NAME: ANGEL ABIYE ATEMIE

DEPT: COMPUTER

FACULTY: ENGINEERING

TITLE: RELEVANCE OF PHILOSOPHY TO NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

COURSE CODE: GST 147

COURSE TITLE: PHILOSOPHY AND LOGIC

LECTURER:MR MAZIRU ELECHI

 DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY

Defining Philosophy

The most general definition of philosophy is that it is the pursuit of wisdom, truth,
and knowledge. Indeed, the word itself means ‘love of wisdom’ in Greek.
Whenever people think about deep, fundamental questions concerning the nature of the
universe and ourselves, the limits of human knowledge, their values and the meaning of life,
they are thinking about philosophy. Philosophical thinking is found in all parts of the world,
present, and past.
In the academic world, philosophy distinguishes a certain area of study from all other areas,
such as the sciences and other humanities. Philosophers typically consider questions that are,
in some sense, broader and/or more fundamental than other inquirers’ questions: [3] e.g.,
physicists ask what caused some event; philosophers ask whether causation even exists;
historians study figures who fought for justice; philosophers ask what justice is or whether
their causes were in fact just; economists study the allocation of capital; philosophers debate
the ethical merits of capitalism.
When a topic becomes amenable to rigorous, empirical study, it tends to be “outsourced” to
its own field, and not described in the present day as “philosophy” anymore: e.g., the natural
sciences were once called “natural philosophy,” but we don’t now just think about whether
matter is composed of atoms or infinitely divisible: we use scientific experiments. [4] And
most of the different doctoral degrees are called “Doctor of Philosophy” even when they’re
in sociology or chemistry.
Philosophical questions can’t be straightforwardly investigated through purely empirical
means: e.g., try to imagine a lab experiment testing whether societies should privilege
equality over freedom—not whether people believe we should, but whether we actually
should. What does moral importance look like in a microscope?
The main method of academic philosophy is to construct and evaluate arguments (i.e.,
reasons intended to justify some conclusion). Such conclusions might be that some theory is
true or false or might be about the correct analysis or definition of some concept. These
arguments generally have at least some conceptual, intellectual, or a priori, i.e., non-
empirical, content. And philosophers often incorporate relevant scientific knowledge as
premises in arguments.

Branches of Philosophy
Philosophy deals with fundamental questions. But which questions, specifically, is
philosophy about? Here’s a standard categorization:

Logic: Logicians study good and bad arguments and reasoning, and they study formal,
symbolic languages intended to express propositions, sentences, or arguments.

Metaphysics: Metaphysicians study what sorts of entities exist, what the world and its
constituents are made of, and how objects or events might cause or explain each other.

Epistemology: Epistemologists study knowledge, evidence, and justified belief. An

epistemologist might study whether we can trust our senses and whether science is
trustworthy.

Values: In value theory, philosophers study morality, politics, and art, among other topics.
For example: What makes wrong actions wrong? How do we identify good people and good
lives? What makes a society just or unjust?
There are many sub-branches within these fields. Many other fields— the sciences, art,
literature, and religion—have a “philosophy of” attached to them: e.g., philosophers of
science might help interpret quantum mechanics; philosophers of religion often consider
arguments about the existence of God.
There are also unique and important philosophical discussions about certain populations
or communities, such as feminist philosophy and Africana philosophy. People from all
cultures contribute to philosophy, more than are typically discussed in Western philosophy
courses. Western academic philosophy has often neglected voices from non-Western
cultures, and women’s voices.
 Philosophers sometimes import tools, knowledge, and language from other fields, such as
using the formal tools of statistics in epistemology and the insights from special relativity in
the philosophy of time. When your project is understanding all of existence in the broadest
and most fundamental way, you need all the help you can get.
The Point(s) of Philosophy

Academic philosophy doesn’t present a body of consensus knowledge the way chemistry
and physics do. Do philosophical questions have corrected answers? Does philosophical
progress exist? Does philosophy get closer to the truth over time? These are all matters of
philosophical debate. And philosophical debates are rarely resolved with certainty.
So, what’s the point? Here are some answers
To discover truth, wherever and whatever it is.
To learn how to better live our lives.
To understand our own views, including their strengths and weaknesses.
To examine our own lives and be more conscious of our choices and their implications.
To learn how to better think and reason. Recall: The main method of philosophy is to present
and examine arguments.

