Lesson 2: Methods

of Philosophizing
Learning Objectives:
At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to:
1. distinguish opinion from truth;
2. analyze situations that show the difference;
3. realize that the methods of philosophy lead to
wisdom and truth; and
4. evaluate opinions
2.1. Introduction: Methods of Philosophizing
• This section presents the different methods of
philosophizing or ways of looking at truth and what is
considered as “mere opinions.”
a. Phenomenology: On Consciousness.
• The founder of Phenomenology is Edmund Husserl.
• A philosophical method which focuses on careful
inspection and description of phenomena or
appearances, defined as any object of conscious
experience, that which we are conscious of
(Johnson:2006).
• Phenomenology is a reaction to psychologism (the idea
that truth is dependent on the peculiarities of the
human mind and that philosophy is dependent on
psychology.
• His advocacy is to develop a method for finding and
guaranteeing the truth-that method was
phenomenology.
• The term “phenomenon” comes from the Greek term
“phainomenon” which means appearance.
• Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher used the same
term in his philosophy to refer to the world of our
experience.
• But, unlike Husserl, Kant distinguished appearance from
its underlying reality, phenomenon from noumenon,
respectively.
• Phenomenology is the scientific study of the essential
structures of consciousness.
• For Husserl, by describing those structures certainty can
be achieved.
• In order to rid his transcendental investigation of
empirical prejudgments and to discover connections of
meaning that are necessary truths underlying both
physical and psychological sciences, Husserl bracketed
and suspended all judgments of existence and empirical
causation. He did not deny them; rather, he no longer
simply asserted them. He reflected upon their intended
meaning.
• The thesis of Husserl is that consciousness is intentional.
• Every act of consciousness is directed at some object or
another, possibly material object or ideal.
• The phenomenologist can distinguish and describe the
nature of intentional acts of consciousness and the
intentional objects of consciousness.
• One can describe the content of consciousness and its
object without requiring the actual existence of that
object.
• The phenomenological standpoint is achieved through a
series of phenomenological “reductions” that eliminate
certain aspects of our experience from consideration.
• Here are some of Husserl’s phenomenological reductions
formulated:
1. The first and the best known is the epoch or
“suspension” in which the phenomenologist “brackets” all
questions of truth or reality and simply describes the
contents of consciousness.
2. The second reduction eliminates empirical contents of
consciousness and focuses instead on the essential
features, the meanings of consciousness.

• Hence, what interest the phenomenologists are the

contents of consciousness, not on things of the natural
world as such.
• Husserl distinguishes the natural world from the
phenomenological standpoint.
• The natural world is described by the sciences as the
ordinary everyday viewpoint while the
phenomenological is a special viewpoint that focuses not
on things but our consciousness of things (Solomon &
Higgins:2010).
b. Existentialism: On Freedom
• For Sartre, a French philosopher, existentialism emphasizes
the importance of free individual choice, regardless of the
power of other people to influence and coerce our desires,
beliefs, and decisions.
• He argued that 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.
• One can never be free of his “situation” but he is always free
to “negate” that situation and try to change it.
• For example, one may be shy or assertive but such behavior
is a matter of choice which can be resolved for a change.
• Thus, for Sartre the truth resides on freedom.
c. Postmodernism: On Cultures
• Reality cannot be known nor described objectively by
postmodernists.
• Also, they believe that humanity should come at truth
beyond the rational to the non-rational elements of
human nature, including the spiritual.
• Postmodernists consider that to arrive at truth, humanity
should realize the limits of reason and objectivism.
• Beyond exalting the individual analysis of truth,
postmodernists adhere to a relational, holistic approach.
• Postmodernists value our existence in the world and in
relation to it.
d. Analytic Tradition
• “Can language objectively describe truth?”
• Ludwig Wittgenstein, an analytic philosopher, considered
language as socially conditioned.
• We understand the world in terms of our language
games-our linguistic, social constructs.
• Truth as we perceive it is itself socially constructed.
• Analytical philosophy believes that philosophical
problems, puzzles and errors are rooted in language and
can be solved or avoided by sound understanding of
language and its workings.
e. Logic and Critical Thinking: Tools in Reasoning
• Logic is focused on the analysis and construction of
arguments.
• Critical thinking distinguishes facts from opinions and
personal feelings.
• Critical thinking also takes into consideration cultural
systems, values and beliefs. Critical thinking helps
uncover bias and prejudice and open to new ideas.
• There are two types of reasoning: Inductive and
Deductive.
• Inductive reasoning is based on observations in order to
make generalizations. This is applied in predicting or
forecasting behavior.
• Deductive reasoning draws a conclusion from a broad
judgment or definition and one or more specific
assertion. This is applied when a principle is used as a
basis in explaining a specific issue or phenomenon.
f. Fallacies.
• A fallacy is a defect in an argument other than its having
false premises.
Type of Fallacies:
f.1. Appeal to Pity (Argumentum ad misericordiam)
• The basis of an idea’s acceptability is through one’s
emotions.
f.2. Appeal to Ignorance (Argumentum ad ignorantiam)
• Whatever has not been proven false must be true, and
vice versa.
f.3. Equivocation.
• The use of a term or word in several phases with
different meanings in an argument when it should only
be interpreted with one meaning.
f.4. Composition.
• This infers that something is true of the whole from the
fact that it is true of some part of the whole. This is
known also as “over generalization”.
• This is the opposite of “fallacy of division.”
f.5. Division.
• One argues saying that what is true of a thing must also
be true of its parts.

f.6. Argument Against Person (Argumentum ad hominem)

• Establishing a link of the validity of argument to a
person’s personal characteristic or belief.
f.7. Appeal to Force (Argumentum ad Baculum)
• Argument is accepted valid due to use of force, coercion,
or threat of force.

f.8. Appeal to People (Argumentum ad populum)

• The argument that what is popular is also what is true
and valid.
f.9. False cause (post hoc)
• Since that event followed this one, that event must have
been caused by this one.
• Also known as coincidental correlation or correlation not
causation.

f.10. Hasty Generalization.

• An inductive method of generalization based on
insufficient evidence. This is a common fallacy in
statistical conclusions from a survey of a small group
that fails to sufficiently represent the whole population.
f.11. Begging the question (petition principia)
• The proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly or
explicitly in the premise.
g. Justified, True Belief.
• This is considered the first concept about the knowledge
of the truth rooted on an ancient Greek philosophy of
justification.
• This states that something is true because you believe it
to be true and that there is a justification of the such
belief.
h. Correspondence Theory.
• This states that something is true if it corresponds with
reality or the actual state of affairs.
• This theory assumes a direct relationship between an
idea and reality.
i. Coherence Theory.
• Something is true if it makes sense when placed in a
certain situation or context.
• Truths will vary from different contexts and perspectives.
j. Relativism.
• This philosophical concept teaches that there are no
absolute truths.
• This is influenced by coherence theory.