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INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY ARISTOTLE (DEDUCTIVE REASONING)

LESSON 1 “The best life for man is one that is devoted to
philosophy” Established a school in Athens
WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? called Lyceum. He developed the syllogism, two
TWO GREEK WORDS valid premises guarantee the truth of a
conclusion.
PHILOS (LOVE) SOPHIA (WISDOM)
A discipline which uses human reason to
investigate ultimate causes, reasons, and LESSON 2
principles which govern all things The search for TYPES AND BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
knowledge and truth, especially about the nature
of man and his behavior and beliefs BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
PHYTAGORAS (570 BCE TO 495 BCE) 1. Metaphysics (EXISTENCE)
- He is the first person who used the word What is? What is real? Do we have immortal
philosophy. soul?
- Truth is universal (true for all human) Part of Metaphysics
- Objective (Independent of human interest) Axiom - a statement or proposition which is
regarded as being established accepted or self-
Philosopher = Wise Man evidently true.
SOPHIST A. Existence exist
- A group of intellectuals who taught oratory for a B. Consciousness perceives existence
fee to individual
C. An Existent itself
- They believed that all truths are relative in that
all truths are determined by human interest. 2. Epistemology (KNOWLEDGE)
Therefore, no truth that holds for all humans.
How do we know? Are the things that we
PROTAGORAS know are true?
“Man is the measure of all things” Philosophers 3.) Ethics (MORALITY)
during the Socratic Period
What do I do? Do we pursue our own
SOCRATES (SOCRATIC METHOD) happiness, or do we sacrifice ourselves to a
greater cause? What is the right course of action
“Knowledge is virtue.” – To know the good is to in the face of problems and dilemmas?
do good” He spent his days in the agora (the
Athenian marketplace), asking questions of 4.) Aesthetics (BEAUTY)
those who would speak with him Plato, his
student wrote accounts about him known as It includes what art consists of?
“Socratic Dialogue” 5.) Logic (ARGUMENT)
PLATO (THEORY OF FORMS) is the study of reasoning. Distinguish between
“Philosophy begins in wonder-- it is mere beyond correct and incorrect forms of reasoning.
curiosity” 1. Inferring- to draw conclusion and opinion
He wrote “The Apology” where he gives account 2. Arguments- are a collection of statements,
to Socrates trial. Also “The Republic” where he one of which is designated as the conclusion,
presents his famous “Theory of forms”. and the remainder of which are designated as
Established the Academy, the first university to the premises.
emerge in the history of Western Europe that
aimed to pursue scientific knowledge through
original research.
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6.) Social and Political Philosophy 3. Marxism

Existence of the state, limit of the 4. Feminism
state, political power, social and 5. Post modernism
distributive justice. 4. The Regional Types
7.) PHILOSOPHY OF SCIENCE 5. Historical Types
Distinguish between scientific and A. Ancient Philosophy-Ancient Greek and
Roman Philosophy
non-scientific statements.
B. Medieval Philosophy- God centered
8.) Philosophy of the Mind philosophy
Establishing whether the mind is C. Modern Philosophy- The rationalist &
physical or not, & the properties of Empiricist

the mind D. Contemporary Philosophy-Analytic

philosophy, Frankfurt school of philosophy and
9.) Philosophy of Religion phenomenology.

Clarifying the meaning of religious E. Renaissance Period

statements, proving the existence of F. Enlightenment Period

God, reconciling the God’s goodness ANCIENT GREEK PERIOD

and power • I-THE MILESIANS

10.) Philosophy of Language - Miletus, Greek Ionia
Determining the proper names, - They departed man’s knowledge
definite descriptions and from mere acceptance of myths to
psychological statements. reasoning.

