What is Philosophy?

Introduction
 Definition of Philosophy
• There is no unanimity among philosophers as to the
exact meaning or definition of philosophy.
• This is so because the nature of philosophical problem is
such that philosophers cannot but disagree.
• The world itself is one diverse phenomenon exhibiting
disorder and perpetual conflict.
• Philosophy as an attempt to comprehend reality in its
entirety cannot but exhibit varieties of viewpoint
because it is not possible for a single philosopher to
embody everything that we need to know about the
universe.
 Philosophy as a Search for reality
• Some philosophers see philosophy as the
search for reality
• This is the attempt to know the basic stuff i.e.
reality out of which everything is made.
• Thales identified the basic stuff as water
• Anaximenes identified reality as air
• Anaximander identified reality as something
that is limitless, boundless and infinite
 Philosophy as a rational explanation of
nature
• Philosophy is also regarded as the rational explanation of
nature
• The Ancient Greek philosophers like Thales, Anaximenes and
Anaximander relied heavily on human reason to understand
the world
• This is rational explanation of nature that is devoid of religious
myths, faith and dogmas.
• Note that they cannot engage in rational explanation of nature
that will completely get rid of religious and supernatural ideas
in their thinking.
• Rather, they refuse to accept purely religious as adequate
explanations of empirical conditions of things in the universe
 Philosophy as the formulation of
Metaphysical Systems
• Philosophy is also conceived as the
formulation of metaphysical systems
• This has to do with the understanding of the
nature of every distinct object in the world
and their relationships to one another
 Philosophy as the critical/logical analysis of
language
• This conception of philosophy started at the beginning of the 20th century
• This conception was championed by philosophers in the West, especially in
Britain and United States of America.
• They complained that philosophy has come into some sort of obscurity because
the language in which philosophical theories are formulated make use of
spurious entities and expressions
• These philosophers see the central task of philosophy as that of explaining,
clarifying and marking out the logical as well as the semantic implications of our
language
• So philosophy lays emphasis on the clarity of terms, on consistency in argument
• The belief here is that once our language of expression is clear, unambiguous
and systematic, we will be in a better position to know exactly we are talking
about.
• This clarity greatly enhances the possibility of reaching some consensus on
important matters both of everyday life and philosophy
Philosophy as a Search for the Ideal Life
• The lead proponent of this conception of philosophy is Socrates
• For Socrates, philosophy is the search for the ideal life and how
to live it.
• Socrates demonstrated this when he was in jail in Athens,
condemned to death for allegedly leading the youths against
the state
• His friends came in the night ready with plans for his escape.
• Socrates refused the offer and answered that a good citizen
always obey the laws of his society
• Since running away from prison and invariably from his
condemnation to death amounts to a disobedience to his state,
Socrates said he would do no such thing.
 Philosophy as a Search for the Ideal Life
Contd.
• "For to fear death, my friends, is only to think ourselves wise
without really being wise, for it is to think that we know
what we do not know. For no one knows whether death may
not be the greatest good that can happen to man."—
• "As long as I have breath and strength I will not give up
philosophy and exhorting you and declaring the truth to
every one of you whom I meet.“
• "Are you not ashamed of caring so much for the making of
money and for fame and prestige, when you neither think
nor care about wisdom and truth and the improvement of
your soul?"—
 Philosophy as a Search for Truth
• Locke sees Philosophy as a search for truth
• Locke argues that in the search for truth, we must
beware the pitfalls of “enthusiasm” (passion or
emotion) and always follow the lead of reason.
• Through enthusiasm we can fall prey to wishful
thinking, overwrought imagination (especially the
religious kind), and groundless feelings of certainty.
• Locke: “Reason must be our last judge and guide in
everything.”
 Philosophy as the Concern with Human
Existence
• This is the view of the existentialists like Martin
Heidegger, Soren Kierkergaard, Albert Camus, and Karl
Jaspers
• They refused to see philosophy as the abstract
speculations about reality or the objective world.
• Rather, they see philosophy as dealing with man, his goal
of living and his position in the scheme of things.
• They see man as the determinant and discoverer of truth
• For the existentialists, what constitutes truth is human
interest, his harmonious relationship with others, his
experience and his reason
 Things to Note
• None of these definitions can be completely ignored
by a practising philosophers
• The important thing to note is that philosophy is a
discipline, the nature and scope of which is a problem
in itself
• Philosophy is a critical discipline which does not
exempt itself from its own criticism but applies its
critical tool to itself
• The very disagreement among philosophers about the
nature of philosophy is, ironically, part of philosophy
 Summary of these Definitions
• Philosophy is a rational search for answers to the questions that arise in the mind when
we reflect on human experience
• Philosophy is a rational search for answers to the basic questions about the ultimate
meaning of reality as a whole and of human life in particular (Omoregbe, 2005)
• From the above definitions, the following could be understood with regard to the
definition of philosophy
1. Philosophy is a search, a continuous search for meaning, for intelligibility and for
answers. It is a search that never ends
2. Philosophy is a rational search. The philosophical inquiry is purely rational inquiry
3. Philosophy does not accept dogmatic answers that would put an end to any further
questioning
4. The questions asked in philosophy are not questions of a particular nature but of a
general nature. For example, philosophy does not ask questions about any particular
man but about man in general.
5. Philosophy arises from reflection on human experience i.e. man’s experience of his
own being and of reality outside him
 The Truth about Philosophy
• Literally, philosophy means the love of wisdom.
• Etymologically, it is derived from two Greek words philos,
which means love and Sophia, which means wisdom.
• The hallmark of philosophy is argument
• Philosophy is out to clarify concepts
• It also analyzes, and tests propositions and beliefs
• Most importantly, it analyzes and constructs arguments.
• It deals with the nagging problems of life
• It is also a reflection on human experience
Bertrand Russell: The Value of Philosophy

