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THE MEANING AND METHOD OF DOING
PHILOSOPHY
PHILOSOPHY
 comes from the two greek words; philos (love)
and sophia (wisdom). Ancient greeks used this
term to refer to “love of wisdom”.
 is the study of general and fundamental
questions about existence, knowledge, values,
reason, mind, and language
HERACLITUS (535 BCE TO 475 BCE)
 He proposed that everything that exists is
based on a higher order or plan which he
called logos.
DEMOCRITUS (460 BCE TO 370 BCE)
 He devoted himself to the study of the causes
of natural phenomena
DIOGENES OF SINOPE (412 BCE to 323 BCE)
 He was a known advocate of living a simple
and virtuous life.
EPICURUS (341 BCE to 270 BCE)
 He believed that philosophy could enable man
to live a life of happiness.
SOCRATES (470 BCE to 399 BCE)
 He was considered the foremost philosophers
of ancient times
 He was credited with formulating the Socratic
method
PLATO (427 BCE to 347 BCE)
 A student of Socrates, he wrote down his
mentor’s teaching and incorporated some of
his own ideas into them.
 Plato’s most significant ideas included his
Theory of Forms, which proposes that
everything that exist is based on an idea or
template than can only be perceived in the
mind.
ARISTOTLE (384 BCE TO 322 BCE)
 He was the prominent student of Plato. For
him, all ideas and views are based on
perception and our reality is based on what we
can sense and perceive.
THE VALUE OF DOING PHILOSOPHY IN OBTAINING
A BROAD PERSPECTIVE ON LIFE
Plato
 Plato traced man’s need to philosophize to his
sense of wonder. Whenever we are
confronted with an experience, we always
wonder how it came about.
Rene Descartes
 a french philosopher traced the need to
philosophize to doubt. In life, we will be faced
with several ideas and arguments which
present themselves as “truths”.
 A critical and questioning perspective is
necessary to determine if indeed these ideas
or views are correct or true
Karl Jaspers
 Swiss-German philosopher Karl Jaspers saw
the need to philosophize because of
experience
BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY THAT DEALS WITH A
PARTICULAR ASPECT OF LIFE OR PHENOMENA.
Aesthetics
 the branch of Philosophy which deals with
beauty and what makes things “beautiful”
Logic
 branch of philosophy which deals with correct
reasoning.
Epistemology
 discusses the nature of knowledge and
knowing
Ethics
 the branch which deals with moral questions
and dilemmas.
Political Philosophy
 studies governments and deals with questions
of justice, power and the rights and obligations
of citizens.
Metaphysics
 a branch of philosophy which deals with
questions regarding reality and existence.
Philosophy of the Human Person
 an area in philosophy that understand the
human person from a philosophical
perspective.
HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE FROM A PARTIAL POINT OF
VIEW
Farmers have problem in eradicating beetles but
before coming up with a solution they consider the
different impacts on the environment and will not
cause disaster.
 HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE
Anna is a member of Religious group, she claims
that on their religion is teaching the true words of
God.
 PARTIAL POINT OF VIEW
HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE
 aims to determine and explain the whole or
totality of a given system by examining the
behaviors of certain component parts
HOLISM
 “holos” which literally means all, entire and
totality
 a school of thought that maintains the
interdependence of factors to another
agencies of casualties
PARTIAL POINT OF VIEW
 Define as a way or a method how one sees or
perceives the reality or a phenomenon
 Is a perspective that looks at the reality based
on a single or partial component of a system.
DOING A PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION ON A
SITUATION FROM HOLISTIC PERSPECTIVE
 Reflection requires a person to be willing to
examine one’s thoughts, feelings, and action
and to learn more about one’s life and
experiences.
 Human self-reflection is the capacity of
humans to exercise introspection and to
attempt to learn more about their
fundamental nature and essence
 When we reflect, we can judge whether our
actions or decisions are reasonable or not
METHOD OF PHILOSOPHIZING
Philosophical method
 study of how to do philosophy
Truth
 It is most often used to mean being in accord
with fact or reality, or fidelity to an original or
standard
Propositions
 is a statement about the world or reality.
