Unit 1 - Introduction to Philosophy Lesson 1

UNIT 1: I: INTRODUCTION PHILOSOPHY UNIT Introduction toTOPhilosophy

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Of all the subjects you first encountered as college students, philosophy appears to be the strangest and the least familiar. Precisely because you never had a background of it before you entered college. Most probably you have a certain background in literature, history, biology, mathematics, physics and chemistry or even religion too. Philosophy however is something very new to many, if not all, of you that you enter the subject almost totally unfamiliar of what philosophy is and the things tackled by philosophy. Just in case you stumbled on some students who have undergone the ordeal of being in a philosophy class, you heard more fairly negative remarks than positive ones. This unit will introduce you to the nature and scope of philosophy. Moreover, it aims to lead you to an understanding of the uniqueness of philosophy in relation to other disciplines in the academe and develop in you an appreciation of the significance of philosophy not merely in your lives as students but in your struggle to become well-integrated persons. Lesson 1: An Overview of Philosophy Objectives At the end of this lesson, you y ou are expected to: 1. dispel your misunderstanding of the nature of philosophy; 2. differentiate philosophy in the strict sense from philosophy in the broad sense; 3. identify aspects of your lives that you had unconsciously engaged in philosophy; 4. explain the unique center and scope of philosophy; 5. immerse yourselves in basic philosophical inquiry by criticizing your own philosophy in life and that of others. Topics for Study and Discussions Study the following following topics and understand the essential essential concepts. You are encouraged encouraged to reflect on the ideas presented. Critical reflection is a necessary tool for philosophizing. To serve as an assignment for this lesson, you are to answer Exercise 1.1 on 1.1 on page 7. Philosophy in the Bro ad and Ordinary Sense: Philosophy as “Philosophy in Life” There is a popular notion that philosophy is a thing of the past and is engaged only by all-too-serious people who have devoted themselves to thinking the most difficult, impractical and “out-of-touch”-with-reality problems and questions of life that any college student is still too young and early to understand and deal with. Many students think that philosophizing is just the business of would-be priests and students who major in philosophy. One of the worst and most unfair biases which circulate, especially among first-timers in philosophy, is that of thinking it to be wholly unrelated to life. This is, however, a misunderstanding because we all engage in philosophy everyday1 though most of us are not aware of it. Primarily, all of us have 1

of Philosophy: An An Introduction (USA: McGraw‐Hill, Inc., 1979), 1. Samuel Enoch Stumpf, Elements of Philosophy:

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UNIT I: INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

our own knowledge, beliefs and values by which we base our thinking and acting which are products of our experiences, culture and upbringing. We all have our own straightforward understanding of ourselves and the things around us. We can generally label them as our “philosophy in life.” Every time we think or act, we go back to them when we are asked for reasons “why” we think or do things this way or that way. In this manner, we are in fact philosophizing in the ordinary sense of the term “philosophy.” This idea of philosophy is often understood as a set of guiding principles, mostly moral, that a person refers to in planning out and living his life. When we offer reasons for thinking or behaving in one way or another, we are in fact philosophizing. When we try to question the sense or justification of something; when we try to wonder about the existence of something; when we try to doubt the truth or reality of something; when we try to support our claim that something is true or not; when we try to defend an action as good or bad; when we try to convince another person to vote one political candidate over another by giving reasons for it; when we try to take pains on deciding about a thing to do in a situation, or a career to venture on, or life-partner to be with – all these things involve the act of philosophizing. Any activity with planned means and ends presupposes a certain “philosophy.” 2 Indeed, the concern of “philosophy” is to make us THINK and REFLECT about LIFE, about everything that pertains to our being essentially HUMAN. Philosophy is an activity undertaken by human beings who are deeply concerned about who they are and what everything is all about.3 This simply shows that philosophy is not really that impractical or “outof-touch” with reality or far away from our daily experience. “Philosophy begins with our ordinary everyday experiences. We not only do things, we think about them.” 4 For this reason it is said that man is naturally philosophical, that is, each of us formulates an overview or philosophy of life. This means that everyone does at least a little bit of philosophy, even when they have never experienced formal training. 5 Philosophy in t he Strict and Special Sense: Philosophy as a Discipline Philosophy as a discipline, as we will encounter it here in this subject, is not really far away from this ordinary notion but we will be going beyond this basic understanding though not necessarily away from it. The difference between “philosophy in the ordinary sense” and “philosophy in a disciplined sense” is simply a matter of degree 6 of coherence. “Philosophy in the ordinary sense,” as one’s philosophy of life is, is usually expressed in simple and ordinary language and the reasons for holding such are often implied, unclear, fickle and loosely organized, while “philosophy as a discipline,” as one will learn in this subject, uses more theoretical and technical language that must be carefully learned and the reasons for philosophy held are strictly made clear, organized, consistent, and systematic. This means that philosophic thinking tries to organize the materials of human experience into some reasonably coherent arrangement.7 The issue is not whether one does philosophy or not because everyone Mariano Artigas, Introduction to Philosophy , trans. by Fr. M. Guzman (Manila: Sinag‐tala Publishers, Inc., 1984), 10. 3 Vincent Barry, Philosophy: A Text with Readings , 2nd ed. (California: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1983), 12. 4 Stumpf. 5 Austin Cline, Introduction to Philosophy: What is Philosophy? What is Wisdom? Accessed: June 3, 2006. 6 See Stanley M. Honer, et al., Invitation to Philosophy: Issues and Options , 8th ed. (Toronto: Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1999), 1. 7 John Herman Randall, Jr. and Justus Buchler, Philosophy: An Introduction (USA: Barnes and Noble, Inc., 1942), 7. 2


