because letting a
person die without helping is wrong. The act of saving Hitler is moral duty, or in
Kant?s words, a ?moral imperative? and is not dependent on a person?s opinion of
Hitler?s past criminal and atrocious acts. This does not mean Hitler is innocent.
It only means he must be helped despite his evilness because saving is a moral duty
every human being has an obligation to do." Deontological Ethics
"What kind of person I ought to be. This ethical theory ignores the consequences,
duties, and social contracts. Instead, it focuses on character development of
individuals and their acquisition of good virtue ethics." Virtue Ethics
"What does my culture or society think I ought to do? ""When in Rome, do as the
Romans do"" is a view of ethical relativism that actions are morally right within a
particular society when they are approved by law, custom, or other conventions of
the society." Relativism
"often referred to as the theory of knowledge. It delves into the definition,
scope, and parameters of knowledge and knowledge formation. It seeks to explain how
we acquire knowledge, how knowledge relates to notions like justification, truth,
and belief, and how and where it falls in the spectrum of certainty and error."
Epistemology
works from the more general to the more specific. Sometimes this is informally
called a ?top-down? approach. Theory to Confirmation. Philosophers think it is more
important to find a general law according to which particular facts can be
understood or judged. Deductive reasoning
"works the other way, moving from specific observations to broader generalizations
and theories. Informally, we sometimes call this a ?bottom up? approach.
Observation to Theory. Philosophers believe that general ideas are formed from the
examination of particular facts." Inductive reasoning
the view that knowledge can be attained only through sense experience. Empiricism
a person who supports the theory that all knowledge is based on experience derived
from the senses. Empiricist
- a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and
knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response. Rationalism
a person who bases their opinions and actions on reason and knowledge rather than
on religious belief or emotional response. Rationalist
"examines various concepts related to politics, government, laws, liberty, justice,
rights, authority, state, and even ethics (ethical ruling). It discusses how states
should be built and run, and how its constituents should act" Politics
the branch of philosophy that studies reasoning. It teaches us how to differentiate
between good and bad reasoning and how to construct valid arguments. Logic
"It is the concern of logician.
It is important to underpin that logic does not provide us knowledge of the world
directly, for logic is considered a tool, and, therefore, does not contribute
directly to the content of our thought. Logic is not interested in what we know
regarding certain subjects. Its concern, rather, is the truth or the validity of
our arguments regarding such objects.
" Reasoning
"refers to the study of everything related to beauty, art, and good taste. This
includes how we define art, how we feel when viewing art or witnessing beauty, how
we judge works of art, and how we form our taste." Aesthetics
is a broad discipline and methods of inquiry in philosophy which is based on the
premise that reality consists of objects and events (?phenomena?) as they are
perceived or understood in the human consciousness and not of anything independent
of human consciousness. It is the study of structures of consciousness as
experienced from the first point of view. This philosophy was founded by Edmund
Husserl who worked copiously to establish it as a rigorous science.
Phenomenology
"it is a philosophy that emphasizes the importance of free individual choice,
regardless of the power of other people to influence and coerce our desires,
beliefs, and decisions. It is the view that humans define their own meaning in
life, and try to make rational decisions despite existing in an irrational
universe. It focuses on the question of human existence, and the feeling that there
is no purpose or explanation at the core of existence. An example of existentialism
would be when a person makes a decision about their life, follows through or does
not follow through on that decision and begins to create their essence. The idea of
existentialism is a person will create their essence over their lifetime and will
be finished or fully formed. In existentialism, the existence comes first and the
essence comes second." Existentialism
"it has come into vogue as the name for a rather diffused family of ideas and
trends that in significant respect rejects, challenges, or aims to supersede ?
modernity?; the convictions, aspirations, and pretensions of modern Western thought
and culture since the Enlightenment. Postmodernism is not a philosophy. It is at
best a holding pattern, perhaps a cry of despair. Postmodernism is more of an
attitude and a reaction to modernism which is a worldview of order, logic, and
authority based on knowledge. It rightly talks about world philosophy either
(Shields,2012)" Postmodernism
"this philosophy was founded by Gottlob Frege in the late 19th century. It is said
that the Philosophy should apply logical techniques to attain conceptual clarity.
___________ is also called linguistic philosophy, a related set of approaches to
philosophical problems. This philosophy means the using common experience and
ordinary language to analyze concepts and language in philosophy." Analytic
Tradition
a detect in an argument other than it having false premisesFallacies
A specific kind of appeal to emotion in which someone tries to win support for an
argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent?s feelings of pity or guilt.
Appeal to pity (Argumentum ad misericordiam
" Whatever has not been proven false must be true, and vice versa." Appeal to
ignorance (Argumentum ad ignorantiam)
"This is logical chain of reasoning of a term or a word several times, but giving
the particular word a different meaning each time." Equivocation
This infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that is true of some
part of the whole. The reverse fallacy is called division Composition
One reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be true of all or
some of its parts. Division
"this fallacy attempts to link the validity of a premise to a characteristic or
belief of the person advocating the premise. However, in some instances, questions
of personal conduct, character, and motives, among others, are legitimate if
relevant to the issue." Against the Person (Argumentum ad Hominem)
"An argument where force, coercion, or the threat of force is given as a
justification for a conclusion." Appeal to force (Argumentum ad baculum)
"An argument that appeals or exploit people?s vanities, desire for esteem, and
anchors on popularity" Appeal to the People (Argumentum ad populum)
"Since that event followed this one, that event must have been cause by this one.
This fallacy is also referred to as coincidental correlation or correlation not
causation." False cause (post hoc)
One commits errors if one reaches an inductive generalization based on insufficient
evidence. The fallacy is commonly based on a broad conclusion upon the statistics
of a survey of a small group that fails to sufficiently represent the whole
population. Hasty generalization
This is a type of fallacy in which the proposition to be proven is assumed
implicitly or explicitly in the premise. Begging the question (Petitio principii)
Methods of Philosophizing "1. Phenomenology
2. Existentialism
3. Essentialism
4. Nihilism
5. Analytic Tradition
6. Postmodernism"
Fallacies "1. Appeal to Pity
2. Appeal to ignorance
3. Equivocation
4. Composition
5. Division
6. Against the Person (Argumentum ad Hominem)
7. Appeal to force (Argumentum ad baculum)
8. Appeal to the People (Argumentum ad populum)
9. False cause (post hoc)
10. Hasty generalization
11. Begging the question (Petition Principii)"