Etiological Questions - Past Paper

# Etiological Questions ## Wednesday, 04 September 2024 22:09 ### Summary - What is reality? - How to understand reality? - What is good and what is evil? - What is value and how to assign it? - What is beauty? ### Discussion Points - Something can be valuable but can be evil. (eg: bribery, stolen...

# Etiological Questions ## Wednesday, 04 September 2024 22:09 ### Summary - What is reality? - How to understand reality? - What is good and what is evil? - What is value and how to assign it? - What is beauty? ### Discussion Points - Something can be valuable but can be evil. (eg: bribery, stolen land, money etc.) - Good≠Value≠Beauty ### Case Study: Yukushima, Japan - Tsunami came - Population: 2,000,000 - Nuclear Reactor broke - Investigated by a renowned scientist: - Only 10,000 affected severely - Rest are not significantly impacted - Free healthcare for severely affected people - Inhabitation of Yukushima by Government - Free travel for people of Yukushima ### Case Study: Dr. Death - Terminal Illness people crave death - Doctors normally reduce dosage for eventual death - Pain management is at head - Dr Death used to help people die - Used pain management - Switzerland made suicide legal - Man takes what he has for free for granted. ## Branches of Philosophy that Deal with Etiological Questions 1. Reality → Metaphysics 2. Knowledge → Epistemology 3. Good/Bad → Ethics 4. Value → Aesthetics # Etiological Questions and Approaches to Truth ## Wednesday, 04 September 2024 21:59 ### Summary - Three paths to truth which have different approaches - All answer the same fundamental questions in different ways. ### The Fundamental Questions 1. What is reality? 2. How to understand reality? 3. Concept of Good and Evil? 4. Concept of Value? 5. Concept of Beauty? ### Approaches to Truth - Science approaches truth by applying methods (eg Darwin's Theory of Evolution and criticism) - Philosophy approaches truth by assessing strength of argument - Religion approaches truth through revelations and saintly sayings, revealed by God - All three might contradict each other ### Origin of Human Being - *Science* →Fossil Examination→Theory of evolution: man evolved from apes and changes based on physical factors. - *Philosophy* : - Two views: Essentialist vs Non-Essentialistsa - **Essentialist** : - Man is in the same essence, despite age-related and physical changes. - _Essence_ is the aspect of human that never changes, the thing that makes humans human. - **Non-Essentialists**: - Man changes as his physical form changes - There is no essence of humans - *Religion*: _Major Religions' Point of View:_ - **Islam** - Allah created man in the best of structures. - Adam was created by Allah in the same form despite physical changes his progeny continues as humans. - **Christianity:** - Man is created in the same form as he is today by God - **Judaism:** - Man is created by God in same form as he is today. - These three approaches might contradict on what truth is: - You have to choose one as the ultimate truth. # Examples ## Monday, September 9, 2024 8:38 AM ### Summary: 1. In religion, truth precedes argument then method. 2. In philosophy, argument precedes method then truth. 3. In science, method precedes argument then truth. ### Argument 1. Metal expand when heat. - All matter expand when heat. - Exception: Anomalous Expansion of Water (4C concentrate then expand). ### The truth of science is relative. #### Geocentric Theory vs Heleo-centric Theory: - **Geocentric Theory**: Earth is stationary. - **Heleocentric Theory**: Sun is stationary. - First scientists believed in geocentric theory - Then they believed sun is stationary #### Quantum vs Classical Physics: - Light/ electrons travels in a wave. - Light/ electrons travels in quanta. - **Wave like Properties**: - Diffraction - Interference - Reflection - Polarization - **Matter like Properties**: - Quantum Theory of Light - Electron Theory of Light - Similarly, philosophy is also changing. - PhD Thesis-Augustinr # Metaphysics ## Wednesday, September 11, 2024 8:39 AM ### Summary: - Is the claim for all human beings - Very critically Evaluated - Allah says in the Quran, "We have Created in the Best of Structure. Then We return him to