PHILOSOPHIZING (1).ppt Introduction to Philosophy

Introduction to philosophy
Quarter 1

1. fact   is a statement that can be proven true or false. opinion  is an expression of a person's feelings that cannot be proven. -is a statement that holds an element of belief; it tells how someone feels. - -is not always true and cannot be proven. -is a statement of judgement of a person about something in the world. According to philosophy if you want to know the truth you have to use, not emotions, but thinking. To think however is an act of choice which is not always done properly. Sometimes we need guidance to straighten our thoughts. This is what module 2 provides.

2. Methods of philosophizing

3. LESSON2: METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING OBJECTIVES: TO DISTINGUISH OPINION FROM TRUTH TO ANALYZE SITUATIONS THAT SHOW THE DIFFERENCE TO REALIZE THAT THE METHODS OF PHILOSOPHY LEAD TO WISDOM AND TRUTH TO EVALUATE OPINIONS

4. *METHODS OF PHILOSOPHIZING* -THIS SECTION SHALL INTRODUCE METHODS OR WAYS OF LOOKING AT TRUTH AND WHAT WILL BE CONSIDERED AS MERE “OPINIONS”. PHILOSOPHIZING – IS TO THINK OR EXPRESS ONESELF IN A PHILOSOPHICAL MANNER. PHILOSOPHICAL STANDPOINT A. PHENOMENOLOGY: ON CONSCIOUSNESS EDMUND HUSSERL- FOUNDED PHENOMENOLOGY - WHICH IS ESSENTIALLY A PHILOSOPHICAL METHOD .

5. PHENOMENOLOGY - THIS FOCUSES ON CAREFUL INSPECTION AND DESCRIPTION OF PHENOMENA OR APPEARANCES. -DEFINED AS ANY OBJECT OF CONSCIOUS EXPERIENCE,THAT IS, THAT WHICH WE ARE CONSCIOUS OF. - IS THE SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE ESSENTIAL SRUCTURES OF CONSCIOUSNESS. PHENOMENON – GREEK PHAINOMENON – MEANING APPEARANCE. NOUMENON OR THING – IN - ITSELF

6. Ayn Rand - According to him “ Epistemology i s a science devoted to the discovery of the proper method of acquiring and validating knowledge” (Rand 1990). The purpose of epistemology: To show how we can acquire knowledge. -Using our senses(empiricism) Thinking with the use of our minds(rationalism);knowledge comes from intellectual reasoning. To give us a method of demonstrating whether the knowledge we acquired is really knowledge (i.e., true)

7. D IFFERENT EPISTEMOLOGY – DEALS WITH NATURE, SOURCES, LIMITATIONS AND VALIDITY OF KNOWLEDGE. EPISTEMOLOGY EXPLAINS: 1. HOW WE KNOW WHAT WE CLAIM TO KNOW 2. HOW WE CAN FIND OUT WHAT WE WISH TO KNOW 3. HOW WE CAN DIFFERENTIATE TRUTH FROM FALSEHOOD.

8. THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE Ayn rand –According to her knowledge is a “mental grasp of reality reached either by perceptual observation or by a process of reason based on perceptual observation” (Rand 1990). When you know something (be it the behavior of your friend, the movement of the planets, or the origin of civilizations) you understand its nature. You identify what it is. And it stays with you. Knowledge is a retained form of awareness (Binswanger 2014) Acquiring knowledge by ms. Rand two ways: 1. we can acquire knowledge using our senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, feeling, smelling. How do you know that the table is brown? Because you see it. How do you know that fire is hot? Because you feel it. This method of acquiring knowledge is called empiricism

9. 2. we can acquire knowledge by thinking with the use of our minds (what philosophers call the rational faculty). This is what rationalism advocates. The Empiricists- John Locke, George derkley and david The rationalist- Rene Descartes, baruch Spinoza Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE Reality Perception Concept Proposition Inference- How do we demonstrate that the statement is true? By providing an argument. According to Hurley an argument “is a group of statements, one or more of which (the premises) are claimed to provide support for, or reason to believe one of the others (the conclusion) (Hurley 2011). To clarify this definition let’s give an example using the famous Socratic argument: All men are mortals Socrates is a man. Premises-justification evidence Therefore Socrates is mortal.

