Branches of Philosophy PDF

TECHNICAL PHILOSOPHY Introduction This lesson introduces to the students the various branches of philosophy of education and further reveals the methods used. Objectives By the end the lecture students should i) Be able to explain the four branches of technical philosophy ii) Re...

TECHNICAL PHILOSOPHY Introduction This lesson introduces to the students the various branches of philosophy of education and further reveals the methods used. Objectives By the end the lecture students should i) Be able to explain the four branches of technical philosophy ii) Relate the four areas of technical philosophy with their respective methods Branches of philosophy Philosophy as a rational discourse into reality has been classified into branches in order to narrow the aims of discussion. The four traditional branches shall be discoursed and for the sake of broadened knowledge, other branches shall be also discussed. Metaphysics The term metaphysics just like philosophy has no succinct definition. Etymologically, metaphysics is from two Greek word meta-after and physika- physics. Early use of the term simply referred to the topics covered by the work placed after (hence meta) the physics in the traditional editing and commentary of Aristotle’s works made by the Greek peripatetic philosopher Andronicus of Rhodes. From after physic, metaphysics metamorphosized to a more complicated nexus of rational inquires into the underpinning unicity of being amidst apparent diversity. After physics now became synonymous with beyond physic. Beyond the physical appearances into reality. Aristotle called it “the science of first philosophy” (Enoch S. and Fieser J. 2003). It is study of being. Being as the essence of existence and this is the first wonder of man. “Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that investigates the meaning, principles, causes, origins, natures constitutes and categories of all things.” (Akpa E. 2012) “Metaphysics is a search for an understanding of beings in their ultimate causes. It seeks a description and identification of the intelligible nature structure and characteristic qualities of reality. As a search for meaning, metaphysics is an inquiry into the intelligibility and the value of reality” (Edeh E.M.P. 1985). Metaphysic ask question on being looking beyond the inconsistence of being into the metaphysical orderliness of the universe. “It may be helpful to see it as the study of things that exist-apart from or beyond what is immediately apparent in the physical world around us. Part of the job of metaphysics is to take an inventory of all the kinds of things that exist…” (Enoch S. and Fieser J. 2003). A central branch of metaphysics is ontology, the investigation into the basic categories of being and how they relate to each other. Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of reality. “What is the ultimately real? Is the basic question asked in the study of metaphysics”. At first glance the answer to this query seems rather obvious. After all, average people seem to be quite certain about the “reality” of their world. If you ask them, they will probably tell you to open your eyes and look at the clock on the wall, listen to the sound of a passing train, or bend down to touch the floor beneath your feet. Theses thing are, they claim, what is ultimate real. But you can trip them up by asking, “What about God?” Is He real? Does he exist? And if He does exist, what is His relationship to human being and the “real” world?” The ask them; “what about the universe itself? How did it originate and develop? Did it come about by accident or design? Does its existence have any purpose?” That leads to question about human beings; “Are they unique or merely highly developed. Quadrupeds? Are people born good, evil or morally neutral? Do they have free will or one their thought and actions determined by environment, inheritance, or divine proclamation? Do individuals have souls? And if they do, are those souls immortal?” These are few of the questions that lies “beyond physics” in the realm of ultimate reality. None of the answers to these questions can be proved beyond the shadow of doubt. They are matters of faith and belief for all people and every political and educational system. Countless men and women have sacrificed and even died because of their commitment to certain beliefs about metaphysical questions. There are in fact no issues more crucial to human beings. Epistemology or the Theory of Knowledge Epistemology etymologically is from two Greek words “episteme” meaning “knowledge” and he suffix – “ology” meaning “the science of” literally speaking. It is the study or investigation of knowledge itself. It is the science or study of knowledge. It is a philosophical theory of human knowledge.” (Ani H.U, 2008). Epistemology is that branch of philosophy which is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge, its presupposition and basis and the general reliability of claims to knowledge. It is understood as the study of the nature and validity of knowledge and its principal concern therefore human knowledge.” (Nnadi C.E. and Udabah C.U., 2008 Ed. Ezeugwu C.E) Epistemic knowledge is not about what we know, but about what it means to know. Epistemology seeks to answer basic questions about how human beings perceive the world and gain knowledge about it. The more prominent of these include; 1) Is there an external world? How can we be certain? 2) How does memory work? How can we know that our memories are genuine? 3) What is the nature of perception? To what extent does current knowledge affect future perception? 