What is Philosophy?

• Definition 1

  • Philosophy is thinking about thinking

    • reflective thought about the world and the big questions

    • rationally critical thinking

• Definition 2

  • The love of wisdom

    • critical examination of the way we perceive the world to make ourselves better and wiser

• Definition 3

  • Critical and creative thinking about ::fundamental questions about life

    • Aim is to clarify issues and if, possible find answers to them

The Value of Philosophy (Russell Article)

• Philosophy must be learned :: so that our minds can be trained to think deeply

  • many don’t critically think and just follow other people’s ideas

  • diminish our ability to be dogmatic

    • Dogmatic: believing that your opinions are right and not looking at other perspectives or evidence

Criteria for Judging and Argument

• Relevance

  • are the arguments worth considering?

  • are the arguments on topic or related

  • relevant and irrelevant

• Empirical Value

  • Verified through senses and research

  • Non-empirical are things that are opinions, things we can’t see

• Bias

  • Favoring certain things

  • Coming from our childhood, experiences and life

  • Hard to know when we or others are using bias

    • Be aware

• Reliability

  • Reliability of the person giving info

  • Does that person have something to gain from me?

  • Examine credentials