Lesson 1 - Doing Philosophy

Department of Education
NEW GENERATION INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

PHILOSOPHY
Topic 1: Doing Philosophy

Ederlyn D. Santos
QUOTE OF THE DAY
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OBJECTIVES
 Understand Philosophy
 Understand the origin of Philosophy
 Identify the different Philosophical Activity
 Classify the different branches of philosophy
 Identify the different Philosophical tools and Processes
 Differentiate Ethics from Morality
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PHILOSOPHY
 Traditionally philosophy is
defined as love of wisdom
because it came from two
Greek words philos (love)
and Sophia (wisdom).
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ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY
 Greece is the birthplace of

philosophy in the West. To be more
precise it is the ancient Greek city
of Miletus in the Western coast of
what is now Turkey that gave birth
to philosophy. First philosopher in
the West, Thales, lived.
Email
Email Address: Address: ngisshs@gmail.com
ngisshs@gmail.com EDUCATION WITH THE CULTURE OF THE HEART
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
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Thales
 Father of Philosophy in the Western
civilization.
 He lived between 624 and 546 BCE a
contemporary of the Lydian king
Croesus and the statesman Solon
(Stumpf and Fieser,2008).
 What made Thales a philosopher is his
desire to know the ultimate stuff that
makes up the different things we
perceived.
Email
Email Address: Address: ngisshs@gmail.com
ngisshs@gmail.com EDUCATION WITH THE CULTURE OF THE HEART
Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272Tel. No.: (046) 419-2272 / 419-1982
/ 419-1982 NGIS
Thales
 Thales was the first individual who tried to reduce the
multiplicity in to a unity (Jones,1969). But his explanation of
natural phenomena is devoid of gods and goddesses of the old
religion of Greece. It is completely rational. It represents a
departure from the mythological religion of Greece.
 Thales approach highlights the difference between religion and
philosophy. Religion rests on faith while philosophy rests on
reason.
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PHILOSOPHICAL ACTIVITY
 Thales greatest contribution
to philosophy is not his identifica
tion of water as the ultimate
stuff of the universe. His greatest
contribution is the problem he
posed “What is the ultimate stuff
of the universe?” and his
approach in solving that
problem.
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Three Characteristics of Philosophical Activity
1. Philosophy involves the widest generalizations (Rand,1982)
 Philosophers concern
themselves with big issues
pertaining to the truth, the
good, the just, the beautiful,
and the existence of practically
all things.
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2. Philosophy is all about fundamentals
 A fundamental is like the lower floor
that supports everything above it.
That kind of support is exactly what
philosophy provides. If somehow
philosophical ideas like consciousness
and existence disappear then
knowledge of any kind will not make
any sense because there will be
nothing to know (existence) and no
one to know (consciousness).
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3. Philosophy is Driven by the desire to integrate things in to
a one coherent whole
As the celebrated philosopher Georg
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel said “The true
is the Whole (Peikoff, 1991).” If you
notice Thales wants to reduce the
multiplicity of things into a single stuff.
He desires to find the One in the many.
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BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
1. Metaphysics
First the question - Where am I? By the time we reached
adulthood we believe we know the answer to this question. In
fact we believed that the answer is obvious that we don’t bother
to look closely at the question itself.
1. Ontology which studies existence
2. Philosophical anthropology which deals with the fundamental
and essential characteristics of human nature (Gotthelf and
Salmieri,2015).
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1. Metaphysics
The second question, How do I know it?
 concerns the nature of human knowledge and the way to
obtain it.
 How do we obtain knowledge? Do we obtain knowledge by
revelation, intuition, instinct or reason? Can we achieve
certainty or are we doomed to suffer perpetual doubt? Is
knowledge based on the things we perceive or from
something else?
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2. Epistemology
 which can be defined

as the “branch of philosophy
that studies the nature
and means of human
knowledge.”
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Philosophical anthropology
 a sub-branch of metaphysics
which studies the metaphysical
nature of man. Metaphysics
and epistemology are the
foundations of ethics.
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Ayn Rand
 Ethics or morality is a branch of
philosophy that provides a human
being with a “code of values to guide
man’s choices and actions - the
choices and actions that determine
the course of his life (Rand, 1964).”
 It is concerned with the values man
ought to pursue, the
interrelationships of those values
and the means to obtain them
(virtue).
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Ayn Rand
 Proper - means proper for human

