Introduction to the Philosophy

of the Human Person

 Quarter 1 – Module 2:
Methods of Philosophizing
MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING
COMPETENCY
 2.1 Distinguish opinion from truth (PPT11/12-Ic-2.1)
 2.2 Realize that the methods of philosophy lead to wisdom
and truth (PPT11/12-Id-2.2)
 2.3 Evaluate truth and opinions in different situations using
the methods of philosophizing (PPT11/12-Id-2.3)
 At the end of the module, you should be
able to:
K - Analyze situations that show the
difference between opinion and truth.
S - Write your own editorial on a certain
issue
A - Value the importance of knowing the
difference between facts and opinions.
 Distinguish opinion from truth
 Philosophical method (or philosophical
methodology) is the study of how to do
Philosophy.
 Philosophy is distinguished by the ways that
philosophers follow in addressing philosophical
questions.
 Philosophy is concerned with determining
the concept of truth.
What is truth and
why is it
important?
Truth lies at the heart
of any inquiry.
 Truth, in metaphysics and the
philosophy of language, is the
property of sentences,
assertions, beliefs, thoughts,
propositions that are said, in
ordinary discourse, to agree with
the facts or to state what the
case is.
 Truth is also sometimes
defined in modern
contexts as an idea of
“truth to self”, or
authenticity.
 How do we know if something is
true?
 Philosophers, we do not
assume that every statement is
true.
 In philosophy, systematic
doubt is employed to help
determine the truth.
 Doubt has a very
important purpose in
philosophy as it drives our
desire to discover the
truth.
 A belief is true if it can be justified or
proven through the use of one’s sense
and if it is based on facts.
 Getting consensus or having people agree
on a common belief is another way of
determining what is true, although this
approach has certain limitations.
Philosophers also believe that claims
and beliefs should be tested in order to
determine the truth.
Determining the truth also requires that
a person can prove a statement through
action.
Activity:
Distinguishing Opinion from Truth
1. It takes 30 minutes to walk from my
home to school.
2. Living near the school is better because
we don’t have to spend much for
transportation.
3. My sister ate the last piece of pizza.
4. My sister is a selfish person because she ate
the last piece of pizza and did not share it
with me.
5. The policeman firmly pushed the suspect to
his knees and placed him in handcuffs.
6. The aggressive manner by which the
policeman arrested the suspect is an example
of brutality that characterizes our police
force.
 is something that is true and can
be verified as such. You can find facts
in legal records, scientific findings,
encyclopedias, atlases, etc. in other
words, facts are the truth and are
accepted as such.
1,3,5
 Opinion is a statement that holds the
element of belief; it tells how someone
feels. In other words it is what someone
believes or thinks, and is not necessarily
the truth.
 2,4,6
 Opinions are statements that go beyond providing facts.
Conclusion is a judgment based on certain facts.
Beliefs are statements that express convictions that are not
easily and clearly explained by facts.
Explanations are statements that assume the claim to be true
and provide reasons why the statement is true.
Arguments are a series of statements that provide reasons to
convince the reader or listener that a claim or opinion is
truthful.
Fallacies are arguments based on faulty reasoning.
Bias is a disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea
or thing, usually in a way that is close-minded, prejudicial, or
unfair.
The difference between fact and opinion on the
following grounds:
1. The fact is described as the statement that can
be verified or proven to be true. Opinion is an
expression of judgment or belief about
something.
2. Fact relies on observation or research while
opinion is based on assumption.
3. The fact is an objective reality whereas opinion
is a subjective statement.
4. Facts can be verified with the help of evidence
or statistics. On the contrary, an opinion is not
supported by any evidence.
5. Facts explain what actually happened. Unlike
an opinion, which represents a perception about
something.
6. One important feature of a fact is that it is
universal and does not differ from person to
person. As against this, every human being has a
different opinion on a particular subject and so,
it varies from one person to another.
 FALLACIES
 Arguments often take the form of statements
that are either claims of facts and are phrased
in such a way that they seem reasonable.
However, a number of arguments may be
based on faulty reasoning.
 These kinds of arguments are called fallacies.
Some of the fallacies maybe intentional. As
the person making is desperate to convince
you to accept his or her argument.
Fallacy Characteristics Example
Ad hominem attacking the person “of course he believes that
presenting the argument the government is flawed,
instead of the argument he is a rebel and a
itself Communist!”
Appeal to force using the threat of force or “if this peace agreement will
an undesirable event to not be signed by the
advance an argument. government, then we will
have no recourse but to go
to war.”
Appeal to emotion using emotions such as pity “All these charges are
or sympathy baseless; this is just plain
harassment – can’t you see
how this is affecting my
family?”
Appeal to the popular the idea is presented as “Every boy your age
acceptable because a lot already has a girlfriend,
of people accept it. you should go find one!”

Appeal to tradition the idea is acceptable “Marriage should be

because it has been true between a man and a
for a long time. woman. It has been so for
a long time in this country;
it should remain so today
and in the future.”

