ARIANE ANDREA F.

HERRRERA
Stem 13

ASSIGNMENT IN PHILOSOPHY

1.) What is Philosophy?

Philosophy is a way of thinking about certain subjects such as ethics, thought, existence,
time, meaning and value. That 'way of thinking' involves 4 Rs: responsiveness,
reflection, reason and re-evaluation. The aim is to deepen understanding. The hope is
that by doing philosophy we learn to think better, to act more wisely, and thereby help
to improve the quality of our lives.Thw word Philosophy comes from two greek words:
Philos (love) and Sophia (wisdom), means love of wisdom.

2.) 5fIVE BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

1. Metaphysics
which deals with the fundamental questions of reality; Metaphysics is the most
abstract branch of philosophy. It’s the branch that deals with the “first
principles” of existence, seeking to define basic concepts like existence, being,
causality, substance, time, and space.
Example: “Why are there beings at all, instead of Nothing?” (Martin Heidegger)
2. Epistemology
which deals with our concept of knowledge, how we learn and what we can
know; A primary concern of epistemology is the very definition of knowledge
itself. The traditional definition, since Plato, is that knowledge is justified true
belief, but recent evaluations of the concept have shown supposed
counterexamples to this definition.
Example: How can we know if God exists? ; Can spirits and souls be observed
or detected? If not, does it still make sense to say we have knowledge of them?
3. Logic
which studies the rules of valid reasoning and argumentation;
 Logic is the systematic process of valid reasoning through inference — deriving
conclusions from information that is known to be true. It is the area of
philosophy that is concerned with the laws of valid reasoning.
Example: If there is someone at the door, the dog will bark.
Assuming this sentence holds true, there are some other sentences that must also be true.

 If the dog didn’t bark, there is no one at the door.

 Just because the dog barked doesn’t mean there’s someone at the door.
 There are also a few sentences that are probably true, such as:
 The dog can sense (hear or smell) when someone is at the door.
 The dog belongs to the people who live in the house where the door is located.

4. Ethics
or moral philosophy, which is concerned with human values and how individuals
should act; involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of
right and wrong behavior. Philosophers today usually divide ethical theories into
three general subject areas: metaethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics.

Example: What is good? :What makes actions or people good?

5. Aesthetics or esthetics
which deals with the notion of beauty and the philosophy of art.
Example: What is a work of art?", "What makes a work of art successful?"

3.) Nature of philosophy

Philosophy is for everyone. In fact, although most people may be vague about what
philosophy is, we all engage in philosophy whether we are aware of it or not. We all
have some ideas concerning free will, human nature, morality, the meaning of life, and
the like. Everyone, at one time or another, either because of startling events or simple
curiosity, asks philosophical questions like: "Does God exist?" "Is there life after
death?" "Are there any absolute or universal moral principles?" "What do ethical terms
like good, bad, right, and wrong mean?" "What is beauty?" "What are the
characteristics of a 'good' work of art?" "From what sources do we gain our
knowledge?" "Does sensory experience provide indubitable knowledge?"
1. Philosophy analyzes the foundations and presuppositions underlying other
disciplines
2. Philosophy attempts to develop a comprehensive conception or apprehension of the
world.
3. Philosophy studies and critically evaluates our most deeply held beliefs and
attitudes; in particular, those which are often held uncritically.
4. Philosophy investigates the principles and rules of language, and attempts to clarify
the meaning of vague words and concepts.

