OPINION OR

TRUTH
WHAT IS OPINION?

Is a judgement, viewpoint or statement not conclusive

Epistemology
May be a result of person’s perspective, understanding, feelings, beliefs, and desires
Normative analysis – what ought to be
Positive analysis- based on scientific observation
COLLECTIVE AND PROFESSIONAL
OPINIONS
Public opinion – aggregate of individual attitudes or beliefs held by a population (city, region or
state)
Group opinion – aggregation, of opinions collected from a group of subjects (jury, legislature,
committee and other decision-making body (social choice, conformity and group polarization)
Scientific opinion – scientific consensus may be partial, temporary, contingent, conflicting, and
uncertain, may be no accepted consensus for a particular situation
Collective And Professional Opinions
(Cont.)
Legal opinion – type of professional opinion, attorney to a client
Judicial opinion – an opinion of a judge or group of judges that accompanies and explains an
order or ruling in a controversy before the court
Editorial opinion – an evaluation of a topic by a newspaper as in an editorial page
WHAT IS TRUTH?

Truth – that which is true in accordance with fact or truth

Different theories
Minimalist theories -about a statement, part of the whole truth, claims to form a general assumptions
Substantive theories
Correspondence theories -the true beliefs, and true statement correspond to the actual state of affairs
Coherent theories- requires proper fit of elements within a whole system
Constructivist theories – constructed by social processes, is historically and culturally specific, and that it is in part
shaped through the power struggles within a community.
Consensus theories – that truth is whatever is agreed upon, or in some versions by some groups
Pragmatic theory – practical application for uses and practice
 “BRAIN TEASERS”

1. Eskimos are very good hunters, but they never hunt

penguins. Why not?
2. You are in a cabin and it is pitch black. You have one
match on you. Which do you light first, the newspapers, the
lamp, the candle, or the fireplace?`
3.There was an old man who lived by himself. The felt
tired so he went into the bathroom, went to the toilet,
and then turned the light off before going to bed. The
next morning there was a news flash on the radio that
the boat crashed. The man opened the window and
jumped out. Why?
Methods Of Philosophy Lead To Wisdom And Truth

Methods of philosophizing starts with thinking holistically

What it means to think holistically?
The way of thinking that is considering all point of views,
clear pictures, and having necessary information about the
real thing, event or idea.
What is philosophizing?
It is to think or express oneself in a philosophical manner

What are the methods of philosophizing?

Methods of philosophizing are the ways of looking at the
truth as that will be considered as mere opinions.
What Are The Methods Of Philosophizing Or Ways Of
Looking At Truth
1. Phenomenology: on consciousness
Phenomenon-gk word “phainomenon” – appearance.
Phenomenology is the scientific study of the essential structures
of consciousness. This process entails “bracketing out”
everything that is not essential
This process inspects and describes appearance and seeks to
answer the object of consciousness is real or correspond to something
“external”, or to what their causes or consequences may be.
2. Existentialism: on freedom
Truth is dependent of the person’s attitude or outlook
Truth is individual and personal responsibility
Existentialism belief of “owness” of truth
A. Authentic self - true self, genuine self, personally
chosen self, and true identity
B. Public self – herd self.
Existentialist believes it is the person’s freedom of choice
to believe the truth
3. Post modernism: on culture
Post modernists believe that humanity should come at
truth beyond rational to the non-rational elements of
human nature, including the spiritual.
Post modernists consider that to arrive at truth, humanity
should realize the limits of reason and objectivism.
4. Analytic Tradition
Analytic philosophy is the conviction that
to some significant degree, 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.
Items of language analysis
AS TO FORM AS TO STYLES
Syntacs Idiomatic
Symantics Parabola
Context Fable
Literal Allegorical
Verbatim Poetical
Satirical
smsical
Hugotical
Bekecal
HOTS question

How can we know the truth in an opinion?

