PHILO REVIEWER

Philosophy
Philosophy begins with a sense of wonder and curiosity of the nature of things often overlooked. For the ancient Greek
thinkers, philosophy was mainly a process of engaging cosmic realities. For the philosophers of the Renaissance and
Reformation, the main object of inquiry is the concept of being.

Etymologically, the world ―philosophy comes from two Greek words, philo, meaning ―to love, and sophia, meaning
―wisdom. Philosophy originally meant, ―love of wisdom, and in a broad sense, wisdom is still the goal of Philosophy.

According to Ramos (2016:4), Philosophy is a science that by natural light of reason, studies the first causes and highest
principles of all things.

The first principles

✓ Principle of Identity - whatever is is; and whatever is not is not; everything is what it is. Everything is its own being, and not
being is not being.
✓ Principle of Non-Contradiction – it is impossible for a thing to be and not be at the same time, and the same respect.
✓ Principle of Excluded Middle - a thing is either is or is not; everything must be either be or not be; between being, there is no
middle ground possible.
✓ Principle of Sufficient Reason - nothing exists without a sufficient reason for its being and existence.

The Branches of Philosophy

✓ Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature of existence, being and the world.
✓ Ethics is generally a study of the nature of moral judgement.
✓ Epistemology deals with the nature, sources, limitations and validity of knowledge.
✓ Logic etymologically, means a treatise on matters pertaining to the human thought.
✓ Aesthetics is the science of beauty in its various manifestations -- including the sublime, comic, tragic, pathetic, and ugly.

Holistic and Partial Thinking: (Abella, 2016:10-11)

Holistic Thinking is described as looking at the “big picture” when describing and
analyzing a situation or problem. It means that one does not confine one’s understanding of the world to one’s own
perspective, but also include the perspective of others to better appreciate experiences which give meaning to life.

Partial Thinking on the other hand, focuses on specific aspects of a situation. It is an important component of
analytical thinking where an individual focuses on certain areas or aspects of a problem in order to understand it.

TRUTH AND PHILOSOPHY

(Corpuz et al., 2016)
✓ Nowadays, it is more and more difficult to discern what is true from what is false; it seems that everybody can claim to hold
the truth.
✓ Philosophy as a discipline will not claim to be the sole bearer of truth.
✓ It is not so much “the Truth” that concerns philosophy, but rather the way or process by which we can distinguish claims that
are true from those that are false.

DOMAINS OF TRUTH

Jürgen Habermas (1979) argues, in his universal pragmatics, or the study of the structure of communicative language as we use
it everyday, that apart from scientific truths, there are other domains in life in which we understand truth differently.

(Corpuz et al., 2016)

OBJECTIVE DOMAIN SOCIAL DOMAIN PERSONAL DOMAIN

Scientifically proven/
Backed by data-gathering,
analysis and repeated
verification
Knowledge of the natural
realm/ totality of the
physical realm (biology,
matter, energy, etc.
Point to descriptions of
“state of affairs” which
remain true regardless of
who is viewing them.
Truth is analogous with a
general agreement or
consensus on what is right
and wrong.
Products of agreement in
society established over
time embedded in society
Can be changed through a
critical examination and
deliberation among the
members of a community
Analogous with sincerity/
consistent with our inner
thoughts and intentions
Precarious in nature due to
exclusive access to one’s
inner self
Need corresponding
actions that will establish
trust.
 RichardRorty(1989)
Truth can be understood as what has passed “procedures of justification.”

OBJECTIVE TRUTH SOCIAL TRUTH PERSONALTRUTH

Tested against empirical Tested against their
evidence acceptability to a particular
group in a particular time
in history
Justified by data gathered Takes longer time involving
from careful observation people from varying
and analysis backgrounds and history
Passed procedures of Painful but we cannot
justification if scientific simple resort to the easy
claim is no longer way out by saying
questioned or criticized “anything goes”
Tested against the
consistency of the person
who claims it
Take a whole lifetime of
consistency in the actions
and decisions of a person
who makes a claim about
himself
For Rosseau (1953),conversion must be
declared publicly.
Constantly proven from
point of conversion
onwards

PHENOMENOLOGY: ON CONSCIOUSNESS
Ramos (2016, pp. 28-30)
• Main Proponent: Edmund Husserl
• Phenomenology (from the Greek φαινόμενον/ phainomenon, meaning ―appearance) focuses on careful inspection and
description of phenomena or appearances, defined as any object of conscious experience, that is, that which we are conscious
of (Johnston, 2006).
• The phenomenological standpoint is achieved through a series of phenomenological “reductions” that eliminate certain
aspects of our experience from consideration.
• The process of reduction or suspension involves Bracketing which ―brackets all questions of truth or reality and simply
describes the contents of consciousness and Intentionality which eliminates merely empirical contents of consciousness and
focuses instead on the essential features, the meanings of consciousness.

PHENOMENOLOGY: ON CONSCIOUSNESS
NATURAL ATTITUDE PHENOMENOLOGICAL
STANDPOINT
According to Solomon and Higgins (2010), the natural world The phenomenological standpoint is the special viewpoint
is our ordinary everyday viewpoint and the ordinary stance achieved by the phenomenologist, as he or she focuses not
of the natural sciences, describing things and the state of on the things but our consciousness of thing.
affairs. This way of seeing things is also called the natural
attitude or the ―ordinary and ―everyday way of ―being-in-
the-world (Applebaum, 2012).

