METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING

METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING

• Truth - lies at the heart of any inquiry. It is a fact that has been verified.
• Knowledge - the clear awareness and understanding of something. It is the product of questions that allow for clear answers provided by facts.
• Propositions - Are statements about the world or reality which may or may not carry truth. Propositions which are observed to be real or truthful are considered FACTS.
• Claims - statement that is not evidently or immediately known to be true. This means that any claim can be proven by verification and experimentation.
• Doubt - has a very important purpose in philosophy as it drives our desire to discover truth.
• Something is true if…
• It can be justified or proven through the use of one’s senses.
• It is based on facts.
• It is a product of agreement or consensus.
• It can be applied in real life (tested and verified).
• Opinions - is a statement that holds the element of belief; it tells how someone feels. In other words it is what someone believes or thinks, and is not necessarily the truth.
• Beliefs - statements that express convictions that are not easily and clearly explained by facts. To judge the truthfulness of a belief, we must also consider things such as the person’s experiences and views.
• Explanations - statements that assume the claim to be true and provide reasons why the statement is true.
• Arguments - a series of statements that provide reasons to convince the reader or listener that a claim or opinion is truthful.

- They often take the form of statements that are either claims of facts and are phrased in such a way that they seem reasonable.

• Biases - Disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea or thing, usually in a way that is closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair
• Fallacies - arguments based on faulty reasoning. Some of them are intentional, as the person making the claim is desperate to convince you to accept his or her argument.
• ARGUMENTUM AD MISERICORDIAM (APPEAL TO PITY)
• specific kind of appeal to emotion in which someone tries to win support for an argument or idea by exploiting his or her opponent`s feelings of pity or guilt.
• ARGUMENTUM AD IGNORANTIAM

(APPEAL TO IGNORANCE)

• Whatever has not been proved false must be true, and vice versa.
• EQUIVOCATION
• logical chain of reasoning of a term or a word several times but giving the particular word a different meaning each time.
• COMPOSITION
• fallacy of composition arises when an individual assumes something is true of the whole just because it is true of some part of the whole.
• DIVISION
• reverse of the fallacy of composition.
• The fallacy of division occurs when one concludes that because something is true of the whole, therefore, it is also true of the parts.
• ARGUMENTUM AD HOMINEM

(AGAINST THE PERSON)

• attempts to link the validity of a premise to a characteristic or belief of the person advocating the premise. However, in some instances, questions of personal conduct, character, motives, etc., are legitimate if relevant to the issue.
• ARGUMENTUM AD BACULUM

(APPEAL TO FORCE)

• An argument where force, coercion, or the threat of force, is given as a justification for a conclusion.
• ARGUMENTUM AD POPULUM

(APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE)

• An argument that appeals or exploits people’s vanities, desire for esteem, and anchoring on popularity.

✧ POST HOC (FALSE CAUSE)

• Since that event followed this one, that event must have been caused by this one.
• This fallacy is also referred to as coincidental correlation, or correlation not causation.

✧ PETITIO PRINCIPII

(BEGGING THE QUESTION)

• which the proposition to be proven is assumed implicitly or explicitly in the premise.