LESSON 1: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
SECOND SEMESTER | ACADEMIC YEAR 2022 - 2023 |
PHILOSOPHY
- came from the Greek words “Philos” which
means love and “Sophia” meaning wisdom,
hence, its meaning “the love of wisdom.”
- The earliest philosophers were considered
wise men and women, or sages, because they
devoted themselves to asking “big questions”:
What is the meaning of life? Where did
everything come from? What is the nature of
reality?
AREAS OF PHILOSOPHY
METAPHYSICS
● Metaphysics encompasses the study of what
is sometimes termed “ultimate reality.” As
such, metaphysics raises questions about
reality that go beyond sense experience,
beyond ordinary science. Metaphysical
questions involve a free will, the mind–body
relationship, supernatural existence, personal
immortality, and the nature of being.
EPISTEMOLOGY
● Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that
asks questions about knowledge, its nature
and origins, and whether it is even possible.
● Epistemological questions involve standards of
evidence, truth, belief, sources of knowledge,
gradations of knowledge, memory, and
perception.
● Epistemological issues cut across all other
branches of philosophy.
ETHICS
● Ethics encompasses the study of moral
problems, practical reasoning, right and
wrong, good and bad, virtues and vices,
character, moral duty, and related issues
involving the nature, origins, and scope of
moral values. Today, it is not uncommon for
ethicists to specialize in medical ethics,
business ethics, environmental ethics,
academic ethics, issues of ethnicity and
gender, and the nature of the good life. Ethical
PHL01: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
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issues include benevolence, truth-telling,
relativism, and universality.
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
● Social And Political Philosophy are concerned
with the nature and origins of the state
(government), sovereignty, the exercise of
power, the effects of social institutions on
individuals, ethnicity, gender, social status,
and the strengths and weaknesses of different
types of societies.
LOGIC
● the study of the rules of correct reasoning
AXIOLOGY
● the study of values
AESTHETICS
● the study of perceptions, feelings, judgments,
and ideas associated with the appreciation of
beauty, art, and objects in general
ONTOLOGY
● the study of being and what it means to
“Exist.”
ARE PHILOSOPHERS ALWAYS MEN?
● The history of Western philosophy contains
mostly male representatives, most of them of
European ancestry. This has led to the
sarcastic but important charge that Western
philosophy is nothing but the study of “dead
white males.” Even though increasing
numbers of women are entering the ranks of
professional philosophy today, men still
outnumber women among professional
philosophers.
● Although throughout history individual
women were recognized for their insight and
brilliance, most of them remained—or were
kept—outside of the formal history of
philosophy. In our own times, the recognition
of women philosophers is improving: Susanne
Langer, L. Susan Stebbing, Simone de
Beauvoir, Simone Weil, Ayn Rand, Christina
Hoff Sommers, Alison Jaggar, Susan Moller
LESSON 1 1
 Okin, and Martha Nussbaum, among many
others, have achieved renown as
philosophers.
● Until the eighteenth century, most Western
philosophers represented a small class of
highly educated men, able to support
themselves independently or associated with
the Church or some other source of income.
Only with the emergence of great public
universities were higher education and
philosophy open to people from other
backgrounds. And even then, philosophers
tended to remain members of an educated
male elite
PHILOSOPHY AND THE SEARCH FOR THE TRUTH
● Even with its cultural limits and biases,
philosophy is perhaps the most open of all
subjects. Its primary goals are clarity of
expression and thought, and its chief
components are reason, insight,
contemplation, and experience. No question
or point of view is off-limits.
● The best philosophers—no matter what their
personal beliefs—defer to the most
compelling arguments regardless of their
origins. Such important philosophers as Plato,
Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Stuart Mill,
Søren Kierkegaard, Friedrich Nietzsche, and
Martin Heidegger, to name but a few,
radically questioned and revised their own
thinking over the course of their lives, reacting
to what they saw as more compelling
evidence.
WISDOM, KNOWLEDGE, AND BELIEF
● The chief goal of wisdom is a fundamental
understanding of reality as it relates to living a
good life. At its core, wisdom is reasonable
and practical, focusing on the true
circumstances and character of each
individual. We might say then, that wisdom is
good judgment about complex situations.
● Consequently, wisdom involves reflection,
insight, a capacity to learn from experience,
and some plausible conception of the human
condition. Unlike forms of knowledge that
require formal education and specialized
intelligence, wisdom has been associated with
experience in a way that theoretical and
intellectual knowledge has not.
PHL01: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
● Philosophers generally agree that Knowledge
is some form of true belief. Questions then
