Introduction to Philosophy of the Human

Person
What is philosophy?

Common Meanings
- Ideas,
- views
- principles
- perspectives or beliefs

An activity of reasoning
An academic subject or course

Truth
These common meanings are partially correct.

What is philosophy?
Etymological Definition
Love of wisdom.
Pythagoras

Wisdom
- Wisdom in knowing what is valuable in life
- Wisdom in having justified true beliefs
- Wisdom is knowing what should be done and acting accordingly.

What is philosophy?
Philosophy is an activity
Philosophy is not a body of doctrine but an activity.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

How?
By asking framework questions

Intrinsic Questions
Questions applicable to the framework to explain why

Extrinsic Questions
Questions that the framework's concepts cannot answer

Kinds of Philosophy
Types
- Thematic
- Positional
- Methodological
- Regional
- Historical
Thematic Types
- Logic
Area of philosophy: Reasoning

- Epistemology
Area of philosophy: Knowledge

- Metaphysics
Area of philosophy: Existence

- Ethics
Area of philosophy: Morality

- Aesthetics
Area of philosophy: Beauty

- Social And Political Philosophy

Area of philosophy: The state

- Philosophy of Science
Area of philosophy: Science

- Philosophy of Religion
Area of philosophy: Beliefs

- Philosophy of Language
Area of philosophy: Linguistic expressions

- Philosophy of Mind
Area of philosophy: Consciousness

Positional
Based on the area of study:
theism vs. atheism,
empiricism vs. rationalism

Based on the originator:

Plato (Platonic)
Immanuel Kant (Kantian)
René Descartes (Cartesian)
Position Types
- Logic
Aristotelian, symbolic

- Epistemology
Empiricism, rationalism, and pragmatism

- Metaphysics
 Idealism, materialism, and dualism

- Ethics
Deontology, virtue ethics

- Aesthethics
Kantianism, Platonics, and subjectivism

- Social And Political Philosophy

Liberalism, capitalism, and Marxism

- Philosophy of Science
Instrumentalism, inductivism, realism

- Philosophy of Religion
Theism, atheism, pantheism

- Philosophy of Language
Ideal-language, ordinary-language

- Philosophy of Mind
Naturalism, functionalism

Methodological Tyoes

1. Based on philosophical movements:

- Transcendentalism
- Nihilism
- Existentialism

2. Based on approaches:
- Marxist communism
- Maoist communism
- Leninist communism

3. Based on traditions:
- Indian dialectic
- Socratic dialectic

Regional Types

1. Western philosophy
- Greek, Roman, German, French, British, and American
- Emphasis: Distinctions and oppositions

2. Eastern philosophy
- Chinese, Indian, Japanese and Filipino
 - Emphasis: Commonalities and harmonies

Historical Western Types

1. Ancient (circa 585BC to 400AD)

- Pre-Socratic: Thales, Anaxagoras, and Pythagoras
- Socratic: Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle
- Ancient Roman: Seneca, Marcus Aurelius

2. Medieval philosophy (400–1500)

- Christian: St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Boethius
- Arabic: Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Rushd (Averroes)

3. Modern philosophy (1500-1900)

- Rationalists: Descartes, Spinoza, and Leibniz
- Empiricists: Locke, Berkeley, and Hume
- Idealists: Fichte, Schelling, Hegel Kant, Schopenhauer, Nietzsche

4. Contemporary (1900 – present)

- Analytic philosophers: Russell, Wittgenstein, and Davidson
- Phenomenologists: Husserl, Sarte, and Heidegger

Historical Indian Types

1. Vedic
- Vedas, Upanishads

2. Epic
- Mahabharata, Ramayana

3. Sutra
- Orthodox and unorthodox schools

4. Commentary
- Guadapada, Shamkara, et al

5. Renaissance
- Gandhi, Tagore, and Ramakrishna

WHAT IS THE VALUE OF DOING PHILOSOPHY?

MISCONCEPTION #1
Philosophy is indefinite. It leads to various answers.

MISCONCEPTION #2
Philosophy is impractical. It does not satisfy the needs.

BERTRAND RUSSELL
The Value of Philosophy (1980)
CORRECT MINDSET #1
Philosophy does the preliminary work for science in finding definite answers to scientific questions.

CORRECT MINDSET #2
Philosophy addresses the needs of the mind. Logic can also be used to address questions on material
needs.

MAJOR ACHIEVEMENTS OF PHILOSOPHY

- Philosophy provides a holistic view of life.
- Philosophy has contributed to the development of other disciplines.
- Philosophy provides ethical guidelines for every discipline.
- Philosophy has contributed to social transformation.
- Philosophy continues to explore.

