INTRODUCTION TO THE PHILOSOPHY OF MAN • Thales was the first individual who tried

What is Philosophy? to reduce the multiplicity in to a unity

 More than 2500 years ago a sage in (Jones 1969)
South Asia named Gautama Buddha • But his explanation of natural
declared that “Life is suffering.” This is phenomena is devoid of gods and
the first of his Four Noble Truths. And goddesses of the old religion of Greece. It
indeed if you look at your life you will see is completely rational. It represents a
that it is a series of challenges that you departure from the mythological religion
have to overcome if you want to survive. of Greece. Thales approach highlights the
 Philosophy allows us the freedom to ask difference between religion and
even those questions that others believe philosophy. Religion rests on faith while
to already have a definite answer. philosophy rests on reason
 Traditionally philosophy is defined as love
of wisdom because it came from two
Greek words Philos (love) and Sophia
(wisdom).
 some people like Socrates died for truth. Thales greatest contribution to philosophy is the
It is this centrality of love of philosophy problem he posed “What is the ultimate stuff of
that we call people who engages in the universe?” and his approach in solving that
philosophy as philosophers (love of problem. Studying Thales makes us realize that
Wisdom) philosophical activity is characterized by three
PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION things.
 To reflect philosophically is to think • First in terms of scope philosophy
about an important question that does involves the widest
not have a definite or ready answer. We generalization
are puzzled mostly about things we • Second philosophy is all about
cannot fully know or understand because fundamentals
we can ask. One of the things human • Third philosophy is drive by the
beings ask is “Why am I here?” which is a desire to integrate things in to a
variation of the questions “Why was I one coherent whole.
ever born?” “What am I here for?” or Philosophy of thought
“What is the purpose of my existence?” it deals with answering the problems related to
Many also ask “Why love when you only
knowledge and reasoning
get hurt” and “What if there is no after-
life?”
Epistemology- The word epistemology comes
 Difficult questions that do not have
definite answers like the ones we have from the Greek word episteme, which means
been describing are significant. They are knowledge and logos which means study. It is a
questions that matter to us for they philosophical theory that deals with the origin of
reflect our desire to understand or at human knowledge; hence it is also known as the
least make sense of our experiences Theory of Knowledge. Its main concern is the
 In social media we are made to believe or nature of knowledge, its possibility, scope and
defend the opposite that nothing lasts general basis
forever. This is mostly referring to the
context of love relationships. When you
begin to agree, or disagree, it calls for Logic- deals with the problem on reason. It is
philosophical thinking whether in jest or basically the science and art of distinguishing
in a serious mode. correct from incorrect. In distinguishing the
correct from incorrect thinking, it is necessary
Origin of philosophy
• Greece the birthplace of philosophy in that reason must be applied. Logic is used to be
the west. To be more precise it is the considered as the Scientia Scientiarum, the
ancient Greek city of Miletus in the science of sciences.
Western coast of what is now Turkey that
PHILOSOPHY OF REALITY- it deals with the reality
gave birth to philosophy. It is in this city
of the world
that the first philosopher in the west,
Thales lived. Metaphysics- considered as the most abstract
• Thales is the father of philosophy I the and in some views the most highfalutin part of
Western Civilization. He lived between philosophy. It deals with the origin of things.it is
624 and 546 BCE a contemporary of the
basically the study of being in its general aspects.
Lydian king Croesus and the statesman
Solon (stumpf and Fieser 2008)
•
He believes that there is One in the Many.
Theodicy- this is also known as the Natural Philosophy of psychology- it comes from the two
Theology or the Philosophy of Religion. It deals Greek Words Psyche meaning soul and logos
with the problem of God’s Existence. Basically it meaning study. It is etymologically the study of
answers the question: “Is there a God”. It soul. Philosophers considers the soul as the
upholds the principle fides quaerens intellectum principle of life and the reason why people
behave as they do. It is for this reason that
Cosmology- the term cosmology comes from the psychology has been defined eventually as the
Greek word kosmos which means universe and study of human behavior. It is also known as the
logos which means study. It is the study of Rational Psychology, the study of that deals with
universe from a philosophical viewpoint. The man not only as a sensing and thinking subject,
study of the corporeal beings. It deals with the but also as a being composed of body and soul
reality of the origin and the end of the universe.