Create a figure/illustration/life situation showing a method of knowing
the truth in an opinion

Rubric:
Content 5 points
Organization 5 points
Creativity 5 points
Total 15 points
Generalization /Abstraction

The students will recap and state in own words the gist of the
topic. Summarize the discussed lesson.
Assessment:
Give at least 5 methods of philosophizing or methods of
knowing the truth in an opinion

Reflection:
Share your experiences on the times you did not use reason
in your life but rather, you relied more on emotions or
opinions of other people. What did you learn from your
experience?
 “Two Lies And A Truth”

A student shall tell two lies and a truth about themselves.

Their classmates will guess which one is the truth”
What are the methods of philosophizing or ways of looking at truth (cont’n)

5. Logic And Critical Thinking: Tools In Reasoning

Logic is centered in the analysis and construction of
arguments.
Critical thinking is distinguishing facts and opinions or personal
feelings
Logic and critical thinking serves as paths to freedom from half-
truths and deceptions.
Two types of reasoning

Truth is in it is the special viewpoint achieved by the phenomenologist by

1. Inductive reasoning- based from observation to make generalization
2. Deductive reasoning – from broad statement, generalizations to particular
assertions or inference

What are the two parts of an argument?

1. Claim – conclusion of an argument
2. Premises – the reason used to support the conclusion
What are the two tests of reasoning?
1. Validity and soundness of an argument
If the two premises (syllogism-based on the previous
example) are constructed logically, then the conclusion must
follow logically, deductive argument is valid
Example:
All philosophers are wise (major premise)
Confucius is a philosopher (minor premise)
Therefore, Confucius is wise (conclusion)
2. Strength of an argument
Inductive argument that fails to provide strong support is weak, a
strong argument with true premises is said to be cogen (convincing,
strong)
Example
Jay: Do you think congressman Gerry will be re-elected?
Yna: I doubt it. His district has become more conservative in recent
years. Also, 63% of the registered voters in his district are in the
opposition.
6. Fallacies

Defect in the argument other than its having false premises

What are the eleven fallacies of an argument?
1. Appeal to pity (argumentum ad misericordiam)
Exploiting opponent’s feelings of pity or guilt to win support
2. Appeal to ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam)
Unless proven false must be true and vice versa
3. Against the person (argumentim ad hominem)
Citing the belief or conduct of the person making the premise
4. Appeal to force (argumentum ad baculum)
Force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as a justification for a conclusion
5. Appeal to the people (argumentum ad populum)
IPHP student: I will pray on-line
IPHP teacher: why not go to church?
IPHP student: who will “tag” my prayer there?
6. Equivocation
Repeating words using it in different meaning
Ex: human beings have hands; the clock have hands
He is drinking from the pitcher of water; he is a baseball pitcher.
7. Composition/division
Part are true because other parts are true, other parts are true
therefore this part is true
8. False cause (post hoc)
Since that even followed this one, that event must have been
caused by this one.
Ex. Tumaas na naman ang presyo ng mga bilihin
Siguro, kaya konti lang ang nakakakain
Dahil sa presyo?
Hindi, dahil mataas ang cholesterol!
9. Hasty generalization
Inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence.
Broad conclusion upon statistics of a survey of a small
group that fails to sufficiently represent the whole population

10. Begging the question (petitio principii)

Which the proposition to be proven is assumed
implicitly or explicitly in the premise.
HOTS question

How can we know the truth and fallacies in an opinion?

Differentiated instruction

Portray of show 2 fallacies and let your classmates guess this

particular fallacy

Rubrics
Content 5 points- the message is appropriate to the topic discussed
Organization 5 points-the performance started and ended properly, all
member participated and the flow of presentation is organized
Creativity 5 points -the performance is creative, enticing, appealing
and interesting to the learners
Generalization /Abstraction

The students will recap and state in own words the gist of the
topic. Summarize the discussed lesson.
Assessment:
Give at least 5 fallacies in an argument or opinion.
Reflection:
Cite examples of how fallacies are used in daily life. For
example, when you watch advertisements based on the
popularity of endorsers, do you tend to buy their product?
Did you use the fallacies of ad misericordiam or ad
hominem toward others? How?
 “Two Lies And A Truth”

A student shall tell two lies and a truth about themselves.

