LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING

COURSE CODE: PHIL 1011

COURSE CRDIT HOURS: 3
2019, Hawassa University
Bisrat D.

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 CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCING PHILOSOPHY

Overview
Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy
Lesson 2: Basic Features of Philosophy

Core Fields of Philosophy

Lesson 3: Metaphysics and Epistemology
Lesson 4: Axiology and Logic

Importance of Learning Philosophy

Chapter Summary
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 Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy

• Philosophy ?

- has no the specific subject matters, but issues, which are universal in nature
• We all have touched and moved by the feelings of wonder from which all
philosophy derives. Socrates once stated that “Wonder is the feeling of a
philosopher, and philosophy begins in wonder”

• We all think and reflect in our own way about issues that matter us most. But
thinking alone cannot make us philosophers.
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 Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy

• Philosophy ? If, however, we still want to find its clear-cut definition, it is better to refer to the etymology
of the word itself, instead of trying to associate it with a certain specific subject matter.

etymologically philosophy comes from two Greek words:

―philo and ―sophia, which mean ―love and wisdom

• Pythagoras was the first to use the word ―philosopher to call a person who clearly shows a marked curiosity in
the things he experiences.
• Anyone who raises questions, such as
• Does God exists? What is reality?
• What is the ultimate source of Being?
• What is knowledge? What does it mean to know?
• How do we come to know? What is value?, and the like, is really showing a curiosity that can be described
as a vital concern for becoming wise about the phenomena of the world and the human
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experiences.
 Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy

 Therefore, seeking wisdom is among the various essences of philosophy that it has got from
its etymological definition. Nevertheless, this is not sufficient by itself to understand
philosophy, for not all wisdoms are philosophy.

• The wisdom that philosophers seek is not the wisdom of the expertise or technical skills of
professionals.

• According to Socrates, wisdom consists of a critical habit and eternal vigilance about all
things and a reverence for truth, whatever its form, and wherever its place.

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 Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy

• Thus, as a pursuit of wisdom, philosophy refers

to the development of critical habits,

the continuous search for truth,

and the questioning of the apparent.

• To interrogate the obvious means to deal creatively with the phenomenal world,
to go beyond the common understanding, and to speculate about things that
other people accept with no doubt.
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 Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy

• Raising the right question

 is an art that includes the ability to foresee what is not readily obvious and to imagine
different possibilities and alternatives of approaching the apparent
 is not the final end of philosophy, and often taken not only as the beginning and
direction of philosophy but also as its essence.
 The philosophical enterprise, as Vincent Barry stated, is “an active imaginative
process of formulating proper questions and resolving them by rigorous, persistent
analysis”.

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 Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy
• Philosophy
 is a rational and critical enterprise. It involves reason, rational criticism, examination, and analysis.

 tries to formulate and answer fundamental questions through an intensive application of reason- an
application that draws on analysis, comparison, and evaluation.

 Accordingly, we can say that Philosophy has a constructive side, for it attempts to
formulate rationally defensible answers to certain fundamental questions concerning
the nature of reality, the nature of value, and the nature of knowledge and truth.
 At the same time, its critical side is manifested when it deals with giving a rational critic,
analysis, clarification, and evaluation of answers given to basic metaphysical,
epistemological, and axiological questions.
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 Lesson 1: Meaning and Nature of Philosophy

• Philosophy

 is an activity. It is not something that can be easily mastered or learned in schools. A

philosopher is a great philosopher, not because he mastered philosophy, but because he did
it.

 It is not his theory, but his extraordinary ability to critically think, to conceptualize, to analyse,
to compare, to evaluate, and to understand- i.e., to philosophize- that makes him so
 Of course, the product of philosophizing is philosophy as a product. However, what
makes someone a great philosopher is not the produced philosophy, but his/her
outstanding ability to philosophize.
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 Lesson 2: Basic (Salient) Features of Philosophy
• Philosophy
1. Informally- is a set of views or beliefs about life and the universe, which are often held uncritically.= In informal sense
of philosophy- usually when a person says ―my philosophy is, s/he is referring to an informal personal attitude to
whatever topic is being discussed.
2. Formaly- is a process of reflecting on and criticizing our most deeply held conceptions and beliefs. = view things from
different points of view and with different assumptions

3. is a rational attempt to look at the world as a whole.

4. is the logical analysis of language and the clarification of the meaning of words and concepts.= Never defines
knowledge so narrowly.
5. is a group of perennial *constant- problems that interest people and for which philosophers always have sought
answers.

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 Core Fields of Philosophy
= Metaphysics and Epistemology

1.Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy studies the ultimate nature of reality or existence.
• It deals with issues of reality, God, freedom, soul/immortality, the mind-body problem, form and
substance relationship, cause and effect relationship, and other related issues
• derived from the Greek words “meta” means (―beyond, ―upon or ―after) and physika, means
(―physics).
• Here are some of the questions that Metaphysics primarily deals with:
• What is reality?
• What makes reality different from a mere appearance?
• Are human actions free, or predetermined by a supernatural force?
• What is the meaning of life?
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 METAPHYSICAL QUESTIONS MAY BE DIVIDED INTO
FOUR SUBSETS OR ASPECTS.