10. THE NATURE OF TRUTH This is the second part of epistemology: validating one’s knowledge. The first step in validating one’s knowledge is to ask oneself the following question: “How did I arrive at realize that the steps you took to acquire knowledge (perception-concept-proposition-inference) are the same steps needed to validate knowledge (but in reverse order). Thus what the ancient pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus said is true when applied to epistemology: “the way up [knowledge acquisition] is the way down [knowledge validation]” (quoted by Dr. Binswanger 2014). If we perform the process of reduction we will realized that all true knowledge rest ultimately on sense perception. “A belief is true if it can be justified or proven through the use of one’s this belief, by what steps?” I am alive. I have a body. I can breathe.

11. THEORIES OF TRUTH The Correspondence theory of Truth: - The basic idea is that what we believe or say is true if it corresponds to the way things actually are based on the facts. 2, The Coherence Theory of Truth: = both evaluates statements based on their agreement with reality. The difference lies in the method where the former involves a larger system while the latter relies on a single evidence of fact. As a result, Coherence Theories have often been rejected for lacking justification in their application to other areas of truth, especially in statements or claims about the natural world, empirical data in general, and assertions about practical matters of psychology and society, especially when they are used without support from the other major theories of truth. 3. The Pragmatist Theory of Truth: states that a belief/statement is true if it has a useful (pragmatic) application in the world. If it does not, then it is not true. In addition, we can know whether a belief/statement is true by examining the consequence of holding or accepting the statement/belief to be true.

12. B. EXISTENTIALISM: ON FREEDOM -One’s search for truth might be based on one’s attitude or outlook. - TRUTH IS BASED ON EXERCISING CHOICES AND PERSONAL FREEDOM. - BEGINNING WITH THE 19 TH CENTURY SOREN KIERKEGAARD – A DANISH PHILOSOPHER,1 ST EXISTENTIALIST, HE INSISTED THAT THE AUTHENTIC SELF WAS THE PERSONALLY CHOSEN SELF, AS OPPOSED TO PUBLIC OR “HERD” IDENTITY. JEAN-PAUL SARTRE – HAVE EMPLOYED THE PHENOMENOLOGICAL METHODS TO ARRIVE AT OR SUPPORT THEIR SPECIFIC VARIATIONS ON EXISTENTIAL THEMES. - A FRENCH PHILOSOPHER, EMPHASIZES THE IMPORTANCE OF FREE INDIVIDUAL CHOICE, REGARDLESS OF THE POWER OF OTHER PEOPLE TO INFLUENCE AND COERCE OUR DESIRES, BELIEFS, AND DECISIONS. -ARGUED THAT CONSCIOUSNESS(BEING-FOR-ITSELF) IS SUCH THAT IT IS ALWAYS FREE TO CHOOSE(THOUGH NOT FREE NOT TO CHOOSE) AND FREE TO “NEGATE”(OR REJECT) THE GIVEN FEATURES OF THE WORLD.

13. St. Augustine- was concerned with the spiritual nature of the “true” self as opposed to the inauthentic demands of desire and the body. Jean-Jacques Rousseau- was adamant about the essential goodness of the “natural” self in contrast to the “corruption” imposed by society. C. POSTMODERNISM: ON CULTURES – HAS COME INTO VOGUE AS THE NAME FOR A RATHER DIFFUSE FAMILY OF IDEAS AND TRENDS THAT IN SIGNIFICANT RESPECT REJECTS, CHALLENGES, OR AIMS TO SUPERSEDE “ MODERNITY”;THE CONVICTIONS,ASPIRATIONS, AND PRETENSIONS OF MODERN WESTERN THOUGHT AND CULTURE SINCE THE ENLIGHTENMENT. Richard rorty – THE AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER NOTABLY DEVELOPING THEMES FROM PRAGMATISM AND CERTAIN QUARTERS OF ANALYTIC PHILOSOPHY AND BRINGING THESE TOGETHER WITH CONTINENTAL THEMES, CHALLENGE THE MODERN RATIONALIST PRESUMPTION THAT PHILOSOPHY OR ANY BRANCH OF KNOWLEDGE CAN FIND SECURE FOUNDATIONS OR ACHIEVE GENUINE REPRESENTATION OF REALITY.