Their classmates will guess which one is the truth”
What are the methods of philosophizing or ways of looking at truth, and that will be
considered as mere opinions? (continuation)

5. Logic And Critical Thinking: Tools In Reasoning

Logic is centered in the analysis and construction of arguments.
Critical thinking is distinguishing facts and opinions or personal
feelings
Logic and critical thinking serves as paths to freedom from half-
truths and deceptions.
Two types of reasoning
Truth is in it is the special viewpoint achieved by the phenomenologist,
as he or
1. Inductive reasoning- based from observation to make generalization
2. Deductive reasoning – from broad statement, generalizations to
particular assertions or inference

What are the two parts of an argument?

1. Claim – conclusion of an argument
2. Premises – the reason used to support the conclusion
What are the two tests of reasoning?
1. Validity and soundness of an argument
If the two premises (syllogism-based on the previous
example) are constructed logically, then the conclusion must
follow logically, deductive argument is valid
Example:
All philosophers are wise (major premise)
Confucius is a philosopher (minor premise)
Therefore, confucius is wise (conclusion)
2. Strength of an argument
Inductive argument that fails to provide strong support is weak, a
strong argument with true premises is said to be cogen (convincing,
strong)
Example
Jay: Do you think congressman Gerry will be re-elected?
Yna: I doubt it. His district has become more conservative in recent
years. Also, 63% of the registered voters in his district are in the
opposition.
6. Fallacies

Defect in the argument other than its having false premises

What are the eleven fallacies of an argument?
1. Appeal to pity (argumentum ad misericordiam)
Exploiting opponent’s feelings of pity or guilt to win support
2. Appeal to ignorance (argumentum ad ignorantiam)
Unless proven false must be true and vice versa
3. Against the person (argumentim ad hominem)
Citing the belief or conduct of the person making the premise
4. Appeal to force (argumentum ad baculum)
Force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as a justification for a conclusion
5. Appeal to the people (argumentum ad populum)
IPHP student: I will pray on-line
IPHP teacher: why not go to church?
Iphp student: who will “tag” my prayer there?
6. Equivocation
Repeating words using it in different meaning
Ex: human beings have hands; the clock have hands
He is drinking from the pitcher of water; he is a baseball pitcher.
7. Composition/division
Part are true because other parts are true, other parts are true therefore this part is true
8. False cause (post hoc)
Since that even followed this one, that event followed this one,
That event must have been caused by this one.
Ex.
Tumaas na naman ang presyo ng mga bilihin
Siguro, kaya konti lang ang nakakakain
Dahil sa presyo?
Hindi, dahil mataas ang cholesterol!
9. Hasty generalization
Inductive generalization based on insufficient evidence.
Broad conclusion upon statistics of a survey of a small group
that fails to sufficiently represent the whole population

10. Begging the question (petitio principii)

Which the proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly or
explicitly in the premise.
HOTS question

How can we know the truth and fallacies in an opinion?

Differentiated instruction
Portray of show 2 fallacies and let your classmates guess this
particular fallacy

Rubrics
Content 5 points- the message is appropriate to the topic discussed
Organization 5 points-the performance started and ended properly, all
member participated and the flow of presentation is organized
Creativity 5 points -the performance is creative, enticing, appealing
and interesting to the learners
Generalization /Abstraction

The students will recap and state in own words the gist of the
topic. Summarize the discussed lesson.
Assessment:
Give at least 5 fallacies in an argument or opinion.
Reflection:
Cite examples of how fallacies are used in daily life. For
example, when you watch advertisements based on the
popularity of endorsers, do you tend to buy their product?
Did you use the fallacies of ad misericordiam or ad
hominem toward others? How?