INTRODUCTION TO

PHILOSOPHY

Doing Philosophy

• Ethics: What is good? What is bad?

• Epistemology: How do we acquire Pythagoras (570-490 B.C)
knowledge? How do we know that it is - Pythagorean theorem
true? - “The Music of Spheres”
• Metaphysics: Is there any reality that lies - an expert of the fate and soul after death
beyond our own senses? - thought that the soul was immortal and
• Logic: What is correct reasoning? went through a series of reincarnations; as
• Existentialism: How do we live a meaningful an expert of religious ritual;
life? - as the founder of a strict way of life that
emphasized dietary restrictions, religious
Wonder is said to be the beginning of philosophy. ritual and rigorous self-discipline
- advocated vegetarianism
The term philosophy comes from two Greek words
filos (philos), meaning ‘love’, and sofia (Sophia),
meaning wisdom.
- “the love of wisdom”.

Reason became our main weapon to guide us in

our journey. Animals are guided by instincts while
humans used reason to live.
Heraclitus (500 B.C)
History of Philosophy - “The dark one”
- “You can’t step in the same river twice”
4 ERAS: and “Everything changes but changes
1. Ancient - itself”
2. Medieval – a holistic understanding of God - saw the world as existing in state of
3. Modern - humans, not God, at its center | perpetual change
Mathematicians - nothing could last, and nothing could stay
4. Contemporary - how to live life the same forever
meaningfully
SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS
ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY
Socrates (470-399 B.C)
PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHERS - he did not know anything
- “What is Justice?” “What is virtue?”
Thales of Miletus (625-546 B.C) - “The unexamined life is not worth living.”
- “Everything is made of water.” - put on trial for “corruption of the youth”
- father of philosophy
- first who tried to understand the origin of
the world with the use of reason
- a mathematician who calculated the
heights of pyramids and the distance of
ships from the shore
- was the first philosopher who predicted the
solar eclipse of May 28, 585 B.C.
- “What is the world made of?” and condemned to die by drinking hemlock
 - martyr for the truth - “If God is entirely good and all-powerful,
why is there evil in the world?”
Plato (427-347 B.C) - He believes that although God created
- Dualism—world of forms | world of matter everything that exists, he did not create
- world best known as a great thinker evil, because evil is not a thing, but a lack
- influenced by Socrates and became the or deficiency of something.
successor of the Socratic philosophy
- recorded various dialogues with the
thinkers regarding the idea of justice,
beauty, and truth
- suggested that the world of true ideas
(Justice, Beauty, Goodness, Virtue,
Numbers, Geometry) has a reality of its
own beyond the physical world

Avicenna (980-1037)
- was a child prodigy, rapidly surpassing his
teachers not only in logic and philosophy,
but also in medicine
- most famous “dualists”
Aristotle (384-322 B.C) - devised a thought-experiment known as
- rejected Plato’s dualism (the way Plato “flying-man”
separated the world of ideas or forms from - described the structure of the cosmos
the physical world) (world) in numbers and geometry
- argued that some perfect, unchanging - “How do we know that we know?” and
force or entity (a Prime Mover) outside of “How should we live our lives?”
causality - “Is there a God?” or “Does man have an
- the first systematic treatment of the immortal soul?”
principles of correct reasoning, the first
logic MODERN PHILOSOPHY

Rene Descartes
- started with the argument that all
knowledge passes through our senses and
cannot be trusted
- An optical illusion of parallel lines or the
broken pencil inside the half-full glass of
water is made to look bent can fool our
senses.

MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHY

St. Augustine (354-430 A.D)

- was especially interested in the problem of
evil
 - “the method of doubt” - thinks that philosophy should also be a
everything that cannot be doubted is way of finding practical responses to these
considered a clear and distinct perception problems
- believes that philosophizing is not about
John Locke being a “spectator” who looks at the world
- British Empiricist from afar, but about actively engaging in
- Empiricists - generally thought to hold the the problems of life
view that all human knowledge must come Gabriel Marcel
directly or indirectly from the experience of - primary and secondary reflection
the world that we acquire through our - The way we experience in this world is
senses somehow based on how we deeply
- Rationalists - hold that in principle, at understand the richness of our experience.
least, it is possible to acquire knowledge
solely through the use of reason 1. Primary reflection- interested with
- believed that the human mind is like a definitions and with technical and
blank canvas or a blank sheet at birth methodological solutions to the problem. It
- Everything that we experience brings us answers and judgments are objective
new knowledge. Therefore, everything we
know is gained from experience. 2. Secondary reflection- the instrument of
philosophical reflection. This is the attempt
to see the parts in relation to the whole –
to interpret the parts with the whole in
sight

INFORMAL FALLACY

- fallacy - generally understood as a kind of

error in reasoning
- may be formally valid in form but still
remain rationally unpersuasive
CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHY 1. Appeal to Authority (Argumentum ad
Verecundiam)
John Dewey - arises when one who has the difficulty in
- purpose of philosophy, or “thinking”, is confronting or understanding complicated
not to provide us with a true picture of the questions will seek refuge in the ideas,
world, but to help us to act more concepts, principles, or judgments of a
effectively within it person who enjoys a reputation as an
- “What are the practical implications of expert or an authority on the matter at
adopting a new perspective?” issue
- philosophical problems are not abstract - occurs when the authority cited is not
problems divorced from people’s lives qualified in the relevant matters or, less
typically, is not free from adverse
influences.
- the arguer is relying upon the assertions
of someone who is not truly in a position
to know