Philosophy can be considered into three different senses which are:

 As a belief (or body of beliefs) or an attitude

 As an intellectual activity
 As an academic discipline

In the first sense, the term philosophy refers to a set of meaningful beliefs or an attitude
that guides the behavior of rational agents. In this sense, it is more usually, a self-coherent
body of national beliefs and fundamental principles that underlie or inform the actions of an
individual or the collective social consciousness of a cultural group. In the statement, “My
philosophy of life is to accept with I cannot change with equanimity’, the term philosophy
is used in the sense of a guiding belief. We can also talk of the philosophy of non-violence
 and other foundational ideologies and doctrines, such as communism, capitalism, fascism,
humanism etc., as philosophies this sense.

As an activity, philosophy refers to ‘the art of thinking all things logically, systematically
of reality as a whole.

Philosophy in this sense is not the exclusive province of academically trained

philosophers. Here term philosophy is used in a broad sense and includes, but not limited to,
the process of meditating and any rigorous and scientific engagement of the intellect.

There are also three approaches two defining philosophy they are

1. Etymological approach
2. Normative approach
3. Metaphilosophical approach
Philosophy is a rational inquiry. It consists in the study of most fundamental principles
and ideas that shape all our thinking and conscious actions. It involves an attempt to
weave them together, in order to yield a lucid and comprehensive picture of reality.

DEVELOPMENT

The word development has its root in the French word “voloper” meaning “to wrap”.
To develop thus means to “dewrap” or to unfold gradually, to cause to grow gradually
fuller, larger, stronger and better. Development therefore is the process or a state of being
developed. The word Development can be defined as the process of unfolding, evolving,
or maturing that entails a movement from a lesser stage to a greater one. In a more
concrete terms Walter Rodney notes that Development implies increased skill, capacity,
greater freedom, creativity, self-discipline, responsibility, and material well being. This
view that Development implies freedom is corroborated by Ellah, when he explains that
No development can occur in the absence of freedom,
because without freedom we are in bandage, and
bandage is slavery, which is the very opposite of
 development. There can be no development if men
are ignorant, intimidating, poor and sick in body and
mind …there is no development if man himself, is
not developed in his body and mind

Human societies and countries are developing at different levels and paces: so, it is also in
distinct parts of the same society and country. But technically speaking, no society or country,
nation or people can claim to have reached the terminus of development. Even those countries
that are called developed are still developing.

Nevertheless, the ultimate essence or purpose of development is the development of man,

the realization of human potential and the liberation of man from poverty. In other words, true
development at the individual level must seek to realize the creative capacities or potential of
man, enabling him to improve his material condition of living, through the use of resources
available to him. Development is a process by which human personality is enhanced in a creative
organized and discipline fashion.

NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

National development means better standard of living , increase in goods and services,
greater awareness and better appreciation of the essence of life and its conditions. It means that
the citizens must be patriotic and nationalistic, in the sense of having unflinching desire to
contribute meaningfully to his or her nation

HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

Human Development; is a wellbeing concept within a field of international

development in mulita-dimensional and pluralities that are radically involved education as
much as health, socio-economic standard of living and political freedom. United Nation
define human development as “the process of enlarging people’s choices”, said choices being
allowing them to “lead a long and healthy life, to be educated, to enjoy a decent standard of
 living”, as well as “political freedom, other guaranteed human rights and various ingredients
of self-respect.” The human development approach  has  been  greatly  inspired  by 
Amartya  Sen’s  pioneering works in welfare economics, social choice, happiness, agency
and value, poverty and famine, and development economics. Mahbub ul Haq has says human
development main pillars are: equity, efficiency, participation and sustainability. Apart from
his four principle, other like; responsibility, respecting Human Right, people’s wellbeing,
feeling satisfied with one’s life and possessing resources and expand people’s freedom, were
a part of Human Development. It includes the moral or spiritual, mental or intellectual, and
socio-political developments of man.

MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT

Material development is an aspect of national development that easily to mind whenever

there is any discourse on national development. It usually considered be-all- and-end-all. Here
national development for them is understood only in terms of material, economic, or structural
advancement.

RELEVANCE OF PHILOSOPHY TO NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Philosophy of education makes it possible for education to be channelled towards the

realization of national goals as a result of the thinking through activities. The attainment of such
goals and objectives translates to national development. Philosophy is useful in national
development in terms of the drafting of workable development plans mentioned earlier,
philosophy is considered as the love of wisdom and the philosopher is the lover of wisdom 5 the
wise person. According to Aristotle’s notes that it is the office of the wise person to order things
to their end. Philosophers now what the best thing to be done is. This is because they have a
broad and perspicacious view of things.
In this connection, philosophy wo"ld enable the wor'ing o"t of practicabledevelopment plans
after the merely wishful ones have been laid off.