WHAT IS TRUTH?

TRUTH
- It is the opposite of falsity.
- It has the property of truth.

BEARERS OF TRUTH
- Beliefs
- Statements
- Facts

BELIEFS
- Mental expressions of our claims

STATEMENT (aka proposals)

- A linguistic expression whose function is to advance a certain claim
- Usually in the form of declarative sentences

FACTS
- A fact is something that occurs in the world, and it is what makes a statement true

KINDS OF TRUTH

1. Sense-based or reason-based truth

- EMPIRICAL TRUTH Truth established by sense experience (aka as a posteriori)
- RATIONAL TRUTH Truth established by means of reason (aka a priori)

2. Truth as adding to what we know

- SYNTHETIC TRUTH Truth extends our knowledge as the predicate adds information on the
subject
- ANALYTIC TRUTH The truth does not extend our knowledge, as the predicate adds no further
information on the subject.

3. As much truth as possible in all situations, or not

 - CONTINGENT TRUTH Truth is not possible in all situations.
- NECESSARY TRUTH Truth is possible in all situations.

4. Truth as exclusive property of the knower

- PRIVATE TRUTH Truth that can be known only by the knower (the person)
- PUBLIC TRUTH The truth that can be known by directly by everyone

5. Truth as dependent on a person or group

- SUBJECTIVE TRUTH Truth is dependent on the attitudes, preferences, or interests of a person
or group
- OBJECTIVE TRUTH Truth is independent from a person’s attitudes, preferences or interests

6. Truth as acknowledged to be true by everyone or only some

- UNIVERSAL TRUTH The truth is acknowledged to be true by everyone
- RELATIVE TRUTH The truth is acknowledged to be true by some

7. The truth as determined by any logical process

- CERTAIN TRUTH Truth is derived from deductive reasoning.
- PROBABLE TRUTH Truth is derived from inductive reasoning.

8. Truth as an area of study

METHODS OF TRUTH

WAYS OF KNOWING

General Methods of Truth

- Correspondence
- Coherence
- Pragmatic truth

Particular Methods of Truth

- Observation
- Reasoning
- Intuition
- Mystical experience
- Appeal to authority
1. CORRESPONDENCE
The statement or belief represents a fact in the world.

CORRESPONDENCE
- Dogs are carnivores.
- Dingdong Dantes is a politician?
- Some SHS students are cute.

2. COHERENCE
The statement or belief coheres with the rules of conventional systems.
COHERENCE
- A right angle has 180 degrees.
- A gander is a male goose.
- It is illegal to wear the PH flag on your clothing.

3. PRAGMATISM
The statement or belief results in beneficial consequences.

PRAGMATISM
- Peeing in the forest would disturb the spirits in the woods.
- Filipino resilience is an admirable trait.
- Sundays are devoted to church.

1. OBSERVATION
This method checks if an empirical statement can be verified by a fact in the world.
- Internal Observation Observation of our thoughts andfeelings.
- External Observation Observations using the five senses on things outside our mind.

2. REASONING
The process of knowing or establishing truth by means of our reason
- Deductive Reasoning The truth to be proved is certain.
- Inductive Reasoning The truth to be proved is probable.

3. INTUITION
The process of knowing or establishing truth by gut-feel.

4. MYSTICAL EXPERIENCE
The process of knowing or establishing truth beyond senses and reasoning.
- Spiritual Truths The truth is based on nonphysical aspects of life.
- Religious Truths The truth is based on experience with the Divine or the sacred.

5. APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
- Testimony
- Information from a subject matter expert
- Reliable documents

CONDITIONS OF KNOWLEDGE

KNOWLEDGE
Knowledge is justified true belief.

KNOWLEDGE
We know X if and only if
We believe X to be true.
X is indeed true.
We are justified in believing X
to be true.
Fallacies
A fallacy is a defect in an argument that arises from a mistake in reasoning or the creation of an illusion
that makes a bad argument appear good.

Formal
May be identified by merely examining the form or structure of an argument. Fallacies of this kind are
found only in deductive arguments that have identifiable forms.

Informal
Can be detected only by examining the content of an argument.

Fallacies of Relevance
They have premises that are logically irrelevant to the conclusion, yet the premises may appear to be
psychologically relevant; the connection between premises and conclusion is emotional.

ARGUMENTUM AD BACULUM
ARGUMENTUM AD MISERICORDIAM
ARGUMENTUM AD POPULUM

Populum
- Bandwagon
- Appeal to vanity
- Appeal to snobbery
- Appeal to tradition

Bandwagon
Practically everybody believes that Sara Duterte will be a good president. Therefore, you should believe
that she will indeed be a good president.

