Introduction to Philosophy of the Human Person

1
Doing Philosophy (Part 1)

Module 001 – Doing Philosophy Part 1

This module will contain the following topics:

1. What is Philosophy
2. The Value of Philosophy
3. Holism

The Definition of Philosophy

The Free Dictionary has defined Philosophy as: “study of the ultimate reality,
causes, and principles underlying being and thinking. It has many
aspects and different manifestations according to the problems involved
and the method of approach and emphasis used by the individual philosopher.
Philosophy Basics has collected the following definitions of philosophy from various
sources:
At its simplest, philosophy (from the Greek or phílosophía, meaning ‘the love of
wisdom’) is the study of knowledge, or "thinking about thinking", although the breadth of
what it covers is perhaps best illustrated by a selection of other alternative definitions:
 the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what sorts
of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what counts as
genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles of reasoning
(logic) (Wikipedia)
 investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values,
based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods (American Heritage
Dictionary)
 the study of the ultimate nature of existence, reality, knowledge and goodness, as
discoverable by human reasoning (Penguin English Dictionary)
 the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and
ethics (WordNet)
 the search for knowledge and truth, especially about the nature of man and his
behaviour and beliefs (Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary)
 the rational and critical inquiry into basic principles (Microsoft Encarta
Encyclopedia)
 the study of the most general and abstract features of the world and categories with
which we think: mind, matter, reason, proof, truth, etc. (Oxford Dictionary of
Philosophy)
 careful thought about the fundamental nature of the world, the grounds for human
knowledge, and the evaluation of human conduct (The Philosophy Pages)

Course Module
 As used originally by the ancient Greeks, the term "philosophy" meant the pursuit of
knowledge for its own sake, and comprised ALL areas of speculative thought,
including the arts, sciences and religion.
Philosophical questions (unlike those of the sciences) are
usually foundational and abstract in nature. Philosophy is done primarily
through reflection and does not tend to rely on experiment, although the methods used to
study it may be analogous to those used in the study of the natural sciences.
In common usage, it sometimes carries the sense of unproductive or frivolous musings, but
over the centuries it has produced some of the most important original thought, and its
contribution to politics, sociology, mathematics, science and literature has been
inestimable. Although the study of philosophy may not yield "the meaning of life, the
universe and everything", many philosophers believe that it is important that each of us
examines such questions and even that an unexamined life is not worth living. It also
provides a good way of learning to think more clearly about a wide range of issues, and
its methods of analyzing arguments can be useful in a variety of situations in other areas
of life.

The Value of Philosophy

The Value of Philosophy by Russell has been summarized by Spark Notes:
The aim of philosophy is the achievement of knowledge through criticism, "which gives
unity and system to the body of sciences." However, philosophy does not maintain a
substantial body of definite knowledge in the sense that history, mathematics, or the
physical sciences do. Part of the reason why philosophy does not bear such a body of
evidence is because when definite knowledge on a subject becomes possible, it splits off
forming another discipline. Study of the heavens, of natural sciences, and the human mind
originated in philosophic investigation and now assume the figures of astronomy, physics,
and psychology. Thus, with respect to definite answers, "the uncertainty of philosophy is
more apparent than real."
Yet, part of the uncertainty in philosophy derives from the very nature of the questions that
it undertakes to answer. These questions address most profound human interests: "Has the
universe any unity of plan or purpose, or is it a fortuitous concourse of atoms? Is
consciousness a permanent part of the universe, giving hope of indefinite growth in
wisdom, or is it a transitory accident on a small planet on which life must ultimately
become impossible? Are good an evil of importance to the universe or only to man?"
Besides the magnitude of these questions, the various answers which philosophy suggests
are usually not "demonstrably true." Still, the pursuit of philosophy is not merely to suggest
answers to these questions but to make us sensitive to their importance and to keep us
conscious of a "speculative interest in the universe," which we might otherwise forget.
Even though some philosophers have developed programs of thought that do offer a
definite set of conclusions about religious belief, human knowledge, and other issues,
Russell urges that such attempts are usually unwise dogmatic declarations. Consistent with
the thought of his other chapters, he claims that we cannot hope for definite answers or
even high degrees of certainty.
In fact, he theorizes, the value of philosophy appears in its very uncertainty. He
persuasively writes, "the man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life
imprisoned in the prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his
age or his nation, and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-
 Introduction to Philosophy of the Human Person
3
Doing Philosophy (Part 1)