arise as to how to distinguish true belief from
mistaken belief; and, as you might expect,
different philosophers give different answers
involving the roles of reason, perception,
experience, intuition, and social agreement in
this process. Some philosophers go so far as to
deny the possibility of knowledge entirely.
● Philosophers also distinguish between
theoretical and practical knowledge.
○ Theoretical knowledge involves the
accurate compilation and assessment of
factual and systematic information and
relationships.
○ Practical knowledge consists of skills
needed to do things like play the piano,
use a band saw, remove a tumor, or bake
a cake.
● In contrast to knowledge, Belief refers to the
subjective mental acceptance that a claim is
true. Beliefs—unlike knowledge—need not be
true. Because beliefs are subjective mental
states, it is possible to be firmly convinced
that a belief is correct when it is not. On the
other hand, sometimes our beliefs are true,
but we’re unable to offer adequate evidence
for them.
● Some beliefs are more reasonable than
others, and there’s a big difference between
informed belief and mere belief. Mere belief
refers to a conviction that something is true
for which the only evidence is the conviction
itself. If that sounds circular, it’s because it is.
Mere belief validates itself—or tries to.
● Because we are all limited by our experiences,
abilities, and preferences, we cannot just rely
on our own untested thinking. We need to
consider others’ ideas, and we need to subject
our beliefs to the scrutiny of others. In the
realm of philosophy, we would be wise to take
advantage of those thinkers and ideas that
have stood the test of time and significance.
WILLED IGNORANCE
● More subtly, we can shut off challenging
questions by prejudging them, by being
inattentive and bored when they come up, or
by mocking other points of view without
investigating them. When we do this, we put
ourselves in the position of holding on to a
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 belief regardless of the facts. In such a state, course, what philosophers pride themselves
we become indifferent to the possibility of on doing.
error or enlightenment. Willed ignorance is
the name of this closed-minded attitude, and ● Pythagoras was a mathematician, and this
it is as opposite from the love of wisdom as influenced his philosophizing to a significant
any attitude I can think of. extent. He believed that mathematics offered
a glimpse of a perfect reality, a realm of the
PRE-SOCRATICS gods that our own world imperfectly
reflected. He believed that human souls were
THALES OF MILETUS trapped within imperfect bodies in an
imperfect world. Another core belief of the
Pythagoreans was that numbers were the key
● Philosophically, Thales to understanding all creation. He
is significant for his demonstrated this by showing how twanging
attempt to find a different lengths of string made different
common source, a sounds, and the same veneration of ‘numbers’
single substance appears many times in the late works of Plato
underlying all things. and Aristotle.
For him, this basic
“stuff ” was water. DEMOCRITUS
Aristotle says that
Thales observed that
“the nutriment of everything is moist, and ● Rather than
that...the seeds of everything have a moist reject
nature;...and that from which everything is Parmenidean
generated is always its first principle.” being by denying
what is so
● The real force of Thales’ insight was not his obvious to our
specific conclusion that all things are water senses—the
but, rather, his reduction of all things to one existence of
substance. The name for such motion, variety,
single-substance philosophies is Monism, the and change—Leucippus argued that there are
belief that reality is essentially one— either many “ones,” or beings. Democritus termed
one reality, one process, one substance, one these “ones” Atoms. The word atom comes
structure, or one “ground.” from the Greek Atomos, meaning “indivisible,”
“having no parts,” or “uncuttable.” Atoms are
PYTHAGORAS minute material particles, the ultimate
material constituents of all things. According
to Democritus, atoms have properties such as
● Pythagoras was size, shape, position, arrangement
an influential (combination), and motion, but they do not
philosopher, as possess sensible qualities like color, taste,
well as a temperature, or smell. However, combinations
mathematician. (compounds and composites) of atoms can
The significant grow large enough for us to perceive.
thing about all
this math was ● Democritus reasoned that not-being cannot
the method of even exist since it “is not.” Further, he argued,
deduction. The modern tradition of the absence of not-being is not the same thing
mathematical proof, the basis for Western as the absence of empty space. Space is
science, goes back in a straight line (via Plato) empty when it does not contain “things” or
to Pythagoras. If it hadn’t been for them, “bodies.” Space can be empty of bodies
philosophy and the search for knowledge without being empty of being.
would have stayed firmly in the hands of the
mystics. But this new approach showed that GREEK GOLDEN AGE
even very specialized knowledge was
accessible to everyone – if only they could SOCRATES
learn to think systematically. And that’s, of