Social philosophy- it deals with the philosophical Philosophy of Person- deals with the
study of society and its institutions. philosophical inquiry into a human being as a
person and as an existing being in the world. It
Political philosophy- it is equivalent to social deals with the study about dignity of man, truth,
philosophy since both deals with the discussion freedom, justice, love, death, and his relationship
on society as a whole. It comes from the Greek with other human beings and with God.
word polis which means community or city. It Branches of Philosophy
focuses on one social institution, the state and Philosophy of thought
seeks to determine its justification and proper  Epistemology
organization  Logic
PHILOSOPHY OR MORALITY- deals with man’s Philosophy of Reality
question regarding the problems of morals and  Metaphysics
good deeds  Theodicy
ETHICS- comes from the Greek word ethos which  Cosmology
means “customs,” “usage” or “character”.  Philosophy of Psychology
Philosophical study of moral judgments. It tries to  Social Philosophy
study the human acts and searches for the means  Political Philosophy
on how to obtain wisdom regarding how life Philosophy of Morality
should be lived.  Ethics
Aesthetics- comes from the aesthesis which
 Aesthetics
means harmony. It provides meaning on arts and
 Philosophy of Man
beauty and it is also known as the philosophy of
the art.. It deals with the questions about the
meaning of beauty and tries to determine
whether beauty is in the subject or in the object
So how do you acquire knowledge?
TRUTH AND OPINION  First, we can acquire knowledge using
Epistemology- is a science devoted to the our senses, this method of acquiring
discovery of the proper method of acquiring and knowledge is called empiricism and it has
validating knowledge” (Rand 1990). many adherents in the history of
philosophy such as John Locke, George
Purpose of Epistemology Berkeley, and David Hume.
1. To show how we can acquire knowledge.  Second, we can acquire knowledge by
2. To give us a method of demonstrating whether thinking with the use of our minds (what
the knowledge we acquired is really knowledge philosophers call the rational faculty).
This is what rationalism advocates.
According to Ayn Rand knowledge is a “mental (Some well-known rationalists in history
grasp of reality reached either by perceptual are Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and
observation or by a process of reason based on Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz).
perceptual observation”

Knowledge- is a retained form of awareness

 ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE According to Hurley an argument “is a group of
1. Reality statements
To know is to know something. This
“something” is what philosophers call reality Conclusion is a statement that we want to prove

Existence is really all there is to know Premise provides justification, evidence, and
(Another name for it is the Universe [Peikoff proof to the conclusion
1990]). Is really all there is to know
Argument expresses a reasoning process which
2. Perception logicians call inference (Hurley 2011).
Our first and only contact with reality is
through our senses. Knowledge begins with Knowledge- episteme in Greek
perceptual knowledge. At first the senses Opinion- doxa in Greek
give us knowledge of things or entities (what
Aristotle calls primary substance) Plato is often considered the first to differentiate
knowledge from opinion
Aristotelian categories cannot be separated
from the entities that have it According to Plato, is certain whereas opinion is
not certain
3. Concept
After we perceive other things. It is “an Dialectic- is an instrumental in drawing out
abstract or generic idea generalized from assumptions inconsistencies, and citing counter
particular instances”. examples so the truth is known. It is learned by
Plato to his teacher Socrates
Abstraction from abstractions-Process where we
can form higher level concepts through a process Aristotle developed syllogism
Syllogism-deductive argument of a certain form
Two types of abstraction from abstractions: where a conclusion is inferred from two premises
wider generalizations (or simply widenings) and
subdivisions (or narrowing’s) (Binswanger 2014) RENE DESCARTES- father of modern philosophy
- He introduced the notion of indubitality
Wider generalization is the process of forming
wider and wider concepts Opinions are those that can be doubted and are
 As we go up to these progressive often confused in our thought
widenings our knowledge increases Knowledge, on the other hand are indubitable
and thus certain
Subdivisions consist of identifying finer and finer
distinctions Postmodernist have come to be known for their
As we go down these progressive narrowings our denial of philosophical viewpoints
knowledge of things subsumed under a concept
increases Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)
 In the late 1960’s, he developed
The result of this progressive widenings and deconstruction which challenged
narrowing’s is a hierarchy (or levels) of concepts traditional views in philosophy
whose based is sense perception  According to him, like other postmodern
thinkers, we find the desire for a more
4. Proposition is a statement that expresses democratic society. Power and authority
either an assertion or a denial (Copi, 2002) that is shifted from those who used to be at
an existent belongs to a class or possess certain the center of society
attribute. Usually expressed in a declarative Theories of truth
sentence in knowing the truth or falsity of a statement, we
generally use the following theories of truth
Affirmative proposition therefore has the
following structure: “S is P” (where S is the
The Correspondence theory of Truth
subject, P is the predicate and “is” is the copula
What we believe or say is true if it corresponds to
stating the logical relationship of S and P) while
the way things actually are based on the facts
the negative proposition has the structure “S is
not P” (“is not” is the copula expressing denial).
Austin Cline argues, it is important to note here
that “truth” is not a property of “facts
5. Inference
How do we demonstrate that the statement is
Fact is some set of circumstances in the world,
true? By providing an argument
cannot be either true or false
Belief is an opinion about what those facts are, Praying- is a unique tool of theology which is in
capable of being true or false the realm of faith

