Introduction to Philosophy Lecture Notes

Flashcards covering the meaning, branches, types, and modes of philosophy, as well as logic, arguments, and common fallacies based on the lecture transcript.

Philosophy (Etymology)

Derived from the ancient Greek words 'Philos' (love) and 'Sophia' (wisdom), meaning 'the love of wisdom.'

Wisdom

The ability to make sensible decisions and give good judgments based on experience and knowledge.

Philosophy (Activity)

An activity of critical and logical thinking where everything is tentative until a new answer or discovery is made.

Common Sense Sense of Philosophy

Refers to an individual's attitude to life, resulting from inherited and acquired assumptions, beliefs, and prejudices.

Technical Sense of Philosophy

An academic discipline characterized by logical, consistent, and systematic thinking to reach sound conclusions.

Philosophy vs. Science (Methods)

Science employs empirical means such as observation and experimentation, while philosophy employs analytic means through reasoning.

Pythagoras

A Greek philosopher ($572-497BC$) said to be the first to refer to himself as a philosopher; he viewed philosophers as those who contemplate events to find the 'truth.'

Speculative Philosophy

An ancient approach that systematically speculates upon all things, seeking order, wholeness, and a comprehensive view of reality.

Prescriptive Philosophy

A mode of philosophy that seeks to set standards or criteria for judging values, conduct, and art, focusing on what 'ought' to be.

Analytic Philosophy

A modern approach concerned with the meaning and accuracy of words through critical clarification and conceptual analysis.

Metaphysics

A branch of philosophy that studies the ultimate reality, origin, and essence of being, often referred to as an enquiry into the world and the world beyond.

Ontology

A sub-branch of metaphysics that deals specifically with 'beings' and existence.

Cosmology

A sub-branch of metaphysics that deals with the visible universe, its cause, and its characteristics.

Materialism

A metaphysical theory where reality is defined in terms of matter, and to exist means to occupy space and time.

Idealism

A metaphysical theory where absolute reality exists in the world of forms, independent of matter, space, and time.

Necessary Being

A being that owes its existence to no other being outside itself, often identified as God.

Contingent Being

A being that is not responsible for its own existence and does not contain the sufficient reason for its existence within itself.

Epistemology

Derived from 'episteme' (knowledge) and 'logos' (study), it is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources, and reliability of knowledge.

Revealed Knowledge

Knowledge found in religions (e.g., Bible, Quran) that is accepted by faith and acquired through visions, trances, or angelic messages.

Empirical Knowledge

Knowledge obtained through sense perception, observation, experimentation, and personal experience.

Rational Knowledge

Knowledge acquired through pure reasoning, especially deductive reasoning, where new ideas are inferred from known premises.

Axiology

The study of values, including the criteria that underline human choices, desires, and interests.

Ethics

A component of axiology described as a normative science of human conduct, dealing with the norms of right and wrong.

Aesthetics

A component of axiology concerned with evaluating the criteria of beauty in nature and art.

Argument

In logic, a group of statements consisting of one or more premises offered in support of a conclusion.

Inference

A psychological activity consisting of drawing a conclusion from evidence or arriving at beliefs based on individual perspectives.

Deductive Argument

An argument moving from universal premises to a particular conclusion, where the premises provide $100\%$ support for the conclusion.

Inductive Argument

An argument moving from particular premises to a universal conclusion, where the conclusion is probable but not necessarily certain.

Syllogism

The keystone of Aristotle's deductive logic, consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion.

Fallacy

An error in reasoning or inference that causes an argument to go wrong, often appearing psychologically persuasive despite being logically incorrect.

Argumentum ad-Baculum

An informal fallacy committed when one appeals to force or the threat of force to cause the acceptance of a position.

Argumentum ad Hominem

An informal fallacy where the person making an assertion is attacked instead of disapproving the truth of the matter.

Argumentum ad Ignorantiam

The fallacy of arguing that a belief is true simply because it hasn't been proven false, or vice versa.

Petitio Prinicipii

Also known as 'begging the question,' it consists of assuming the very proposition to be proved as a premise.

Fallacy of Division

The error of assuming that the characteristics of a whole necessarily apply to its individual parts.

Law of Identity

A basic law of thought stating that if any statement is true, then it is true ($p \rightarrow p$).

Law of Contradiction

The principle that no statement can be both true and false at the same time ($p \cdot \sim p$ is false).

Law of Excluded Middle

The principle that every statement is either true or false ($p \lor \sim p$).

Symbolic Logic Connectives

Includes negation ($\sim$), conjunction ($\cdot$), disjunction ($v$), conditional ($>$), and bi-conditional ($\equiv$).

Antecedent

The first part of a conditional statement that follows the word 'if.'

Consequent

The second part of a conditional statement that follows the word 'then.'