2. Appeal to People (Argumentum ad

Populum)
- a variation of the appeal to authority
- consists in arguing that some statements p
is true because most people believe p
 - arises when one who, instead of Eg.: No one proved to me that Santa Claus does
concentrating on the relevant facts of the not exist. I will remain in my belief that Santa
argument, gives more emphasis on the Claus truly exists.
emotions and opinions of the people as
the basis of her conclusion 6. Argument against the Person
- “Everyone uses it” or “a majority of the (Argumentum ad Hominem)
population uses it” - arises when the arguer ignores the real
claims or issues in the argument so that
Eg.: Pres. Alexis is a good leader because many what is emphasized is the character,
Filipinos voted for him. personality, or belief of the opponent
- in the argument against the man, the
3. Appeal to Force (Argumentum ad arguer attacks the person rather than the
Baculum) person’s ideas in order to drive his point
- arises when the arguer, instead of showing
the evidence, appeals to intimidation or Eg.: You are son of a killer. How could I
uses force to gain acceptance of his or her believe you?
argument
- happens when the arguer tries to 7. False Cause
persuade the other (or the listener) by - arises when one assigns as the cause
pointing out his or her power over the those facts that merely preceded or
other or warning the other of the bad accompanied the effect when in fact there
consequences if he or she refuses to is no good evidence of a logical connection
accept his or her argument or causal relation
- an arguer commits the fallacy of false
Eg.: College Dean to a teacher: You better think cause when he labels something as the
twice before giving that student a failing grade. cause of something else on the basis of
Remember, he is the nephew of the university insufficient or unrepresentative evidence
president.
Eg.: Every time I wash my car, it rains.
4. Appeal to Pity (Argumentum ad Our garage sale made lots of money before Joan
Misericordiam) showed up.
- arises when an appeal to evidence is
replaced by an appeal to pity or mercy 8. Hasty Generalization
- the arguer does not have the evidence or - occurs when a generalization is formed on
proof for his claim; hence, he is forced to the basis of an unrepresentative sample
invoke pity to win the sympathy of the - to be accurate, a generalization about a
listener group should be based upon a sample
that reflects the diversity of that group
Eg.: Oh, officer please forgive me. My mother is - somehow stereotyping
sick and I have no money to buy medicine for her.
Eg.: I have a Filipino friend before who fooled me
5. Appeal to Ignorance (Argumentum ad because of money. I do not want to trust Filipino
Ignorantiam) people again.
- when an argument is taken as true
because it has not proven to be false, or Duality of Body and Soul (Plato & Rene Descartes)
an argument is false because it has not
proven to be true - the mind (or the soul) is comprised of a
- We do not know that P is false. Therefore, non-physical substance, while the body is
P must be true. constituted of the physical substance
- We do not know that P is true. Therefore, known as matter.
P must be false. - view held by those who believe that our
body is separate and distinct from our soul
For dualists, the mind (mental) is not to be therefore I am," stated Descartes. If you think about
mistaken for the brain (physical) since the mental it, if you doubt your own existence, this proves it. "I
is a unique phenomenon that cannot be reduced think, therefore I am" is an unquestionable piece of
to the non-mental or physical. fundamental knowledge.

Plato’s Dualism I am able to think, therefore I exist. A

- The human soul, he theorized, exists prior philosophical proof of existence based on the fact
to the body and even after the body is long that someone capable of any form of thought
gone. necessarily exists.
- connected to his theory of Forms where the
material realm (the world we know) is “I think; therefore, I am” was the end of the search
separate from the eternal realm or form or Descartes conducted for a statement that could not
essences (the world of ideas) be doubted. He found that he could not doubt that he
- draws a line of demarcation between the himself existed, as he was the one doing the doubting
in the first place.
spirit and the flesh, between the body and
the mind, the Idea and the particular object
Unity of Body and Soul

- any doctrine which maintains either that

there is ultimately only one thing or only
one kind of thing
- Although the body is the matter and the
soul is the form, a being cannot remain a
being if matter and form are not united.

Human Consciousness and Existence

- Locke was the first to point out that all

thoughts are conscious.
- our consciousness is the criterion for
personal identity.
- The “I” or the self is consciousness and
this is found even in Descartes when he
observed that the self is a thinking thing.

Rationalists – expounds on the intentionality

of consciousness while existentialist explores
the feelings that are awakened by
consciousness

Phenomenologists – philosophize guided by

the idea that consciousness is thought (of a
subject) that is always directed toward an
object

Existentialists – confront the possibility that

the “I” might have been someone else or
might not have been at all

How did Rene Descartes come up with “I think,

therefore I am.”? (Cogito Ergo Sum)

Whatever the Evil Deceiver did, Descartes knew he

was doubting and thinking, so he existed. "I think,