4) What knowledge is inherent to humans and what is learned after birth? Can new facts be assimilated without innate concepts? 5) To what extent are inferences based on perceptions valid? What is the proper way to make such inferences? It is helpful to note the basic (Socratic) distinction made between beliefs, which hold to opinions, and knowledge, which holds to “truth”. Knowledge concerns apodictic facts that are absolute and simply cannot be false (while opinions can be and often are false). According to Karl Popper the only way we can distinguish between truth and not-truth is by subjecting test- statements to experimental invalidation. Plato though otherwise; he believed that truth is not subject to invalidation. So then the epistemological question: where does our knowledge come from? And to take it further (as many Philosophers have): what are the limits of human knowledge? On this, the two main competing philosophical branches of the early modern ages: Rationalism and Empiricism is of great importance. Rationalist thinkers like Descartes argue that all knowledge comes from reason, and everything in the world of homo cogitans is fundamentally rational. It is through the human mind that the human knows. Empiricist at that point, the British thinkers; Berkeley, Hume, Lock) insist that most, if not all, “real” human knowledge can only arrived at through human experience. It is through the human sense that the human knows.  There is also the theologically – driven idea of knowledge as (divine) revelation (think God, by his spirit, giving to the writers the Holy Bible). There is an interesting blurring of the lines separating belief and knowledge here. St Augustine gives us an eloquent discussion of reason vs faith. One issue that is of interest to many epistemologists is the analysis of knowledge, that is trying to find an answer to the question “what conditions need to be satisfied to say that someone knows something?” for a long time, the conditions seemed clear to most philosophers to know something, you must believe it, it has to be true and you have a justification for believing it. The problems raised by the Getter problem have reopened this question for many and a great number of new problems have arisen. This kind of question is considered the most general of questions in epistemology, while concerns about, say, the different ways of knowing are a much more specific set of questions within epistemology. Axiology or The Theory of Value Axiology is from two Greek words axios meaning “worthy” and logos meaning “science of” or “study of”. It is the study of the worthiness of a thing. It is the theory of the value of a thing. “It also called theory of value, the philosophical study of goodness, or value in their widest senses.” (Akpa E., 2012). It is the science of human values, enables us to identify the internal valuing systems that influence our perceptions, decisions and actions to clearly understand “why” we do what we do. The term value means the worth of something; to say that an object has value means that it is worthy, useful, important, cherished, desired and needed. Value influences our everyday decisions, choices and actions. Both at personal or group levels, local or national levels, polices are made and decisions are taken based on values. Axiology is divided into ethics and aesthetics. Ethics is concerned with evil and good /right and wrong bearing on moral conduct. It investigates the concepts of “right” and “good” in individual and social conduct. Philosophical ethics concerns itself with discovering a system. One may use to determine who or what is good, or with evaluating system that others have proposed. Aesthetics is concerned with the problem of beauty and ugliness. It studies the concepts of “beauty” and “harmony”. It is the philosophical study concerned with the understanding of beauty and its manifestation in art and nature. It consists of two parts; the philosophy of art and the philosophy of the aesthetic experience and character of objects or phenomena that are not art. Axiology is extended to include inquiry about values of any kind whatever such as religious, social or economic values. The problem of axiology is to classify criteria or principles which will determine what is good in human conduct, what is beautiful in art, what is right in social organization, finally what these have in common as well as what distinguishes them from one another. Logic Logic is from Greek word logos – word, discuss, argument, speech, judgment, proposition, thought, reason etc. Logic is not dispute, quarrel, any argument or disagreement. Logic is beyond our everyday or day to day usage of the word logic, it is not logistic. For Aristotle, who is the father of logic has it as “ a proposition which is either true or false a definition, a syllogism or a demonstration. Plato also has it that logis is a judgment of ontological implication. Irving Copi (1982) as in Centre for Distance Learning and continuing Education, University of Abuja, also defines it as the science or art of making a distinction between straight and crooked reasoning. It is a field of study dealing with the criteria for the evaluation of arguments. It is the study of the act of correct reasoning. It is the study of coherency of thought and its logical validity. It is the acquisition of the skill of presenting clear, correct and coherent reasoning. Many thoughts are not logically valid because the intellectual process did not observe the logical rules of correct reasoning. So also many judgments are not logical because they do not satisfy the tenets of the laws of thought or logic. When the fundamental laws of rational discuss or thought or logic are not properly adhered to, they give judgment that are illogical or have a logical jump or irrational. This is the case of judgments that comes out from cultural prejudice or presupposition, biases and emotions etc. It is a rational discourse into the laws of thoughts. It is not any discourse but the study of rules guiding thoughts. It is the science of reasoning. It is not the study of argument as disputes or wrangles but the study of rationally classical argumentative way of asserting or denying a conclusion’s validity.  