Knowledge
 is the clear awareness and understanding of
something. It is the product of questions that
allow for clear answers.
Facts
 are propositions or statement which are
observe to be real or truthful
Claim
 is a statement that is not evidently or
immediately known to be true.
Doubt
 has a very important purpose in philosophy as
it drives our desire to discover the truth.
Belief
 is true if it can be justified or proven through
the use of one’s senses. Another basis for
determining truth is a belief or statement is
true if it is based on facts.
 Remember the famous French philosopher,
Rene Descartes traced the need to
philosophize to doubt
DISTINGUISH OPINION FROM TRUTH
Fact
 is something concrete that can be proven. You
can find facts in legal records, scientific
findings, encyclopedias, atlases, etc.
 A fact is something you can proved to be
either true or false
 You cannot change a fact
Opinion
 is less concrete. It's a view formed in the mind
of a person about a particular issue. In other
words it is what someone believes or thinks,
and is not necessarily the truth.
 An opinion is how a person or thing feels
about something.
 You can change an opinion
 Opinions are statement that go beyond
providing facts.
Conclusion
 is a judgment based on certain facts
Beliefs
 are statements that expresses 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 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 disproportionate weight in favor of or
against an idea or thing, usually in a way that is
closed-minded, prejudicial
The following are the examples of fallacies
 Ad hominem -attacking the person presenting
the argument instead of the argument itself.
 Appeal to force -using the threat of force or an
undesirable event to advance an argument.
 Appeal to emotion -using emotions such as
pity or sympathy
 Appeal to the popular -the idea is presented as
acceptable because a lot of people accept it.
 Appeal to tradition -the idea is acceptable
because it has been true for a long time
 Begging the question -assuming the thing or
idea to be proven is true; also known as
circular argument
 Fallacy of composition -assuming that what is
true of a part is true for the whole
 Fallacy of division -assuming that what is true
for the whole is true for its parts
 socioeconomic status
 location of neighborhood (e.g. armed,
disorganized, or violent neighborhood)
 abusive relationships (e.g. emotional abuse)
 negative influences (e.g. drug use)
OVERCOMING LIMITATIONS
 Bodily limits can be tested by trying on new
experiences and working on challenges with
increasing levels of difficulty.
 Social and environmental limitations are more
difficult to overcome than bodily limitations
because they involve the influence of other
people and the external world.
THE FOLLOWING ARE THE EXAMPLES OF BIASES
Correspondence bias
 or attribution effect tendency to judge a
person’s personality by his or her actions,
without regard for the external factors or
influence.
Confirmation bias
 tendency to look for and readily accept
information which fits one’s own beliefs or
views and to reject ideas or views that go
against it.
Framing
 focusing on a certain aspect of a problem
while ignoring other aspects
Hindsight
 the tendency to see past events as predictable,
or to ascribe a pattern
Conflict of Interest
 a person or group is connected to or has a
vested interest in the issue being discussed.
Cultural Bias
 analyzing an event or issue based on one’s
cultural biased
SOME POINT TO REMEMBER WHEN GOING
BEYOND YOUR LIMITS
 you are connected to the external or eternal
world
 challenges are learning opportunities
 your goal is more important than your fears
 think outside the box
 recognize that everyone has fear
LIMITATIONS AND POSSIBILITIES FOR
TRANSCENDENCE
 Transcendence originated from the words
Trans, meaning “go beyond”, and scandare,
meaning “climb”
THE HUMAN BODY IN IMPOSING LIMITS AND
POSSIBILITY
 BODILY LIMITATIONS
 mental and emotional disorders (e.g. anxiety,
intellectual disability)
 disabilities (e.g. amputated leg, deafness)
 disease and illnesses (e.g. hypertension, cough)
 failures and experiences (e.g. failing a subject)
SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL LIMITATIONS