Begging the question the thing or idea to be “All politicians are corrupt,
assuming proven is true; also known because they are in
as circular argument. politics.”
“Vaccines are dangerous
because they contain
chemical.”
Cause-and-effect assuming “cause- “Ever since you bought
andeffect” relationship that sweater, everything
between unrelated events has been going wrong in
your life. You should get rid
of it.”
Fallacy of composition assuming that what is true “These cases of robbery in
of a part is true for the whole this district have convinced
me that the city has become
a den of thieves and
criminals.”
Fallacy of division assuming that what is true “You come from a family of
for the whole is true for its doctors and intellectuals!
parts. Surely you can do better in
this course!”
 When looking at an opinion, be aware of bias
or the personal views of the person
presenting it. Biases are not necessarily errors
in reasoning, but refer to tendencies or
influences which affect the views of people.
The following are some of the common biases.
Bias Characteristics Example
Correspondence bias or tendency to judge a “These soldiers who
attribution effect person’s personality by his fought in the war are all
or her actions, without bloodthirsty murderers!”
regard for the external
factors or influence.

Confirmation bias tendency to look for and “How can I accept his view
readily accept information that there is no God? I’m a
which fits one’s own Christian!”
beliefs or views and to
reject ideas or views that
go against it.
Framing focusing on a certain “Preliminary evidence
aspect of a problem while has still not pointed out
ignoring other aspects. the actual cause of the
plane crash, but
investigators are
currently focusing on the
possibility of pilot error.”
Hindsight the tendency to see past “Magellan’s assault on
events as predictable, or to Mactan Island was a
ascribe a pattern to foolhardy venture, made
historical events by an overconfident ,
careless man who
underestimated the valor
of the native Filipinos.”
Conflict of Interest a person or group is A manager at a company
connected to or has is responsible for
selecting a contractor for
a vested interest in a major project. The
the issue being manager's sibling owns a
discussed. construction company.

Cultural bias analyzing an event or “I do not agree with this

issue based on one’s Western practice of
placing aged parents in
cultural standards. retirement homes. We
Filipinos take care of our
family members.”
 philosophy is an organized body of knowledge,
the subject matter of philosophy is questions,
which have three major characteristics;
 1. Philosophical questions have answers but the
answers remain in dispute.
 2. Philosophical questions cannot be settled by
science, common sense, or faith.
 3. Philosophical questions are of perennial
intellectual interest to human beings.
 Critical Thinking is the careful,
reflective, rational and systematic
approach to questions of very general
interest.
Critical thinking means
understanding philosophy and refraining
from merely giving claims but through
careful thought, one reasons through to
argumentation.
For Maboloc and Pascua (2008) critical thinking is a
lifelong process of self assessment that further
consists of:
Defining, analyzing and devising solutions,
Arriving at reasonable and informed
conclusions
Applying understanding and knowledge to
new and different problems
Willingness to say, “I don’t know.”
The attributes of a critical thinker include;
Looks for evidence to support assumption and beliefs
Adjusts opinion
Looks for proof
Examines the problem
Rejects irrelevant and innocent information
The scientific method, also called empirical method, is
a process of determining truth or knowledge through
experimentation, inductive and deductive reasoning,
and hypothesis or theory testing.
 Deductive Reasoning In this type of reasoning, conclusion
comes first, followed by main points, and the last will be
the supporting data, facts, examples, and evidences.
General idea comes first before the specific or particular
idea.
 Inductive Reasoning In this type of reasoning, supporting
data, facts, examples, and evidences come first followed by
the main points and conclusion will be the last part. This is
the opposite of deductive reasoning because a particular
idea comes first before the general idea
1. General Principle: 1. Specific Observations:
- All birds have - The apples I’ve eaten
feathers. this week have been
2. Specific Case: sweet.
- The apples my friend
- A parrot is a bird.
ate were also sweet.
3. Specific Conclusion:
2. General Conclusion:
- Therefore, a parrot - Therefore, all apples are
has feathers.
likely sweet.
Bias Knowledge Deductive Opinion Argument
Conclusion Begging the Philosophical Truth Appeal to the
question method popular

Identify the concepts described in each number. Choose your answers

from the word pool below.
1. It is the study of how to do philosophy.
2. A fallacy in which the idea is presented as acceptable because a lot
of people accept it.
3. It is a disproportionate weight in favor of or against an idea or
thing, usually in a way that is close-minded, prejudicial, or unfair.
4. It is a judgment based on certain facts.
5. It is the clear awareness and understanding of something.
Bias Knowledge Deductive Opinion Argument
Conclusion Begging the Philosophical Truth Appeal to the
question method popular

6. It lies at the heart of any inquiry

7. A fallacy assuming the thing or idea to be proven is true; also
known as “circular argument”.
8. A series of statements that provide reasons to convince the
reader or listener that a claim or opinion is truthful.
9. A type of reasoning where the general idea comes first
before the specific or particular idea.
10.It is a statement that holds the element of belief; it tells
how someone feels