Introduction to Philosophy: Definition & Nature
Introduction to Philosophy: Definition & Nature
Learning Objectives
Analyze the nature and importance of philosophy.
Distinguish philosophical and non-philosophical questions.
Differentiate the different schools of thought that emerged across history.
What is Philosophy?
From afar, philosophy may seem irrelevant, old-school, boring, and confusing.
Etymological meaning: "love for wisdom".
Philosophers seek not only knowledge but the correct application of that knowledge.
Wisdom is applying what you've learned in life to live and die well.
Philosophy involves self-examination and seeking fundamental truths about the world.
Philosophy is an activity concerned with answering or reflecting on the biggest questions about life and reality.
These questions are:
Complex
General in point-of-view
Highly controversial
These questions are called philosophical questions.
Philosophical Questions
Philosophical questions do not have a definite answer because they are:
Broad or general in scope
Lack a single method for answering
Have no practical purpose
Answering these questions is beyond collecting physical evidence and empirical research.
They make sense through reason or rational thinking.
Philosophers often have conflicting views and perspectives.
Examples of philosophical questions:
"Can money buy happiness?"
"Why are we so afraid of death?"
Nature of Philosophy
Philosophy is not just an activity but also a discipline.
It is an overarching field of study that investigates "anything under the sun."
Deals with a broad spectrum of topics, from analyzing familiar terms to inquiring into the meaning of life itself.
Touches upon nearly every aspect of human life: science, art, religion, politics, medicine, etc.
Philosophy is as broad as life and as deep as human understanding.
Philosophy is similar to science in that it exhibits critical thinking and open-mindedness.
It involves systematic procedures and methodology in formulating answers and perspectives using reason or rational thinking.
Philosophy investigates things using human reason alone, without laboratory instruments or supernatural revelation.
Unlike other sciences with particular objects of investigation, philosophy deals with questions about everything and examines the principles behind everything, including their existence.
Importance of Doing Philosophy | From School of Life
Engaging in philosophical reflection leads to the development of beneficial skills that individuals can apply in everyday situations.
It enables holistic thinking, which considers large-scale patterns in systems.
A holistic perspective requires an open mindset and ability to get the general sense or impression regarding a situation.
Partial thinking focuses on specific aspects of a situation and is an important component of analytical thinking.
Reasons for the importance of philosophy:
We are vulnerable to errors of common sense:
Philosophy gets us to submit all aspects of common sense to reason.
It encourages independent thinking.
It questions assumptions based on popularity or long-establishment.
We are mentally confused:
Philosophy is committed to self-knowledge.
Socrates' precept: "Know yourself."
We have muddled ideas about what will make us happy:
Philosophers seek to be wise by getting more precise about the activities and attitudes that really can help our lives to go better.
Our emotions can send us in dangerous and unwanted directions:
Philosophers teach us to think about our emotions, rather than simply have them.
By understanding and analyzing our feelings, we learn to see how emotions impact on our behavior in unexpected, counterintuitive and sometimes dangerous ways.
Philosophers were the first therapists.
We panic and lose perspective:
Philosophy helps us keep a hold of what matters and what doesn’t.
Socrates developed a method to get clearer about what you mean by playing devil’s advocate with any idea.
The task of studying philosophy is to absorb these lessons and put them to work in the world today.
The point isn’t just to know what this or that philosopher happened to say, but to aim to exercise wisdom at an individual and societal level.
In modern times, the wisdom of philosophy is mostly delivered in the form of books.
In the past, philosophers discussed their ideas in market squares or gave advice in government offices and palaces.
Philosophy was thought of as a normal, basic activity rather than an unusual, esoteric, optional extra.
Brief Historical Development of Philosophy
The development of western Philosophy is divided into six parts:
Pre-philosophical era
Pre-Socratic philosophy
Classical (Socratic) philosophy
Medieval philosophy
Enlightenment and age of reason
Modern philosophy.
A "school of thought" is a set of ideas, opinions, or beliefs shared by a group of people with a common perspective.
A "philosopher" is a person who practices philosophy or engages in answering philosophical questions.
Pre-Philosophical Era
People had already attempted to explain the origin of things through myths or legends.
These stories are characterized by religious elements or supernatural powers and not by natural or rational explanation.
The earliest records of western philosophy are generally in Ancient Greece.
Philosophy started in Ionia, a Greek colony.
Thales of Miletus was the first proper philosopher because he investigated the natural world through observation and reason, not through supernatural or mythological explanations.
This event in history is called the "Ionian Awakening."
Pre-Socratic Era
The philosophers were called the philosophers of nature.
They investigated the single underlying substance that makes up everything.
They also philosophized whether change exists or is just an illusion.
Materialism was the dominant school of thought during this period because several pre-Socratic philosophers believed that the world can only understood through physical matter.
This is why some of them are considered as naturalists.
The Milesians
Group of philosophers from Miletus
Thales:
Known as the first person in recorded history to have started philosophizing because he did not resort in supernatural or mythological explanations.
Coined the term arche which means the ultimate substance of everything.
