PHILOSOPHY Q1

#1 Nature and Functions of Philosophy, Doing Aesthetics - concerns the theory of art and beauty, because
Philosophy & Holistic many philosophical problems in aesthetics involve critical
judgements.
Perspective
Philosophical Tools and Processes
HOLISTIC VS PARTIAL POV Philosophy employs observation and experimentation to
prove their theories, philosophy uses reason to arrive at a
Holistic thinking - refers to a perspective that considers certain knowledge or truth. Greek philosophers gave us a hint
large-scale on how to use our intellect to understand realities around us.
patterns in systems. A holistic perspective requires an The tools that they frequently utilized are the following:
individual to have an open mindset and ability to get the
general sense or impression regarding a situation. Philosophical Questions. Philosophy was born because of
ignorance. If one is ignorant, he asks questions, and if he
Partial thinking focuses on specific aspects of a situation. keeps on questioning the more knowledge he acquires.
The partial view is an important component of analytical
thinking, as an individual focuses on certain areas or aspects Socrates went further not just asking questions for himself
of a problem in order to understand it. but poses questions to people which is the beginning of
series of questions and responses from participants
Definition of Philosophy .
Philosophy is defined as love of wisdom because it came The Socratic Method - Socratic debate, dialectic method, is
from two Greek words philos (love) and Sophia (wisdom). a form of cooperative argumentative dialogue between
individuals, based on asking and answering questions to
Origin of Philosophy stimulate critical thinking and to draw out ideas and
● Greece is the birthplace of philosophy in the West. underlying presuppositions.
To be more precise it is the ancient Greek city of
Miletus on the Western coast of what is now Turkey Logical Reasoning
that gave birth to philosophy. In philosophy reasoning is the process of thinking about
● Thales is the Father of Philosophy in the Western something in a logical way in order to form a conclusion or
civilization. He lived between 624 and 546 BCE judgment.

Thales All branches of Philosophy employ reasoning in explaining

● His explanation of natural phenomena is devoid of their arguments. For example, the concept of right or wrong
gods and goddesses of the old religion of Greece. It which is the domain of Ethics based its arguments on human
is completely rational. It represents a departure from reason alone in contrast with theology which is dependent on
the mythological religion of Greece. the Bible as the source of its moral teachings.
● Thaless approach highlights the difference between
religion and philosophy. Reflection is an activity that requires a person to examine his
● Religion rests on faith while philosophy rests on or her thoughts, feelings, and actions and learn from
reason. experience.

Branches of Philosophy Philosophical Reflection is when a person sees the bigger

Historically, philosophical concerns have been treated under picture about everything, searches for the essence of things
these broad categories: and the ultimate reasons for our existence

Logic - systematic study of the rules for the correct use of Primary Reflection - which is the ability to think logically. The
these supporting reasons, distinguishing good arguments ability of the mind to construct and evaluate arguments. It
from bad ones. examines its object by abstraction, by analytically breaking
it down into its constituent parts. It is concerned with
Metaphysics - The term metaphysics meant "first definitions, essences, and technical solutions to problems.
Philosophy" discussion of the most universal principles: later
the term came to mean "comprehensive thinking about the Secondary Reflection - this type of reflection enables us to
nature of things." look deeper into our experiences and see the bigger picture
of reality. It integrates the fragmented and
Ethics - the most basic normative branch of philosophy is compartmentalized experience into a whole. It is the idea that
ethics or morality (I used these two concepts various systems (e.g. physical, biological, social) should be
interchangeably). It is concerned with the last of the three viewed as whole, not merely as a collection of parts.
questions central to philosophy: What should I do?
Importance of Philosophical Reflection
Epistemology - a technical term for the theory of knowledge, Human Activities Emanated from Deliberate Reflection
which came from the Greek word epsiteme, meaning Examples:
knowledge. which studies the sources, nature, and validity of ● Learning from your previous mistakes and not
knowledge. repeating them again.
● Evaluating and knowing the best choice from a set
Value Theory - the branch of philosophy that studies values, of options.
it can be divided into ethics, aesthetics, and social and ● Gaining a holistic point of view first before making
political philosophy. any conclusion.