4.) History of philosophy and the people behind it

It is very hard, if not impossible, to say who the first philosophers were or when informal philosophizing first occurred. The
earliest homo sapiens most likely looked out at their fledgling world and wondered about its status, its meaning, the meaning of
existence, the conditions of survival, the reality of a finite world and their place in it. To reflect and conjecture thusly is to
philosophize, however inchoate the mental exercise or vulnerable nascent intelligence may be to superstition.
 If philosophy is understood simply as the study of metaphysics and epistemology, of logic and ethics, of aesthetics and politics, or of
any of these "branches" separately, then the onus of tracing her provenience becomes considerably lighter. We know, for example,
that the Milesians, led by Thales, were making important investigations into nature as early as the seventh century B.C.; eastern
teachers and prophets such as Lao-Tse, Confucius, and the Buddha were contemplating moral ideals and concepts during the sixth
century B.C. The pre-Socratic philosophers (Heraclitus, Empedocles, Parmenides, Zeno) followed with their formulations and
speculations, and in the wings were three of history's most prodigious philosophical minds (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle).
Fashioning any historical chart or timeline is still tricky, because certain figures are obscure, certain philosophies fragmented and
incomplete. Perhaps not enough is known about the role women played even in the early days of philosophy (we are told by Plato in
theSymposium, for instance, that Socrates' teacher in love was a woman); it's not always clear when one period ends and another
begins, or whether one philosophy or school was really begun by someone history has totally ignored.

Milesians (Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, Anaxagoras)

7th Century B.C.

Asked what universe is made of (Thales: water; Heraclitus: fire). Heraclitus: "Strife is the father
of all." Anaxagoras: "There is a portion of everything in everything" -- earliest theory of infinite
divisibility. Each helped to shape the beginning of the scientific method: i.e., by gathering facts,
developing and testing an hypothesis.

Pre-Socratics (among them Empedocles, Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, Euclid, Pythagoras)

Late 7th Century B.C. To Early 5th Century B.C.
These thinkers advanced ideas about the essence of things (Empedocles: water, air, fire, and earth the
basic "stuff"), about unity/plurality (Parmenides: the world is a uniform solid, spherical in shape; "Being
is, Non-Being is not"; empty space cannot exist if all things are made of basic stuff), paradoxes of space
and motion (Zeno), logic and mathematical theory (Euclid, Pythagoras). Plato's Theory of Forms was
greatly influenced by Parmenides' notion of the One and by the mathematical conclusions of Pythagoras.

Eastern prophets, moral teachers (Lao-Tse, Confucius, the Buddha among them)
6th Century B.C.
Each influenced the history of ethics and religion in India, China, and Japan. Confucius' ethics centered
on the ideas of benevolence, filial piety, and reciprocity (treating others as one would wish to be treated).
The Buddha, a title meaning "the enlightened one," said life itself is marked by suffering, and that the
path to transcendence (nirvana) lay in avoiding the extremes of self-indulgence and self-mortification.
Lao-Tse discerned an underlying reality of all things, the understanding of which depends on emptying
one's soul and focusing on "The Way," or Tao. His ideas are laid out in the Tao Te Ching. Many religious
sects and sub-sects were spawned.

Socrates, Plato, Aristotle

Early 5th Century B.C. To Late 4th Century B.C.
Perhaps the three greatest philosophers ever. Socrates developed a method of questioning designed to
expose weaknesses in the interrogated (sometimes referred to as the maieutic method, in which the
questioner acts as a midwife, helping to give birth to others' thoughts). He believed circumspect use of
language and endless self-questioning are crucial in the quest for wisdom. Teacher of Plato, world-sage in
outlook, he saw philosophy as a way of life, the highest calling of a select few. For him the highest good
is knowledge. He wrote nothing but dramatically influenced the course of intellectual history. Plato,
teacher of Aristotle, set forth his philosophy in dialogues, chief protagonist of which was Socrates, his
mentor; he founded the Academy (c. 387 BC), perhaps the first institution of learning in the western
world. Most famous for his Theory of Forms (phenomenal world of matter just an imperfect reflection of
an immutable, transcendental world of ideas). Plato believed that knowledge is a process of remembering;
the objects of knowledge are ideal and immutable. Aristotle theorized on a vast range of subjects: biology,
 ethics, logic, metaphysics, politics, &c. He founded the Lyceum and tutored Alexander the Great. He's
considered history's first logician and biologist. His thinking influenced numerous theologians and
philosophers, including St. Augustine and Thomas Aquinas. He was a naturalist who revised Plato's
theory of form and matter; for Aristotle, the form is what makes matter what it is (as the soul defines a
living body). He put forth two general principles of proof: the excluded middle (everything must either
have or not have a given characteristic), and the law of contradiction (nothing can both have and not have
a given characteristic).

