LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING (LOCT 1111) INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

CHAPTER ONE

1.1. Introduction to Philosophy

Logic is often treated simultaneously as a field of study and as an instrument. As a field of
study, it is a branch of philosophy that deals with the study of arguments and the principles and
methods of right reasoning. As an instrument, it is something, which we can use to formulate
our own rational arguments and critically evaluate the soundness of other arguments. Before
logic itself has become a field of study, philosophers have been using it as a basic tool to
investigate issues that won their philosophical attention, such as, reality, knowledge, value, etc.
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as
existence, knowledge, truth, beauty, law, justice, validity, mind, and language. It is a rational and
critical enterprise that tries to answer fundamental questions through an intensive application of
reason-an application that draws on analysis, comparison, and evaluation. It involves reason,
rational criticism, examination, and analysis.

1.2. Meaning and Nature of Philosophy

Because of its universal nature, it is difficult to define philosophy in terms of a specific subject
matter. However, we can define from its etymological foundation.

Thus, etymologically, the word philosophy comes from two Greek words: “philo” and “Sophia”,
which mean “love” and “wisdom”, respectively. Thus, the literal definition of philosophy is
“love of wisdom”. Thus, as a pursuit of wisdom, philosophy refers to the development of
critical habits, the continuous search for truth, and the questioning of the apparent. The
ancient Greek thinker Pythagoras was the first to use the word philosopher to call a person who
clearly shows a marked curiosity in the things he experiences. Anyone who raises questions,
such as Does God exists? What is reality? What is the ultimate source of Being? What is
knowledge? What does it mean to know? How do we come to know? What is value?, and the
like, is really showing a curiosity that can be described as a vital concern for becoming wise
about the phenomena of the world and the human experiences. Therefore, seeking wisdom is
among the various essences of philosophy that it has got from its etymological definition.
Nevertheless, this is not sufficient by itself to understand philosophy, for not all wisdoms are
philosophy.

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LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING (LOCT 1111) INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

The wisdom that philosophers seek is not the wisdom of the expertise or technical skills of
professionals. Someone may be encyclopedic, and thus seemingly intelligent, but he may
actually be foolish when it comes to understanding the meaning and significance of what he
knows. According to Socrates, wisdom consists of a critical habit and eternal vigilance about all
things and a reverence for truth, whatever its form, and wherever its place.

Vincent Barry also stated, Philosophy is "an active imaginative process of formulating proper
questions and resolving them by rigorous, persistent analysis." Therefore, philosophy is a
rational and critical enterprise that tries to formulate and answer fundamental questions through
an intensive application of reason- an application that draws on analysis, comparison, and
evaluation. It involves reason, rational criticism, examination, and analysis.

The other thing, which is worthy of noting, is that philosophy is an activity. It is not something
that can be easily mastered or learned in schools. A philosopher is a great philosopher, not
because he mastered philosophy, but because he did it. It is not his theory, but his extraordinary
ability to critically think, to conceptualize, to analyze, to compare, to evaluate, and to
understand- i.e., to philosophize- that makes him so. Of course, the product of philosophizing is
philosophy as a product. However, what makes someone a great philosopher is not the produced
philosophy, but his/her outstanding ability to philosophize.

Philosophy has a constructive side; it attempts to formulate rationally defensible answers to

certain fundamental questions concerning the nature of reality, the nature of value, and the nature
of knowledge and truth. And has a critical side; it deals with giving a rational critic, analysis,
clarification, and evaluation of answers given to basic metaphysical, epistemological, and
axiological questions.

1.3. Basic Features of Philosophy

Philosophy has its own salient features that distinguish it from other academic disciplines. The
general features can be summarized as follows:

 Philosophy is a set of views or beliefs about life and the universe, which are often held
uncritically. It is informal sense of philosophy or "Having a philosophy" referring to an
informal personal attitude.
 Philosophy is a process of reflecting on and criticizing our most deeply held conceptions and
beliefs. It is formal sense of "Doing philosophy."