• Cosmological Aspect: consists in the study of theories about the origin, nature, and development of the universe as
an orderly system. Questions such as these populate the realm of cosmology: ―How did the universe originate and
develop? Did it come about by accident or design? Does its existence have any purpose

• Theological Aspect: is that part of religious theory that deals with conceptions of and about God. ―Is there a God? If
so, is there one or more than one? What are the attributes of God? If God is both all good and all powerful, why does
evil exist? If God exists, what is His relationship to human beings and the ‗real‘ world of everyday life

• Anthropological Aspect: deals with the study of human beings and asks questions like the following: What is the
relation between mind and body? Is mind more fundamental than body, with body depending on mind, or vice versa?
What is humanity‘s moral status? Are people born good, evil, or morally neutral? To what extent are individuals free? …

• Ontological Aspect: is the study of the nature of existence, or what it means for anything to exist. Several
questions are central to ontology: ―Is basic reality found in matter or physical energy (the world we can sense),
or is it found in spirit or spiritual energy? Is it composed of one element (e.g., matter or spirit), or two (e.g., matter and
spirit), or many…
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2.Epistemology
Etymologically Epistemology, derived from the Greek words episteme, meaning
―knowledge, understanding, and logos, meaning ―study of.
1. studies about the nature, scope, meaning, and possibility of knowledge.

2. deals with issues of knowledge, opinion, truth, falsity, reason, experience, and faith. - is
also referred to as ―theory of knowledge.

3. It seeks to answer of the basic questions as ―What is true? and ―How do we know?

4. Thus, epistemology covers two areas: the content of thought and thought itself. The study
of epistemology deals with issues related to the dependability of knowledge and the validity
of the sources through which we gain information.

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The source of human knowledge as an Aspect of Epistemology;
1. A major aspect of epistemology relates to the sources of human knowledge ( empiricism (knowledge
obtained through the senses). Empirical knowledge appears to be built into the very nature of human
experience)
2. A second important source of human knowledge is reason. The view that reasoning, thought, or logic is the
central factor in knowledge is known as rationalism.

3. A third source of human knowledge is intuition- the direct apprehension of knowledge that is not derived
from conscious reasoning or immediate sense perception

4. A fourth influential source of knowledge throughout the span of human history has been revelation.
Revealed knowledge has been of prime importance in the field of religion.The truth revealed
through supernatural source is believed by Christians to be absolute and uncontaminated
5. A fifth source of human knowledge, though not a philosophical position, is authority. Authoritative
knowledge is accepted as true because it comes from experts or has been sanctified over time as tradition.
In the classroom, the most common source of information is some authority, such as a textbook, teacher, or
reference work
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 Lesson 4: Axiology and Logic

• Axiology is the study or theory of value.

• The term stems from two Greek words-
• ―Axios‖, meaning ―value, worth, and ―logos, meaning ―reason/ theory/ symbol / science/study of ‖.
• Hence, it is the philosophical study of value, which originally meant the worth of something.

• Axiology asks the philosophical questions of values that deal with notions of what a person or a
society regards as good or preferable, such as:
• What is a value?
• Where do values come from?
• How do we justify our values?
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AXIOLOGY deals issues of value in three areas, namely:Ethics, Aesthetics, and Social/Political Philosophy.

1. Ethics, is a Moral Philosophy, is a science deals with the philosophical study of moral principles, values, codes,
and rules, which may be used as standards for determining what kind of human conduct/action is said to be good or
bad, right or wrong.

ETHICS HAS THREE MAIN BRANCHES:

a) Normative Ethics refers to the ethical studies that attempt to study and determine precisely the moral rules, principles,
standards and goals by which human beings might evaluate and judge the moral values of their conducts, actions and
decisions. t is the reasoned search for principles of human conduct, including a critical study of the major theories
about which things are good, which acts are right, and which acts are blameworthy. Consequentialism or Teleological
Ethics, Deontological Ethics, and Virtue Ethics are the major examples of normative ethical studies.

b) Meta-ethics is the highly technical philosophical discipline that deals with investigation of the meaning of ethical terms,
including a critical study of how ethical statements can be verified. It is more concerned with the meanings of such
ethical terms as good or bad and right or wrong than with what we think is good or bad and right or wrong. Moral
Intuitionism,
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Moral Emotivism, Set by: BD
c) Applied Ethics is a normative ethics that attempts to explain, justify, apply moral rules,
principles, standards, and positions to specific moral problems, such as capital punishment,
euthanasia, abortion, adultery, animal right, and so on. This area of normative ethics is termed
applied because the ethicist applies or uses general ethical princes in an attempt to resolve
specific moral problems.
2. Aesthetics is the theory of beauty. It studies about the particular value of our artistic and aesthetic
experiences. It deals with beauty, art, enjoyment, sensory/emotional values, perception, and matters of
taste and sentiment. The following are typical Aesthetic questions: What is art?,What is beauty?....
3. Social/Political Philosophy studies about of the value judgments operating in a civil
society, be it social or political. The following questions are some of the major Social/Political
Philosophy primarily deal with:
• What form of government is best?
• What economic system is best?
• What is justice/injustice?
• What makes an action/judgment just/unjust?
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Set by: BD
 The Necessity of Studying Philosophy
• The unexamined life is not worth living”. So that Philospohy provides students with the tools
they need to critically examine their own lives as well as the world in which they live
1. Intellectual and Behavioral Independence:- This is the ability to develop one‘s own opinion and
beliefs.
2. Reflective Self-Awareness:- Philosophy helps us to intensify our self- awareness by inviting us
to critically examine the essential intellectual grounds of our lives.
3. Flexibility, Tolerance, and Open-Mindedness:realize that no viewpoint is necessarily true or
false- that the value of any attitude is contextual.
4. Creative and Critical Thinking: to engage them on a deeper level
5. Conceptualized and well-thought-out value systems : provides us with an opportunity to
formulate feasible evaluations of value; and thereby to find meaning in our lives.
12/06/2023 Set by: BD