the lowest of the low" - Reality should be (Clearer than Sun.) ### Reductionism - All is water. (Thales) - Atomists: All is atom. - Empedocles: All is fire, earth, water, fire. - Anaximander: All is air. ### Abstract Metaphysics - Parmenides: All is rest. - Heraclitus: All is flux. - Plato: The reality is idea. (Change is permanence. Permanence is change.) - World of Ideas--> World of Things - Pythogoras: Reality is numbers: c² = a² + b² - There is no Son of God. (Quran) - Metaphysics is complex. ### Branches of Metaphysics - **Cosmology:** Order of Being - Allah is Real, Then Prophets then Angels, Then Books of Allah then Humans etc. (Islamic Paradigm) - Humans--> (Atheists) - Capitalism - **Ontology:** Analysis of Being: - Islamic: - Human beings are mortals, including the prophets, therefore the highest is Allah, as He Alone is Uncreated. - **Teleology:** Purpose of Being - Islamic: - And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me. I do not want from them any provision, nor do I want them to feed Me. # Application of Metaphysics in Real Life ## Monday, September 16, 2024 8:39 AM ### Summary - **Types of Relationships**: - Hierarchical Relationship: One after the other e.g. friends. - Radial Relationship: Like a circle. Everybody knows everything about you. - You should know as much about your friend as he knows about you. - When you get to know about someone, you upgrade or downgrade them. - Order: Cosmological - Analysis: Ontological - "There is no harming nor reciprocating harm." (Prophet SAW) - "Man is on the religion of his close friend, so every one of you should see who he makes his best friends. " - There is an innate purpose of everything. - Purpose of Fruit is to get used by man or something under man. - Some say is to propagate trees/plants - "And He has subjected to you all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth; it is all (as a favor and kindness) from Him. Verily, in it are signs for a people who think deeply." - To understand real purpose is to understand the reality. # Epistemology ## Wednesday, September 18, 2024 8:46 AM ### Summary: - Purpose of Knowledge: - Some say to seek money. - Stability then Security - Security then Stability - Education is the weapon of mass instruction. - "Every system becomes obsolete after 30 years. (Abdul Wahab Suri.) - Every system demands education so that one becomes part of the system. - Education is a system of: - System Integration - System Discrimination - Exclusive to a selected few. - Depersonalization - Compartmentalization - I am seeking knowledge to please Allah only and to make my hereafter better, due to this hadeeth: - طلب العلم فريضة علي كل مسلم - العلماء ورثة الأنبياء - One who is more educated cannot be controlled. - Education is a number game. - Knowledge is in-depth - Knowledge is according to one's desire. It should be the Quran and the Sunnah. - Knowledge is the relation between the knower and the known. - 5 Senses and Experience - Reason/Rationality/Inference - Intuition - Authority - Reason is the ability to think, understand and form judgement logically. - Faculty of mind responsible - Categorization - Abstraction - Inference - Gut Feeling=Intuition: - Direct acquaintance of knowledge that is always true - You cannot tell whether intuition is correct or wrong? - What should be the primary confirmer? - Some say reason, some say intuition, some say 5 Senses - Knowedge acquired after 5 senses called aposteriori (after experience). You cannot confirm about future. It is true for past, but not necessarily for the future. - Empiricists consider 5 senses as foundation of knowledge. - Rational knowledge is absolute (True for all times), certain and universal. - A-priori is knowledge acquired using Aql (before experience) - These are called rationalists. - A-priori is considered very superior. - For the knowledge of intuition, it is totalitarian. - Intuition say certainty is the real thing. - The knowledge acquired using intuition is called apodictic. - Intuition believers called intuitionists. - Immediate, direct, necessarily true, self-evident - You are one with pain - Authoritarian - Source of Knowledge is Authority - Means of knowledge AQL, HAWAAS AND WIJDAAN. - Quran and Sunnah is the Ultimate Knowledge