EXISTENTIALISM: ON FREEDOM
Ramos (2016, pp. 30-31)
• Main Proponents: Jean-Paul Sartre, Søren Kierkegaard
• Existentialism is not necessarily a method. This is more of a worldview or outlook on
how we understand the essence and existence of things.
• The themes of existentialism as stated by Ramos (2016, p. 30) include:
• The human condition or the relation of the individual to the world and; the
human response to that condition;
• Being, especially the difference between the being of person (which is
―existence) and the being of other kinds of things;
• Human freedom; The significance (and unavoidability) of choice and decision in
the absence of certainty and;
• The concreteness and subjectivity of life as lived, against abstractions and false
objectifications.

SARTRE
Solomon & Higgins (2010)
• Existentialism emphasizes the importance of free
individual choice,regardless of the power of other people
to influence and coerce our desires,beliefs, and decisions.
• Consciousness (being-for-itself) is such that it is always
free to choose(though not free not to choose) and free
to“negate” (or reject) the given features of the world.
• To be human, to be conscious, is to be free to imagine,
free to choose, and responsible for one’s life.
KIERKEGAARD
• argues that the authentic self is the personally chosen
self, as opposed to public or “herd” identity.
• In Provocations, he states that: “Even though every
individual possesses the truth, when he gets together in a
crowd, untruth will be present at once, for the crowd is
untruth. It either produces impenitence and
irresponsibility or it weakens the individual’s sense of
responsibility by placing it in a fractional category.”
 ANALYTIC TRADITION: ON LANGUAGE
Ramos (2016, p. 33)

• Main Proponent: Ludwig Wittgenstein

• Analytic Philosophy - Philosophical problems, puzzles, and errors are rooted in language and can be solved or avoided by a
sound understanding of language and careful attention to its workings.
• For Wittgenstein, language is a public tool for understanding private life or improve our self-knowledge.
• Language cannot objectively describe truth since language is socially conditioned.
• We understand the world solely in terms of our language games—that is, our linguistic, social construct. Misunderstandings
arise when we fail to see which kind of game someone is involved in.
• “The limits of our language means the limits of our world.”

LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING

Ramos (2016, pp. 33-34)
• Logic is centered in the analysis and construction of arguments.
• Logic and critical thinking serves as paths to freedom from half-truths and deceptions.
• Critical Thinking is distinguishing facts and opinions or personal feelings.
• In making rational choices, first, we suspend beliefs and judgment until all facts have been gathered and considered.
• Though facts are important, critical thinking also takes into consideration cultural systems, values, and beliefs.
• Critical thinking helps us uncover bias and prejudice and open to new ideas not necessarily in agreement with previous
thought.
• May use either inductive or deductive reasoning (syllogism)
• Deductive reasoning is an act of drawing a conclusion from usually one broad judgment or definition and one more specific
assertion, often an interference.

LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING

Ramos (2016, pp. 33-34)
Definition of Terms:
• Opinion - Belief or judgement that falls short of absolute conviction. It is a conclusion that certain facts, ideas, etc., are
probably true or likely to prove so
• Beliefs - statements that express convictions that are not easily and clearly explained by facts
• Conclusion - Judgement based on certain facts
• Arguments - Series of statements that provide reasons to convince the reader or listener that a claim or opinion is truthful
• Proposition- a statement or assertion that expresses a judgment or opinion
• Premise- a statement in an argument that provides reason or support for the conclusion
VALIDITY SOUNDNESS

Reed (2010) • The syllogism earlier is logically constructed which means

• If the two premises are constructed logically, then the that it is a valid argument. But the conclusion is not
conclusion must follow logically, the deductive argument is necessarily true since not all Math teachers are rich.
valid. Therefore, the argument is only valid but not sound.
• This does not necessarily mean that the conclusion is true or • It can only be sound if it is both logically constructed and the
false. Validity comes from a logical conclusion based on conclusion is true. See example below:
logically constructed premises. • Fruit trees are plants. (Major Premise)
• Take for instance the following statements: • Mango trees are fruit trees. (Minor Premise)
• All math teachers are rich. (Major premise) • Mango trees are plants. (Conclusion)
• Mr. V is a math teacher. (Minor premise)
• Mr. V is rich. (Conclusion)
“You never know how much you really believe
anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a
matter of life and death to you.”
—C.S. LEWIS
 The Embodied Existence (Corpuz et al., 2016)
● Human existence is embodied existence.
● Many things that are related to our existence as persons are related to our bodies (e.g. age count beginning our embodied
existence, not imagined existence, the bodies we are born with determine our sex, biological relationships, race/ line of
descent)
● We are confined to these details which we cannot simply choose or change.
● They have, in a sense, been given to us on a permanent basis that’s why the body is a source of frustration to many.

The Paradox of Possibility in Limitation (Corpuz et al., 2016)

• While the body limits us, the very same limitations create opportunities for us.
• “It is through our limitations that possibilities become real.”
• “We cannot be everything we want to be but we are thankful that we cannot be everything because trying to do so would
end up being nothing at all.” e.g. If we already have everything, there will be no room to develop our potential.

Relevant Issues On the Mind and Body Substance

• How people dress themselves throughout history
• Perception about manual labor (white collar vs blue-collar Jobs)
• View against women
• Price discrimination

TRANSCENDENCE
The Meaning of Transcendence (Abella, 2016)
• The ability to surpass limits.
• An important trait that distinguishes the human person from other beings in existence.
• Hoping and aspiring to greater things.
• Overcoming oneself or being in control even if the body reminds us of certain tendencies like hunger or fatigue.

How Can We Experience Transcendence? (Ramos, 2016)

• Art appreciation
• Knowledge and the law
• Soul that is capable of coming to life and experiencing profound and hidden values
• Spirituality

PERSONHOOD
Personhood or personality is the status of being a person. Defining personhood is a controversial topic in philosophy and law
and is closely tied with legal and political concepts of citizenship, equality, and liberty.

Issues on Personhood
• Abortion
• Euthanasia
• Capital Punishment
• Animal Rights