• THALES
THE FIVE GENERAL TYPES OF - “EVERYTHING IS WATER” (Water is the
PHILOSOPHY underlying principles of all things)
1. The Thematic Types - Thales may have observed, & that the nurture
of all creatures is moist, and that warmth itself is
- kind of philosophy that distinguished from one generated from moisture and lives by it; and that
another. Under the group of thematic are the from which all things come to be is their first
branches of philosophy. principle.
2. The Positional Types • ANAXIMANDER
- Philosophical schools of thought or - “EVERYTHING CAME FROM AN
philosophical views. INDETERMINATE BOUNDLESS”
3. Methodological Types - (Boundless has no origin, because it is itself
- These are the philosophical movements, the origin)
approaches and traditions. - Specific (limited or definite) things should not
1. Phenomenology come from another specific thing. It should come
from something that is not specific, not finite,
2. Hermeneutics and not definite
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• DEMOCRITUS
• ANAXIMENES “THERE IS SPACE. IT CONSISTS OF ATOMS”
(Maintained the impossibility of dividing things)
- “EVERYTHING IS AIR” (It should be something
that is infinite but we know that it is there. And - Something that exists is material, has space.
that is air. Air is everywhere and we know it’s Space is composed of atoms. Things attain a
there) certain form depending on how atoms move.
Thus, there is motion
- [Air] differs in essence in accordance with its
rarity or density. When it is thinned it becomes • DIAGONES
fire, while when it is condensed it becomes wind,
then cloud, when still more condensed it “LIVE A LIFE FREE OF POSSESSIONS”
becomes water, then earth, then stones.
- Living in poverty said to have influenced the
Everything else comes from these.
principles of Christianity
• II-THE PYTHAGOREANS - Live in virtue and agreement with nature
- They devoted themselves in mathematics and
• EPICURUS
thus believed in mathematical basis of all things
“You must eliminate all desires for it is the cause
• PYTHAGORAS of suffering”
- “MATHEMATICS PURIFIES THE SOUL. - Death is not a bad thing. Because it gives us
EVERYTHING IS MADE UP OF NUMBERS” freedom from all suffering.
- Numbers as the first principle because it leads
us to intellectual activity
THE WESTERN PHILOSOPHY THROUGH
- The world is governed by mathematical ratio
TIME
• III- CHANGE AS THE NATURE OF
REALITY • STOICISM
- Explaining the nature of reality by finding - Notable philosophers: Seneca, Epictetus &
stability in constant change Marcus Aurelius
• HERACLITUS - Virtue is good and vice is bad.
“CHANGE IS THE ONLY CONSTANT THING IN - Pleasure is also a kind of vice so we must
THE WORLD. BUT IS ALSO CHANGE THAT reject it.
STABILIZES THE WORLD”
- Suffering is cause by unrealistic expectations.
- I believe, says that all things go and nothing
stays, and comparing existents to the flow of a MEDIEVAL PERIOD
river, he says you could not step twice into the
• SCHOLASTICISM
same river
- St. Aquinas, St.Augustine & Meister
• PARMENIDES Eckhart
“CHANGE AND DIVERSITY IS AN ILLUSION” - The merging of philosophy and religion
(Belief in Fatalism and Determinism)
- Focused in the existence of GOD and
- Reality is in some sense a unified and relationship to HUMAN.
unchanging singular entity

• IV-THE ATOMISTS
- They believe that there must be tiny, indivisible
entities, invisible to the naked eye that makes up
everything.
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RENAISSANCE PERIOD • PHENOMENOLOGY

• HUMANISM - EDMUND HUSSERL
- Notable philosophers: PETRARCH & - Experience is studied based on the subjective
NICCOLO MACHIAVELLI viewpoint of the individual.
- Emphasize the human person to understand • ABSURDISM
society, nature and humanity
- ALBERT
ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD
CAMUS
• RATIONALISM
- Man will never understand the human condition
- Notable philosophers: RENE DESCARTES, and meaning of life.
IMMANUEL KANT & GOTTFIELD LEIBNEZ
- Reason and logic is the basis of knowledge
THE EASTERN PHILOSOPHY THROUGH
- Man has innate knowledge that can access
through intuition or deduction. TIME

• EMPIRICISM - JUDAISM

- Notable philosophers: JOHN LOCKE, DAVID - TAOISM

HUME, & FRANCIS BACON - CONFUCIANISM
- Knowledge is gain through senses and - SHINTOISM
experience
- ISLAM
MODERN PERIOD
St. Thomas Aquinas: The Existence of
• POSITIVISM
God can be proved in five ways
- Notable philosophers: AUGUSTE COMTE
• The First Way: Argument from Motion
- Knowledge is based on observable • The Second Way: Argument from
phenomena
Efficient Causes
• UTILITARIANISM
• The Third Way: Argument from
- Notable philosophers JOHN STUART MILL
Possibility and Necessity (Reductio
- An action is morally right if it produces the
greatest good for the greater people. argument)
CONTEMPORARY PERIOD • The Fourth Way: Argument from
• PRAGMATISM Gradation of Being
- JOHN DEWEY, WILLIAM JAMES & • The Fifth Way: Argument from Design
CHARLES PIERCE
- Emphasis of the practical use of knowledge
and ideas

• EXISTENTIALISM
-SOREN KIERKEGAARD, NIETZCHE, &
JEAN PAUL SARTRE
- Human experience is defined by the views,
emotions, and actions of individual.