Q3 Philosophy

• Philosophy - began at the end of 6th Century happened in Ancient Greece.
• From muthos (story) to logos (meaning/reason).
• Came from greek word “philein” w/c means “love” and “sophia” w/c means “wisdom”.
• Philosophers became the talk of the town in Athens b/c of the works of Hesiod and Homer
• Hesiod - Work and Days written as a poem 700 BCE.

  • Idea of man’s fate being indebted to gods.
• Homer - The Iliad and The Odyssey.
• Philosophy started in 587 BCE in a town called Miletus.
• Philosophy began in wonder
• First philosopher’s real question was about the astonishment at the wonders they observed.
• This is the reason why the first problems related to philosophy were cosmological in nature and why the first philosophers were cosmologists.
• Philosophy and Literature are connected.
• Philosophy’s realization of itself started from its rebellion from literature. 
• Should have a basis and reason.
• 6th Century - crucial shift of mode of thinking.
• Miletus - seaport town and was considered to be the center of many things, including business and commerce. 

  • Had the same importance in antiquity.
  • Main point of interconnection.
• First philosophers were said to be Miletians.
• Miletians - people from miletus.

  • Invested in cosmology (nature and universe).
• Milesian Cosmologists: Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes
• Thales - father of philosophy in western civilization.
• “What is the ultimate stop on the universe?” answer “Water”.
• Greece - birthplace of philosophy.
• Oliver Feltham - best philosophy historian today.

  • Provides different understanding and clarification of how this thauma can be translated.
• Thauma means “Wonder”.
• According to Oliver Feltham, when a person is stupefied, that person is placed in a position of confusion.
• According to Oliver Feltham, stupefaction becomes reinforcement to be completely mesmerized and thereby pushing oneself to ask.
• Stupefaction - should lead one to question.

  • To wonder, get confused
  • Should not be taken negatively. 
• Questioning - indication that real and genuine knowledge does not end in awe.
• Doubt - pushes us to question many things to see that a greater reason is being veiled by what seems to appear before us.
• Not all doubts are healthy, some could lead to skepticism.
• Skepticism - wherein everything is put into inquiry w/o any goal of grounding and could lead to being myopic.
• Skepticism wants to doubt w/o interest in getting to know the truth.
• Myopic - perspective that is in direct contrast to the spirit of philosophy.

  • Closed minded, lacking imagination, intellect is limited.
• Allan Badiou - french contemporary philosopher said that, a philosophical question that touch upon matters related to 3 things:

  • Choice
  • Meaning
  • Life
• In the end, answers are perennial (everlasting, constant, persisting).
• Telos - greek word for “end”, “fulfillment”, “completion”.
• Pythagoras (570 - 495 BCE) - might be more familiar to mathematics. 
• Pythagoras shifted the focus of philosophy.
• Pythagoras - his contributions to philosophical discourse are crucial.
• Pythagoras - marked a radical shift from mythic (untrue) to rational.
• Pythagoras - his invention that the world is governed by a principle that only numbers can provide is as radical as Copernicus saying that Earth is not the center of the universe during the Renaissance.