Introduction to Philosophy

Philosophy

• Philosophy comes from the Greek words "Phylos," meaning to love, and "Sophie," meaning wisdom.
• Philosophy accounts for "the love of wisdom."
• Philosophy seeks answers to serious questions about ourselves and the world, including morality, the nature of a good life, and the mind.

Origin of Philosophy

• Philosophy involves a search for truth and meaning.
• Philosophy emphasizes the importance, significance, value, and relevance of things.
• Philosophy is characterized by asking many questions.

Skills Acquired from Philosophy

• Critical thinking, argumentation, communication, reasoning, analysis, and problem-solving skills can be acquired from philosophy
• Philosophy allows people to justify their opinions, spot bad arguments, and explain why others may be wrong.
• It essentially teaches people to think.

Socrates

• Socrates said, "The unexamined life is not worth living."
• Life should focus on the search for goodness, truth, and beauty.
• The Socratic Method involves questioning and answering to lead students to think for themselves.
• Self-knowledge leads to ultimate happiness and knowledge is virtue.
• Evil is the result of ignorance.
• Pursuing goodness brings happiness.
• Virtues include temperance, courage, prudence, and justice.
• Every human possesses an immortal soul that survives the physical body.
• The "True Self" is the soul, referring to "The thinking and willing Subject."
• There are two dichotmous realms:
  • Physical which is changing, transient, and imperfect.
  • Ideal which is unchanging, eternal, and immortal.

Plato

• Plato: "The soul is immortal."
• Plato identified three distinct elements of the soul or psyche, that make up who we are and are responsible for our behaviour.
• Plato's Tripartite Soul theory attempts to explain why we do what we do and we can use it to make better life decisions and improve our behaviour.
• The three parts of the soul include; rational, spirited and appetititve.
• When conflicts occur, believes it is the responsibility of Reason to sort things out and exert control, restoring a harmonious relationship among the three elements of our Selves."

St. Augustine

• Fundamental concept of human person in mission is to discover the truth on the existence of God
• The self has an immortal soul
  • The physical body is different from and inferior to its immortal soul.
  • Believes that the soul is what governs and defines man.

Rene Descartes

• Rene Descartes said, "I think, therefore I am."
• Descartes is the Father of Modern Philosophy.
• "I think therefore I am" is the keystone of Descartes' concept of self.
• Thinking about the self or being self-conscious is proof that there is a self
• The mind or "Spiritual Self" is governed by laws of reason and God's will
• The Physical Body is governed by the laws of nature
• Thinking leads to Human reason

John Locke

• John Locke said, "The self is consciousness," and "Tabula Rasa."
• The human mind at birth is a "Tabula Rasa" or a blank slate.
• Consciousness always accompanies thinking and makes everyone what he calls self
• The keys to understanding the self are conscious awareness and memory of previous experiences.

David Hume

• David Hume said, "There is no self."
• Bundle Theory suggests that if people carefully examine their sense experience through introspection, they will discover that there is no self.
• There are two distinct identities:
  • Impressions: Basic sensations of people's experience (pain, cold, and heat).
  • Ideas: thoughts and images from impressions which are less lively and vivid.

Immanuel Kant

• Immanuel Kant said, "We construct the self."
• Self is an organizing principle that makes a unified and intelligible experience possible.
• Our mind filter, order, relate, organize, and synthesize sensations into a unified whole.
• The Self constructs its own reality, actively creating a world that is familiar, predictable, and most significantly, "mine"
• The Transcendental Deduction of Categories helps to construct an orderly scientists investagable world.

Gilbert Ryle

• Gilbert Ryle said, "I act, therefore, I am."
• The self is best understood as a pattern of behavior.
• Its the tendency or disposition of a person to behave in a certain way in certain circumstances.
• The self is the same as bodily behavior.
• The mind expresses the entire system of thoughts, emotions, and actions that make up the human self.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

• Man is inherently good at birth.
• An evil society is the culprit for man's evil deeds.

Jean-Paul Sartre

• Man is condemned to freedom
• Atheist philosopher
• Existentialist

Ayn Rand

• Love of self should be above all human values.
• Strongly Protested the negation of self.
• Act of selfishness is a moral act.