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does philosophy to one degree or another; but the real issue is whether one does philosophy well or not, that is, more deeply and coherently. Let me cite Robert O. Johann: Philosophical inquiry aims at a qualitative transformation of experience. Philosophy cannot divorce or separate itself from the ongoing course of life and the actual concerns of men if it is to be true to itself and not self-defeating. […] Its goal is not to reach some realm behind or beyond the affairs of everyday life, but to order and integrate the same affairs into something coherent and whole. 8

Hence, an orderly study of philosophy is most recommendable, so as to attain a correct and well-founded view of reality.9 The goal of academic philosophy, therefore, should be to encourage students to do philosophy in a more systematic and coherent manner, reducing the extent of errors and misunderstandings.10 The Unique Center and Scope of Philosophy Philosophy, however, is an overarching field of study which studies “anything under the sun.” Unlike other disciplines like mathematics and the sciences which deal with specific topics – biology with living things, physics with forces and energy, chemistry with chemical components of things – philosophy deals with a broad spectrum of topics ranging from an analysis of the meaning of sort-of familiar terms like important 11 to the inquiry into meaning of life itself. Philosophy, in one way or another, ends up touching upon nearly every aspect of human life and has something to say when it comes to science, art, religion, politics, medicine, and a host of other topics.12 As said, philosophy is as broad as life and as deep as human understanding.13 One may argue then that philosophy does not therefore have a unique position and centrality because it has no clear subject of study. But this is precisely what makes philosophy unique because it is not limited or attached to a single subject of study which makes its focus narrow and its understanding of life and reality restricted by a particular aspect. “Philosophy covers almost the entire spectrum of knowledge; in fact, it is the umbrella term for most, if not all disciplines.” 14 Umbrella in the sense that philosophy seeks to unify different disciplines and integrate them into an overarching perspective of life to avoid the tendency of one particular discipline to reduce things according to their narrow and limited perspectives. One characteristic of philosophy is its potential of enlarging the breadth and depth of one’s understanding and overcoming shallow and narrow thinking; hence it cannot be narrowed down to studying one aspect of reality. Philosophy is perhaps unique in its lack of limitation regarding subject matter. Almost every conceivable idea has been or will be tackled by philosophy.

See Robert O. Johann, S.J., “The Nature of Philosophical Inquiry,” Philosophy of Man: Selected Readings , ed. by Manuel B. Dy, Jr. (Makati City: Goodwill Trading Co., 1986), 13. 9 Artigas, 11. 10 Austin Cline, Introduction to Philosophy: What is Philosophy? What is Wisdom? 11 For everyday people, they simply presume they know practically the meaning of the term “important” for it is something very common and familiar but the moment you ask them questions like “What does it mean to say that something is important?,” “What makes something important?,” “Can you define important?,” “Can you state in one sentence what important means?” they run out of thoughts, words and answers to state clearly the meaning of such a seemingly familiar term. Students then begin to realize that they do not really clearly know and understand the term. Philosophy would go deeply into the bottom of our understanding of something as seemingly simple and familiar thing as that. 12 Austin Cline, Introduction to Philosophy. What is Philosophy? What is Wisdom? 13 See Honer, et al., 19. 14 Emerita S. Quito, “What is Philosophy?” Karunungan: A Journal of Philosophy (1998), 31. 8