Logic establishes rules for a connecting links in a chain of thoughts. These rules also enables us to recognize flaws and weaknesses. Two major divisions of logic (1) Deductive logic (2) Inductive logic Deductive logic is also called formal logic. It is a process from premises to conclusions or drawing a conclusion from a general statement or arguing from general to particular e.g. this room is for students. I am not a student therefore I cannot use it. Inductive logic: This is other hand proceeds from a particular data to only partially conclusive judgments or to be simpler still, it is a reasoning from particular facts to a general conclusion. Example: Our car just crossed the bridge therefore the bridge is safe. In either process, logic helps to make us more sure on how to reach sound or unsound beliefs about the true or false. In this respect it is not only a legitimate but also indispensable aid to epistemology. METHODS OF TECHNICAL PHILOSOPHY Critical Method The term ‘critical’ is derived from a Greek verb Krincin meaning to judge. It involves subjecting of values, facts, principles, conversations and assumptions; usually taken for granted to severe questioning. This is meant to encourage honesty of thought. It seeks to protect man from fanaticism and hypocrisy, intolerance and dogmatism, slogans and ideologies in order to liberate man from narrow mindedness. This method is also called the Socratic method. It is liberating and constructive in the sense that it seeks to evaluate, to judge things in the light of clear and distinct ideas. The Rational Method It emphasized the need for logical and systematic thinking. Its greatly interested in logic being the art of correct reasoning. It consists of analysis and synthesis. Analysis method has to do with breaking issued into parts and by the power of systematic and logical thinking in order to arrive at a clear understanding. Such thinking must not be haphazard or confusing; it should be clear making the necessary distinctions separating clearly what is essential, what matters from what is accidental and of less importance. It classified as primarily analytical thinking because it cuts an issue into parts, analyses concepts and statements. In addition, the method seeks to analyse concepts, statements and the language used in different contexts in order to clarify and justify meanings. Philosophical synthesis has to do with putting together the various parts of an idea to form a whole. It is used to complement philosophical analysis. Where else analysis breaks an issue into small parts, synthesis brings together the parts. The aim is to see something in its totality, see the inter-relationship and the overall framework. The limitation with the rational method is its sole reliance on mind as the source of knowledge neglecting ordinary sense experiences. Rationalists are thus regarded as idealists who do not live in the real world. Phenomenological Method The term phenomenology originated from the Greek word ‘phenmenon’ meaning appearance and logia meaning knowledge. It designates the description or study of appearance especially if the appearances are sustained and penetrating. It is considers the actual staring point of investigation to be the actual things as they appear, in their essential reality through experience. Things will appear different from one person to another. A philosopher’s concern is not the differences but to discover the underlying meaning and thus arrive at a deeper understanding of phenomena. By reflecting on an everyday human experience e.g. Of pain, joy, fear, frustration, a philosopher is able to explain the experience in concrete terms indicating in which manner the experience affects one’s life, whole being or existence. It involves a non- biased, non-prejudiced stance in examining phenomenon. Here, preconceived theoretical speculations are abandoned. The Speculative Method Also called the metaphysical function. To speculate is to make an intelligent/rational guess. It endeavors to challenge the human mind as far as possible, to its ultimate limits in trying to understand what is apparently incomprehensible. Man is not satisfied with knowing what happens to him, he also wants to know why. Basic issues of concern in life include; death, suffering happiness. There is no simple answer and many people explain or clarify them in religious terms believing religion will give the final answer. Philosophers however prefer to explain these issues by use of human reason; they want to challenge the human mind as far as possible in trying to understand the incomprehensible. Speculation is very well utilized in a research hypothesis. Conclusion This lesson has explained the four areas of technical philosophy. It has explained that, although general philosophy is common to all humans, technical philosophy is a narrow field for those who choose to do philosophy beyond the common ground. The four areas come with their respective methods used. It’s important to take note of the methods and relate with each technical area.