Epicurus/Epicureanism
Middle 4th Century B.C. To Early 3rd Century B.C.
Known mostly for hedonistic ethical system in which pleasure is the highest good (Epicurus: "Eat, drink,
and be merry for tomorrow you will die.") Quality of pleasure more important than mere quantity.
Epicureans defended an atomistic view of the world (i.e., things are made up of minute, indivisible
particles that move about in a void). Epicurus believed there are infinitely many worlds (what we call
"galaxies" today).

Stoics (Zeno and later Roman thinkers such as Seneca, Epictetus, and Marcus Aurelius)
Early Third Century B.C. To Third Century A.D.
Name Stoicism derived from stoa, or porch, where the movement's founder Zeno (not Zeno of Elea)
taught. World governed by unshakable laws laid down by God. Everything happens for a reason, so that
the goal of life should be acquiescence to divine laws, not resistance. God is immanent in all matter,
creates a harmonious order. Later Roman Stoics affirmed same themes: need for harmony in one's life, for
spiritual growth which ideally would exist in seclusion from the everyday hassles of society.

Skeptics (Pyrrho of Elis, Timon, Antisthenes, and later, Sextus Empiricus)

Late Fifth Century B.C. To Second Century A.D.
Avoided doctrines and dogmas and sought to criticize existing ideas. Nothing is truly knowable; doubt is
the most tenable disposition of mind (Pyrrho). Important harbinger of later empiricism, of the modern
scientific method, of religious agnosticism. Profoundly influenced later philosophers (Descartes, Hume,
Santayana among them).

Cynics (Diogenes, Antisthenes)

Fourth Century B.C. To Sixth Century A.D.
(Not a continuous school) Name "Cynic" comes from nickname given Diogenes: the Dog.
Cynical philosophy unrelated to modern acceptation of the term (view that people act self- centeredly in
pursuit of narrow aims). According to the older Greek philosophy, happiness is found in virtuous action;
goods in the external world (wealth, fame, pleasure, individualistic ambitions) are unnatural and harmful.
Ascetic self- discipline is the only path to freedom. Cynics are inclined to agree with Skeptics that little, if
anything, can be known, and that one should steer clear of dogmas and popular views of things.

Christian & Arabian Philosophy

First Century A.D. To Seventeenth Century A.D. (for various Christian
philosophies)
The advent of the Church led to numerous questions about Jesus' nature, about the nature of God and the
universe, the nature of the Trinity, the question about faith and reason (are they naturally opposed or
naturally complementary?). Philosophical speculation spills over into theological speculation.
Philosophers (e.g., Origen and Clement, Boethius, Plotinus, Augustine, Avicenna, Averroes, Maimonides,
and later Aquinas) are chiefly concerned with religious questions. Greatest influence on Christianity was
Platonism, with its emphasis on the superiority of the soul (spirit) against all materialistic and bodily
functions, the belief in a higher, transcendent world (heaven for religious devotees), belief in Truth and
Virtue and acceptance of immutable, perfect Forms (Jesus being the Form of ideal humanity). Early post-
Hellenistic philosophy reached its summit in the Medieval Period, with the philosophy of Anselm and
Aquinas and the poetry of Dante.

Medieval Period (Boethius, Abelard, William of Ockham, Averroes, Maimonides, Anselm,

Avicenna, Aquinas, Dante, Duns Scotus, among many others)
Late Fifth Century A.D. to Middle Fifteenth Century
Advent of scholasticism: strict adherence to rationalism, inclination to pore over numerous theological
questions. Ideas prevalent in this era: question of universals, with nominalists (e.g., William of Ockham)
rejecting metaphysical notions of Forms altogether; idea that God is the author of moral and scientific
knowledge, the primum mobile of the universe; various "proofs" of God's existence (Anselm: Ontological
Argument; Aquinas: 5 Proofs, one of which being the Argument from Design); debates about existence
and essence; the emergence of mysticism in some quarters (e.g., in the teaching of Meister Eckhart);
belief among many philosophers and tutors that reason alone cannot save a human being, that faith in God
and revelation are needed. It was in this period that Dante completed perhaps the most influential poem of
all time: La Commedia, chronicling the poet's fabled journey through hell, purgatory, and heaven.

