Introduction to Philosophy

Course Overview

• This course is designed to address challenges encountered in understanding a newly revised textbook.
• It aims to offer a nuanced approach to improve student performance.
• A committee of 12 members compiled the summary of 21 chapters.
• The compilation serves as a complement to existing literature and guarantee considerable success.

Introduction to Philosophy

• The term "PHILOSOPHY" has Greek origins, with "Philo/Philein" denoting love and "Sophia" denoting wisdom, thus its definition "The love of wisdom".
• Wisdom is gained through experience.
• It enables one to judge wisely and see beyond the obvious.
• A philosopher is committed to clarifying the universe and human existence.
• They assess their experience through critical and rational evaluation
• Philosophy critically examines ordinary questions in a systematic way.
• Philosophical wisdom aims to pursue truth, rather than engage in cunning.
• Philosophy stems from wisdom.
• Philosophy originates from people inquiring about the world's origins, nature, place, and function.
• Philosiphizing involves distancing oneself from normal interpretations of things.
• Wonder arises from recognizing the world as more mysterious than everyday perception suggests.
• Wonder involves recognizing the limits of our understanding.
• Wonder appreciates that ordinary conceptions are not the entirety of reality.
• Metaphysics/ontology constitutes a primary branch of philosophy.
• Metaphysics concerns itself with the study of reality.
• Metaphysics deals with questions about the nature of existence, being, and the world.
• Epistemology constitutes another part of philosophy and is the quest for knowledge.
• It studies the possibility of knowledge.
• Epistemology addresses questions about knowledge acquisition/validation
• Ethics deals with morality by examining right and wrong human actions.

Ethics

• Ethics identifies standards for determining the nature of good.
• Key questions include: "What is good?", "What is the good life?", "Why be moral?", "What is duty?"
• Morality relates to how people interact with others and their obligations.
• Logic underlies studying the principles of reasoning.
• Logic serves as a tool for investigating reality.
• Main questions in logic explore what makes an argument valid or invalid, sound or unsound.
• Logic entails deducing conclusions from premises and identifying contradictions.
• Philosophy also involves analyzing concepts and statements.
• According to Karl Marx, studying philosophy enables change.

Introduction to Logic

• Serves as a fundamental tool for philosophy.
• Philosophy centers on thinking.
• Logic represents a technique for reasoning or critical thinking.
• Thinking constitutes a core aspect of humanity.
• Critical thinking entails deep reflection beyond everyday brain function.
• Critical thinking aids in solving technical problems with systematic approaches.
• A systematic process of reasoning describes critical thinking
• Establishes the principles, techniques and procedures of reasoning to differentiate good arguments from bad.
• Its tool is called arguments.
• An argument entails a set of propositions in which premises lead to a conclusion.
• The conclusion is derived from stated premises.
• Arguments include premises and a conclusion.
• Premises consist of a set of statements.
• The conclusion is marked by a conclusion indicator.
• A proposition can be a premise or a conclusion.
• Deductive reasoning proceeds from generalities to specific cases.
• A valid argument has premises that lead successfully to the conclusion.
• Inductive arguments go from particulars to generalities.
• An inductive argument's strength lies in its probability.
• Propositions exist in simple and compound forms.
• Simple propositions lack component propositions
• e.g., "the boy is good."
• Compound propositions contain included propositions or sets of propositions as components
• e.g., "if you are going to Canada then you need a visa."
• Relational propositions exhibit symmetry, transitivity, and reflexivity.
• Symmetry has symmetrical, asymmetrical, and non-symmetrical variations.
• Transitivity has transitive, intransitive and non-transitive subdivisions.
• Reflexivity has reflexive, irreflexive and non-reflexive variations.
• A relation is symmetrical if A relates to B, then B relates to A
• e.g., "is the contemporary of," "is the cousin of," "is the spouse of”.
• A relation is asymmetrical when A relates to B, but B cannot relate to A
• e.g., "can outrun," "is the father of," "is the employer of."
• A relation is non-symmetrical when A's relation to B doesn't guarantee B's relation to A
• e.g., "is the sister of," "is the brother of," "hates," "loves."
• A relation is transitive when A relates to B, B relates to C, implying A relates to C
• e.g., "is younger than," "is taller than," "is equal to."
• A relation is intransitive if A relates to B and B to C, then A cannot relate To C
• e.g., "is the father of," "is the mother of," "is the uncle of."
• A relation is non-transitive if A relates to B, and B to C, then A may or may not relate to C
• e.g., "loves," "is the friend of," "is jealous of," "despises."
• A relation is reflexive if entity A must relate to itself
• e.g., "is the same as," "is identical with," "has the same weight as."
• A relation is irreflexive when A cannot relate to itself.
• e.g., "is the father of," "is the mother of," "is to the east of."
• A relation is non-reflexive if A may or may not relate to itself
• e.g., "loves," "despises," "hates," "is jealous of."
• Logic employs special symbols for logical connectives.
• Conjunction uses "AND," symbolized as “DOT” written as ".".
• Conjunction joins simple propositions to form a complex proposition
• e.g., Afisi came to school (P) and Afisi taught logic today (Q), symbolized “P.Q”.
• Disjunction uses "OR," symbolized as “v”. This combines simple propositions to form a contrasting compound
• e.g., In every examination, the students would either pass or fail, symbolized “PvQ”.
• Material implication uses "THEN," symbolized as "ↄ