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LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING (LOCT 1111) INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

Note: two senses of philosophy "having" and "Doing"

Cannot be treated entirely independent of each other.
If we did not have a philosophy in the formal, personal sense, then we could not
do a philosophy in the critical, reflective sense.
But having a philosophy is not sufficient for doing philosophy. A genuine
philosophical attitude is searching and critical; it is open-minded and tolerant-
willing to look at all sides of an issue without prejudice. To philosophize is not
merely to read and know philosophy; there are skills of argumentation to be
mastered, techniques of analysis to be employed, and a body of material to be
appropriated such that we become able to think philosophically.
 Philosophy is a rational attempt to look at the world as a whole.
Philosophy seeks to combine the conclusions of the various sciences and human
experience into some kind of consistent worldview.
 Philosophy is the logical analysis of language and the clarification of the meaning of
words and concepts.
 Philosophy is a group of perennial problems that interest people and for which
philosophers always have sought answers.

1.4. Core Branches of Philosophy

Philosophy has different branches. Metaphysics, Epistemology, Axiology, and Logic are the
major ones.

1.4.1. Metaphysics

Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature of reality or existence. It deal
with issues of reality, God, freedom, soul/immortality, the mind-body problem, form and
substance relationship, cause and effect relationship, and other related issues. The term
metaphysics is derived from the Greek words “meta” means beyond, upon or after and
physika, means physics. Literally, metaphysics refers those things after the physics.

some of the questions that Metaphysics primarily deals with:

 What is reality? What is the ultimately real?
 Can reality be grasped by the senses, or it is transcendent?
 What is mind, and what is its relation to the body?

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LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING (LOCT 1111) INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

 ls there a cause-and-effect relationship between reality and appearance?

 Does God exist, and if so, can we prove it?
 What is time? What is the meaning of life?
It is evident that the question of reality is not as simplistic as it appears. Metaphysical questions
are the most basic to ask because they provide the foundation upon which all subsequent inquiry
is based. Metaphysicians seek an irreducible foundation of reality or "first principles" from
which absolute knowledge or truth can be induced and deduced. Historically: Aristotle's writings
on "first philosophy" came after his treatise on physics, therefore, Aristotle's editor, Andronicus
of Rhodes, named them metaphysics

Metaphysical questions may be divided into four subsets or aspects.

I. Cosmological Aspect: Cosmology is the study of the origin, nature, and development of the
universe. Questions such as these populate the realm of cosmology:
How did the universe originate and develop?
Did it come about by accident or design?
Does its existence have any purpose?
II. Theological Aspect: Theology is that part of religious theory that deals with conceptions of
and about God.
Is there a God?
If so, is there one or more than one?
What are the attributes of God?
If God is both all good and all powerful, why does evil exist?
If God exists, what is His relationship to human beings and the real world of
everyday life?
Is there a possibility of a “life after death?”
III. Anthropological Aspect: Anthropology deals with the study of human beings and asks
questions like the following:
What is the relation between mind and body?
Is mind more fundamental than body, with body depending on mind, or vice versa?
What is humanity‟s moral status?
Are people born good, evil, or morally neutral?

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To what extent are individuals free? Do they have free will, or are their thoughts and
actions determined by their environment, inheritance, or a divine being?
Does each person have a soul? If so, what is it? People have obviously adopted
different positions on these questions, and those positions influence their political,
social, religious, and educational ideals and practices.
IV. Ontological Aspect: Ontology is the study of the nature of existence, or what it means for
anything to exist. Several questions are central to ontology are:
Is basic reality found in matter or physical energy (the world we can sense), or is it
found in spirit or spiritual energy?
Is it composed of one element (e.g., matter or spirit), or two (e.g., matter and spirit),
or many?
Is reality orderly and lawful in itself, or is it merely orderable by the human mind? Is
it fixed and stable, or is change its central feature? Is this reality friendly, unfriendly,
or neutral toward humanity?