Birth of Modern Science (Bacon, Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo)

Late 15th To Late 17th Centuries
Old views of the world come under scrutiny and are revised (e.g., Ptolemaic view that earth is the center
of the universe). Copernicus, a Polish astronomer, challenged the Ptolemaic view; he said the sun was the
center of our solar system, and that the earth and other planets revolve around it. Kepler sought to provide
mathematic proofs of Copernicus' views. Galileo, an Italian physicist, combined math and science to
fashion a new scientific worldview. He was the first to use a telescope, the first to confirm that
Copernicus' view was correct. The Church at this time looked upon scientific experimentation with
hostility and agitation; Galileo was forced to utter a recantation of his views, which he did half-heartedly.
Francis Bacon, considered the father of science in England, made no actual discoveries (he was a lawyer,
essayist, moral philosopher and man of letters) but gave voice to the inductive method of science and,
more importantly, to empiricism (pursuit of knowledge by observation and experiment, not by use of
reason alone). This period marked the end of scholasticism, the growth of intellectual curiosity and
freedom, and the belief, however tacit, that knowledge about the universe can be derived not from
revelation, as many of the scholastics thought, but from direct investigation and observation.

Modern Philosophy (Hobbes, Descartes, Newton)

Early 17th Century To Early 18th Century
English philosopher Thomas Hobbes was influenced by both Bacon and Galileo. He set out to construct a
"master science" of "nature, man, and society"; if knowledge of nature is obtainable, Hobbes reasoned,
knowledge of human nature must also be in reach. He steered away from empiricism, however, and
sought to formulate principles of human conduct. The natural state of all bodies, he concluded, is motion;
material universe is matter in motion. Life is motion in limbs, nerves, cells, and heart; human feelings,
such as desire and aversion, are motions either towards something or away from it. Hobbes is best known
for his work Leviathan, which was a defense of absolute government. Life, Hobbes said famously, is
"solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short." Descartes, known by many as the father of modern philosophy,
revisited the themes of skepticism (only thing that he couldn't doubt was himself thinking, hence cogito
ergo sum); he made landmark contributions to mathematics (Cartesian geometry, as seth forth in La
Geometrie), to metaphysics (belief in God and the material world, acceptance of mind-body dualism), and
to philosophical methodology (Discourse On Method).

Second Half Of Modern Period (Spinoza, Leibnitz)

Mid 17th Century To Early 19th Century
Cartesian thought proved immediately influential: both Spinoza and Leibniz shared the Frenchman's
passion for rationcination and developed metaphysical systems of their own. Like Descartes, Spinoza and
Leibnitz believed in a rational, benevolent God. Spinoza wrote the Ethics, whose style took the form of
geometrical analysis; he was a determinist, denied final causes, sought to transcend the distinction
between good and evil altogether, and perhaps most controversially, equated God with creation (the
doctrine of pantheism, in which each material existent is a manifestation of the divine essence, is "God's
body" in a sense). Spinoza's formulation was Deus Sive Natura (Latin: God or Nature). Leibnitz's chief
contribution was the monadology, the study of monads, or metaphysical units that make up substance.
Monads, he said, are the elements of all things, mental as well as physical; they are indivisible. No two
are alike, and change in the universe occurs because of the workings of each monad. Things are only
connected by God's intervention.