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● Socrates claimed to convinced Plato that Athenian democracy was
have devoted his life to irrational mob rule. He founded his famous
serving his country but Academy to educate wise rulers.
was executed as a
traitor. He attracted ● According to Plato, knowledge is unchanging.
faithful and adoring The Sophists could not discover the truth
admirers and was because they were only concerned with the
idolized by many world of ever-changing perceptions and
young followers, yet customs. Truth and knowledge are found at
the second charge at the level of being. Plato’s theory of Forms was
his trial was part of his refutation of sophistry.
“corrupting the youth of Athens.” Although he
wrote no philosophy himself, he taught and ● In the Allegory of the Cave, Plato
inspired one of the two most influential characterized three levels of awareness by
philosophers in Western history, who in turn referring to three distinct levels of reality: two
taught the other: Plato and Aristotle. levels of becoming and one qualitatively
unique and ultimate level of being. The lowest
● Socrates perfected a style of philosophical level is inhabited by people with little or no
inquiry known as the Socratic method or imagination. The informed level involves a
dialectic. Based on the assumption that the wider range of basic understanding. On the
function of education is to draw the truth out highest level, the soul has no need for
of the pupil rather than “fill an empty vessel,” perception or interpretation.
Socratic dialectic consists of a series of guided
questions that continually refine the ideas ARISTOTLE
under scrutiny. Definitions are required for all
key terms, and logical inconsistencies are
brought to light and resolved. Socrates used ● Aristotle was
irony to encourage active listening by his Plato’s most
pupils and dialectical partners. illustrious pupil
and tutor of
● Acknowledgment of ignorance, Socrates Alexander the
taught, is a fundamental characteristic of the Great. In
examined life. contrast to
Plato’s
● For Socrates, human excellence (virtue) is a rationalistic
special kind of knowledge (techne) that approach, Aristotle brings to full maturity a
combines technical understanding with the second major approach to the study of the
skill and character to apply that knowledge. good life: collecting facts and using the
According to Socrates, knowledge (wisdom) information to make this a better world.
always produces behavioral results, because Aristotle was a philosophical naturalist.
behavior is always guided by beliefs. This view Naturalism is the belief that reality consists of
is sometimes called intellectualism, the idea the natural world and that the universe is
that no one knowingly does wrong. According ordered. Everything follows consistent and
to Socrates, there is no such thing as a discoverable laws of nature and can be
weakness of will: “To know the good is to do described in terms of fundamental laws.
the good.”
● Aristotle named his school after the god
Apollo Lyceus. The Lyceum was built near
PLATO
some of the most elegant buildings in Athens,
surrounded by shady groves of trees and
● Plato was a covered walkways. Socrates used to visit the
member of the same groves, remarking on what a wonderful
Athenian spot they made for reflection.
aristocracy and
Socrates’ most ● According to Aristotle, happiness requires
famous and activity, good habits, and practical wisdom.
important pupil.
Socrates’ trial MEDIEVAL PERIOD
and death

