Module 1: Philosophy Defined

Historically, Pythagoras was the first to coin the word philosophy. When asked what his
occupation was, he replied that he was a philosophos. It must be noted that not all
philosophers agree on a fixed definition of philosophy. But perhaps we can start defining
philosophy by asserting that philosophy is all about the truth, but what kind of truth?
Mathematics seeks the truth behind numbers. Physics investigates the truth about space
and matter. We can also say that theology aims to unravel truths about God and its plan for
the world. Perhaps we can gain an insight from Thomas Nagel (In Mabaquiao 2016:17):

A historian may ask what happened at some time in the past, but a philosopher will ask,
“What is time?” A mathematician may investigate the relations among numbers, but a
philosopher will ask, “what is a number?” A physicist will ask what atoms are made of or
what explains gravity, but a philosopher will ask how we can know there is anything outside
of our minds. A psychologist may investigate how children learn a language, but a
philosopher will ask, “What makes a word mean anything?” Anyone can ask whether it’s
wrong to sneak into a movie without paying, but a philosopher will ask, “What makes an
action right or wrong?”

What can be gleaned about this quotation? Philosophy studies anything and everything
that exists. It aims to know some kind of truth behind all of the things existing.

We can gain more insight if we briefly discuss the major concerns philosophers grapple with.
Traditionally, philosophy tries to answer three major questions: (1) What is there? (2) How
do we know that which is there? and (3) Why are these things in the world important or at
least concerns us? These questions translate to the three major branches of philosophy.

Question 1 corresponds to metaphysics (meta=beyond). It tries to articulate our reasons

for qualifying the existence of beings or things. One question metaphysics tries to answer is,
“Does God exist, even if we cannot empirically verify it?”

Question 2, on the other hand, relates to epistemology (episteme-knowledge, logos

-science or study). It is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. One traditional
concern of epistemology is the problem of whether we can have certainty about our beliefs
or not.

Finally, question 3 translates to axiology. It is the branch of philosophy where we inspect the
area of things that have value and why are they worth pursuing (the Greek word, axia
means value or worth).
-​ This branch is subdivided into two: aesthetics and ethics.

The former (aisthetikos = perception) is concerned with notions of beauty and what can be
considered as art while latter (ethos=character) is concerned with moral standards and
positions.

After briefly discussing these major branches, it should be mentioned

that the tool which philosophers use in articulating and proposing answers to the questions
is correct reasoning (Matinong Pag-iisip at Makisig na Pananalita). The study of the
truth and validity of our arguments, of checking the reasonableness of statements is the
chief concern of logic.
[ Our goal is not to answer what Philosophy is, but to understand what it is! ]

What really Philosophy Is?

Is this an Inquiry or Question?

Inquiry - questions that have known answers, or that asked with specific specific aim of
arriving at an answer.
Question – do not have an known answers, or that asked in the asked of openness and
wonder.

If we treated this question as an inquiry, basically, we already "know” what philosophy is.
Philosophy isn’t new to us, after all; it is not an unfamiliar word.

The common response we often encounter is,”Philosophy is the love of wisdom” or

“Philosophy is the search for truth,” or “Philosophy is a way of living.” But do such “answers”
really respond to the question? Or do they simply define the word “philosophy” in different
ways?

They are not incorrect answers, mind you; they just haven’t really gone through a genuine
and proper asking of the question (totoo at angkop na paraan ng pagtatanong ng mismong
tanong).
We’ve initially asked the question with the specific aim of finding an answer in mind,
which means we were more focused on getting to Point B than on understanding Point A.

So we ask the question again, not with answers in mind but, this time, in the spirit of
openness and wonder. So we treat the question “What is Philosophy?” not as an inquiry but
as a Question!

What is philosophy? What makes philosophy, philosophy? What is its nature? What does
it do? What is it for? How is it different from other disciplines?
Let’s start with what we know, no matter how imperfect what we know is, and from there, go
deeper and deeper and deeper: Philosophy, we said, is the love of wisdom, the search for
truth. We also said that philosophy is a way of living. But what does it mean to love wisdom,
anyway? Or, in the first place, what does it mean to love? To love something or someone
means to value that something or someone. It means not only having feelings of affection
toward what or whom I love; it also means being committed and dedicated to the one I love.
Loving means that, even when all the feelings of affection have disappeared, I still love what
or whom I love. We can say, then, that loving isn’t always easy; loving can sometimes hurt.
Loving, after all, requires the giving of oneself, requires sacrifice.

But what about wisdom? What is wisdom? Wisdom certainly cannot be reduced to mere
quantifiable knowledge although it does involve knowledge. Wisdom implies a kind of
knowing, for sure, but it is not knowing as in the knowing of facts or pieces of information.
Wisdom is typically personified, that is, we have a sense of what wisdom is through figures
of wisdom, through the examples of wise people. Some people would consider their older
relatives say, their grandparents or their parents as figures of wisdom, as wise people. For
others, it can be historical personalities, like Jose Rizal. Wisdom can also be personified by
religious figures, such as Mother Teresa, St. Ignatius, or Jesus Christ. (Which is why, when
making decisions, some Christians ask, “;What would Jesus do?”
In philosophy, it is Socrates who exemplifies wisdom, and, curiously, he is considered
wise precisely because he knew that he knew nothing. Perhaps we can say, then, that
wisdom is knowledge with experience? That wisdom is knowledge that has gone through
reality, that has suffered and, thus, has been humbled? Now let’s put the two elements
together:
“The love of wisdom”— what does that even mean? It’s hard to articulate a clear-cut
answer, isn’t it? Or if there were a clear-cut answer, it feels as if it were still too slippery for
us to properly and firmly grasp.
Our goal really is not to define philosophy, but to have an understanding of what it is and
do make it as a way of our living. – Asking questions.