Believed that the arche is water because it can be found in many places.
Anaximander:
Younger contemporary and student of Thales.
Believed that the ultimate substance of everything is apeiron, which is translated as “the infinite” or “the boundless”.
Anaximenes:
Believed that the ultimate substance of everything is air.
When air is moved and condensed it becomes first wind and then cloud and then water, and finally water condensed becomes mud and stone.
The Non-Milesians
* **Pythagoras:**
* Said that everything in the world is governed by numbers, and it can be understood through mathematics.
* Proponent of Pythagorean theorem.
* **Xenophanes:**
* Believed that the ultimate substance of everything is earth and it interplays with water.
* Considered as the first philosopher of religion.
* Criticized the representation of God found in the works of Homer and Hesiod.
* Believed that there is only one God who is transcendent and omnipresent.
* **Heraclitus:**
* Believed that everything in the world was in a state of constant change and flux.
* Said that the ultimate substance of everything is fire.
* “all things are exchangeable for fire, as goods are for gold and gold for goods”
* There is a downward path, whereby fire turns to water and water to earth, and an upward path, whereby earth turns to water, water to air, and air to fire. The death of earth is to become water, and the death of water is to become air, and the death of air is to become fire.
* **Parmenides:**
* Rejected the idea of Heraclitus about change.
* Believed that change is just an illusion.
* Believed that everything that exists is static and unchanging.
* **Empedocles:**
* Synthesized the thought of other philosophers.
* Believed that all four of these substances (water, earth, fire, air) stood on equal terms as the basic elements of the universe.
* **Democritus:**
* Introduced atomism.
* Believed that the everything is composed of tiny, indivisible and indestructible things called atoms.
* Believed that they are too small to be detected by the senses, and that they are infinite in number and come in infinitely many different kinds.
* They are scattered, like motes in a sunbeam, in infinite empty space, which he called ‘the void’.
* They have existed for ever, and they are always in motion.
Classical or Socratic Era
The philosophers during this period placed an emphasis on how people should behave and think, how society and government should operate, and what lies beyond the physical world.
These provided further development to ethics, philosophy of politics, and logic.
Socrates:
The oratorical philosopher; left no writings.
Well-known for his Socratic Method; it is a method of questioning that attempts provoke clarification of ideas and discussion by asking follow-up questions that are critical and insightful.
Encourages people to acknowledge their own ignorance and to be skeptic; this will motivate us to pursue wisdom.
“I know that I know nothing”.
Plato:
A literary superstar; he is best known for his writings such as “The Republic” which is composed of philosophies presented in dialogues.
It was he who wrote the philosophies of Socrates. His philosophy is a completion and extension of philosophy of Socrates.
His famous philosophy is the Theory of Forms (Idealism) which asserts that the reality only exists in our mind, and that experiences are just illusions. In essence, Plato believes that our ideas our superior over our senses.
He also believed that philosopher kings should rule the people since they are not prone to be swayed by their impulses and emotions in creating decisions for the people.
Introduced the idea that humans are composed of a tripartite soul (rational spirit, emotional spirit, and appetitive spirit). He reminded us to let our rational spirit dominate so that we would not create irrational actions caused by emotional and appetitive spirit.
Aristotle:
His philosophy is an opposition of Plato’s philosophical tradition. Unlike Plato, Aristotle believes in Realism; the endowment of senses will lead a person in direct contact with the world (experiences) and provide adequate proof in pursuit of the truth.
In a nutshell, Aristotle believes that ideas must be supported by perception. We have to rely on both reason and senses to understand the things around us.
Father of Political Science; he systematically studied politics. He created the classical types of the government and categorized them as either good or bad (monarchy or tyranny, aristocracy or oligarchy, polity or demagoguery).
Introduced the idea of virtue as the “ultimate good” and eudaimonia as “happiness”. Virtue is understood as what lies between what is excessive and deficient (e.g. not too courageous, but not too afraid; just the right amount of courage). In order to achieve eudaimonia or ultimate happiness, we must live a virtuous life or a life of virtue.
Scholastic or Medieval Era
The confluence of faith and reason. Philosophers in this period were concerned with reconciling philosophy with religion. They tried to explain the existence of God through logical arguments.
Scholasticism was the dominant school of thought where Christian philosophers tried to reconcile classical philosophy with Christian theology.
Avicenna:
Muslim philosopher
Reconciled Aristotelian philosophy with Islamic theology.
Introduced the idea of tabula rasa (blank slate: this means that we are not born with built-in mental content and that our minds our filled in with ideas coming from our surroundings). This idea will later influence social-contract philosopher John Locke.
St. Augustine of Hippo:
One of his notable philosophies is that man is fallible. This can be traced from the story of Adam and Eve.
God has given man freewill and choice whether to obey Him or not. Adam and Eve eventually exercised their freewill to disobey God. This became the Peccatum Originale (The Original Sin).
Thomas Aquinas:
Had a logical approach to reconciling faith and reason.
Cosmological argument and teleological argument of God’s existence: explanations of how God exists based on the laws of physics and natural world.