14. D. ANALYTIC TRADITION - For the philosopher of this tradition, language cannot objectively describe truth. ludwig Wittgenstein- an analytic philosopher, language is socially conditioned. Analytic philosophy- is the conviction that to some significant degree, philosophical problems, puzzles, and errors are rooted in language and can be solved or avoided by a sound understanding of language and careful attention to its workings. Analysis- refers to a method; owing a great deal to the pioneers. F. Fallacies –is a defect in an argument other than its having false premises. required to examine the argument’s content

15. Appeal to pity(argumentum ad misericordiam) -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. b. Appeal to ignorance(argumentum ad ignorantiam) -whatever has not been proven false must be true, and vice versa. c. Equivocation – a logical chain of reasoning of a term or a word several times, but giving the particular word a different meaning each time.

16. d. Composition – infers that something is true of the whole from the fact that it is true of some part of the whole. e. Division – one reasons logically that something true of a thing must also be true of all or some of its parts. f. Against the person (argumentum ad hominem) -attempts to link the validity of a premise to a characteristic or belief of the person advocating the premise.

17. G. APPEAL TO FORCE (ARGUMENTUM AD BACULUM) - ARGUMENTUM WHERE FORCE, COERCION, OR THE THREAT OF FORCE, IS GIVEN AS A JUSTIFICATION FOR A CONCLUSION. H. APPEAL TO THE PEOPLE(ARGUMENTUM AD POPULUM) ARGUMENTS THAT APPEALS OR EXPLOITS PEOPLE’S VANITIES, DESIRE GOR ESTEEM, AND ANCHORING ON POPULARITY. FALSE CAUSE (POST HOC) – ALSO REFERRED TO AS COINCIDENTAL CORRELATION, OR CORRELATION NOT CAUSATION.

18. J. HASTY GENERALIZATION – ONE COMMITS ERRORS IF ON REACHES AN INDUCTIVE GENERALIZATION BASED ON INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE. - IS COMMONLY BASED ON A BROAD CONCLUSION UPON THE STATISTICS OF A SURVEY OF A SMALL GROUP THAT FAILS TO SUFFICIENTLY REPRESENT THE WHOLE POPULATION. K. BEGGING THE QUESTION (PETITIO PRINCIPII) THIS IS THE TYPE OF FALLACY IN WHICH THE PROPOSITION TO BE PROVEN IS ASSUMED IMPLICITLY OR EXPLICITLY IN THE PREMISE. e. Logic and critical thinking:tools in reasoning Logic - is centered in the analysis and construction of arguments.

19. e. Logic and critical thinking:tools in reasoning Logic -is centered in the analysis and construction of arguments. LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING- SERVES AS PATHS TO FREEDOM FROM HALF-TRUTHS AND DECEPTIONS. CRITICAL THINKING- DISTINGUISHING FaCTS AND OPINIONS OR PERSONAL FEELINGS. - is the careful reflective, rational and systematic approach to questions of very general interest. 2 basic type of reasoning 1. Inductive reasoning- is based from observations in order to make generalizations. - this reasoning applied in prediction, forecasting, or behavior. 2.Deductive reasoning – draws conclusion from usually one broad judgement or definition and one more specific assertion, often an inference.

20. Write your idea about the given statement: “A person is more than just his/her facebook profile account.”

21. Assignment: Search for “ the human person as an embodied spirit”

22. Assignment: Search for “ the human person as an embodied spirit”