Introduction to PhilosophyLogic and Critical thinking

Ben Villareal III

Part 1

The Nature of PhilosophyThe word philosophy literally means love of

wisdom.

It was coined by Pythagoras, one of the sages of ancient Greece, born about the year 584 B.C.

The Branches of Philosophy

Logic is the attempt to codify the rules of rational thought. Logicians explore the structure of arguments that preserve truth or allow the optimal extraction of knowledge from evidence.

Epistemology is the study of knowledge itself. Epistemologists ask, for instance, what criteria must be satisfied for something we believe to count as something we know, and even what it means for a proposition to be true.

Metaphysics is the study of the nature of things. Metaphysicians ask what kinds of things exist, and what they are like.

Ethics is the study of the nature of right and wrong and good and evil, in terms both of considerations about the foundations of morality, and of practical considerations about the fine details of moral conduct.

Cosmology The study of the origin and the nature of the universe.

Aesthetics The study of concepts of art and beauty. Concerned with questions like why do we find certain things beautiful, what makes things great art, so on.

Social Political Philosophy

The study of man and his place in society.

Zoon Politikon – Man is a Political Animal

Philosophy of Education

A branch, mainly concerned with what is the correct way to educate a person. Classic works include Rousseau's Emile.

We are born weak, we need strength; helpless we need aid; foolish we need reason. All that we lack at birth, all that we need when we come to man's estate, is the gift of education. (Jean Jacques Rousseau, Emile)

Philosophy of History

It is the philosophical study of history, particularly concerned with the question whether history (i.e. the universe and/or humankind) is progressing towards a specific end?

Philosophy of Language

Basically concerned with how our languages affect our thought. Wittgenstein famously asserted that the limits of our languages mark the limits of our thought.

Other New Branches of Philosophy1. Philosophy of Sports

2. Philosophy of Science

3. Philosophy of Law

4. Philosophy of Mind

Philosophical Inquiry

It employs rational inference as its main instrumentality. Hence, it is experiential, but chiefly rational.

The Demands of PhilosophyPhilosophical inquiry is very demanding, suitable only for those who possess a fair degree of courage, humility, patience and discipline.

The Rewards of Philosophy

But if philosophy is so demanding, why should anyone even bother with it?

What is philosophy of man?is the study of man, an attempt to investigate man as person and as existent being in the world; man’s ultimate nature.

Part II

On the Uses of Philosophy There is a pleasure in philosophy, and a lure even in the mirages of metaphysics, which every students feels until the coarse necessities of physical existence drag him from the heights of thought into the mart of economic strife and gain.

To be a philosophers, is not merely to have subtle thoughts, nor even to found a school, but so to love wisdom as to live, according to its dictates, a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.” Thoreau

Is Philosophy effective?