Act of Philosophizing

Act of Philosophizing

• Philosophy explores profound, abstract, and universal questions related to reason, truth, reality, essence, and existence
• Pilosopo is a term referring to individuals who pose unusual questions or reason at a level beyond common understanding
• Aristotle thought philosophy is initiated by wonder, which arises from confronting the vastness of the universe
• Wonder sparks a desire to understand the reasons and truths of the world
• Pal Tillich considered humans as mere specks, uniquely capable of understanding the world
• Western Philosophy began in Greece, specifically Miletus, around 585 BC

First Philosophical Question and Arche

• Early Greek philosophers sought to identify the fundamental substance of the world
• Arche is that substance which makes all things the same or different
• Thales believed the world was made of water
• Anaximander proposed Apeiron, an abstract, boundless, and infinite substance
• Anaximenes posited that the world was made of air
• Democritus suggested that atoms were the building blocks of the world
• Pythagoras claimed that number was the essence of all things
• Protagoras stated that humans is the measure of all things
• The endeavors of early Greek philosophers are seen as a "Greek miracle"

Definitions of Philosophy and Etymological Definition

• Philosophy can be defined in three ways: etymological, real and classical, and personal
• Etymologically, philosophy, coined by Pythagoras (582-500 BC), means "love of wisdom"
• Philia/philos means love; sophia is wisdom
• Philosophers are considered "lovers of wisdom"

Real and Classical Definition of Philosophy

• Philosophy is the science of all things in their ultimate principle and cause through natural reasoning
• It considers both material (material object) and formal (formal object) aspects, using its methodology
• It has lasted through ages and is generally accepted in the academic community

Philosphy contrasted with Science

• Philosophy is a body of knowledge
• Universal science has the widest scope, encompassing everything without exception
• The Queen of Sciences deals with anything any science does
• A cause is something produced
• A principle is something proceeds
• The ultimate is there is nothing beyond it
• Proximate cause: Direct factor contributing to specific results
• Ultimate cause: Underlying reasons contributing to proximate cause

Personal Definition of Philosophy

• Philosophy is not just a theory but a way of life, involving the search for meaning

The Philosophical Life of Reason

• Ancient Greek Philosophers developed a philosophy based on rational life
• Key question: "How human life ought to be lived"
• Humans have Reason which elevates the soul, and Emotion and Passion, which makeup inferior powers
• Intellectualism, attributed to the philosophy of Socrates, asserts the dominance of reason

Knowledge, Virtue, and Republic

• Knowledge is Virtue in Socrates view, a moral life is rational perfection
• Therefore, an intelligent person = good person, a wise person = virtuous, an ignorant = vicious, a stupid = unrighteous
• "Rational life is a life of both knowing and doing good"
• Plato's Republic, an influential book in Western civilization, identifies three objects of desire: philosophical life, life of ambition, and life of gain
• A Philosophical Life is contemplation of truth, goodness, and beauty, judged by the virtue of reason

Ethics

• Ethos means habit or custom
• Focuses on Will/Morality
• Also called Moral Philosophy
• It is the science of morality of human acts

Epistemology

• Episteme and logos means the study of mind or knowledge
• Focuses on knowledge
• Also called gnoseology
• Also known as Philosophy of Mind
• It is the science focused on validity of human knowledge

Logic

• Logos means knowledge, mind, spirit, word
• Focuses on thinking
• It is the science and art of correct thinking

Metaphysics

• Meta ta physika means beyond the physics
• Focuses on general form
• Also known as ontology and means a science of being
• Considered to be the First Philosophy
• It is the study of the nature of reality

Cosmology

• Cosmos and logos means the study of the world
• Focuses on the physical world
• Also called natural philosophy
• Study of the world, universe, and physical world

Theodicy

• Theo-God; dike-justice
• Focuses on God
• Also known as the Philosophy of God
• Study of God and either God exists or justifying God

Aesthetics

• Aisthetika is beauty
• Focuses on the senses that percieve beauty
• Also known as the Philosophy of beauty and art
• It is tied to science of sensory perception

Survey of the History of Western Philosophy

• Four periods in the history of philosophy in Western civilization
• Ancient (600 BC to 300 AD)
• Medieval (300 to 1600)
• Modern (1600 to 1900)
• Contemporary (1900 up to the present)
• Focus of cosmocentric which put emphasis in the universe or nature -Included philosophers like Thales, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy
• Hylomorphism is most elementary composition of things in a theory, everything is made up of matter and form

Philosopher Views

• Marcus Tullius Cicero held that people have obligation to serve others, politicians/rulers should promote societal welfare
• Marcus Antonius Aurelius wrote “Meditations,” reflecting Stoicism, which sees the world as governed by natural law
• Augustine of Hippos produced philosophical and theological studies related to church doctrines

Medieval Philosophy

• Theocentric proves that God exists
• Thomas Aquinas synthesized Christian thought with Aristotelian philosophy; his Summa Theologica presents "Five Ways for demonstrating God's existence"

Modern Philosophy

• Scientific thinking is thinking about science as a systematic knowledge of the world
• Francis Bacon was an early pioneer of modern scientific thought, promoting induction
• René Descartes used deductive reasoning to explain phenomena, employing rationalism and doubting as a method: "I think, therefore I am"
• Isaac Newton’s era of philosophy became the “age of reason” or “age of enlightenment” Modern philosophers: John Locke and David Hume are considered Empiricists; George Berkeley and Immanuel Kant were Idealists