Second Half Of Modern Period Cont'd (Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Rousseau, Kant, among
others)
Mid 17th Century To Early 19th Century
Locke veered away from metaphysical notions and sought instead an approach encompassing the
empiricism of Bacon and the scepticism of Descartes. Purpose of philosophy is to formulate and analyze
concrete problems, he said, a view which is strikingly popular in universities today. Locke denied that
people are born with innate knowledge; human beings are born with a tabula rasa, or empty slate,
everything subsequently known coming from sensory experience. His acceptance of constitutional
government (Two Treatises of Government) influenced leaders of the American Revolution. George
Berkeley, a bishop, attacked Locke's view of knowledge and instead proposed an idealist system (esse est
percipi: to be is to be perceived). Matter, Berkeley said, is really only a mental representation in our mind.
Hume assailed Berkeley's views of knowledge and reality and argued that reason cannot give certain
knowledge. There is no proof of causality, Hume contended; the sceptical vantage point is the safest to
assume in all questions of truth and knowledge. Rousseau's contribution was less in the field of
epistemology, more in the areas of ethics and political philosophy (Social Contract, Confessions among
his chief works). He believed that people are born good but that society wields a corrupting influence on
them; like Locke, he expounded upon social contract theory. The driving force behind society is the
General Will, and it must be respected. The challenge is to attain freedom amidst corruption and
worldliness. Rousseau's sympathies were radical; he supported the French Revolution and contributed to a
body of work known as romanticism. Two main currents in European philosophy --- the rationalism of
Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz and the empiricism of Locke, Berkeley, Hume --- were conjoined in the
work of Kant, perhaps the greatest German philosopher ever (Critique of Pure Reason on a par with
Spinoza's Ethics). According to Kant, the world of things-in-themselves is unknowable; the world of
appearance, the phenomenal world governed by laws, is knowable. Transcendental knowledge is
impossible. Kant rejected the argument of the empiricists that all knowledge is derived from sensory
experience: he believed that concepts such as causality, necessity, and unity enable us to have a coherent
knowledge of the world. He accepted the moral argument for God's existence and the doctrine of free will
("ought" implies "can," he reasoned). Moral actions, he thought, can only arise from a sense of duty (as
opposed to, say, the outcome of actions, which may be pleasurable or beneficial to someone).

Post-Kantian Thinkers (Schopenhauer, Fichte, Hegel, Marx, among others)

19th Century
 Kant's influence was immediate and long-lasting. Schopenhauer thought the driving force of reality is
Will. Knowledge depends not on reason but Will; to understand reality, we need to look inward, not
outward. Schopenhauer is history's most famous pessimist, believing that all human striving is vain, that
suffering is rampant, and that the only respite is to live a life of renunciation, a la the Hindus or
Buddhists. Hegel defined the Absolute (unity of God and Mind), popularized the dialectical approach to
truth in which assertion is followed by negation, which in turn is followed by synthesis. Hegel held that
the external world is mind: there is no real bridge between the knowing mind and what the mind knows.
Hegel developed an influential body of political theory in which the State is the supreme manifestation of
rationality and morality; this doctrine has subsequently influenced communist and fascist political orders.
Hegel exercised an enormous influence on Marx, who seized upon his predecessor's notion of the
dialectic (for Hegel the dialectical process is one of ideas, a constant transition of consciousness from a
lower to higher state, one undergoing constant change in history; for Marx the dialectical process is
material, economic, involving class conflict and revolution). Marx excoriated religion, embraced a
determinist perspective, and most of all, saw class conflict and capitalist-driven economic disparity as the
hallmarks of industrial society. His name is synonymous with the Communist Manifesto, but he wrote on
a wide range of subjects (Capital and the Eighteenth Brumaire two of his many important works).