Believed that it is impossible for the universe to exist and move on its own. He explained that before something moves, there should be a mover. He concluded that God is the prime mover. The first motion was caused by God.
Renaissance and The Age of Reason
Renaissance is the period when philosophers replaced God with man and his/her achievements. Humanism is at the heart of their philosophy. Among the subjects of their philosophy include the politics and the self.
Niccolò Machiavelli:
Believes that the end justifies the means, that a leader/politician must sacrifice morality to secure the glory and success of the state. This may have influenced the iron fist leadership of some politicians.
He also pointed out that “its better to be feared than loved, if you cannot be both.” For him, leaders who are not feared cannot enforce obedience and cannot perform his/her functions. But Machiavelli points out that it is better that you are both feared and loved.
Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire):
He said that all evils in the society (idolatry, superstition, and fanaticism) that divides people during his time are coming from the French Catholic Church. He passionately protested against these things.
Believed in the rational religion called deism which believes that God created us but does not interfere with our lives since we humans have our reason. God left us to decide on our own through the use of our mind. He tells us to encourage others to cultivate our mind.
His philosophy was so influential that during the French Revolution, his words became the rallying cry of the people: “Liberte, Egalite, Fraternite!”
Modern Philosophy
The modern tradition in the history of philosophy is recognized to be concerned about problems or issues about the source of human knowledge.
It is often described as dominated by two schools of thought – rationalism and empiricism – and ends with the synthesis made by Immanuel Kant. The reflection and analysis are directed toward answering the question on the nature of knowledge and the verification on types of knowledge claims to be known by humans.
Rationalism
It is a school of thought that adheres to the idea that reason is the only source of knowledge.
Knowledge begins with intellect or reason through the process of abstraction. Abstraction is a process where we derive the essence of objects.
Plato
Knowledge is a pre-existed knowledge. The “eidos” (Ideas or forms) are pre-existent. These ideas or forms is known by the human mind by means of pure recollection. Knowledge is always remembering. Thus, “to know is to remember.”
Rene Descartes
Knowledge is clear and distinct idea. This clear and distinct idea is made available because of human consciousness.
Once the human person becomes conscious of the things around him, he starts to have a clear and distinct idea of whatever come into play with his consciousness- the use of the senses.
Empiricism
It is a school of thought that adheres to the idea that sensory experience is the only source of knowledge.
David Hume
Knowledge is a body or bundle of impressions. Impressions are networks of ideas and facts. Example, spiderman. The concept of spiderman is a network of the attributes of a human and a spider and is applied to a single idea of spiderman. Since, knowledge is an impression, there’s no absolute knowledge. It is dependent on one’s impression.
John Locke: Tabula Rasa
Knowledge is that which is acquired. A person is born with an empty mind. Man acquires knowledge through the process of time- experience.
Immanuel Kant: Synthetic a priori knowledge
Knowledge for Kant is derived from the idealist thought that it is derived from the unity of the body/senses and the intellect. Reality is formless.
What gives shape to reality is the human mind. Hence, we do not acquire knowledge but we project it to the world.
The acquisition of knowledge is dependent on the categories or the conditions of the human mind. In addition, we can only know so much. Nevertheless, the limitation of knowledge is never negative in its sense, it is an opening to the beyond.
Other Notable Philosophers
Friedrich Nietzsche
He is a critic of religion. One of his critiques is that the Christian religion causes “sklavenmorale” (slave morality). This means that Christianity is creating virtues to mask weakness which is a common morality among slaves.
He also said “God is dead” which means that our idea of God died because He is replaced by science. Religious practices are abandoned by man because science is the ones satisfying his needs. For example, prayer for healing is replaced by medicine.
Albert Camus
He believes that life has no meaning and we must rejoice about it. This is because we have the freedom to define it ourselves.
His existential philosophy can be seen from his writings about the Myth of Sisyphus, a legend of King Sisyphus who was casted to forever roll a rock up the mountain and the rock falls when he reached the top. Our lives are like Sisyphus’. It has no meaning. But we can create our own meaning to it.
Jean Paul Sartre
He believes that existence precedes essence. This means that we are born without meaning; that we exist first.
He tells us that as we go through our life that we find our essence (meaning or purpose).
Synthesis
Philosophy enables a person to engage in critical analysis and interpretation of concepts, definitions, arguments, and problems.
Doing Philosophy also improves problem-solving and decision making.
In the process of doing philosophy, it is critical to have a holistic point of view-the perception of looking at all aspects of a situation first before making a conclusion.
Wisdom as it refers to a person’s ability to apply knowledge to daily life particularly in making sound choices and judgment is the intended product of philosophizing.
Philosophizing is oftentimes attributed to looking at reality from the lens of Philosophy. However, Philosophical lens and philosophizing have distinct characteristic. A philosophical lens offers a substantive insight or reading of a text while a method of philosophizing gives us the procedures or step by step guide on doing a philosophy. In short, a philosophical lens is Substantive while a method of philosophizing is Procedural.