1.4.2. Epistemology
Etymologically, the word epistemology has been derived from the Greek words “episteme”,
mean “knowledge, understanding”, and “logos”, mean “study of”. Thus epistemology is the
study of knowledge. Epistemology is the other field of philosophy that studies about the nature,
scope, meaning, and possibility of knowledge. It deals with issues of knowledge, opinion, truth,
falsity, reason, experience, and faith. Epistemology is also referred to as “theory of knowledge”.
In other words, we can say that Epistemology is the study of the nature, source, and validity of
knowledge. It seeks to answer of the basic questions as “What is true?” and “How do we
know?”

Skepticism in its narrow sense is the position claiming that people cannot acquire reliable
knowledge and that any search for truth is in vain. That thought was well expressed by Gorgias,
the Greek Sophist who asserted that nothing exists, and that if it did, we could not know it. A
full-blown skepticism would make intelligent action impossible. A term closely related to
skepticism is agnosticism. Agnosticism is a profession of ignorance in reference to the existence
or nonexistence of God.

The following are among the questions/issues with which Epistemology deals:

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What is knowledge?
What does it mean to know?
What is the source of knowledge? Experience? Reason? Or both?
How can we be sure that what we perceive through our senses is correct?
What makes knowledge different from belief or opinion?
What is truth, and how can we know a statement is true?
Can reason really help us to know phenomenal things without being informed by sense
experiences?
Can our sense experience really help us to know things beyond our perception without
the assistance of our reasoning ability?
What is the relationship and difference between faith and reason?

The theory of epistemology classifies sources of knowledge as the following major categories.

A. Empiricism: says knowledge is obtained through the senses or experiences. Empirical

knowledge appears to be built into the very nature of human experience.
B. Rationalism: says reason is source of human knowledge. Reasoning, thought, or logic is the
central factor in knowledge.
C. Intuition: direct apprehension of knowledge that is not derived from conscious reasoning or
immediate sense perception "Immediate feeling of certainty" Occurs beneath the threshold
of consciousness and is often experienced as a sudden flash of insight.
D. Revelation: It differs from all other sources of knowledge because it presupposes a
transcendent supernatural reality that breaks into the natural order has been of prime
importance in the field of religion. Believers hold that this form of knowledge has the
distinct advantage of being an omniscient source of information that is not available through
other epistemological methods. The major disadvantage of revealed knowledge is that it
must be accepted by faith and cannot be proved or disproved empirically.
E. Authority: (it is not a philosophical position) knowledge is accepted as true because it
comes from experts or has been sanctified over time as tradition.

1.4.3. Axiology

The term Axiology stems from two Greek words “Axios”, meaning “value, worth”, and “logos”,
meaning “reason/theory/symbol/science/study of”. Hence, Axiology is the philosophical study

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of value, which originally meant the worth of something. It includes the studies of moral values,
aesthetic values, as well as political and social values.

Axiology asks the philosophical questions of values that deal with notions of what a person or a
society regards as good or preferable, such as:

What is a value?
What kinds of values exist?
Where do values come from?
How do we justify our values?
How do we know what is valuable?
What is the relationship between values and knowledge?
Can it be demonstrated that one value is better than another?
Who benefits from values?

Axiology also deals with value in three areas, namely Ethics, Aesthetics, and Social/Political
Philosophy.

A. Ethics: Ethics, which is also known as Moral Philosophy, is a science that deals with the
philosophical study of moral principles, values, codes, and rules, which may be used as
standards for determining what kind of human conduct/action is said to be good or bad, right
or wrong.
Ethics raises various questions including:
What is good/bad?
What is right/wrong?
Is it the Right Principle or the Good End that makes human action/conduct moral?
Is an action right because of its good end, or it is good because of its right principle?
Are moral principles universal, objective, and unconditional, or relative, subjective
and conditional?
What is the ultimate foundation of moral principles? The supernatural God? Human
reason? Mutual social contract? Social custom?
Does God exist? If so, is He Benevolent and Omnipotent?