Humanistic Philosophy & Growth of Modern Science (Comte, J.S. Mill, Darwin, et al.)
19th Century
French philosopher Auguste Comte is credited with developing positive philosophy, or positivism, the
view that metaphysics is a meaningless endeavor and that the right emphasis for philosophy should be
along the lines of the scientific method: defining and solving problems, relying on observation and
experimentation to guide one's inquiries. Comte's positivism was more influential than his attempt to
fashion a new religion; the latter, which he called a Religion of Humanity, was secularist in scope and
failed to win many converts. Comte's writing influenced John Stuart Mill, an English economist, ethicist,
logician, and political theorist. Influenced by his father, James Mill, and by Jeremy Bentham, J.S. Mill
defended liberty of expression (in his classic On Liberty), fought for women's rights (The Subjection of
Women), and advanced qualitative utilitarianism as a moral philosophy. Darwin, another Englishman, is
of course best known for The Origin of Species, a work advancing the theory of evolution and the
doctrine of natural selection. Those best adapted to their environment, Darwin said, are most successful in
reproduction and hence, the propagation of their kind. The species in time will be more advanced, more
evolved. Biggest philosophical ramification during Darwin's day was the undermining of the "Argument
from Design" (inferring existence of God from order, design, and purpose in the world; where there's
order, there must be an orderer). Darwin's theory is warmly accepted by mainstream science today,
though there are numerous schools of thought on evolution.

Nihilism & Existentialism (Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Sartre, among others; ideas
also embodied in literary work, e.g., Dostoevsky, Kafka, Hesse)
19th And 20th Centuries
Existentialism: the view that existence precedes essence, that there's no meaning or value or truth to life a
priori. Kierkegaard, reputed "founder" of existentialism: dread and anxiety make us aware of Being; in
"fear and trembling" we grasp the meaning of existence and of death. Kierkegaard's answer: faith in God,
who can deliver us from our forlornness. Heidegger: idea of death provokes a fear of nothingness; people
hide in inauthentic routines; they seek to renounce their freedom to act. We're essentially alone, says
Heidegger; we come into the world alone and exit it alone. Sartre: human beings are unique because they
can both act and be aware of it at the same time. Anything we do can be the object of conscious
awareness; deep fear that others will relate to us as if we were objects, reduce us to no-thing. There is no
meaning to our life a priori, so the deepest striving is to define ourselves in a random and contingent
world. This causes anxiety, as does the inevitable fact of death. Existentialist themes brilliantly captured
in the following novels: Kafka's The Trial, Hesse's Steppenwolf, and Sartre's Nausea. Nihilism: from the
Latin nihil, meaning "nothing"; rejection of claims to truth, to right and wrong, to purpose and meaning in
the world. Spirit of nihilism best laid out in Nietzsche's The Will To Power. Nietzsche distinguished
master morality from slave morality; Christianity, among other religions, falling into the latter category
(the morality of weakness). Nietzsche: Neither truth nor facts exist; everything is interpretation. Only
hope for humanity going forward is to transcend influence of religion and bad philosophy and embrace
the Ubermensch, a vaguely defined hero with markedly powerful traits (the mix of apollonian and
dionysian traits: e.g., the intellect of Shakespeare, the will of Napoleon).

American Philosophy (Peirce, James, Royce, Santayana, Dewey, among others)

19th And 20th Centuries
C.S. Peirce gives birth to pragmatism (doctrine which sees truth as the effectiveness of an idea used as an
hypothesis; test of truth is whether idea works when tested by experiment); William James elaborates
upon the doctrine (metaphysics the enemy of a pragmatist; goal of pragmatism to be clear and precise in
one's thinking; doctrine is empirical in nature). With its emphasis on the practical, its instrumentalism,
pragmatism seems the perfect fit for Industrial America. James makes landmark contributions in
psychology (Principles of Psychology), in epistemology and morals (The Will To Believe), and in
religious studies (Varieties of Religious Experience). James argues passionately in favor of religious faith.
George Santayana the odd philosopher out here: born in Spain, grew up in Boston, he was influenced
mostly by the Greeks (especially Plato) and by Spinoza; he loathes the pragmatist doctrine but still sees
himself, at bottom, as a materialist. Chief works from Santayana (critical works such as Egotism in
German Philosophy, the 5-volume Life of Reason, and the 4-volume Realms of Being). Perhaps the most
articulate philosopher of the English language (unfortunate that the world only remembers GS by one
aphorism: "those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it"). Dewey another pragmatist, but
didn't share James' fondness for religion or Peirce's interest in metaphysical criticism. Dewey most
famous for his progressive contributions to education and his outspoken criticism of American culture.
His main works: Democracy and Education, Human Nature and Conduct, and The Quest For Certainty.