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In addition, philosophers typically ask questions that touch on almost every other field of academic inquiry. For example, science relies on sense experience to validate its hypotheses. But philosophy may question on how reliable our sense experience to serve as basis for scientific truth. Can we really trust our senses? In our study of history also, we just take as facts the testimonies of many historians. Philosophy may question whether those historians have direct access to the knowledge they put forth in history books or whether the testimonies were influenced by their personal and cultural biases. In fact, one of the major roles of philosophy is to question the reliability of the foundational concepts of a host of academic disciplines. Philosophy is unique in comparison to other areas of study not only because it thinks about different things, but because it thinks about things differently. 15 It thinks about things differently because it deals more with issues than with specific subjects. Issues make up the very substance of philosophy.16 Issues are questions that come out and disrupt the seemingly smooth flow of things and bring about disputes between or among two or more parties. Disputes imply expressions of differing and opposing views or answers to questions. By dealing essentially with issues, philosophy emphasizes on the limitations or the possibility of error of our answers to questions about reality. Like for example, one area of study will say that “for something to be important it must be useful.” Philosophers would then say “but there are things which are important to us which are not necessarily useful.” The importance of people, for example, is not simply based on their usefulness to us. Here, we are dealing with the issue of the meaning of the use of the word “importance”. The idea presented above limits its meaning of “importance” to the idea of usefulness such that when applied to understanding the importance of people, such a concept will prove to be erroneous. How much more if talk about the issue of the “meaning of life.” For sure we have more diverse and opposing answers and views about this issue and we can spend the whole of our lives debating about the answers. Whenever there are issues, then debates and controversies come in to raise more questions and answers and continuously more questions. Hence, if you ask for a center, I would say then that “philosophy centers on debate and controversy.” 17 Philosophers believe that there are no easy answers to the most important and fundamental questions of life on which they make it a point to be involved in the tormenting activity of debate and discussion. While it is true that other disciplines have issues and controversies in their own fields and are also involved in discussions and debates, however, issues are only considered as minor accompanying items and disruptions which are not intended in the process of arriving at the truth and the activity of debates and discussion is only a means towards arriving at an end which is the resolution of issues and formulation of answers. For example, by experimenting on animals, one discovers the possibility of extracting brain tissues of live fetuses in curing a certain disease but is confronted with the seeming impossibility of applying it to humans. Experts in the field have to resolve the issue to make the discovery successful. Such issue did not emerge as intended by them but as incidental to the process. Philosophy in contrast does not consider issues as unintended disruptions and minor incidents but regards them as essential and primary stuffs on the way to truth and these issues are in most cases, if not all, really intended disruptions. Using the same example, the issue is already resolved for those experts and they may go on and successfully finish the process. But philosophy will raise the issue of whether it is morally permissible to kill live fetuses and extract William F. Lawhead, The Philosophical Journey: An Interactive Approach (California: Mayfield Publishing Co., 2000), 7. 16 See Barry, 6. 17 Joel, Kupperman, Philosophy: The Fundamental Problems (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1978), 1. 15