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If God is Benevolent, why He creates evil things? If God does not create evil things,
then, there must be another creator who is responsible to creation of the evil things?
But, if it is so, how can God be an Omnipotent creator?
Why we honor and obey moral rules? For the sake of our own individual benefits?, or
for the sake of others?, or just for the sake of fulfilling our infallible duty?
B. Aesthetics: Aesthetics is the theory of beauty. It studies about the particular value of our
artistic and aesthetic experiences. It deals with beauty, art, enjoyment, sensory/emotional
values, perception, and matters of taste and sentiment.
The following are typical Aesthetic questions:
What is art?
What is beauty?
What is the relation between art and beauty?
What is the connection between art, beauty, and truth?
Can there be any objective standard by which we may judge the beauty of artistic
works, or beauty is subjective?
What is artistic creativity and how does it differ from scientific creativity?
Why works of art are valuable?
Can artistic works communicate? If so, what do they communicate?
Does art have any moral value, and obligations or constraints?
Are there standards of quality in Art?
C. Social/Political Philosophy: Social/Political Philosophy studies about of the value
judgments operating in a civil society, be it social or political.
The following questions are some of the major Social/Political Philosophy primarily deal
with:
What form of government is best?
What economic system is best?
What is justice/injustice?
What makes an action/judgment just/unjust?
What is society?
Does society exist? If it does, how does it come to existence?
How are civil society and government come to exist?

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LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING (LOCT 1111) INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

Are we obligated to obey all laws of the State?

What is the purpose of government?

1.4.4. Logic:

Logic is also the philosophical study or theory of principles of right reasoning. It deals with
formulating the right principles of reasoning; and developing scientific methods of evaluating the
validity and soundness of arguments.

The following are among the various questions raised by Logic:

What is an argument?; What does it mean to argue?

What makes an argument valid or invalid?
What is a sound argument?
What relation do premise and conclusion have in argument?
How can we formulate and evaluate an argument?
What is a fallacy?; What makes an argument fallacious?

1.5. Importance of Learning Philosophy

Among the various benefits of learning philosophy, one is that philosophy provides students with
the tools they need to critically examine their own lives as well as the world in which they live.

Some modern psychologists point out that human beings have both maintenance and actualizing
needs which may providing by learning philosophy.

Maintenance need refer to the physical and psychological needs that we must satisfy in order to
maintain ourselves as human beings like food, shelter, security, social interaction, and the like.
Actualizing needs appear to be associated with self-fulfillment, creativity, self-expression,
realization of one„s potential, and being everything one can be. Although philosophy may not
necessarily lead to this sort of self-actualization, it can assist us to actualize ourselves by
promoting the ideal of self-actualization.

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LOGIC AND CRITICAL THINKING (LOCT 1111) INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

Maslow pyramid on the

levels of self-actualization

There are many characteristics of self-actualization to whose achievement studying philosophy

has a primordial contribution. Here below are some of them.

1) Intellectual and Behavioral Independence:- This is the ability to develop one„s own
opinion and beliefs.
2) Reflective Self-Awareness:- self-actualization cannot be realized without a clear
knowledge of oneself and the world in which one lives. Philosophy helps us to intensify
our self-awareness by inviting us to critically examine the essential intellectual grounds
of our lives.
3) Flexibility, Tolerance, and Open-Mindedness:- As we confront with the thoughts of
various philosophers we can easily realize that no viewpoint is necessarily true or false-
that the value of any attitude is contextual. So, we have to be more tolerant, open-minded,
more receptive, and more sympathetic to views that contend or clash with ours.
4) Creative and Critical Thinking:- From the study of philosophy, we can learn how to
refine our powers of analysis, our abilities to think critically, to reason, to evaluate, to
theorize, and to justify.
5) Conceptualized and well-thought-out value systems in morality, art, politics, and the like.

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