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SAINT AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO
● Augustine of Hippo
(354–430 AD) was a
very odd philosopher
and a very influential
one. He is
remembered for his
very frank account of
his own personal
habits, which
included things like
having too much sex
and stealing pears.
How much sex is too much, then? Any. At least
if you want to become a saint, which he
eventually did become, but only after he died,
of course. Augustine died shortly after the
Vandals, who were at war with Rome, reached
Hippo. He left no will, having no property. He
did, however, write his own epitaph: “What
maketh the heart of the Christian heavy? The
fact that he is a pilgrim, and longs for his own
country .”
● In his writings, Augustine anticipates major
philosophical and theological ideas concerning
doubt and certainty, the divided self,
consciousness, time, and free will, and God’s
foreknowledge of history. The City of God
details the fall of Rome in terms of a
full-fledged philosophy of history, the first
philosophy of history ever. By arguing that the
fall of Rome was part of the Christian - not
pagan - God’s plan, the City of God signals the
end of the ancient worldview.
● Augustine’s Confessions is considered by
some scholars to be the first true
autobiography, a claim challenged by other
scholars. Whether autobiography or
something else, the Confessions, like the
Meditations of the pagan emperor Marcus
Aurelius, engages readers from divergent
backgrounds. Like Marcus, Augustine takes
the measure of his own soul in remarkably
direct language and thereby speaks to almost
anyone who has ever struggled to reconcile
the longings of the heart with the demands of
the mind, appetite with the order, and
resolves with repeated failures to live up to
that resolve.
WILLIAM OF OCKHAM
● William of Ockham (c. 1287–1347) is, along
with Thomas Aquinas and John Duns Scotus,
PHL01: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY
among the most
prominent figures in
the history of
philosophy during
the High Middle
Ages. He is probably
best known today
for his espousal of
metaphysical
nominalism; indeed, the methodological
principle known as “Ockham’s Razor” is
named after him. But Ockham held important,
often influential views not only in metaphysics
but also in all other major areas of medieval
philosophy—logic, physics or natural
philosophy, theory of knowledge, ethics, and
political philosophy—as well as in theology.
● “Ockham’s Razor” is often expressed as
“Don’t multiply entities beyond necessity.”
Although the sentiment is certainly Ockham’s,
that formulation is nowhere to be found in his
texts. Moreover, as usually stated, it is a
sentiment that virtually all philosophers,
medieval or otherwise, would accept; no one
wants a needlessly bloated ontology. The
question, of course, is which entities are
needed and which are not.
MODERN PHILOSOPHY
TRYING TO DO WITHOUT GOD
● At some point, people decided it might be
better to leave God out of their philosophies
because it was so hard to prove the existence
of God. This shift is much praised these days
as the Enlightenment – but precious little
about the movement was enlightened really.
Rather, it was a practical response to the very
impressive new inventions of the Age of
Science; things like the first mechanical clocks
on church steeples, telescopes capable of
showing the mountains on the moon, and, of
course, guns. All these made scientific and
mathematical thinking much more prestigious
than poring over dusty old religious texts for
clues as to fundamental reality. Several
philosophers, starting with Descartes,
attempted to produce arguments for believing
in the universe, that required, logically, that
God also existed.
RENÈ DESCARTES
● Rationalism is an epistemological position in
which reason is said to be the primary source
of all knowledge, superior to sense evidence.
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 Rationalists argue command, but goodness does not ensure
that only reason can power and the good person has no more
distinguish reality authority by virtue of being good. Thus, in
from illusion and give direct opposition to a moralistic theory of
meaning to politics, Machiavelli says that the only real
experience. In concern of the political ruler is the acquisition
general, rationalists and maintenance of power (although he talks
believe that abstract less about power per se than about
reasoning can “maintaining the state”.)
produce undeniable,
certain truths about CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
nature, existence,
and the whole of BERTRAND RUSSELL
reality. Many of
these ultimate truths can be discovered
without observation, experiment, or even ● Russell’s
experience. These are called a priori ideas or, philosophical
sometimes, innate ideas. Thus, to rationalists, method has at its
reason—not empirical observation—is the core the making and
ultimate test of truth. testing of hypotheses
through the weighing
● According to the Coherence Theory of truth, of evidence. Hence
new or unclear ideas are evaluated in terms of Russell’s comment
rational or logical consistency and in relation that he wished to
to already established truths. The ultimate emphasize the
criteria for basic, originating truths are clarity “scientific method”
and distinctness. in philosophy. His
method also requires
the rigorous analysis of problematic
NICCOLÒ MACHIAVELLI
propositions using the machinery of first-order
logic. It was Russell’s belief that by using the
● Why Machiavelli? new logic of his day, philosophers would be
That question might able to exhibit the underlying “logical form” of
naturally and natural-language statements. A statement’s
legitimately occur to logical form, in turn, would help resolve
anyone encountering various problems of reference associated with
an entry about him in the ambiguity and vagueness of natural
an encyclopedia of language.
philosophy. Certainly,
Machiavelli ● According to Russel, statements can be:
contributed to many ○ True
important discourses ○ False
in Western
thought—political ○ Non-sensical
theory most notably, but also history and
historiography, Italian literature, the principles LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN
of warfare, and diplomacy. But Machiavelli
never seems to have considered himself a ● He coined the phrase
philosopher—indeed, he often overtly ’Don’t ask for the
rejected philosophical inquiry as beside the meaning, ask for the
point—nor do his credentials suggest that he use’.
fits comfortably into standard models of
academic philosophy. ● Witt likened
language to a game
● For Machiavelli, there is no moral basis on that we play.
which to judge the difference between
legitimate and illegitimate uses of power. ● At the heart of his concept of ‘language
Rather, authority and power are essentially games’ is the idea that words only have
coequal: whoever has power has the right to

