Basic Features of Philosophy

Philosophy is:
set of views or beliefs about life and
the universe
process of reflecting and criticizing
most deeply
held conceptions and beliefs
rational attempt to look at the world
as a whole
logical analysis of language and
clarification of
the meaning of words and
concepts
group of perennial problems where
philosophers
always have sought to answers.
 Core branches of Philosophy
Philosophy has different primary and secondary
branches
Metaphysics- philosophical study of
reality/existence
Epistemology - philosophical study of
knowledge/truth
Axiology- philosophical study of value/worth
of sth.
Logic- study of argument/ reason
1. Metaphysics
 Etymologically: derived from the Greek
words “meta” means (―beyond, ―upon or
―after) and physika, means (―physics)---
Literally to mean ‘things after the physics’

 studies the ultimate nature of reality

 seek an irreducible foundation of reality

where knowledge can induced/deduced
 Deals with issues of
 Reality God, freedom, soul/immortality
 the mind-body problem, form and
substance
 relationship, cause and effect
relationship
Here are some of the questions that
Metaphysics primarily deals with:
What is reality?
What is the ultimately real?
What is the nature of the ultimate
reality?
is it one thing or is it many different
things?
Can reality be grasped by the senses, or
it is transcendent?
What makes reality different from a mere
appearance?
What is mind, and what is its relation to
the body?
is there a cause and effect relationship
between reality and appearance?
Does God exist, and if so, can we prove
 Metaphysical questions may be divided into
four subsets or aspects:
I. Cosmological Aspect:
 study of theories about the origin, nature,
and development of the universe as an
orderly system
 Cosmological questions
• How did the universe originate and develop?
• Did it come about by accident or design?
• Does its existence have any purpose
II. Theological Aspect
 part of religious theory that deals about God
 Theological question
• Is there a God?
• If so, is there one or more than one?
• What are the attributes of God?
• If God is both all good and all powerful, why
does evil exist?
• If God exists, what is His relationship to human
III: Anthropological Aspect
• deals with the study of human beings
• Anthropological questions
 What is the relation between mind
and body?
 Is mind more fundamental than body,
with body depending on mind, or vice
versa?
 What is humanity‘s moral status?
 Are people born good, evil, or morally
neutral?
IV: Ontology
 Study the ultimate nature of
reality/existence
 Ontological questions
• Is basic reality found in matter or
physical energy
•
2. Epistemology
 Derived from Greek words --episteme, meaning ―
knowledge, understanding, and logos, meaning ―study of -
literary to mean the study of
truth/knowledge
 Deals with nature, scope, meaning, and
possibility of knowledge
 deals with issues of knowledge, opinion,
truth, falsity, reason, experience, and faith
 Deals with the dependability of knowledge
and the validity of sources
 Hence, the study of knowledge Involves
three main areas
 The source of knowledge –ways to
knowledge
 Nature of the knowledge-
 The validity of the knowledge
The following are among the questions/issues
with which Epistemology deals:
What is knowledge?
What does it mean to know?
What is the source of knowledge?
Experience? Reason?
Or both?
How can we be sure that what we
perceive through our
senses is correct?
What makes knowledge different from
belief or
opinion?
What is truth, and how can we know a
statement is
true?
Can reason really help us to know
 Epistemology seeks answers to a number of
fundamental issues
 whether reality can even be known
 whether truth is relative or absolute
 Whether truth is subjected to change or
not
 The other major aspect of Epistemology is
about the sources of human knowledge
 Empiricism----------Sense Experience
 Rationalism- -------Reason /Thought
 Intuition- -----------Direct apprehension
 Revelation- ---------Supernatural
being(from God)
 Authority-
----------Expertise/professionals
1. Empiricism
 knowledge appears to be built into the very
nature of human experience
 Sensory knowing is immediate and universal
 Weakness
 data obtained from human senses is
incomplete and undependable.
i.e. Fatigue, frustration, and illness
may distort and
limit sensory perception
 there are inaudible and invisible things
that can not be identified by sense
 Advantage of empirical knowledge
 many sensory experiences and
experiments are open to both
replication and public examination
2. Rationalism
 Reason is source of knowledge
 emphasis on capability of humanity‘s
power of thought and the mind
 humans are capable of arriving at
irrefutable knowledge independently of
sensory experience
 Senses alone cannot provide consistent
universal, valid judgments
 Data obtain through senses are raw
material-k/dge
 people have the power to know with
certainty various truths about the universe
that the senses alone cannot give
Intuition
direct apprehension(grasping) of knowledge
Not derived from reasoning or sense
perception
immediate feeling of certainty OR sudden
flash of Insight
source of both religious and secular
knowledge
Source for many scientific advancements -
confirmed by
experimentation
The weakness or danger of intuition
When it used alone it may
•goes astray very easily
•lead to absurd claims
4. Revelation
Primary source of knowledge in religion
presupposes a transcendent supernatural
reality
Used as omniscient source of information
The truth revealed is absolute and
uncontaminated information
Limitation
Knowledge can be distorted through
time
Accepted by faith and cannot be proved
or disproved empirically
5. Authority :accepted as true because it comes
from experts

N.B: one source of information alone might not

be capable of supplying people with all
3. Axiology
 Derived from Greek words - Axios, meaning
―value, worth, and ―logos, meaning
―study to mean the study of value/worth
of something
 Axiology asks the philosophical questions of
values that deal with notions of what a
person or a society regards as good or
preferable such as:
What is a value?
Where do values come from?
How do we justify our values?
How do we know what is valuable?
What is the relationship between values and
knowledge?
What kinds of values exist?
Can it be demonstrated that one value is better
than another?
3. There are Three different area of
axiology
I. Ethics
II. Aesthetics
III. Social/political philosophy-
I. Ethics : philosophical study of principles
used to judge human actions as
good/bad/right/wrong
•Normative ethics:
Teleological Ethics
Deontological Ethics
Virtue Ethics
•Meta- ethics:
•Applied Ethics:
II. Aesthetics
 Aesthetics is the theory of beauty
 studies particular value of our artistic and
aesthetic experiences.
 deals with beauty, art, enjoyment,
sensory/emotional values, perception, and
matters of taste and sentiment
 The following are typical Aesthetic
questions:
•What is art?
•What is beauty?
•What is the relation between art and
beauty?
•What is the connection between art,
beauty, and truth?
III. Social/Political Philosophy
studies about of the value judgments operating
in a civil society
The following questions are some of the major
Social/Political Philosophy primarily deals with:
What economic system is best?
What form of government is best?
What is justice/injustice?
What makes an action/judgment just/unjust?
What is society?
Does society exist? If it does, how does it
come to existence?
How are civil society and government come
to exist?
Are we obligated to obey all laws of the
State?
What is the purpose of government?
 Importance of learning philosophy
Intellectual and behavioral
independence
Reflective Self-Awareness
Flexibility
Tolerance
Open-Mindedness
Creative and Critical Thinking
Conceptualized and well-thought-out
value systems
helps us to deal with the uncertainty of
living