Wondering to Wonder: An Introduction to Philosophy

Learning Outcomes:

1. Define and Explain the Meaning of Philosophy;

2. Identify and explain the branches of Philosophy; and
3. Articulate the significance of Philosophy

The School of Athens – The Thinker -

Aristotle: Contradicts Plato in their study of Reality.

 How do you Wonder?

 What do you wonder about?
 Why do we wonder?

Not all pursuit of knowledge is Philosophy, and it begins from wonder. We wonder of : (a) things that
exist, to question that everything that IS

Beginning of Philosophy:

 Prior to Philosophy, people were occupied by the fantastic tales of Olympian gods and
goddesses (Homer’s Odyssey). The world was explain in terms of understanding these activities,
including the whims of the gods and goddesses (Leni Garcia.)
 Rain and Thunder - Zeus Angry
 Earthquake and Tsunamis – Poseidon Complaining
 Changing of Seasons – Abduction of Persephone by Hades
 Intoxication – Dionysus

The Rise of Pre-Socratic Thinkers

- Departing from Mythos to Logos

 Thales – the founder of Philosophy asked : “What is the world made of?” He believed that the
world is made from water. Everything is moist according to him.
 Anaximander – The “boundless infinite”
 Anaximenes – The world is made of air Because we breathe and the process of
condensation/rarefraction.
 Pythagoras – The world consists of numbers.

Departing from Mythos to Logos

 Man WONDERS and QUESTIONS because – RATIONAL NATURE (Rational Nature – our capacity
to think, reason out, and choose freely.

What is Philosophy?

 The search for meaning.

  The science of beings (all things/everything) in their ultimate causes, reasons, and principles
acquired by the aid of human reason alone.

Philosophy

 From Greek words “philo” love and “Sophia” which means wisdom. It is said to be love of
wisdom according to Phythagoras because you can not own wisdom, you can only love it.
 Etymologically, Philosophy can be said as “the love of wisdom.”
 Philosophers are lovers of wisdom. But is it love of wisdom? Or pursuit of wisdom? Therefore,
the question remains, what is philosophy?
 The middle line between science and theology.
 Like theology, it speculates on matters which definite knowledge finds unascertainable.
 Like Science, appeals to reason rather than authority.
 Began in Greece in 6 century B.C. then became theology as Christianity rose and Rome fell.
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Branches of Philosophy:

1. Metaphysics – branch that deals with the first principles of things, including abstract concepts
such as being, knowing, substance, cause, identity, time, and space.
Questions:
i. What is the nature of reality?
ii. What is the nature of possibility and necessity?
iii. What is the nature of existence?
iv. What is the relationship between mind and matter?
v. What is the nature of identity and change over time?
vi. What is the nature of properties and universals?

Branches of Metaphysics:

 cosmology, ontology, rational cosmology, metaphysics of personal identity, metaphysics of free

will and determinism, modality, philosophy of time
2. Epistemology - philosophical study of nature, origins, and limits of human knowledge.
Metaphysics and epistemology are codependent.

Questions:
i. How do we acquire knowledge?
ii. What counts as knowledge?
iii. What nature of truth
iv. Methods and limits of human understanding.
3. Axiology- which studies the nature of value
Branches of Axiology:
a. Ethics
b. Aesthetics

Questions of Axiology:

i. What is the nature of morality?

ii. Are there objective moral truths, or are moral judgments purely subjective?
iii. What is the basis for ethical principles and moral obligations
iv. How should individuals and societies determine what is right or wrong?
 v. Are there universal ethics principles that apply to all cultures and times?
vi. What is beauty, and how do we define aesthetic value?
vii. Are aesthetic judgements purely subjective, or are there objective standards of beauty?
viii. How do we evaluate and critique of art and aesthetics/
ix. What is the role or art and aesthetics in human culture and experience?
4. Logic- art and science of correct thinking and reasoning (valid reason).
Branches of Logic:
 Formal, inductive, deductive, inductive, symbolic, mathematical.

Other Branches of Philosophy

i. Philosophy of Mind
ii. Philosophy of Language
iii. Philosophy of Science
iv. Political Philosophy
v. Philosophy of Religion
vi. Philosophy or History
vii. Philosophy of Law
viii. Feminist Philosophy
ix. Philosophy of Economics
x. Theodicy
xi. Existentialism
xii. Phenomenology
xiii. Hermeneutics
xiv. Philosophy of Mathematics

What is Doing Philosophy?

 Examines what it means to think, read, discuss, and write philosophically.

 Involves asking the right questions, critically examining the work of previous philosophers.
 When we philosophize, we must not be afraid to say what we think. But we must think carefully,
we must consider what it is we are thinking about and respect the ideas of others in the same
way.
 When we do philosophy we must not think of ourselves but of the general case, we must move
from the particular to the universal.
 Expose your ideas to the ideas of others.

Doing Philosophy:

 Allow the Spirit of Wonder to flourish in your breast. Speculate and explore different points of
view and world views. Do not stifle childlike curiosity.
 Doubt Anything. Unsupported by evidence until the evidence convinces you of its truth. Do not
fear intellectual inquiry.
 Love the truth. Philosophy is the eternal search for truth, a search which inevitably fails and yet
is never defeated; which continually eludes us, but which always guides us.
 Revise and rebuild. Be willing to revise, reject, and modify your beliefs and the degree to which
you hold any belief.
 Seek Simplicity. This is the principle of parsimony, sometimes known as the “occam’s razor.”
Prefer the simpler explanation to the more complex, all things being equal.
 Live the Truth, Live the Good

We can do Philosophy By:

 Reflecting | (by ourselves) on the question that concern us. In order to explore the philosophical
lfe, we must explore ourselves. Looking at what we are, what that means and can mean are the
first steps in our philosophical journey. The only way of doing philosophy is to actually do it as
part of life.
 Dialogue | talking to a friend to try and work out a particular question of concern, or in a group.
Philosophizing with another taps into our urge as individuals to communicate - obtain ideas and
perspectives of another.
 Doing Philosophy would involve reading the ideas of others (philosophes) and understanding
them. Also includes writing.