Ethics - concerns itself with the question of morality. What is

right and what is wrong in human relations?
PHILOSOPHY Q1
#2 KNOWLEDGE AND TRUTH

According to philosophy Rationalists are people who base their opinions and actions on
"If you want to know the truth you have to use, not emotions, but reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional
thinking. To think however is an act of choice that is not always done response.
properly. Sometimes we need guidance to straighten our thoughts." ● Ideas are independent of experience
● Believes in the existence of innate ideas or some ideas are
Epistemology - is the theory of knowledge. It is concerned with the present from birth.
mind's relation to reality. ● It could theoretically be discovered or brought out from
● it examines what knowledge is and what types of within the mind of each individual.
knowledge there are. It further investigates the sources of
knowledge, like perception, inference, and testimony, to - Rene Descartes, Baruch Spinoza and Gottfried Wilhelm
determine how knowledge is created. Leibniz
● the philosophical study of the nature, origin, and limits of
human knowledge. The term is derived from the Greek PROCESS OF ACQUIRING KNOWLEDGE
episteme ("knowledge") and logos ("reason")
1. Reality. To know is to know something. This "something" is
Epistemology is a science devoted to the discovery of the method of what philosophers call reality, existence, and being.
acquiring and validating knowledge" (Rand 1990) The purpose of ● Existence is everything there is (another name
epistemology therefore is two-fold: for it is the Universe [Peikoff 1990]). It includes
1. To show how we can acquire knowledge. everything we perceive (animals, plants, human
2. To give us a method of demonstrating whether the knowledge we beings, inanimate objects) and everything inside
acquired is really knowledge (i.e., true). our heads (e.g., our thoughts and emotions)
which represents our inner world. Existence is
THE NATURE OF KNOWLEDGE really all there is to know. If nothing exists
According to Ayn Rand knowledge is a "mental grasp of reality knowledge is impossible.
reached either by perceptual observation or by a process of reason 2. Perception. It involves the use of our sensory organs
based on perceptual observation" (Rand 1990). (such as eyes, ears, nose, skin, and taste buds) to gather
sensory data from the external environment. This sensory
When you know something (be it the behavior of your friend, the data is then processed by the brain create our subjective
movement of the planets, or the origin of civilizations) you understand experiences of the world.
its nature. You identify what it is. And it stays with you. Knowledge is 3. Concept. After we perceive things we began to notice that
a retained form of awareness (Binswanger 2014). some of the things we perceive are similar to other things.
For example we see three individuals let's call them Juan,
So how do you acquire knowledge? Miss Rand's definition gives Pablo and Pedro who may have nothing in common at first
us two ways. glance. But when we compare them with another entity, a
● First, we can acquire knowledge using our senses: seeing, dog for example, suddenly their differences become
hearing, tasting, feeling, smelling. insignificant. Their big difference to a dog highlights their
● How do you know that the table is brown? Because you similarity to one another (Binswanger 2014)
see it. How do you know that fire is hot? Because you feel ● We therefore grouped them into one class or
it. This method of acquiring knowledge is called group, named the group ("man" or "human
Empiricism. being"), and defined what that group is to give it
identity (Peikoff 1990). We now have a concept
EMPIRICISM that according to one dictionary means "an
abstract or generic idea generalized from
● idea that all learning comes from only experience and particular instances" (Merriam-Webster
observations. The term empiricism comes from the Greek Dictionary)
word for experience: emperia. The theory of empiricism ● Wider generalization is the process of forming
attempts to explain how human beings acquire knowledge wider and wider concepts. For example from
and improve their conceptual understanding of the world. Juan, Pedro and Pablo we can form the concept
"man". Then from man, dog, cat, monkey we can
JOHN LOCKE - Locke's theory of empiricism is built on the idea that form a higher and wider concept "animal". And
there is no knowledge innate to the mind. Because of this, sensory from plant and animal we can form a still higher
experience of the material world is how one must attain valid and wider concept "living organism"
knowledge. This is done through the interrelationships of universal 4. Proposition. When we use concepts in order to classify or
simple ideas, composition of complex ideas, and interaction with describe an "existent" (a particular that exists be it an
material objects in the world through their primary and secondary object, a person, an action or event, etc.) (Rand 1990) we
qualities. use what philosophers call a proposition (Binswanger
2014). A proposition is a statement that expresses either
EMPIRICISTS: an assertion or a denial (Copi, 2002) that an existent
David Hume, George Berkeley belongs to a class or possesses a certain attribute.
Sources of Ideas ● The proposition is usually expressed in a
Where do ideas come from? declarative sentence. When I say, for example,
● Experience with the world that "Men are mortals" I am making an assertion
How is it possible to know anything? that men are affirmative in nature (thus the
● Going out and having the right experiences statement is an affirmative proposition). When I
make an opposite claim, however, "Men are not
RATIONALISM mortals" | am denying something about men and
thus my statement is negative in nature (thus the
● a philosophical and epistemological position that asserts proposition is called a negative proposition)
the primary role of reason and innate ideas in the ● "Men are mortals", "Angels are not demons", and
acquisition of knowledge and the understanding of the "Saints are not sinners" can either be true or
world. We can acquire knowledge by thinking with the use false. "Truth and falsity are called the two
of our minds. The reason is that thinking involves content. possible truth values of the statement" (Hurley
To think is to think of something. 2011).

