Doing Philosophy PDF

DOING PHILOSOPHY The chapter is divided into three lessons, namely: Lesson 1 – The Nature and Functions of Philosophy Lesson 2 – Philosophical Tools and Processes Lesson 3 – Philosophical Reflection After going through this chapter,...

DOING PHILOSOPHY The chapter is divided into three lessons, namely: Lesson 1 – The Nature and Functions of Philosophy Lesson 2 – Philosophical Tools and Processes Lesson 3 – Philosophical Reflection After going through this chapter, you are expected to accomplish the following Learning Competencies: 1. Distinguish a holistic perspective from a partial point of view. 2. Realize the value of doing philosophy in obtaining a broad perspective on life. 3. Do a philosophical reflection on a concrete situation from a holistic perspective. What is Philosophy? More than 2500 years ago a sage in South Asia named Gautama Buddha declared that “Life is suffering.” This is the first of his Four Noble Truths. And indeed if you look at your life you will see that it is a series of challenges that you have to overcome if you want to survive. It feels like you are competing in a race in which you are required to successfully jump hurdles in order to win. And each challenge in life is really a question or a bunch of questions that you have to answer. If you are not feeling well for example you might ask, Why am I feeling this way (cause)? How can I overcome it (process)? How it will affect my life and the people around me (consequence)? Philosophy, our subject matter for this course, is really all about questions and answers. And since by now you already asked and answered hundreds of questions your life experienced already prepared you to take our philosophical journey starting now. DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY Traditionally philosophy is defined as love of wisdom because it came from two Greek words philos (love) and Sophia (wisdom). You might find it strange to connect love to philosophy. You might think of philosophy as a purely intellectual discipline which has nothing to do with love. You might believe love is romance, poetry, intense passion in which you are willing to lay down your life. But you will see that philosophy can also be pursued passionately. In fact some people like Socrates died for truth. It is this centrality of love to philosophy that we call people who engages in philosophy as philosophers (lovers of wisdom). ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY Greece is the birthplace of philosophy in the West. To be more precise it is the ancient Greek city of Miletus in the Western coast of what is now Turkey that gave birth to philosophy. It is in this city that the first philosopher in the West, Thales, lived. Thales is the Father of Philosophy in the Western civilization. He lived between 624 and 546 BCE a contemporary of the Lydian king Croesus and the statesman Solon (Stumpf and Fieser, 2008). What made Thales a philosopher is his desire to know the ultimate stuff that makes up the different things we perceived. You see when we look at the world we encounter different things: people, trees, clouds, mountains, rivers, etc. Now Thales believed that despite the different things we encounter there is one underlying stuff or substance in which everything is composed. He believes that there is One in the Many. Thales was the first individual who tried to reduce the multiplicity in to a unity (Jones, 1969). But his explanation of natural phenomena is devoid of gods and goddesses of the old religion of Greece. It is completely rational. It represents a departure from the mythological religion of Greece. Thales approach highlights the difference between religion and philosophy. Religion rests on faith while philosophy rests on reason. BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY Since philosophy’s concern is vast, we have to divide it into different branches. Each branch will focus on a specific area of philosophy. To understand the branches of philosophy let us return to the three central philosophical questions we explored earlier. First the question, Where am I? By the time we reached adulthood we believe we know the answer to this question. In fact we believed that the answer is obvious that we don’t bother to look closely at the question itself. Where am I? Well let’s say I’m in Manila. You don’t need philosophy to answer that one. But if you ask a series of where questions (Where is Manila? Where is the Philippines? etc.) which at first seems childish you eventually end up with the universe. And here we have to stop asking the where question (Where is the universe is an absurd question. The universe does not exist in a place). What kind of place is the universe? Is it governed by laws? If so what laws? The study of the universe as a whole is the province of metaphysics. Metaphysics is further subdivided into ontology which studies existence as such and philosophical anthropology which deals with the fundamental and essential characteristics of human nature (Gotthelf and Salmieri, 2015).  The second question, How do I know it? Concerns the nature of human knowledge and the way to obtain it. How do we obtain knowledge? Do we obtain knowledge by revelation, intuition, instinct or reason? Can we achieve certainty or are we doomed to suffer perpetual doubt? Is knowledge based on the things we perceive or from something else? This is the concern of epistemology which can be defined as the “branch of philosophy that studies the nature and means of human knowledge.” We need epistemology to guide us in knowing since we make mistakes from time to time. The first two branches of philosophy, metaphysics and epistemology, are called cognitive branches. These branches provide a description of being (existence) and knowing. They are the foundations of understanding any philosophical system. The next three branches of philosophy (ethics, politics and aesthetics) can be classified as the normative branches of philosophy because they are concerned with the standard of the good. If the cognitive branches are concerned with what “is” the normative branches are concerned with what “ought” to be. The most basic normative branch of philosophy is ethics or morality (I used this two concepts interchangeably). It is concerned with the last of the three