LESSON 2: ETHICS DEFINED

Etymology
“Ethos”
●​ Greek Word
●​ Characteristic Way of Acting
●​ Characteristics belonging to a man as a rational being with intellect and free-will
(Agapay).
●​ Character or custom (Babor)

Its Latin is equivalent to “Mos, Mores”

●​ Latin Word
●​ Tradition or custom (Agapay)

“Ethos” of Man
●​ He is able to distinguish good from bad, right from wrong, moral from immoral.
●​ He feels within himself an obligation to do what is good and to avoid what is evil.
●​ He feels accountable to one’s actions, expecting reward or punishment for them.

●​ Man is endowed by nature with Moral Sense (Agapay) – he submits to the duty of
doing what is good and avoiding what is wrong. Expected from a man that he acts
according to the dictates of reason.

Ethics Definition (What is Ethics?)

Ethics is the science of morality of human acts. Actions reflects the motives of the doer, it is
study of human motivation, and human rational behavior. Its primary interest is morality.
Morality is the quality of human acts by which they are constituted as good, bad, or
indifferent. That which is good described as moral, that which is described as bad is immoral
and that which is indifferent is amoral.

Ethics is a science (normative science) because it establishes standards or norms of

human conduct. It therefore qualifies human conduct as to whether it is good or bad and
right or wrong. After it qualifies human conduct, ethics also requires man to act properly as
man. And to act properly as man, ethics requires man to do good and what is right. (Babor)
The Intellect and Will

INTELLECT WILL

Wisdom Highest Goal Virtue

Truth Goal Good

Thinking Function Doing

Knowing Purpose Choosing

Man is a moral being – man possesses intellect and will. Through his intellect, man knows
and can know right or wrong actions. Through his will man can choose between good or bad
actions. Man’s intellect makes him capable of understanding right or wrong actions: his will
makes him capable of expressing his choice either good or bad actions. Man’s intellect
enables him to search for truth while his will for good. When man is in possession of truth
then he can practice what he knows (wisdom) while his exercise of good makes him
virtuous. In the fundamental moral options between right or wrong and good or bad actions,
man is will-bound to choose what is right and what is good. This is the moral command
demanded in ethics. But whether or not man opts for what is wrong and what is bad, he still
remains a moral being since he has freedom.

Acts of Man vs. Human Acts, is there a difference?

Human acts are actions performed by man, knowingly and freely, deliberate or intentional.
They are also called deliberate or intentional actions, or voluntary actions. (Agapay)

Acts of man are instinctive or involuntary. (Agapay)

Human Acts reveal the thoughts and inclination of the person in doing them.

●​ Virtuous – a person having the inclination or habit to do good (Agapay)

●​ Vicious – a person having the inclination or habit to do wrong (Agapay)

Why study Ethics?

1.​ Ethics is an indispensable (absolutely necessary, essential, or something you
cannot do without) knowledge.
2.​ Without moral perception, man is only an animal.
3.​ Without morality, man as rational being is a failure. (Morality makes man a rational
being.)
4.​ Morality makes man a rational being.
5.​ Moral integrity is the only measure of what man ought to be.

●​ The most powerful king or the most successful professional, is nothing unless he too
is morally upright. Thus, the philosophers speak of Ethics as the “ only necessary
knowledge.”

6.​ Morality is the foundation of every society. (Agapay)

 ●​ Russell observes that “without civic morality, community perish: without personal
morality, their survival has no value.” Every culture admits the importance of morality
as a standard of behavior. When the moral foundations of a nation are threatened that
society itself is threatened.

Two Ethical Theories and their Respective Principles

1.​ Atheistic – Assumes that only matter exists and that man is responsible only to
himself since there is no God who creates and rules the universe. Moral truths are
temporary and mutable depending on the situation. The concept of good and evil is
always relative and changeable.
●​ Matter is the only reality Man is matter and does not have spiritual dimension
●​ Man is free and must exercise his freedom to promote the welfare of the society
●​ There is no life after death
●​ Man is accountable only to the state

2.​ Theistic - God is the Supreme Creator and Lawgiver. Everything must conform to
God’s eternal plan of creation. Man must exercise his freedom in accordance with
God’s will. There are absolute principles of morality which are not changeable. Man is
accountable for his actions and deserves either a reward or punishment in this life or
in the next.
●​ God is the Supreme Creator and Lawgiver
●​ Man is free and must exercise his freedom to promote his personal and social
interests along with his fellowmen/women
●​ Man has an immortal soul
●​ Man is accountable for his action, both good and evil

NOTES (DISCUSSION):

What is Philosophy?
-​ Not a word that needs to be defined.
-​ DISCIPLINE (a way of living)

Roque Ferriols (Filipino Philosopher): “Lundagin mo baby” and “Huwag itanong kung
mahirap, itanong kung mahalaga!”

Socrates - “I know one thing, that I know nothing”

Plato - Forms/Ideas
Aristotle - Virtue/Ethics

St. Augustine of Hippo

Philosophical reflection: TIME
1.​ Time is present
2.​ Perceive and measure (see and observe)