operation of consent of his deliberate reason." This way of thinking is closed to speculation
or theory about possibility. Philosophizing, on the other hand, allows us to see even the
most ordinary things in unfamiliar light. Though such consideration diminishes our faulty
certainty about the world, it suggests numerous possibilities "which enlarge our thoughts
and free them from the tyranny of custom." Though we lose a little of our confidence as to
what things are, we gain knowledge of what they may be. Philosophy banishes "arrogant
dogmatism" and liberates "our sense of wonder."
Philosophic thought also has a value by virtue of the things it contemplates and the
distinctness of those things from "personal aims" and "private interests." Philosophy lets in
the outside world and enlarges out interest. Russell writes, "in one way or another, if our
life is to be great and free, we must escape this prison" of our private world. Russell's belief
is that everything that depends on the private world "distorts the object" of contemplation
and prevents the union of the object and the intellect. Philosophic contemplation sponsors
this escape by enlarging the Self. Russell holds that the primary value of philosophy is not
in any kind of definite answer, but exists in the questions themselves. He concludes that,
"through the greatness of the universe which philosophy contemplates, the mind also is
rendered great."

Holism
Philosophy Basics’ article on holism stated the following:
“Holism in general terms (whether in science, sociology, economics, linguistics or
philosophy) is the idea that all the properties of a given system cannot be determined or
explained by its component parts alone, but the system as a whole determines in an
important way how the parts behave.
In philosophy, the principle of Holism (which comes from the Greek "holos" meaning "all"
or "total") was concisely summarized by Aristotle in his "Metaphysics": "The whole is more
than the sum of its parts". However, the term "holism" was only introduced into the
language by the South African statesman Jan Smuts as recently as 1926.
Holism has significance for Epistemology and the Philosophy of Language in particular. It is
contrasted to Epistemological Reductionism (the position that a complex system can be
explained by reduction to its fundamental parts) or of Atomism (insofar as it relates
to Philosophy of Language, this is the position that sentences have meaning or
content completely independently of their relations to other sentences or beliefs).”
Types of Holism
Epistemological Holism (or Confirmation Holism) is the claim that a single scientific
theory cannot be tested in isolation, because a test of one theory
always depends on other theories and hypotheses. One aspect of this is that the
interpretation of observation is "theory-laden" (dependent on theory); another
aspect is that evidence alone is insufficient to determine which theory is correct.
Semantic Holism is a doctrine in the Philosophy of Language to the effect that
a certain part of language (e.g. a term or a complete sentence) can only
be understood through its relations to a (previously understood) larger segment of

Course Module
 language, possibly the entire language. Up until the end of the 19th Century, it was
always assumed that a word gets its meaning in isolation, independently from all
the rest of the words in a language. In 1884, Gottlob Frege formulated his
influential Context Principle, according to which it is only within the context of a
proposition or sentence that a word acquires its meaning.
In the 1950's and 1960's, philosophers such as Ludwig Wittgenstein, W.V.O.
Quine and Donald Davidson broadened this principle still further to arrive at the
position that a sentence (and therefore a word) has meaning only in the context of
a whole language. However, problems arise with the theory because, given
the limits of our cognitive abilities, we will never be able to master the whole of any
language, and it also fails to explain how two speakers can mean the same
thing when using the same linguistic expression (and how communication is
even possible between them).
Confirmation Holism and Semantic Holism are inextricably linked, and yet, although
Confirmation Holism is widely accepted among philosophers, Semantic Holism is
much less so. The question remains as to how the two holisms can be distinguished,
and how the undesirable consequences of "unbuttoned holism" can be limited.
Moderate Holism (or Semantic Molecularism) is a compromise position, which holds
that the meanings of words depend on some subset of the language (not the entire
language). The argument then arises as to which parts of a language
are "constitutive" of the meaning of an expression.

References and Supplementary Materials

Online Supplementary Reading Materials
1. What is Philosophy?; http://www.philosophybasics.com/general_whatis.html; June 1,
2017
2. The Value of Philosophy;
http://www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/problems/section15.rhtml; June 1, 2017
3. Definition of Philosophy; http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/philosophizing;
June 1, 2017
4. Holism; http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_holism.html; June 1, 2017