Coherence Theory
For Cline, only when statements are tested as St. Anselm said “its faith seeking understanding.”
part of a larger system of complex ideas, then St. Thomas Aquinas- one of the great theologian
one might conclude that the statement is “true”. of the church quoted in Latin the relationship
between philosophy and theology; ‘philosophia
- Coherence Theory is similar to the ancilla theologiae’ or philosophy is the
Correspondence Theory since both evaluates handmaid of theology
statements based on their agreement with
reality. The difference lies in the method where Framework- is a conceptual map consisting of our
the former involves a larger system while the views and beliefs which affects the way we view
latter relies on a single evidence of fact the world (Abella 2016)

The Pragmatist Theory of Truth AQAL- formulated by an American

Belief/statement is true if it has a useful philosopher/psychologist Ken Wilber
(pragmatic) application in the world. If it does not, METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING
then it is not true
-Cline argues that when a belief works, it is more Infographic- is a visual representation of
appropriate to call it useful rather than “true” information
Methods of Philosophizing
HOW TO REFLECT PHILOSOPHICALLY 1. The Dialectic method
2. The Pragmatic Method
Essence of philosophy- changed our 3. The Phenomonological Method
competencies and emphasized the most essential 4. The Primary and Secondary Reflections
ones. Separate the essences of things versus 5. The Analytic Method
accidentals and necessary versus contingent
Different kind of Philosophizing:
Reflection- is the process that would aide in
1. Argumentum ad Hominem - Attacking the
understanding the holistic point of view Person. Hominem came from Latin word “homo”
- An activity that requires a person to examine
which means man. This fallacy literally means
his or her thoughts, feelings and actions and learn
hitting the person below the belt
from experience. (Abella, 2016).
Argumentum ad Baculum-Appeal to Force.
Philosophical reflection- see the bigger picture Baculum is a Latin word which means scepter or
about everything stick. A scepter is a symbol of authority.
According to Gabriel Marcel, philosophical Argumentum ad Misercordiam- Appeal to Pity.
reflection is the act of giving time to think about Misercordiam came from Latin word Misericordia
the meaning and purpose of life. which means pity or compassion. A person uses
emotion such as pity to convince someone
Two types of reflection:
Primary reflection- which is the ability to think Argumentum ad Populum- Appeal to people/
logically. The ability of the mind to construct and Bandwagon fallacy. Populum is the Latin word for
evaluate arguments. Examines its object by people. Most of TV commercials are guilty of this
abstraction, by analytically breaking it down into argument
its constituent parts. Argumentum ad Traditio- Appeal to Tradition.
Traditio means tradition. Advancing an idea since
Secondary reflection- According to Marcel this it has been practice for a long time
type of reflection enables us to look deeper into
our experiences and see the bigger picture of Argumentum and Ignorantiam- Appeal to
reality Ignorance. Ignorantiam a Latin word for
ignorance
Moral theology- In research it is called Petitio Principii- Begging the Question. According
methodological approach. Employs the STOP sign to Merriam Webster’s dictionary, it is a fallacy in
as guidepost of moral decision making. which a conclusion is taken for granted in the
S-earch… premises. Also called-“circular argument.”
T-hink 8. Hasty Generalization- This fallacy is committed
O-thers when one reaches a generalization based on
P-ray insufficient evidence
9. Cause and Effect- Assuming that the effect is
related to a cause because both events occur one
after the other.

10. Fallacy of Composition- Infers that something

is true of a part, is true of a whole

11. Fallacy of Division- Infers that something is

true of the whole, must also be true on its parts

12. Fallacy of Equivocation- Using the same term

in a different situation with different meaning.