questions central to philosophy: What should I do? Ethics can be regarded as the technology of philosophy (I owe this analogy to the philosopher Ayn Rand) because it tells us how human beings ought to function as a human being. But in order to describe how human beings ought to act we must first know what a human being is. These last is provided by metaphysics and epistemology. (This is especially true of philosophical anthropology a sub-branch of metaphysics which studies the metaphysical nature of man (see discussion above). Metaphysics and epistemology are the foundations of ethics. What then is ethics or morality? According to Ayn Rand ethics or morality is a branch of philosophy that provides a human being with a “code of values to guide man’s choices and actions - the choices and actions that determine the course of his life (Rand, 1964).” It is concerned with the values man ought to pursue, the interrelationships of those values and the means to obtain them (virtue). The last two normative branches of philosophy, politics and aesthetics, are derived from ethics. Ethics is concerned with the good for human being as a human being. If we apply ethics in a social context then it becomes politics. The concern therefore of ethics is broader than politics. It studies the “good” for human beings in any setting (whether society is present or not). An individual who is alone in an island still has to follow ethical principles if he wishes to survive (Peikoff, 1991). So what then is politics? Again following Rand’s definition politics is a branch of philosophy “which defines the principles of a proper social system.” According to Rand “proper” means proper for human beings which presupposes that one knows what a human being is. Since knowledge about human being is provided by the cognitive branches of philosophy, the foundation of politics ultimately rests on metaphysics and epistemology. The last of the normative branch, aesthetics studies the nature of art. It is concerned with the nature and the objective judgement of beauty. HOLISTIC AND PARTIAL THINKING IN PHILOSOPHY In general, there are two types of thinking that is used in Philosophy, Holistic and Partial Thinking. Holistic thinking refers to a perspective that considers large-scale patterns in systems. This is often described as looking at the “big picture” when describing and analyzing a situation or problem. A holistic perspective requires an individual to have an open mindset and an ability to get the general sense or impression regarding a situation. A holistic view also means that one does not confine one’s understanding of the world to one’s own perspective, but also includes the perspective of others. The view also enables a person to better appreciate his or her experiences as vital components that give meaning to life. Partial thinking, on the other hand, focuses on specific aspects of a situation. The partial view is an important component of analytical thinking, as an individual focuses on certain areas or aspects of a problem in order to understand it. Though partial thinking is useful, philosophy utilizes holistic thinking in making sense of problems and issues related to the human experience. PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION Reflection is an activity that requires a person to examine his or her thoughts, feelings and actions and learn from experience. (Abella, 2016).. Philosophers always search for the essence of things and the ultimate reasons for our existence. Its trajectory is to see the bigger picture about everything. This process is called philosophical reflection. According to Gabriel Marcel, philosophical reflection is the act of giving time to think about the meaning and purpose of life. He mentioned two types, namely: Primary Reflection- which is the ability to think logically. The ability of the mind to construct and evaluate arguments. It examines its object by abstraction, by analytically breaking it down into its constituent parts. It is concerned with definitions, essences and technical solutions to problems. The second type is Secondary reflection. According to Marcel this type of reflection enables us to look deeper into our experiences and see the bigger picture of reality. It integrates the fragmented and compartmentalized experience into a whole. It is the idea that various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be viewed as wholes, not merely as a collection of parts. In effect we see the broader perspective of life. Reflection requires a person to be willing to examine one’s thoughts, feelings, and actions and to learn more about one’s life and experiences. One can reflect on almost any subject. For instance, the moment you wake up, you can already reflect upon the things that you plan to do for the day. This will enable you to set your daily goals and set you on the path of thinking of ways to achieve them. Seemingly simple or mundane actions take a whole new meaning when one engages in reflection. When buying clothes, for example, think of the questions that you ask yourself as you consider buying the t- shirt or blouse you are holding. You may start with the simple questions: “Will this fit me?” “Do I look good in this color?” these are the usual questions any buyer would ask for himself or herself. But since we are in a reflective and philosophizing mood, let us now try and think of “deeper” questions and reflect on the situation. You may find yourself asking the following questions: “Do I even have to buy a new t-shirt today?” “Am I better off spending my money on other things?” “Do I see myself wearing this shirt often, or am I just going to wear it once?”. Notice the difference when you engage in reflection. The simple task of buying a shirt becomes something much more. If you concentrate only on simple questions, you would just buy that shirt immediately. But reflection allows you an opportunity to think more deeply about your action, your motivation for doing such an action, and even its possible consequences. Reflection also helps us understand ourselves and our actions better. When we reflect, we can judge whether our actions or decisions are reasonable or not. Taking time to analyze your decision and actions is one vital skill that will greatly help you as you encounter more challenges in life.