PHL01: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY LESSON 1 6

 meaning because of their context and
therefore we have to be careful to know which
‘game’ we are playing

e.g. if a coach tried to get a netball player to’

pick and roll’ their opponent for the match
they would lose the game because it wouldn’t
make sense as it is a basketball term.

● Witt then applied his idea to philosophy and

concluded that philosophical problems about
language are created by not understanding
that words can be used in different language
games.

e.g. an outsider cannot claim that the

language used in a ‘particular game’ is
meaningless just because it does not make
sense to the

PHL01: HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF PHILOSOPHY LESSON 1 7

 LESSON 2: METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING
SECOND SEMESTER | ACADEMIC YEAR 2022 - 2023 |
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
METAPHYSICS
● A branch of Philosophy that deals with
questioning Existence. Without an explanation
or an interpretation of the world around us,
we would be helpless to deal with reality.
● CONCERNED WITH REALITY AND EXISTENCE,
principles of things, including abstract
concepts such as being, knowing, substance,
cause, identity, time, and space.
● ONTOLOGY: What is the nature of existence?
● COSMOLOGY: Origin and organization of the
universe
● METAPHYSICS QUESTIONS
○ What is reality?
○ Is there a spiritual reality of existence?
○ What is the origin of the universe?
○ What is the purpose of life?
○ Do humans have free will?
○ Is the universe rationally designed of
meaningless?
○ Is human nature spiritual or physical?
EPISTEMOLOGY
● RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT THE NATURE OF
KNOWLEDGE, LOGIC IS A KEY DIMENSION TO
EPISTEMOLOGY
● It encompasses the nature of concepts, the
constructing of concepts, the validity of the
senses, logical reasoning, as well as thoughts,
ideas, memories, emotions, and all things
mental.
● Epistemology is the study of our method of
acquiring knowledge. It is the way of thinking
that can help us to acquire certain knowledge
that can identify what is True or False.
PHL01: METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING LESSON 2
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● Deductive logic: from general to specific
● Inductive logic: from specific facts to
generalization
● EPISTEMOLOGY QUESTIONS
○ How do we know what we know?
○ On what authority do we base our claims
of truth?
○ Is truth permanent or changing?
○ Does knowledge come from divine
revelation, our own minds, scientific
evidence, or another source?
AXIOLOGY
● A Branch of Philosophy that specifically deals
with the VALUES of a person and EXPLORES
THE NATURE OF VALUES
● ETHICS: the study of human conduct and
examines moral values. This is the branch of
philosophy that deals with Morality and it is
dealing with what is the proper course of
action for man. It is our means of deciding a
course of action. Without it, our actions would
be random and aimless.
● AESTHETICS: values beauty, nature, and
aesthetic experience (often associated with
music, art, literature, dance, theatre, and
other fine arts). Allows a person to have a
judgment on a specific type of art. It includes
what art consists of, as well as the purpose
behind it. Does art consist of music, literature,
and painting?
● AXIOLOGY QUESTIONS
○ What are desirable values?
○ What is beautiful?
○ When does the end justify any means of
achieving
○ Are values absolute or relative?
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 ○ What does “family values” mean?
○ My mother wants me to be good – what
does good mean?
PHILOSOPHY OF LANGUAGE
CONCERNED WITH ANALYZING USE OF LANGUAGE
● Explores the relationship between language
and reality. In particular, philosophy of
language studies issues that cannot be
addressed by other fields, like linguistics or
psychology.
● Major topics in the philosophy of language
include the nature of meaning, intentionality,
reference, the constitution of sentences,
concepts, learning, and thought.
PHILOSOPHY OF LOGIC
● The study, from a philosophical perspective,
of the nature and types of logic, including
problems in the field and the relation of logic
to mathematics and other disciplines.
● The term "logic" came from the Greek word
logos, which is sometimes translated as
"sentence", "discourse", "reason", "rule", and
"ratio".
SOCIAL PHILOSOPHY
● Social philosophy is the philosophical study of
questions about social behavior (typically, of
humans).
● Social philosophy addresses a wide range of
subjects, from individual meanings to the
legitimacy of laws, from the social contract to
criteria for revolution, from the functions of
everyday actions to the effects of science on
culture, from changes in human demographics
to the collective order of a wasp's nest.
POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY
● The study of questions about the city,
government, politics, liberty, justice, property,
rights, law, and the enforcement of a legal
code by authority:
