PHILOSOPHY NOTES
Philosophy Meaning
 Philosophy - Greek word Philo
(LOVE) Sophia (Wisdom)
 Science that studies that may
natural light of reasons.
 To study the first causes or
principles of all things (LOGIC,
MATH, SCIENCE, LIFE, RELIGION,
LOVE, AND DEATH)
 process which is the scientific
method
Classical Philosopher: (Great Greek
TRIUMVIRATE)
1. Socrates - uses perennial questions
 We need to philosophize because of the
love for wisdom.
 If we didn’t reflect on our own self, it is
not worth for living, all human beings’
desires to good.
 To be happy, a person has to live a
virtuous life.
2. Plato - Theory of Forms
 We need to philosophize because of the
sense of wonder.
 More of an idealistic, Founder of the
Academy of Athens, said that the soul is
immortal even the physical cease to
exist.
3. Aristotle - rationalism and empiricism,
the teacher of Alexander the Great.
 1st philosopher to devise a logical
method.
Pre-Socratic Philosopher:
1. Thales of Miletus - First Philosopher,
explain that the world also humans are
made up of water.
2. Anaximander - Boundless, studies
biology and geography
3. Anaximenes - Air is the source of all
things.
4. Pythagoras - credited Pythagorean
Theorem.
 First one to honour himself as a
philosopher
5. Epicurus - Epicurean Theorem
 Eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow
we shall die.
6. Heraclitus – everything that exists is
based on a higher order or plan which
he called logos.
 Fire
 “No man ever steps in the same river
twice”
7. Democritus – Atomic Philosophy
 Matter is made up of atoms
8. Diogenes of Sinope – advocate of living
a simple and virtuous life.
 Detach yourself with the world
 Have live like a beggar.
 Cynicism and Stoicism
Medieval Philosopher: (concern
with the existence of God)
 Avicenna - Islamic Philosopher, trying to
reconcile the Islamic philosophy and
western philosophy
 St. Thomas Aquinas - Christian
Philosopher, he can prove that God exist
through 5 ways.
Early Modern Philosopher:
1. Rene Descartes - Said that I think
therefore, I am
 We need to philosophize because of the
sense of doubt
2. Immanuel Kant – Deontology
 Deontological Philosophy - Human
possess the ability to reason and
understand the universal moral loss that
they can apply in all situations.
 Deontological Ethics - Actions are good
or bad under a set of rules
3. Baruch Spinoza - operation of necessity
Modern Philosopher: (became the
venue of major development)
1. Jeremy Bentham
2. John Stuart Mill
3. Both Jeremy and Stuart - enhanced
utilitarianism, altruism
4. Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche
 “God is Dead”
 Science and Technology cause the
religion die
 Nihilist
5. Ubermench - man trying to be a
superman
6. Karl Jasper - we need to philosophize
because of experience. Jaspers called these
experiences limit situations.
Characteristics of Philosophy:
1. Framework
2. Examination of knowledge
3. Discipline
4. Science
5. Art
Domains of Truth:
1. Objective - Sun sets at West
cannot be change/irreversible
 PHILOSOPHY NOTES
2. Social - synonymous to agreement,
society, can be accepted in society. (Ex.
House Husband)
3. Personal - synonymous with loyalty and
being faithful.
Branches of Philosophy:
1. Metaphysics - deals with questions
regarding reality and existence and
what is real.
2. Epistemology - deals with the nature of
knowledge and knowing explains how
we know what we claim to know.
3. Logic - deals with correct reason and
concerned with the science of right
thinking or the validity of our
arguments regarding certain objectives
4. Ethics - deals with moral questions and
dilemmas, explores the nature of moral
virtue and evaluates human actions,
and science of right living.
5. Aesthetics - deals with beauty and what
it makes things beautiful and the
science of beautiful in its various
manifestations including the sublime,
pathetic, ugly, tragic, etc.
Methods of Philosophizing:
1. Phenomenology: On consciousness
 Edmund Husserl
 Focuses on careful inspection and
description of phenomena or
appearances, defined as any object of
conscious experiences
 Greek word phainomenon ——
appearance to see things as they really
are
 Is the scientific study of the essential
structures of consciousness
 Appreciates a certain thing before it
analyses its aspects
 Seeing things as they really are,
independent, and free of prejudice
2. Existentialism - it is more of an outlook
or attitude supported by different
doctrines.
It includes:
 human condition as the relation of the
individual to the world.
 Human freedom
 Significance of choice and decision
 Concreteness are subjectively of life
 Heavy stress on subjectivity
 Soren Kierkegaard - the authentic self
was personally chosen self as opposed
to public self.
 Jean Paul Sartre - emphasise the
importance of free individual choice,
regardless of the power of other people
to influence.
 To be human, to be conscious, is to be
free to imagine, free to choose, and
responsible for one’s life.
 Existence precedes essence
3. Post Modernism - rejects challenges
and supersede modernity
 Limits of Reason and Objectivism
4. Analytic Traditions - errors and
problems nowadays are rooted in
language.
 Ludwig Wittgenstein
5. Logical Critical Thinking - differentiates
fact and opinion from personal feelings
2 PROCESSES:
 TOP DOWN - Deductive, General to
Specific
 Bottom Up - Inductive, Specific to
General
3 ORIENTAL SAGES:
1. Lao Tzu
 Taoism
 Fundamental Principles of Taoism
 Tao - road, pathway, channel, or
doctrine
 Wu wei - action without action
 Teachings on Existence:
1. He is rich and happy because his
fellowmen are all his brethren and
the world is his abode
2. He is ignorant of the passion of
defiance because it is through
bending that he survives and by
giving way that he asserts
3. He detests mere appearances as he
loves sincerity and reality
4. He abhors adulation and flattery
because these are hostile to
honesty and truth
5. He gives generously of his resources
because the more he gives to
others, the more he has for himself.
2. Confucius
 Confucianism
 Analects:
3. Gautama Buddha - unexamined life is
not worth living