Modern Period / Present

20th Century
Dominant philosophical strands: pragmatism, analytical philosophy, existentialism, nihilism,
postmodernism.

5.) 8 logical fallicies

1.) Ad Hominem
This translates as “to the man” and refers to any attacks on the person advancing the
argument, rather than on the validity of the evidence or logic. It’s is one thing to say that I
don’t agree with you, but it’s another thing to say that I don’t like you, and you are wrong
because I don't like you; evil people often make valid claims, and good people often make
invalid claims, so separate the claim from the person. Like the emotional appeal, the validity
of an argument has utterly nothing to do with the character of those presenting it.

Example: Premise: Ducks are birds.

Premise: Ducks swim in the water.
Premise: Chickens are birds.
False Conclusion: Chickens swim in the water.
(Affirming The Consequent Fallacy: not all birds swim in water; swimming is neither a necessary or
sufficient condition to be the thing "bird")

2.) Band Wagon

The basic fallacy of democracy: that popular ideas are necessarily right.

Example: "C'mon, dude, everybody's doin' it."

3.) Moral Equivalency

The implication that two moral issues carry the same weight or are essentially similar

Example: Equating the treatment of animals with the treatment of human beings.

4.) Dogmatism
The unwillingness to even consider the opponent’s argument.The assumption that even when
many, perhaps millions, of other people believe otherwise, only you can be correct. This is
closely related to the Either/Or fallacy as it’s based on the usually false assumption that
competing theories or perspectives cannot co-exist within single systems. The assumption
that those who disagree with you are “biased”, while you are “objective”.

Example: "If you have an F in math you are just lazy because math is so easy."

5.) Red Herring

This generally refers to changing the subject mid-debate, so that we start arguing about a
tangential topic rather than the real or original issue.

Example: We start debating the evidence supporting evolutionary theory, but you bring up the fact
that believing this theory is depressing.

6.) Argument from Authority

This is the flip side of the ad hominem; in this case, the argument is advanced because
of those advancing it. But arguments from authority carry little weight: the history of human
kind is consistent in one fact: the frequency of human error
Example: A commercial claims that a specific brand of cereal is the best way to start the day because
athlete Michael Jordan says that it is what he eats every day for breakfast.

7.) Argument from Ignorance or Non-

Testable History
This is the fallacy that that which has not been proven false must or is likely to be true;
however, the fallacy usually applies to concepts that haven’t yet been adequately tested or
are beyond the realm of proof. Our legal system protects us from this fallacy under the
presumption of innocence guideline – “innocent until proven guilty”. Religious beliefs are
founded on this "fallacy", but remember that a religious belief is, by definition, based
on faith, rather than empirical proof or mathematical logic; that's what the phrase "leap of
faith" refers to.

Example: You can't prove that there aren't Martians living in caves under the surface of Mars, so it is
reasonable for me to believe there are.

8.) Begging the Question or Circular

Argument
This is basically repeating the claim and never providing support for the premises, or, in
other words, repeating the same argument over and over again. Often, dogmatic thinkers
don’t even realize this is a fallacy.

Example: “I can’t believe people eat dog. That’s just plain gross. Why? Because it’s a dog, of course.
How could someone eat a dog?

6.) My philosophy about learning

Learning for me is continuous process, even though you finish studying in

school you will continue to learn more, as you get older you don’t stop
learning . A philosopher-scientist Albert Einstein once said that “once you
stop learning, you start dying.”learning is part of our everyday lives, each
day we learn something new, we can learn from people around us, from
home, from school, and even on our own mistake. For me also our grade
doesn’t fit on numbers but on our own learning’s that we treasure.