LESSON 4

AN EXERCISE OF
TRUTH-MAKING
A. Reality as Phenomenon
When we philosophize, we are thinking about
something. That something we think about is reality.
What makes up reality are the things that appear to
us in this world. They are the objects we try to figure
out. They could be physical or things that are non
physical.
Both science and philosophy seek to
understand the world. The difference
is how they proceed to treat
phenomenon. In science, observation
through experiments and calculations
are the data used to arrive at a
conclusion. The specific phenomenon
to be understood is isolated to yield
valuable information.
The difference cited above accounts for the
fact that science can never fully explain the
phenomenon of love. It can always
objectively reduce love to a biological
explanation, but you know that the
phenomenon of love can never fully be
tackled unless it is explored from the
standpoint of philosophy. A kiss is a
physical manifestation of love. We see it in
real life and in movies. We also know that a
'kiss' cannot make sense to human beings
who are deeply in love by describing it as
the 'physiological event of mutual and
interlocking voluntary muscular
contractions of the mouth' based on data
observed.
 Shrek (2001)
This animated fantasy-comedy film is
noteworthy for it challenges our
concept of a fairytale where the
princess is perfect and the prince is
charming. It is philosophical in the
sense that it makes us reflect about
our preconceived beliefs and
stereotypes about love.
 Immanuel Kant
(1724-1804)
The fame of this philosopher is
comparable to that of Plato
because of his vast contributions to
philosophy. Immanuel Kant wrote
several works that are discussed in
epistemology, ethics, metaphysics
and logic up to this time.
 B. Seeing the World in a New
Perspective
One of the most outstanding human achievements is the
internet. Due to the development of the internet in the
late 20th Century, mankind is now enjoying easy and
unlimited access to information than all the libraries
combined on earth. You can search anything in the
internet and it will instantaneously give back search
results.
When you really think about it, we
notice the irony that despite the
vastness of the information we can
readily have, we do not
automatically become
knowledgeable or even wise. It is
not enough to have information if
we do not know how to make
sense of that information.
 Another phenomenon brought
about by the internet is the
"SELFIE" generation. Due to our
fascination with social media, apps
for sharing photos and sharing out
thoughts have become
commonplace. Photos and status
updates are shared many times in
a day by millions of people.
 The Matrix
The movie "The Matrix" speaks of a
character named "Neo" who was
tasked to discover a real world,
freed from the matrix. Connect it
with metaphysics, especially with
Plato's idea of reality.
THANK
YOU!