History of Philosophy

• continental tradition


  - focused on the centrality of human action as a constitutive part

  - any analysis under this is directed toward metaphilosophy to seek a reconstruction of what philosophy is and its role in understanding knowledge, experience, and reality
• analytic tradition


  concentrated on logical analysis of language to solve the problems which beset philosophy
• 2 traditions in the contemporary period

  1. analytical,

  2. continental
• contemporary period


  the most difficult period to characterize
• Critique of Pure Reason


  Immanuel Kant's book
• Immanuel Kant


  his goal is to criticize reason by reason itself to establish a secure and consistent basis for science, religion, and morality
• priori


  means 'formed beforehand
• Immanuel Kant


  examined the extent to which human reason is capable of a priori knowledge
• empiricism


  says that experience is the source of knowledge
• rationalism


  says that reason is the sole source of knowledge
• modern period


  ends with the synthesis made by Immanuel Kant
• 2 schools of thought in the modern period

  1. rationalism,

  2. empiricism
• modern period


  recognized to be concerned about problems or issues on knowledge
• reflection and analysis


  their attempts to reconcile faith and reason reveals that _______ may be used to clarify thought or provide pieces of evidence as proofs for a topic important to human-like religious beliefs
• St. Thomas Aquinas


  famous for his work Summa Theologica which explains his views on the creation and government of the universe, the origin and nature of man, and human destiny, among others, through Catholic theology
• St. Augustine


  promoted "the argument by analogy" against solipsism or the philosophical idea that existence is the only thing that's real
• Proslogion


  St. Anselm's book
• St. Anselm


  known for his ontological (the science of what is) argument for the existence of God in Proslogion
• 3 philosophers in the medieval period

  1. St. Anselm,

  2. St. Augustine,

  3. St. Thomas Aquinas
• Medieval period


  attempted to reconcile Greek philosophy and Christian theology
• Scholasticism


  directed its inquire on how reason can be used to provide proofs that God exists
• Medieval period


  concerned with proving God's existence and understanding what is man in relation with God
• Scholasticism


  also known as the medieval period
• Medieval period


  period described as the confluence of faith and reason
• Aristotle


  believed that the aim of philosophy is truth
• Aristotle


  his method focuses on analyzing phenomena or experience and proving credible opinions about these experiences to arrive at adequate proof
• Aristotle


  for him, human being philosophize bc they wonder about the world, and as they do more things of their experience appear puzzling
• Aristotle


  his philosophy is often described as an opposition of the Platonic philosophical tradition
• Plato


  also urged that humans detach themselves to what is corporeal bc the soul without the limitation of the body can better recognize the eternal form of truth, beauty, and goodness
• Plato


  his works encourage humanity to seek what is good, what is true, and what is beautiful in the intellectual realm beyond the appearances because the senses are often deceitful
• Plato's Dialogues


  accounts of what Plato's concerned with as influenced by Socrates
• Plato


  for him, philosophy is the science of the idea or the unconditioned basis of phenomena
• Plato


  concepts = reality
• Socrates


  concepts = knowledge
• Plato


  his philosophy is a completion and extension of the philosophy of Socrates
• Socrates


  claimed that "the unexamined life is not worth living"
• Socrates


  regarded as the one who urged self-examination
• socratic method


  a method of question and answer which aims to provoke the one being asked to think for himself and to clarify his conceptions about what is asked
• elenchus


  also known as the Socratic method
• Socrates


  best known for elenchus