Contemporary and Post Modern Philosophy

• Technocentric is existence of human being with technology and machine
• Karl Marx, known for dialectical materialism, saw societies evolving through class conflict and historical periods
• Jean-Paul Sartre espoused existentialism, in which existence precedes essence
• Postmodernism denies universal theories
• Ludwig Wittgenstein argued word meaning depends on usage
• Jacques Derrida used deconstruction to reveal hidden meanings
• Michel Foucault studied the historical and cultural conditions that make certain meanings dominant

Introduction to Logic

• Logic is the science and “art of convincing”
• Logic: a tool for attaining and demonstrating truth
• Science involves systematic, organized rules
• Art involves a sense of appreciation
• The study of arguments

Reasoning

• Reasoning is the process of inferring new truths from existing information
• Reasoning is mental, expressed through arguments
• Reasoning is a natural ability of rational people

Concept Basics

• Statement/Proposition: Sentences
• Terms: words
• Concepts: intelligible elements
• Concepts or Ideas: Mental products from abstraction that represent our understanding

Plato and Aristotle's Concept of Knowledge

• Plato: Concepts are innate
• Aristotle: Knowledge comes from experience and Tabula rasa is a blank sheet upon which concepts are formed

Kinds of Concept

• Empirical concept is whose members have discoverable traits through use of sensory, etc. -trees, tables, chairs
• Theoretical concepts exist in space and time, but traits are observable only through sensory tools -cells, bacteria, planetary bodies

Terms and Definitions

• Alphabet is the important invention, improves the ability to communicate
• Meaning of the world as referent, the actual object, and usage
• Linguistic devices offer explanations of a term

Intension and Extension

• Intension which is sum of thought-elements of a term; it refers to understanding
• Extension is the groups to which a term applies, referring to how mind enumerates members

Kinds of definitions

• Use of synonym defines a term by substituting it with a more familiar term
• Reportive definition provides standard meaning
• Stipulative definition shows how term is used in special way
• Logical definition uses definiendum (word being defined) and definiens (defining properties)
• Analytic definition improves on logical with definiendum, definiens, and denotata (examples)

Rules for Good Analytic Definitions

• Clear, understandable language (avoid metaphors)
• Generality to include all members
• Specifies a boundary to exclude non-members
• Positive statements
• Independence (non-circular)

Kinds of Definitions

• Logical definition uses definiendum to defines a word
• Analytic definition is a modified logical definition that uses definiendum, definiens, and denotata
• Terms defined differently help avoid circular definitions

Judgment and Propositions

• Judgment: relates two concepts and agrees/disagrees
• Truth-value determines soundness of an argument

Grammatical Sentences

• Interrogative: asks questions
• Imperative: expresses commands
• Exclamatory: expresses feelings
• Expletive: expresses wishes
• Declarative: relates subject/predicate

Categorical Propositions and How to Determine Truth

• Analytic is there is no inconsistency and based on coherence theory of truth
• Empirical means true or false and based on correspondence theory of truth
• Evaluative is based on beliefs and uses the pragmatic criterion of truth

Structure of Propositions

• Categorical: single subject/predicate
• Compound: multiple subjects/predicates

Categorical Propositions: basic components

• Subject term: identified or described
• Predicate term: describes
• Copula: a linking verb that reveals quality

Proposition Distribution

• Affirmative: particular predicate
• Negative: universal predicate

Immediate Inference

• Logical process of drawing conclusion from multiple propositions
• Logical opposition and equivalence are forms of inference

Laws of Opposition: Contradictories

• If A is true, O is false, if A is false, O is true
• If E is true, I is false, if E is false, I is true

Laws of Opposition: Contraries

• If A is true, E is false
• If E is true, A is false
• If A is false, E is undetermined
• If E is false, A is undetermined

Laws of Opposition: Subcontraries

• If I is true, O is undetermined
• If O is true, I is undetermined
• If I is false, O is true
• If O is false, I is true.

Laws of Opposition: Subaltern

• If A is true, I is true
• If A is false, I is undetermined
• If E is true, O is true
• If E is false, O is undetermined
• If I is true, A is undetermined
• If I is false, A is false
• If O is true, E is undetermined
• If O is false, E is false

Kinds of Logical Equivalence

• Consisting of pair of propositions with different subject and predicate but having the same meaning
• Types: Conversion, Obversion, and Contraposition

Logical Equivalence: Conversion and Obversion

• Transformation that differs formally, having same meaning/value
• In conversion: interchange subject/predicate without changing quality
• In obversion: retains subject, changes quality, and contradicts predicate

Conversion, Obversion and Types of Conversions

• Process of restating something by changing a quality while retaining a subject with contradictory predicates.
• Can be partial: Interchanges subject/predicate, changes quantity
• A type conversion is : All S are P to SomeP are S
• Can be complete: Interchanges subject/predicate without changing the quality or quantity
• E Type conversion: All S are not P, to All P are not S

Contraposition

• Combines conversion and obversion by Obverting, converting newly formed proposition and obverting converted proposition again

Terms according to Comprehension

• Simple apprehension: ideas
• Judgement is a proposition
• Inference: comparison
• Operations consist of Simple apprehension, Judgement, and Inference

Terms: Fantasm, Simple Apprehension, Idea

• Fantasm: Simple representation
• Simple Apprehension: 1st mind operation
• Idea: A mental representation
• Term: External manifestation

Terms: Univocal, Equivocal, Analogous

• These use single or same objects with different meanings and concepts