beings which presupposes that
one knows what a human being is.
Since knowledge about human
being is provided by the cognitive
branches of philosophy, the
foundation of politics ultimately
rests on metaphysics and
epistemology.
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Ethics
 Concerned with the good for human
being as a human being.
 If we apply ethics in a social context then
it becomes politics. The concern
therefore of ethics is broader than
politics. It studies the “good” for human
beings in any setting (whether society is
present or not). An individual who is
alone in an island still has to follow
ethical principles if he wishes to survive
(Peikoff,1991).
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Two Normative Branches of Philosophy
1. Politics - is a branch of
philosophy which defines the
principles of a proper social
system.
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Two Normative Branches of Philosophy
2. Aesthetics - studies the nature of

art. It is concerned with the
nature and the objective
judgement of beauty.
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Philosophical Tools and Processes
1. Philosophical Questions. Philosophy was
born because of ignorance. If one is
ignorant, he asks questions and if he keeps
on questioning the more knowledge he
acquires. Once a person stops questioning,
he cease to become a philosopher. In our
daily struggles, one needs to ask questions
simple, serious and deep questions that we
have to grapple with. A philosopher is like a
child who has an inquisitive mind who never
stops asking questions and finding answers.
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1. Philosophical Questions
 Socratic Method
• Also known as method of elenchus,
elenctic method, or Socratic
debate, is a form of cooperative
argumentative dialogue between
individuals, based on asking and
answering questions to stimulate
critical thinking and to draw out ideas
and underlying presuppositions.
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 Zeno of Elea
• Pre-Socratic philosopher who
invented dialectic, of which the
dialogues of Plato are the examples
of the Socratic dialectical method.
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 Dialectics
• Is a term used to describe
a method of philosophical
argument that involves
some sort of contradictory
process between opposing
sides.
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 Dialectical Method
• It is a discourse
between two or more
people holding different
points of view about a
subject but wishing to
establish the truth
through reasoned
arguments.
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 Karl Marx
• The father of communism.
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2. Logical Reasoning
 In philosophy reasoning is the
process of thinking about
something in a logical way in order
to form a conclusion or judgement.
It has been the method
institutionalized by the triumvirate
Greek philosophers specially
Aristotle.
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 Reasoning
• The method we use in
doing philosophy. However, although
it is necessary for any competent
engagement with philosophy, it is
not the end all and be all of
philosophy. All branches of
philosophy employ reasoning in
explaining their arguments.
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 Epistemology
• One of reasoning domain
branch of philosophy
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 Deductive reasoning
• One type of logical reasoning.
Example:
Premise 1: All human beings are mortal
Premise 2: But the President of the
Philippines is a human being
Conclusion: Therefore, the President of the
Philippines is mortal.
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 Inductive reasoning
• begins with a particular to
universal argument.
Example:
Premise: Student A, B, C, D, E, F…..
are wearing School ID.
Conclusion: Therefore, All students
are wearing ID
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Logic
 starts with the origin of
ideas, terms, propositions or
premises, syllogism, etc.
These terms are the basic
structure of argument.
Unfortunately, this branch of
philosophy is equivalent to
one-subject requirement in
any course in the tertiary
level.
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Philosophical Reflection
 It tries to separate the essences of
things versus accidentals and
necessary versus contingent. It is
concern of what is the substance
and ultimate causes of things.
 This is true in our understanding
of the objects, events, realities
and situations around us.
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Reflection
 Is the process that would aide in
understanding the holistic point of
view of what is going on around us.
Reflection is an activity that requires
a person to examine his or her
thoughts, feelings and actions and
learn from experience. (Abella,
2016). Philosophers always search
for the essence of things and the
ultimate reasons for our existence.
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Gabriel Marcel
 Philosophical reflection is the act

