Introduction To Philosophy Lesson 1-2 PDF

LESSON 1: DOING PHILOSOPHY INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN PERSON...

LESSON 1: DOING PHILOSOPHY INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY PHILOSOPHY UNDERSTANDING THE HUMAN PERSON Science that by the natural light of reason starts the first causes or highest principle of all things HUMAN NATURE Love of wisdom “Individual substance of a rational nature.” - (Greek) philo = love, Sophia = wisdom Boethius Has the power to rationalize VALUE OF PHILOSOPHY E We can know the truths about ourselves, the 2 WAYS OF UNDERSTANDING world in which we live, and our relationships to the THE HUMAN PERSON world and each other. U PRACTICAL BENEFITS OF PHILOSOPHY 1. Being in Himself (ad intra) 1. Philosophy invites us to seek wisdom more than ▪ Composite of material/physical body and knowledge and be wise more than intelligent. rational soul 2. Knowledge → gives us facts and information Material/Physical Body Philosophy → gives us wisdom, application of Q o Composed of cells, tissues, organs, organ systems, and bodily functions Rational Soul o Life principle of a body o Has 2 powers/faculties knowledge, good judgment, and right conduct 3. Philosophy’s approach is holistic, a synthesis of theoria (knowledge) and praxis (action) PHILOSOPHY ACCORDING TO ST. AUGUSTINE RO ❖ Intellect reason – the power to understand; searches for truth 1. Philosophy attempts to pursue happiness ❖ Will – the power to make/good 2. A philosopher is God’s lover, true wisdom is identical to God decisions; searches for good 2. Being in Relation (ad extra) ▪ Has 4 fundamental relationships BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY God/Absolute Being 1. Metaphysics ❖ Exitus et reditus; Religious Reality and existence, being, structure of the Others universe, the relationship between mind and ❖ Intricate complex web; family, friends matter, and causality. World/Nature/Environment 2. Epistemology P. ❖ Human institutions we are in; physical Knowledge, belief, justification, and limits of world human understanding Self Tabula rasa – we were in a blank state ❖ Self-knowledge, self-identity, self when we were born, all knowledge comes acceptance, self-esteem, self-worth, from experience self-dignity, personal life 3. Ethics ❖ Being in touch with what you feel Morality, right & wrong, good & evil actions for decision making  4. Aesthetics Nature of art, judging beauty, role of Earth 2. ANAXIMANDER in human life Arche = Boundless 5. Logic First metaphysicist Reasoning & argumentation (major & Father of cosmology minor premise, conclusion), valid and First person who published the map of the sound arguments world 3. ANAXIMENES LESSON 2: HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Arche = Air Ultimate stuff must be empirical substance ITS DIVISIONS E Ultimate stuff = air through Ancient (world/cosmos), Medieval (God/Absolute rarefaction & condensation being), Modern (self), and Contemporary (others) 4. HERACLITUS Arche = Fire (symbolizes change) U THE ANCIENT GREECE His ideas: (1) unity of opposites (2) logos or reason governed the cosmos “People will usually attribute whatever it is that is “No man ever steps on the same river twice, happening to stories of supernatural origins, to stories for it’s not the same river and he’s not the about god and goddesses.” – Mythology same man.” Q GRADUAL DISTRUST People gradually lost interest and trust in mythologies because of their oral mode of transmission (prone to varied versions). The only constant is change/flux 5. PYTHAGORAS Arche = Numbers Famous mathematician who invented Pythagorean Theorem RO CLASSICAL GREEK PHILOSOPHERS ENTRY OF PHILOSOPHY Ancient Greeks looked for more rational 1. SOCRATES explanations through arche (origin, source, or Has no written works underlying principle of everything). Sentenced to death by drinking hemlock Charged with sins like corrupting the youth and not recognizing the country’s gods. ANCIENT PHILOSOPHERS (PRESOCRATICS) Discussed ethical and moral questions, justice, virtue and good life Famous for intellectual midwifery, Socratic 1. THALES method/questioning, bringing out people the P. Arche = Water, all things are composed truth that is already in them of water Parts of Socratic intellectual midwifery: Never married, owing to his desire to avoid questioning > dialectical process > irony > the worry of children elucidation of concepts > inductive reasoning > Belonged to 7 wise men or 7 sages self-examination > elenchus Died of heat stroke First to successfully predict a solar eclipse  2. PLATO CONTEMPORARY PHILOSOPHERS Student of Socrates (narrating Socrates’ works) Known for World of Ideas/Forms and World of 1. Martin Buber Matter 2. Edmund Husserl The Republic, Allegory of the Cave 3. Martin Heidegger 3. ARISTOTLE Student of Plato, teacher of Alexander the LESSON 3: Great ON THE BODY AND SOUL: HUMAN PERSON, AN Founder of Lyceum and Zoology; known for EMBODIED SPIRIT virtue ethics E Also known for Golden Mean— a middle ground between 2 extremes INTRODUCTION Known for his Nicomachaean ethics: focusing on ethics and moral philosophy (how to The study of the body and soul explores the duality and U achieve a good and virtuous life, and relationship between the physical and metaphysical aspects of ultimately eudaimonia or happiness) human existence. HOW TO ACHIEVE EUDAIMONIA? THE DUALITY OF THE BODY AND SOUL 1. 2. 3. 4. Q Courage – facing fear and danger Temperance – self-control, finding the middle ground Wisdom – practical wisdom/prudence Justice – maintaining justice by impartial judgment Our body is separate and distinct from our souls SOUL Immaterial aspect Also called the “mind”, mental capacities are attributed to it RO Distributive Justice – fair distribution Corrective Justice – rectification of wrong THE DUALITY OF THE BODY AND SOUL ACCORDING TO PLATO MEDIEVAL PHILOSOPHERS Soul exists prior to the body (in the world of 1. ST. AUGUSTINE forms/ideas) & exists after its long gone Known for Divine Illumination; the mind Soul is immortal and learning needs to be enlightened with a light outside itself to participate in the truth 2. ST. THOMAS AQUINAS MAN: BODY & SOUL ACCORDING TO Known for exitus et reditus: creature for God ST. THOMAS AND ARISTOTLE P. and return to God Corporeal matter is composed of matter and form, body and soul. MODERN PHILOSOPHERS Aristotle uses “psuche” (Latin: anima, English: soul) to signify the form of living substances 1. Rene Descartes Human being: unity of body and soul 2. John Locke Without the body, the soul would not have its required 3. David Hume organs of sense to gain its knowledge. No soul = body has no life  MAN: BODY & SOUL ACCORDING TO ST. AUGUSTINE Human being: compound of body and soul SOUL Life-giving element Center of consciousness, perception, and thought MAN: BODY & SOUL ACCORDING TO RENE DESCARTES E In his meditations (2nd), he recognized dualism Body: bounded by some figure, located in a place and occupies space Man: thinking being, doubts, understands, conceives, U affirms, denies, wills, rejects, imagines, and perceives MAN: BODY & SOUL ACCORDING TO GABRIEL MARCEL Q Man’s embodiment: primary datum → starting point and basis of any philosophical reflection Reflection: paying attention to one’s own thoughts; studying the very value of one’s existence Experience is a meaningful and creative relationship RO between the self and the world MAN: BODY & SOUL ACCORDING TO KAROL WOJTYLA Soul & body are inseparable, in the willing agent and in the deliberate act, they stand or fall together P.