An Introduction
to
Philosophy
What is Philosophy ?
What are your
thoughts or ideas?
What is Philosophy ?
• There are many, many definitions of
“philosophy”
• Philosophy concerns itself with the most
fundamental human questions about
reality, existence, knowledge, values,
reason, mind, and language
Basic Human Questions
HCOM
301
The Axial Age
800-200 BCE
India
China
• Parsva & Mahavira: Jainism
• Siddhartha Gautama: Buddhism
• Hinduism
• Confucius: Confucianism
• Laozi: Taoism
Greece
• Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle:
Western Philosophy
Middle East
• Elijah, Isaiah, & Jeremiah:
Judaism, Christianity, Islam
• Zarathustra: Zoroastrianism
Ancient Evidence of Ideas
More Conventional Early Writing
Indus Script
@ 2000 BCE
Tao te ching
300 BCE
Phoenician
Alphabet
1000 BCE
Plato’s
Writing
370 BCE
Closer to Home
In Mesoamerica
Mixtec
in
Oaxaca
@ 1000 CE
Mayan
Codex
@ 500 CE
Mexica Migration Story
@ 1400 CE
By the Middle Ages
500-1500
Human inquiry
into higher
learning had
been divided
into just four
fields:
1. Theology
2. Medicine
3. Law
4. Philosophy
In fact,
For the past
thousand years,
people who study
almost any field
at the highest
level are awarded
a
Ph. D.
Doctor
of
Philosophy
Degree
Over the centuries…
Broad human inquiry into these basic
questions has evolved into
some subsets or sub-disciplines within
the general field of Philosophy
Branches within Philosophy
Ontology
Applied
Epistemology
Philosophy
Logic
Aesthetics
Ethics
Branches within Philosophy
• Ontology: what exists, and what is the nature of
reality?
• Epistemology: what is knowledge, and how do we
know things?
• Ethics: how should we live and behave? What are
right and wrong, moral and immoral?
• Logic: what is correct reasoning?
• Aesthetics: how are standards for beauty, taste,
humor, comfort arrived at?
Fields of Applied Philosophy
 Philosophy of Education
 Philosophy of Politics or Government
 Philosophy of Art
 Philosophy of Medicine or Health Care
 Philosophy of Science
 Philosophy of Business
 Philosophy of History
 Etc.
Focus of HCOM 301
Basic Philosophy
• Ontology
☚
• Epistemology
• Ethics
☚
• Logic
• Aesthetics
☚
Applied Philosophy
 Philosophy of Education
 Philosophy of Politics or
Government
 Philosophy of Art
 Philosophy of Medicine or
Health Care
 Philosophy of Science
 Philosophy of Business
 Philosophy of Life
(Worldviews)
☚
Assignment on 1-28