IDEA = Source of Knowledge, Justification of our Beliefs, Source of

Conceptual Apparatus
PHILOSOPHY Q1
to only one method and consider it to work for everyone.
5. Inference. How do we demonstrate that the statement is Perhaps it is better to use any of the three methods that
true? By providing an argument. According to Hurley an are appropriate for any given statement or belief that is
argument "is a group of statements, one or more of which being examined.
(the premises) are claimed to provide support for, or
reason to believe one of the others (the conclusion) (Hurley DIFFERENT FALLACIES(errors in reasoning)
2011).
● All men are mortals. Socrates is a man. Therefore 1. Argumentum ad Hominem (Attacking Person)
Socrates is mortal. ● Attacking the person below the belt, instead of addressing
● Here we have three related statements or propositions). the argument itself. It attempts to discredit the speaker by
The last statement beginning with the word "therefore" is focusing on their character, background, or personal traits
what we call a conclusion. A conclusion is a statement that rather than the logic of the argument.
we want to prove. The first two statements are what we call ● Example: "How can we believe him when he talks about
premises (singular form: premise). A premise provides social distancing, he is a lawyer who is a liar."
justification, evidence, and proof to the conclusion.
2. Argumentum ad Baculum (Appeal to Authority)
THE NATURE OF TRUTH ● Claiming that something is true because an authority figure
Now that we know how we know, it's time to see whether the said it, without providing evidence.
knowledge we acquired is "really" knowledge i.e., is true. This is the ● Example: "My doctor said that this supplement is good for
second part of epistemology: validating one's knowledge. you, so it must be true."

The first step in validating one's knowledge is to ask oneself the 3. Argumentum ad Misercordiam (Appeal to Pity)
following question: "How did I arrive at this belief, by what steps?" ● Using emotional appeals instead of logic to persuade.
(Binswanger 2014). ● Example: "If you don't donate to this charity, you're a
Thus you have to retrace the steps you took to acquire the heartless monster."
knowledge, "reverse engineer" the process (Binswanger 2014). This
is what Dr. Peikoff calls reduction (Peikoff 1990). One will therefore 4. Argumentum ad Populum (Appeal to people/Bandwagon)
realize that the steps you took to acquire knowledge ● Assuming something is true because many people believe
(perception-concept-proposition-inference are the same steps it.
needed to validate knowledge (but in reverse order). Thus what the ● Example: " Everyone is buying this new phone, so it must
ancient pre-socratic philosopher Heraclitus said is true when applied be the best."
to epistemology: "the way up knowledge acquisition is the way
down [knowledge validation]" 5. Argumentum ad Traditionem "Appeal to Tradition"
● Claim is deemed correct solely because it has been
Ways to determine if the statement is true: practiced or believed for a long time.
• The proof rests ultimately on sense perception. ● Example: "This medicine has been used for centuries, so it
• Some beliefs or ideas need a "multi-step process of validation must be effective."
called proof.
• To determine if the statement is true through a consensus. If the 6. Argumentum and Ignorantiam "Appeal to Ignorance"
majority agrees that a statement is true then it is true. ● Argues that something must be true because it hasn't been
• To determine whether a statement is true is to test it by means of proven false, or that something must be false because it
action. hasn't been proven true.
● Example: there must be fairies living in our attic because
TRUTH VS. OPINION nobody's ever proven that there aren't fairies living in our
Characteristics of Opinion: attic."
1. Based on emotions
2. Open to interpretation 7. Petitio Principii (Begging the Question)
3. Cannot be confirmed ● It essentially says, "This is true because this is true"
4. Inherently biased without providing any independent evidence or justification.
While the truth is: ● Example: "The bible is true because it is the word of God."
● Based on the facts of reality
● This can be confirmed with other sources 8. Hasty Generalization
● Independent of one's interpretation, preferences, and ● Draws a conclusion based on insufficient evidence
biases ● Example: "I met a rude person from New York, so all New
Yorkers must be rude."
THEORIES OF TRUTH
1. The Correspondence Theory of Truth - The basic idea of 9. Correlation/Causation (Cause and Effect)
the correspondence theory is that what we believe or say is ● Assumes that because two things are correlated, one must
true if it corresponds to the way things actually are based cause the other factor.
on the facts. It argues that an idea that corresponds with ● Example: "When ice cream sales are up, so are shark
reality is true while an idea, which does not correspond to attacks. Therefore, buying ice cream increases your risk of
reality is false. being bitten by a shark."
● Austin Cline argues, it is important to note here
that "truth" is not a property of "facts." 10. Fallacy of Composition
● A fact is some set of circumstances in the world ● A logical error where one assumes that what is true of a
while a belief is an opinion about what those part of something must also be true of the whole
facts ● Example: "This house is made of bricks. A brick is light in
● A belief, however, is capable of being true or weight. Therefore, this house is also light in weight."
false because it may or may not accurately
describe the world. 11. Fallacy of Division
2. The Coherence Theory of Truth - only when statements ● Opposite of the fallacy of composition
are tested as part of a larger system of complex ideas, ● Example: " The United States is the richest country in the
then one might conclude that the statement is "true", world. Therefore, everyone in the United States must be
therefore, the statement "coheres" with the larger system. rich and live well"
Coherence Theory is similar to the Correspondence
Theory since both evaluate statements based on their 12. Fallacy of Equivocation
agreement with reality. The difference lies in the method ● Occurs when a word or phrase with multiple meanings is
where the former involves a larger system while the latter used in a way that shifts its meaning within an argument,
relies on a single evidence of fact. leading to a faulty conclusion.
3. The Pragmatist Theory of Truth - belief/statement is true ● Example: "All banks are by the river. The bank lent me
if it has a useful (pragmatic) application in the world. If it money. Therefore, the bank is by the river."
does not, then it is not true. It is not necessary to subscribe
PHILOSOPHY Q1
#3 The Human Person as an EMBODIED SPIRIT What is a human as an Embodied Spirit?

