Defining Philosophy:

 Philosophy is an enterprise that begins with wonder at the marvels and mysteries of the
world, that pursues a rational investigation of those marvels and mysteries, seeking
wisdom and truth, and that result in passionate moral and intellectual integrity.

 Believing that “the unexamined life is not worth living,” (Socrates) philosophy leaves no
facet of life untouched by its inquiry.

 It aims at clear, critical, comprehensive conception of reality.

Philosophy and its Questions:

 Philosophy is the discipline concerned with questions of:

 1. How one should live? (Ethics)

 2. What sorts of things and what are their essential natures? (Metaphysics)

 3. What counts as genuine knowledge? (Epistemology)

Understanding Philosophy

 The only way to understand what Philosophy is about is to participate in it.

 1. To confront with philosophical questions.

 2. To use philosophical language.

 3. To become acquainted with differing philosophical positions and maneuvers.

 4. To read the philosophers themselves.

 5. To grapple with the issues for oneself.

Four ways of knowing the Meaning and Nature of Philolosophy.

1. The Word Itself.

 Etymology: (Greek) Philia (Love) + Sophia (Wisdom) “Love of Wisdom” used by

 Philosopher “the pursuer of wisdom” “the seeker of truth”

2. The Field of Philosophy

 Four Areas or fields of philosophy:

2. Epistemology (the study/theory of knowledge

3. Value-theory (Axiology) (the study of values[moral/aesthetic/social/political])

4. Logic (the study of the principles of reasoning) the tool philosophers employ as they set
about to investigate issues like reality, knowledge, value.

Differing Conceptions

Four different Conceptions of Philosophy

1 The Speculative

2 The Analytic

3 The Existential

4 The Phenomenological

The Speculative

 Philosophy is the grandest of all disciplines.

 Philosophers create broad systems of ideas in an attempt to answer the most ultimate and
far-ranging questions.

 What is reality?

 What is ultimate good?

 To make sense of reality and experience as a whole

 Philosopher as a “spectator of time and eternity” (Plato)

Speculative Philosophy

 The endeavor to frame a coherent, logical, necessary system of general ideas in terms of
which every element of our experience can be interpreted. By this notion of
“interpretation” I mean that everything of which we are conscious, as enjoyed, perceived,
willed, or thought, shall have the character of a particular instance of the general scheme.
(Whitehead)

The Analytic

 Philosophers critically analyze language, concepts, and arguments striving for precision
and clarity.
  The proper task of the philosopher is to unravel and to clarify philosophical language.

 Conclusion: Traditional problems of philosophy are not real rather pseudo problems,
problems not of reality but of language.

 Emphasis: Precision in terminology, Strictness in argumentation, Conceptual clarity,

The Existential Approach

 For Existentialist philosophers, traditional philosophy has been too occupied with
abstraction and trivialities.

 Object of philosophical reflection:

 1. Human being as existing reality.

 2. The sense of urgency and the crisis of contemporary human existence and experiences.

 Example: Tree.

The Fundamental Question

 Judging whether life is or not worth living amounts to answering the fundamental
question of philosophy. All the rest--- whether or not the world has three dimensions,
whether the mind has nine or twelve categories----come afterworlds. These are games----
I have never seen anyone die for the ontological argument… the meaning of life is the
most urgent of question. (Albert Camus)

The Existential

 Philosophers reflect on human existence, often focusing on the sense of urgency and
crisis in contemporary human experience.

The Phenomenological Approach

 In between analytic and existential---emphasis on description.

 “Phenomena” something seen or observed.

 Phenomenology, as a general philosophical perspective, stresses that whatever is given to

Two Philosophical Traditions

 Analytic. British philosophy (G. E. Moore)

 Phenomenological Method, a new way of looking at things that contrasts at every point
with natural attitude of experience and thought.

The Phenomenological

 Philosophers describe and reflect on the world and subjectivity as these are given in
experience.

Philosophy and Religion

 Religion: a “slippery” word and difficult to define.

 Two commonalities with Philosophy

 First: Ultimate reality,

 The meaning of life,

 Good and Evil,

 Immortality,

 Human Nature.

Religion involves beliefs about such things and worked out them in a systematic and fixed
manner though not in a critical manner as in philosophy.

 Second: the distinctive aspect is the commitment it involves.

 The origin of the word Religion comes from Latin ‘religare’ means “To bind one thing to
another”. (personally bound to something, usually God)

 Focus on existential rather than intellectual character of religion by active participation in

 The object of such commitment must be something Ultimate (like God) [‘ultimate
concern’ says Paul Tillich]

Philosophy and Science

 Science: the study of something.

 Science from Latin ‘scientia’ means ‘knowledge’.

 The science is now used for social (sociology, psychology, anthropology, etc.) and
natural (physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, etc.) sciences.
 Like philosophy science is the pursuit of knowledge.

 However, unlike philosophy its focus is restricted to the study of natural world alone.

 The scientific method is more restricted than the philosopher’s method.

 Scientists employ primarily the tools of observation and experimentation that may not of
a philosopher’s interest.