LESSON 2:

THE PHILOSOPHICAL ENTERPRISE

A. Wonder, Knowledge, Ignorance
GROUP ACTIVITY
 - Name of a rich person and why he/she is not to
be considered as wise.
- Name of a famous person and why he/she is
not to be considered as wise.
- Name of a powerful person and why he/she is
not to be considered as wise.
WONDER
 Human beings want to understand the world
and to know the truth for there are so many
things we have not figured out.
 We wonder about many things including the
working of the universe, the mystery of human
experience and the existence of a Supreme
Being. We wonder about things that puzzle us.
 Wonder is the beginning for it stimulates us to venture into philosophy.
 It is beyond mere curiosity as curiosity is usually directed to a single, fleeting and
monetary object that captures our interest.
We are curious on how a new gadget works, but we may wonder whether one can
live without new gadget. Our wondering here is directed toward analogy and the
relationships of things. We are concerned beyond the information we can readily get
about a new gadget. We are wondering about a more enduring question.
Meaning of Philosophy M

 The etymology of the term “philosophy” in Greek (philo as love

and sophia as wisdom) is equivalent to “love of wisdom,” thus
we can consider philosophers as lovers of wisdom.
 They are engaged in philosophy because their goal is to become
wise. To be wise is to know the truth.
 Philosophy, therefore, may be understood as activity in pursuit
of wisdom – wisdom we attribute to people who truly know.
They are the best people to seek counsel from they see things
clearly.
 WISDOM
For Aristotle, wisdom is of two kinds – theoretical and
practical.
 Theoretical Wisdom Practical Wisdom

 Practical wisdom deals with knowledge in the

realm of action.
To posses theoretical wisdom  Politics and ethics are concerned with action and
is to know necessary truths so the knowledge proper to these is practical.
and their logical  To have practical wisdom is to know truths that
consequences. have to do with our dealings with fellow human
beings.

 Theoretical and practical wisdom are both desirable and valuable.

 Philosophers believe that to be wise is the best we can be. For this reason,
they devote their time to examining their held beliefs and opinions that are
also called intuitions to arrive at truth.
 The answers they seek are not dependable on the authority or their emotion.
Views are scrutinized by faculty of reason – that which according to Aristotle
separates us from plants and animals.
 Aristotle claimed that our rational faculty is the best element in us, a divine
quality that we shared with gods.
 ARISTOTLE

 He was born in Stagira, Greece and studied in

Plato’s Academy.
 He tutored a thirteen year old boy who came to
be known as Alexander the Great.
 He also put up a school in Athens called
Lyceum.
 The Father of Logic.
 When we think about it, it is our ignorance that makes
philosophy possible. Arrogance or the belief that one has figured
out everything, however will impede our search for truth.
 Th reason why we engage in philosophy is so that we can find
answers and become wise. In other words, to gain wisdom, one
has to admit that he or she is not yet wise.
 In searching for answers, we need to be reflective persons, to
take time to introspect, to carefully examine our beliefs and
other’s opinions, while at the same time being open so that we
can rethink views presented to us and those views we
ourselves hold to be true.
B. Philosophical Thought in Three Views
 Three Dominant Views
In the history of man’s search for
answers to philosophical questions,
three views are dominant:
Cosmocentric
Theocentric
Anthropocentric
 COSMOCENTRIC VIEW

 Ancient philosophy may be characterized as a period that held the cosmocentric

view.
 Ancient philosophers wondered about the world (kosmos in Greek).
 The question that concerned them was the origin of the universe - – the arche
(Greek for ‘starting point’).
 They wanted to understand the world for they found themselves ignorant about
the workings of the universe.
 Their desire for truth was reflected in the question
that may be simply put as “Where did all things
come from?”
 The question was about the ultimate nature of the
world. The answer, they thought, would be a
substance responsible for the multiplicity of things.
It would have to be something that is the
foundation of everything there is.
 This problem is the concern of a branch of
philosophy now known as cosmology.
 THALES OF MILETUS (620-546 B.C)

 In Westren philosophy, it is said that the first among

those who wondered about the origin of the universe
was Thales.
 His observation of nature and his philosophical
reflections led him to the view that water is the
underlying principle of all things.
 There is no available account of his basis or reasons for
choosing water but come to think of it, everything that
has life need water.
 Thales thought that water would be a good answer
because water can be the unifying principle for
everything in the world.
 Thales’ position or claim engaged his fellow
Milesians to think of their own answers.
 ANAXIMANDER thought that water could not
simply explain the hot, the cold and dry so he
claimed that the answer must be the “boundless”
(apeiron in Greek).
 ANAXIMENES, on the other hand, said that the
fundamental principle must be air because it can
better account for change and for life
 A group of philosophers known as Pythagoreans,
however identified number as the first principle because
they observed how the world is governed by
mathematical ratio. Music and celestial objects reveal
order and harmony that are ultimately found in number.
 The Atomists, in contrast, speculated that there must be
tiny, indivisible entities, invisible to naked eye that make
up everything. They called these “atoms.”
 Philosophical thought is so powerful that they arrived at
such theory without relying on factual evidence.
 THEOCENTRIC VIEW
In the medieval period during which the
church sustained man’s intellect, the world
became secondary to God (theos in Greek)
and Christianity greatly influenced
philosophy. Thus, there were a number of
medieval philosophers who philosophized
using theocentric view.
Among them are: Avicenna, St. Augustine, St.
Thomas Aquinas
 ST. THOMAS AQUINAS

Because a holistic account of reality is

demanded by philosophy, highly trained and
educated theologians turned to religious texts
and doctrines.
St. Thomas Aquinas ‘Summa Theologica – is
most remarkable for its exhaustive explanation
of Christian faith.
It is also the source of the famous “five ways” of
proving the existence of God.
FIVE WAYS OF PROVING GOD’S EXISTENCE
 ANTHROPOCENTRIC VIEW
 The modern period in philosophy is characterized by subjectivity and
individualism, hence centered in man (Anthropos in Greek).
 Anthropocentric view was a result of modern science and the
diminished authority of the church in the seventeenth century.
 In his account of modern philosophy, Bertrand Russell explained that
progress in the scientific field made man realize the practical utility
of science as a technique rather than of a doctrine that explained
the nature of the world.
 This idea sheds light on the philosophies characterized in this period
– rationalism and empiricism.
 EMPIRICISM
holds that all knowledge is ultimately derived from
sense experience.
 The modern philosophers (1632-1704),
(1685-1753), and (1711-1776) all held this
view.
, for instance, claimed that the human mind at birth
is like a blank sheet of paper that is later filled
through sense experience.
 CHECK POINT!!!
Demonstrate your grasp of the lesson by deducing
each of the following views as: A for anthropocentric,
C for cosmocentric or T for theocentric.
___1. “Man is the measure of all things.” - Protagoras
___2. “God is that than which no greater can be conceived.” – St. Anselm
___3. “I think, Therefore, I am. I am, therefore, I exist.” – Rene Descartes
___4. “Fire lives in the death of earth.” – Heraclitus
___5. “ Man is condemned to be free.” – Jean Paul Sartre
THINGS TO PONDER……