● What they are, why (or even if) they are
needed, what makes a government legitimate,
PHL01: METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING LESSON 2
what rights and freedoms it should protect
and why, what form it should take and why,
what the law is, and what duties citizens owe
to a legitimate government, if any, and when
it may be legitimately overthrown—if ever.
CRITICAL AND ANALYTICAL THINKING SKILLS
A PRIORI VS A POSTERIORI
● A priori knowledge is prior to sense
experience (thus 'priori'). An example of a
priori knowledge would be a statement such
as, 'All squares are polygons. ' A person can
know this fact-based just on the fact that they
know what a square is and what a polygon is.
They don't need to actually experience any
squares in order to know that this statement
is true of all squares.
● A posteriori knowledge is gained only after
sense experience has already occurred. An
example of a posteriori knowledge would be a
statement such as, 'Many buildings are
square.' A person can only know this if they
have seen many buildings and noticed that
they were square, or if someone else
informed them about the shapes of buildings.
There is no way to know this statement
without experience, so the knowledge of its
truth would be a posteriori knowledge.
TRUTH AND KNOWLEDGE
● Truth lies at the heart of any inquiry. It is a fact
that has been verified
● Knowledge is simple data that comes from the
outside that passes to our senses. It must be
truthful to gain validity and acceptance.
THEORIES OF TRUTH
CORRESPONDENCE THEORY
● statement is true if it corresponds to an object
in reality
Example: The Table is round
COHERENCE THEORY
● statement is true if it is complementary or
coherent to other’s belief
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 Example: God created the world (true for
Catholics and other religion but false for
atheists)
PRAGMATIC THEORY
● statement is true if it is beneficial depending
on our perspective
Example: Mapúa is a good university
- True because of ABET-accredited
- True because of high passing rate in the
boards
CONSTRUCTIVIST THEORY
● statement is true if it is a SOCIAL NORM
Example: Young people should respect the
elderly
CONSENSUS THEORY
● statement is true if it there is an agreement
that something is really true
Example: Light is a particle.
- Scientists agreed that it is a particle.
PROPOSITIONS
● Philosophers consider truth as a kind of
quality or value.
● Propositions are statements about the world
or reality that may or may not carry truth.
What is TRUTH, and why is it important?
● Knowledge is the clear awareness and
understanding of something. It is the product
of questions that allow for clear answers
provided by facts.
● What we know is what is observable or
evident in the real world.
● Propositions that are observed to be real or
truthful are considered FACTS.
● There are statements, however, that are not
evidently or immediately known to be true,
and they are called CLAIMS. They require
further examination to establish whether it is
true or false.
PHL01: METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING LESSON 2
How do we know if something is true?
● Philosophers emphasize the importance of
belief as a basis for determining truth.
● We assume that everything we know about
this world is true, but philosophers who
pondered upon the origins of knowledge
doubted everything there is to know about
themselves and the world. In doing so, they
were able to understand better how humans
gain knowledge and determine the truth
about everything.
How can Philosophy guide us in determining truth
and opinion?
● Opinions are comprised of statements that
give not only facts but also provide
conclusions or perspectives regarding certain
situations. They may advance a belief about
certain things or provide explanations.
● Opinions are also the basis for arguments and
convincing people that a certain claim is a
fact. They are often influenced by bias.
● Beliefs are statements that express
convictions that are not easily explained by
facts. To judge the truthfulness of a belief, we
must also consider things such as the person's
experiences and views.
● Explanations are statements that assume the
claim to be true and provide reasons why the
statement is true.
FALLACIES
● Fallacies are common reasoning errors that
will undermine your argument's logic.
● Fallacies can be either illegitimate arguments
or irrelevant points and are often identified
because they lack evidence that supports their
claim. Avoid these common fallacies in your
own arguments and watch for them in the
arguments of others.
AD HOMINEM
● Attacking the person instead of the
argument itself
Example: Of course, he believes that the
government is flawed. He is a rebel and a
Communist.
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AD BACULUM (appeal to force) ● Assuming that what is true of a part is
true for the whole

● Using the threat of force or an Example: Each brick in that building

undesirable event to advance an weighs less than a pound. Therefore, the
argument building weighs less than a pound.