of giving time to think about the
meaning and purpose of life. He
mentioned
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Two Types of Philosophical Reflection
1. Primary Reflection
 Which is the ability to think logically.
 The ability of the mind to construct
and evaluate arguments.
 It examines its object by abstraction,
by analytically breaking it down into
its constituent parts.
 It is concerned with definitions,
essences and technical solutions to
problems.
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Two Types of Philosophical Reflection
2. Secondary reflection
 According to Marcel this type of
reflection enables us to look deeper
into our experiences and see the bigger
picture of reality.
 It integrates the fragmented and
compartmentalized experience into a whole.
 It is the idea that various systems(e.g.
physical, biological, social) should be viewed
as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts.
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Moral theology
 employs the STOP sign as guidepost of
moral decision making.
• S= Search out the facts. It is necessary
that all means should be exhausted to
better understand the issue.
• T=Think, reflect and analyze the facts,
its negative or positive effects,
advantages or disadvantages.
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Moral theology
• O= How it affects Others. We should
always consider others in every decision
that we make. Every action that we take
has always a social dimension. It affects
ourselves, others and community where
we belong.
• P= stands for Pray. We are human
beings with limitations. If our best effort
are not enough, then there is no way
but look up for divine or God for
enlightenment and guidance.
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Praying
• is a unique tool of theology
which is in the realm of faith
but philosophy’s reasoning
helps in undergoing a
theological reflection as St.
Anselm said, “its faith seeking
understanding.”
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St. Thomas Aquinas
• one of the great theologian of the church
quoted in latin the relationship between
philosophy and theology;
‘philosophia ancilla theologiae’ or
philosophy is the handmaid of theology the
former is there to serve theology. Reason is
also important in theology not just
faith. Whether in philosophy, sociology or
other sciences, reflection is very useful in
understanding our daily experiences to
broaden our perspective of life.
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Framework
• Is a conceptual map
consisting of our views and
beliefs which affects the way
we view the world (Abella
2016).
• The framework were going to

used is called AQAL.
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AQAL
• It is anacronym that
stands for All Quadrants
All Levels first formulated
by an American
philosopher/psychologist
Ken Wilber.
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Ken Wilber
• First introduced AQAL to the world
in his book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality.
According to Wilber everything can
be analyzed using a vertical line.
• The line above divides space into tw
o sides: left and right.
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Ken Wilber
• First introduced AQAL to the world
in his book Sex, Ecology, Spirituality.
According to Wilber everything can
be analyzed using a vertical line.
• The line above divides space into tw
o sides: left and right.
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Left side
• represents the interior, subjective,
aspect of everything.
Right side
• represents the exterior, objective,
aspect of everything.
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The interior (or “loob” in Filipino)
• if applied to human beings, includes

one’s values, dreams, ideas,
emotions, beliefs. It basically
consists of one’s inner life. It cannot
be seen or measured but can be
experienced directly.
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The exterior side of everything
• are the things that we can see,
measure and touch. They include
the physical objects around us
including our own bodies.
• Example of this inside/outside
distinction is when a person smiles
at you. You see the big smile so it is
the exterior aspect of an event.
But at the same time there is a
subjective meaning behind that
smile: let’s say the person is happy.
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• This is the interior, subjective, aspect
of the event. So you see two strands
are interwoven behind any human
event: the objective and the
subjective, the interior and the
exterior.
• Another basic distinction was
introduced by Ken Wilber using a
horizontal line that divides space
into.
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• This is the interior, subjective, aspect of the event. So you
see two strands are interwoven behind any human event:
the objective and the subjective, the interior and the
exterior.
• Another basic distinction was introduced by Ken Wilber
using a horizontal line that divides space into.
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• Above the line represents what is
singular, individual, one. The
space below represents what is
plural, collective, many. For
example you are an individual
but you belong in a family,
community, class (all instances of
the collective).
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• We created what Wilber calls
the quadrants. According to
Wilber quadrants are “the
inside and outside of the
individual and collective
(Wilber 2006).”
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• There are many ways to describe the
quadrants. We can use the simple
location of each of the quadrant. So
the interior of the individual is the
upper left quadrant (UL), the exterior
of the individual is the upper right
quadrant (UR), the interior of the
collective is the lower left quadrant
(LL) and the exterior of the collective
is the lower right quadrant (LR).
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• We can also use pronouns to label the quadrants as shown below:
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• But what we are interested is when
we apply this to human beings. The
inside of the individual becomes
the mind, the outside of the
individual becomes the body, the
inside of the collective becomes
culture and the outside of the
collective becomes society.
• Quadrants expressed in language
Quadrants as applied to human
beings
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• Now when we reflect on the nature
of any concrete issue like poverty,
corruption, prostitution, global
warming we can just put the issue
at the center of the quadrant and
analyzed its mental, physical,
cultural and social
components. This is looking
at an issue from an all
quadrant, multiple and holistic
perspective.
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Department of Education

NEW GENERATION INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

Topic 1: Doing Philosophy

Email Address: ngisshs@gmail.com

 Greece is the birthplace of

1. Philosophy involves the widest generalizations (Rand,1982)

 which can be defined

 Proper - means proper for human

2. Aesthetics - studies the nature of

 Philosophical reflection is the act

• The framework were going to

• if applied to human beings, includes

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