Man - By definition, it is generally and commonly defined to represent As an embodied spirit human beings demonstrate the following
the entire human race. qualities:

Human - A term used to refer to various classifications and species. 1. Self Awareness
For a living man, a human is under the classification of Mamalia.
➢a person having a clear perception of oneself, including his or her
Human Being - A term used to separate man from other Human thoughts, emotions, identity, and actions (Abella, 2016)
Classifications like animals.
➢It is the ability of one’s consciousness to look inward thus
Person - Refers to an individual who possesses self-awareness, discovering the presence of a self
self-determination, rational mind, and the capacity to interact with
others and himself /herself. 2. Externality

Personhood - A general term that refers to the state of being a As an embodied spirit human beings demonstrate the following
person with unique, sacred, and ethical status within him/herself. qualities:

Human Nature - A general term that refers to a person's deepest ➢A human person is able to connect and interact with another
and most natural behavior that distinguishes humans from animals. A person, an animal, or an inanimate object
collective trait that formed and considered the very essence of
humanity.
➢ human person is able to go beyond their limited selves and
embrace others
HUMAN PERSON
3. Self-determination
● Is someone with an exact origin of his/her classification
● From the biblical perspective, we came from Adam and
Eve ➢the capability of persons to make choices and decisions based on
● For science, we came from an ape under the class their own preferences, monitor and regulate their actions, and be
Mammalia goal-oriented and self-directed” (Abella 2016) Thus human beings
● A human person is typically with a body which is tangible are free.
and has a three components composed of SOUL, MIND
and SPIRIT. Also, he or she is entitled and granted rights
and privileges by the state which he or she legally belong.
4. Dignity
Kinds of Human Person
➢an inherent value and importance of a human person
Cognitive Self
➢that is why no amount of money can equal the value of a human
● something within and cannot be physically seen life. This is also the reason why individual rights are absolute
● the essential components of a human persons that deals
with THE WHAT OF A PERSON Human Transcendence
● includes human persons’ belief, desire, dreams, and
intentions.
➢Human power of ability to surpass your limits

Physical Self
➢“Transcendence refers to the very highest and most inclusive or
holistic levels of human consciousness, behaving and relating, as
● something can be seen in his/her physical appearance ends rather than means, to oneself, to significant others, to human
● deals with the essential features of the human way of life or beings in general, to other species, to nature, and to the cosmos.” —
THE WHO OF A PERSON Abraham Maslow
● Includes his/her body type, strength and appearances.
➢You are able to transcend your limits through your physical and
Embodied - It is being materialized or incarnated. mental abilities

Embodied Spirit Buddha realized that all people suffer. Maybe in your case, you just
accept your own suffering as part of life but not for Buddha. This
● A spirit is being incarnated. reality ignited his curiosity to examine and understand the word
● It is known to be the driving force behind what we actually suffering. He left his royal life in the palace and spent his life for 6
think, do and say. years in the wilderness to find answers to his questions. And when
● It is indeed the reflections of our total being by which our he sat under the Tree of Enlightenment for 40 days.
sensations lead to our human feelings, emotions, and
decisions. St. Thomas Aquinas ➢ a philosopher and one of the greatest
● inseparable union of the human body and soul theologians in the Catholic Church in the 13th century, said that “of all
● The body is not separate from the soul, just as soul is not creatures, human beings have the unique power to change
separate from the body themselves and things for the better.”
● The point of convergence between the material and
spiritual entities
● It enables us to know our potentialities and limitations.
● It also exposes us to a thorough and deeper understanding
of our selves as a unique creature united by body and soul.

(Nasa PPT yung kay Aristotle ‘di ko alam kung paano ilalagay
BWHSHWHAHA)