lesson 1

• Philosophy


  For Pythagoras, it came from the Greek word Philia (Love) and Sophia (Wisdom)
• Philosophy


  For Aristotle, it is a science which inquires into the ultimate causes, reasons and principles of all things in the light of reason alone
• Philosophy


  For Karl Jasper, it is a discipline in which questions are more important than answers and which every answer paves a way to another question
• "Philosophy starts through doubt and wonder" - Socrates
• Philosophy


  • The most significant task of philosophy is to evaluate the totality of the human experience
  • Philosophy does not create nor invent to discover new facts but instead, takes an in-depth and comprehensive view about the given ideas, facts or events
  • Examination of life upon which one will formulate a fundamental principle as a standard for a more organized ideas where human life and experience is based upon
• Eros


  Passionate/intense love for something, sexual desire - erotic (erotikos)
• Agape


  Love of God for men
• Philia


  Love that seeks truth/appreciation of the other, of person or of reality
• Classification of men during Pythagoras

  • The lovers of pleasure
  • The lovers of success
  • The lovers of wisdom
• Philosophy and Science


  Both discuss truths about the universe
• Philosophy and History


  The latter serves as the breeding ground of philosophy while the former defines history and interprets it
• Philosophy and Mathematics


  Both are logical bodies of knowledge
• Philosophy and Religion


  One justifies the other
• Essential definition of philosophy

  • Search for meaning
  • Science of all sciences
  • Mother of all sciences
  • Search for the ultimate meaning of reality
• Classical Branches of Philosophy

  • Metaphysics - Being (Substance)
  • Theodicy - God
  • Cosmology - Universe/Creation
  • Psychology - Man/human soul
  • Epistemology - Knowledge
  • Logic - Correct thinking/reasoning
  • Ethics - morality/action
• Why Philosophy is important

  • Provides students with fundamental views in coping the changing demands and ethical problems
  • Develops students' ability to comprehend, systematic learning and enhance critical thinking skills
• Freedom


  An inherent human power to act or not to act that makes them responsible for their actions
• Ethics will be irrelevant in the absence of human freedom</b>
• Responsibility is an indispensable implication in human actions which would be meaningless unless human is free
• If humans are designed to only follow what they are destined to obey, their actions then would not deserve any reward or punishment
• Justice is deserved only to humans who are free to choose their course of action
• Freedom always entails the right to choose
• Ethics is the science of the morality of human actions responsibility on the part of the agent only if that agent is free
• God's presence


  A salient factor that makes sense in the study of ethics
• Without God's existence that postulates human's belief, they (humans) find no motive to do good and avoid evil
• Reward and punishment can be dispensed only by the Supreme Being: God alone can give the final judge
• The Supreme Being or God that Christians believe could for others is a law or a process where people in the ancient cultures have arrived to dispense justice in their own tradition
• If there is no life after earth where the soul believed to perpetuate life beyond, then good deeds are not rewarded, nor evil doers are punished
• Immortality of the soul is, indeed, a cornerstone in ethics
• Greek tradition on ethics

  The main goal is to have a "good life"
• Judeo-Christian tradition on ethics

  The main goal is the "idea of righteousness before God" (Love of God and neighbor)
• Greek tradition on ethics

  Being happy/Pursuit of happiness
• