INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

Editor's Notes

• #20: Definition 3 expresses philosophy as we are going to understand it in this class. Philosophy in this sense is (like definition 1, but unlike definition 2) an activity: it is something you do. In particular, doing philosophy is using our rationality in trying to figure out the answers to difficult questions (related to any subject matter).
• #25: Ethics is a branch of philosophy which assesses explanatory theories concerning the moral rightness or wrongness of different kinds of actions, as well as the moral goodness or badness of different kinds of emotions, intensions, volitions and states of character.
• #28: Epistemology (from Greek ἐπιστήμη - episteme-, "knowledge, science" + λόγος, "logos") or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope (limitations) of knowledge.[1] Much of the debate in this field has focused on analyzing the nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth, belief, and justification. It also deals with the means of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different knowledge claims. The term was introduced into English by the Scottish philosopher James Frederick Ferrier (1808–1864).[2] Wiki
• #29: It addresses the questions: • What is knowledge? • How is knowledge acquired? • What do people know? • How do we know what we know? Wiki
• #32: Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy which assesses world views. A world view is any more or less complete enumeration of the most general categories of being, coupled with a definition of each of those categories, an account of the way in which things in those categories are related to each other, as well as an account of the ultimate origins of things. Metaphysics (G. meta ta physica – “after the Physics”) ~ a science that studies all beings insofar as they are beings. Ontology (G. ontologia; onto – “being” and logia – “talking”; “talking about being”) ~ a metaphysical study of all realities/beings insofar as they exist. Real ~ extra-mental or that whose existence is independent of the human mind. Logical ~ one which is considered as intra-mental (e.g., numbers, geometrical points, mathematical objects, time); they don’t have “real existence” in the outside world. Ideal ~ one which is purely intra-mental; those whose existence lies only inside the human mind (e.g., flying-horse, golden mountain, square-circle) Approaches to Philosophy Special Metaphysics ~ studies beings specially or specifically, when it studies the world (cosmology), God (theodicy), and man (rational psychology). Cosmology ~ a metaphysical science which studies the general nature of the world or the structure and history of the universe. Theodicy or Natural Theology ~ a metaphysical science which studies the nature, operations, and attributes of God or the study about God in the context of reason, not of faith. Rational Psychology ~ a metaphysical science which treats man’s nature as a being endowed with reason and intellect which studies the rational metaphysics of the human soul
• #39: A philosophical study on the correct processes of thinking. The systematic study of argument The rule of inference Distinguishing valid from invalid argument Examination fallacies Using correct argument patterns