Vanity
If you want clear and moisturized facial skin like Song Hye Kyo you'd want to buy Sulwhasoo
Concentrated Ginseng Renewing Creamy Mask.

Snobbery
The Lexus 400 series is not for everyone. Only those with considerable means and accomplishments will
acquire one. To show the world that you are among the select few, you will want to purchase and drive
one of these distinguished automobiles.

Tradition
It has been customary in Korea to eat dog meat. Let us eat dog meat too.

ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINEM
Ad Hominem
- Abusive
- Circumstancial
- Tu Quoque (you too)
ACCIDENT
Accident
Property should be returned to its rightful owner. Your drunken friend who is starting a fight lent you his
bolo; now he wants it back.

STRAWMAN
Strawman
Mr. Goldberg has argued against prayer in public schools. Obviously, Mr. Goldberg advocates atheism.
But atheism is what they used to have in Russia. Atheism leads to the suppression of all religions. Is that
what we want for this country? I hardly think so. Clearly, Mr. Goldberg's argument is

RED HERRING
Red Herring
Environmentalists are continually harping about the dangers of nuclear power. Unfortunately, electricity is
dangerous no matter where it comes from. Every year hundreds of people are electrocuted by accident.
Since most of these accidents are caused by carelessness, they could be avoided if people would just
exercise greater caution.

IGNORATIO ELENCHI
Ignoratio Elenchi
Crimes of theft and robbery have been increasing at an alarming rate lately. The conclusion is obvious:
we must reinstate the death penalty immediately.

Fallacies of Weak Induction

They occur because the connection between the premises and the conclusion is not strong enough to
support the conclusion.

ARGUMENTUM AD VERECUNDIAM
Verecundiam
Former President Trump said that the COVID 19 can be killed by disinfectants and suggested that it may
be injected inside the human body to fight the coronavirus. Therefore, scientists must try doing as the
former president said.

ARGUMENTUM AD IGNORANTIAM
Ignorantiam
No one has ever disproved that God exists. Therefore, God exists. No one has ever proved that aliens
exist. Therefore, aliens do not exist.

HASTY GENERALIZATION
Ten Arab fundamentalists hijacked planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center in New York
City. The message is clear: Arabs are nothing but a pack of religious fanatics prone to violence.

FALSE CAUSE
False Cause
Sa nakaraang dalawang beses na nagkaroon ng solar eclipse, nanganak ang baka ni Mamay Dasoy. Sa
susunod na buwan ay mayroon uling solar eclipse. Sa susunod na buwan manganganak ulit ang baka ni
Mamay Dasoy.
SLIPPERY SLOPE
Slippery Slope
Attempts to outlaw pornography threaten basic civil rights and should be summarily abandoned. If
pornography is outlawed, censorship of newspapers is a short step away. After that there will be a
censorship of textbooks, political speeches, and content of lectures delivered by university professors.
Complete mind control by the government is an inevitable result.

Fallacies of Presumption
They arise because the premises presume what they purport to prove.

Begging the Question

Murder is morally wrong. This being the case, it follows that abortion is morally wrong.

Complex Question
Have you stopped cheating on exams?

Fallacies of Ambiguity
they arise from the occurrence of some form of ambiguity in either the premises or the conclusion (or
both)

Equivocation
Some triangles are obtuse. Whatever is obtuse is ignorant. Therefore, some triangles are ignorant.

Amphiboly
I shot an elephant in my pajamas.

Fallacies of Grammatical Analogy

They are grammatically analogous to other arguments that are good in every respect; the similarity in
linguistic structure makes the fallacious arguments appear good.

Composition
Each atom in this chalk is invisible. Therefore, the chalk is invisible.

Division
This piece of chalk has mass. Therefore, the atoms that compose this piece of chalk have mass.
Correct reasoning is generally recommended in most situations because it allows us to
make more informed decisions, solve problems more effectively, and communicate
more clearly.

Correct reasoning helps us arrive at accurate and well-informed decisions.

When faced with complex problems, reasoning correctly is essential to identify the root
causes and develop effective solutions.

Using correct reasoning when communicating with others helps us express our ideas
clearly and persuasively.

Incorrect reasoning can lead to errors in judgment and decision-making.

Correct reasoning often aligns with ethical principles, as it promotes fairness, honesty,
and respect for evidence and truth.

However, there may be some situations where strict adherence to correct reasoning
might not be practical or necessary.

Additionally, in certain social or interpersonal contexts, emotions and personal

connections may play a more significant role than strict logical reasoning.

while it's generally advisable to observe correct reasoning in most situations, there
may be exceptions where other factors or approaches are more appropriate.