Example: If you do not agree with my FALACY OF DIVISION

political opinions, you will receive a flat
70 on your card.
● Assuming that what is true for the whole
AD MISERICORDIAM (appeal to pity) is true for its parts

Example: You come from a family of

● Using emotions such as pity and doctors and lawyers! Surely, you can do
sympathy better in this course!

Example: You can fire me. I have a wife HASTY GENERALIZATION

and 12 kids who will go hungry if I lose
this job.
● The generalization is reached too hastily.
AD POPULUM (appeal to majority or There are too few instances or evidence
to support such a conclusion.
bandwagon)
● The idea is presented as acceptable Example: You can’t speak French. I can’t
because a lot of people accept it speak French. Carla can’t speak French;
therefore, nobody in this school can
Example: Every boy your age already has speak French.
a girlfriend. You should go find one!
PETITIO PRINCIPII (begging the question)
AD ANTIQUITATEM (appeal to tradition)
● Assuming that the thing or idea to be
● The idea is acceptable because it has proven is true (circular reasoning)
been true for a long time
Example: God exists because the bible
Example: Marriage has traditionally been says so. … Why can we trust what the
between a man and a woman; therefore, Bible says? Easy, the Bible is the word of
gay marriage should not be allowed. God.

AD VERECUNDIAM SLIPPERY SLOPE

● ‘Misusing’ an authority ● Slippery slope is when you take one known

fact and extrapolate it to an unrealistic
Example: 4 out of 5 dentists agree that extreme.
brushing your teeth makes your life Example: Lost your pen = no pen
meaningful. No pen = no notes
No notes = no study
DICTO SIMPLICITAR No study = Fail
Fail = no diploma
No diploma = no work
● Argument based on an unqualified No work - no money
generalization No money = no food
No food = skinny
Example: Exercise is goof. Therefore Skinny = ugly
everybody should exercise. Ugly = no love
No love - no marriage
No marriage = no children
FALLACY OF COMPOSITION No children - alone
Alone - depression

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 Depression = sickness
Sickness = death
Lesson: Don't lose your pen.
FALSE AUTHORITY
● when you try to make your point by attaching
it to someone whose opinions or knowledge
are respected instead of arguing it on its own
merits. An appeal to tradition is similar, except
instead of authority, you rely on what is
familiar and comfortable.
Example: According to repeated nationwide
surveys, more doctors smoke camels than any
other cigarette!
FALSE DILEMMA
● A false dilemma is a type of informal fallacy in
which something is falsely claimed to be an
"either/or" situation when in fact, there is at
least one additional option.
Example:
RED HERRING
● Attempting to redirect the argument to
another issue to which the person doing the
redirecting can better respond. Red herring is
a deliberate diversion of attention to try to
abandon the original argument.
Example:
PHL01: METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING LESSON 2
RED HERRING
● Bandwagon is a type of logical fallacy-an
argument based on unsound reasoning.
Bandwagon argues that one must accept or
reject an argument because of everyone else
who accepts it or rejects it-similar to peer
pressure.
HASTY GENERALIZATION
● When one makes a hasty generalization, he
applies a belief to a larger population than he
should be based on his information.
BIASES
CORRESPONDENCE BIAS (Fundamental
attribution error)
● Tendency to judge a person’s personality
by his/her actions without regard for
external factors or situations
Example: The soldiers who fought in the
war are all bloodthirsty murderers.
CONFIRMATION BIAS
● The tendency to look for and accept
information in a way that confirms one’s
beliefs and rejects ideas that go against it
Example: How can I accept his view that
there is no God? I am a Christian!
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CONFLICT OF INTEREST

● A person or group is connected to or has

a vested interest in the issue

Example: As the daughter of the accused,

I believe that I have the right to express
my opinion on the issue of his alleged
corrupt practices.

CULTURAL BIAS

● Analyzing an event or issue based on

one's cultural standards

Example: I do not agree with this

Western practice of placing the elderly in
retirement homes. We Filipinos take care
of our family members.

FRAMING

● Focusing on a certain aspect of a problem

while ignoring other aspects

Example: Preliminary evidence has still

not pointed out the actual cause of the
plane crash. Our investigators are
currently focusing on the possibility of
pilot error.

HINDSIGHT (knew-it-all-along phenomenon)

● Is when, after an event occurs, we feel

we already knew what was going to
happen

Example: When you put a glass on the

edge of a table, and you start cleaning
and bumped the glass, and it fell to the
ground and

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