• "Philosophy is to be studied, not for the sake

of any definite answers to its questions since
no definite answers can, as a rule, be known
to be true, but rather for the sake of the
questions themselves; because these
questions enlarge our conception of what is
possible, enrich our intellectual imagination
and diminish the dogmatic assurance which
closes the mind against speculation. . . ”
 Methods of Philosophy
• The question that has often been asked by new
students of philosophy is whether philosophy has a
method of its own
• The answer to this question, just like the attempt to
define philosophy, has remained controversial to a
certain extent
• Basically, critical reflection is the method of philosophy
• However, it is pertinent to stress the fact that
philosophy depends on a combination of methods in
order to achieve its ultimate goal.
 The Socratic Method
• This is one of the ancient methods of philosophy and it sometimes goes under
the name dialectics
• Dialectic is a process of reasoning or intellectual conversation in which
argument and counterargument, or thesis and counter-thesis, are continually
juxtaposed in order to discover the truth of a matter.
• This was particularly the way that Socrates conducted his exposition of
philosophical truths, through co-operative inquiry by the interplay of opinions
• In his philosophical career, Socrates frequently insisted that he was not a
teacher. Rather he merely possessed an intellectual skill that he liked to the role
of a midwife, which enabled him to help others to bring their thoughts to birth.
• Thus, the high point in this method is that it presupposes that truth is in-born,
and by the technique of proper questioning the individual is helped to give birth
to ideas within his own mind.
• However, the socratic method of philosophy has been criticized by scholars who
do not believe in the idea of innate knowledge.
 Method of Deduction
• This method of philosophy is popularly referred to as Aristotle’s method
• It is called so because he was the first to elaborate the rules of deductive
reasoning
• In deductive reasoning inferences or conclusions are deduced from general
statements
• It is an argument meant to give logically conclusive support to its conclusion.
• An example of deductive argument is as follows:
All men are mortals
James is a man
Therefore, James is a mortal

• It is important to note that a deductive argument the conclusion follows logically

and validly from the premises irrespective of the truth or falsity of the major
premise.
 Method of Induction
• This is a method in which the premises do not give conclusive
evidence or information for the establishment of the conclusion
• It is an argument meant to provide probable support to its
conclusion.
• An example of inductive argument is as follows:
John is a student and he is stubborn
Mary is a student and she is stubborn
Therefore, all students are stubborn
• This philosophical method is usually criticized on the grounds that
it leads to hasty generalization since all possible instances of the
state of affairs cannot be verified
• Truths based on inductive method are highly probabilistic
 Existential Method
• This method of philosophy states that one should place
himself/herself in the truth only by an act of his will
• This implies that it is not by deliberation of the mind but
a decision of the will that one comes to know the truth
• This method upholds that the individual has a
determinant role to play in the quest for truth
• The limitation of this method lies in the fact that it
advocates so much of personal conviction.
• This makes it susceptible to relativism where one’s
belief or feeling becomes the test for truth.
 Analytic Method
• This is most popular method of philosophy
• This method was championed by Ludwig Wittgenstein who believed that
philosophical puzzles could be solved by analysis and clarification of language.
• Wittgenstein emphasized the important role that the rules of language plays
in ordinary language expressions
• Another version of the analytic method emanated from the views of the
logical positivists.
• The logical positivist movement is also called the Vienna circle
• In their opinion, for a statement to be meaningful it must be either analytic or
else verifiable
• For them, other statements like those of metaphysics, which cannot be
verified directly or indirectly are meaningless.
• This verification principle has also been criticized by some scholars on the
grounds that the principle itself is not empirically verifiable.
 Phenomenological Method
• This method was developed by Edmund Husserl
• The method consists essentially in an intellectual observation of the given object
• This method has three major approaches, namely,
i. The first one is that one must adopt a purely objective standpoint focusing attention
singlemindedly on the object
ii. Second, all theoretical knowledge derived from other sources must be avoided so that
only the given object will be admitted
iii. Third, tradition has to be down played in terms of what others have thought about the
object

• This is basically why phenomenological method is said to be free from all presuppositions
because it allows the bare facts of one’s experience speak for themselves.
• We can deduce from the foregoing that the phenomenological method seeks to give a
purely neutral description of one’s awareness of the world before he/she ever begins to
think about it reflectively.
 Traditional Main Branches of Philosophy
• Philosophy in the West is traditionally divided into four main branches,
namely, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and logic.
• It must be noted that some scholars see logic simply as a tool of philosophy
i.e. philosophy’s instrument of action.
• Metaphysics is the search for the ultimate causes of things. Metaphysics
takes one beyond appearance to the reality behind it.
• Epistemology is the study of human knowledge, the study of the nature of
human knowledge, its origin, its limits, its justification, its reliability or
unreliability, its certainty or uncertainty.
• Ethics:This is the branch of philosophy which deals with the morality of
human actions. In other words, it studies the norms of human behaviour. It
can also be defined as the systematic study of the fundamental principles of
the moral law. It is the normative science of human conduct.
• Logic is the study of arguments, or correct reasoning
 Periods in Philosophy
• Ancient Greek Period
• Medieval Period
• Modern Period
• Contemporary Period