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their brain tissues. This issue will never emerge by chance for the process itself cannot by itself yield such issue and disrupt itself. In fact, the issue is not essential in such discipline for the process can be successfully performed even with the presence of the said issue. But philosophy will raise the issue to intentionally disrupt the process seen as questionable in the light of greater and higher principles that go beyond the specialized field. Hence primarily, philosophy makes it a point to disrupt our naïve acceptance of answers to questions. For example, are all human beings equal? A certain philosopher thinks that all human beings are equal because all human beings are equally gifted with rational powers. Another philosopher would say that he doesn’t think so because, though he agrees that human beings are all equally gifted with rationality, they grow in different circumstances of time and place which limit the possibilities of their rationality. A person who grew up in an environment deprived of better education may not develop the highest potential of his rationality which will make him appear inferior compared to another who grew up in a better environment, which is why, in many respects, one has to take into account such differences and concrete inequalities of people. Another philosopher may even doubt the existence of the equality of rationality and may ask the question how one measures rationality and how one knew the equality of the gift of rationality. Philosophy always has this boundless dissatisfaction to existing answers and never-ending tendency to disrupt them, convinced of the inadequacy of these answers and believing that there are more answers that are not yet discovered if only everyone is open to the possibilities life and reality and always has the courage to raise issues and controversy to existing answers. The issue therefore which is aimed at disrupting the process is deemed essential by a philosophic mind and is directly intended. In short, other disciplines resolve issues while philosophy creates them. In philosophy, unlike the great majority of disciplines, debate and controversy are the norm and are not thought of as disruptive episodes on the way to truth.18 Philosophy does not rest its case once it finds an answer but continues to raise issues on the possibilities and limits of an answer. In other words, the moment you say ‘This is it!’, you are not doing philosophy and you kill the philosophical enterprise. What makes philosophy alive and going is its fondness of saying ‘I don’t think so!’ which leads it to ask more and for more. The average man, accepting the bare conclusion without further question, often finds it a reason for discounting all philosophic thinking.19 Studying philosophy means learning to continue a thought about a problem where others stop thinking. The attitude of endless doubting and inquiring is the very life-blood of philosophy. Its main concern is not on what one studies but on how one sees what one studies. It focuses therefore on one’s way of thinking – of one’s understanding – not simply of one’s knowing of a particular subject matter. Other disciplines are concerned about “Do you know this or that?” while philosophy is concerned about “What for do you know this or that?” In other words, philosophy tries to see the relationship and influence of one’s knowledge of one thing to other things. A particular discipline, for example, which is absorbed in perfecting its knowledge of how to tap and process minerals, may often forget to see the relationship and influence of its knowledge to other aspects of life. It may see its relationship to economics and technological development but may not see its relationship to environment, culture, health and patrimony of people. An expert furniture maker may only see forest as source of furniture and income but may not see its relationship to ecosystems, water source, global warming, disaster prevention, and to life as a whole. It is the attitude towards knowledge that concerns more philosophy rather than the knowledge itself. What chiefly distinguishes philosophy from other pursuits is

18 19

Ibid. John Herman Randall, Jr. and Justus Buchler, 25.

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not a specific subject matter, but rather an attitude and method toward life and hence toward any given subject matter.20 Now if one still asks after the abovementioned discussion what really the center and scope of philosophy are. The short answer, as one philosopher put it, is that “philosophy’s center is everywhere and its circumference nowhere.” 21 Suggested Activity/ Instructor ’s Method or Strategy After the lecture, you are asked to make a group of five members. You share your ‘philosophy in life’ to your groupmates. The group then decides whose ‘philosophy in life’ to critically evaluate. The group members then share their ideas and views and arrive at a consensus as to the critical points that can be raised to the chosen philosophy in life. A secretary is chosen to take note of the discussion and to write the final draft of the critique. A representative is chosen to present the group output to the whole class. The instructor makes some additional comments after each group presentation if necessary. Evaluation The individual written assignment is given 15 perfect points on the basis of originality or uniqueness of ‘philosophy in life’, coherence and clarity of writing. The group output is given 20 perfect points on the basis of originality or uniqueness of ‘philosophy in life’, depth and consistency of critique and clarity of writing and presentation. Extra bonus points will be given to the first three groups which came up with the best critique: 15 for the best, 10 for the second best and 5 for the third best. You prepare for a summative test next meeting.

Texts for Further Reading Barry, Vincent. Philosophy: A Text with Readings . California: Wadsworth, 1983. Lawhead, William F. The Philosophical Journey: An Interactive Approach. California: Mayfield Publishing Co., 2000. Timbreza, Florentino T. Quest for Meaning: Philosophy Made Easy for Filipinos . Quezon City: New Day Publishers, 2000.

Philip Wheelwright, The Way of Philosophy (New York: The Odyssey Press, 1954), 4. 21 Maurice Merleau‐Ponty, “Everywhere and Nowhere,” in Signs , trans. Richard C. McCleary (Evanston, Ill.: Northwestern University Press, 1964), 128. Quoted by Lawhead, 6. 20

SCORE

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Name: _____________________________________ Class Time and Day____________ Date _________

Exercise 1.1 IN STRUCTIONS: Answ er briefly the following item s. Avoid w riting beyond the required lines. Write neatly and cleanly. Avoid too much erasures. 1. Write your own previously or recently-held philosophy in life in the box provided below. For example,“There is no greater love than for a man to die for his friend ;” “Habang may buhay, may pag-asa ;” “Life is a competitive game, you must be tough in order to defeat others to keep on standing .” Please avoid duplicating what has been given as an example here. Try to make your philosophy as unique as you are and your personal experiences and beliefs.

2. Explain why you think your philosophy in life is valid and true.

3. Relate how your philosophy has helped you understand yourself and others better, or has influenced your success or failure, or contributed towards forming you as a better person.

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Corrected by: _____________________________________

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Unit 1 - Introduction to Philosophy Lesson 1

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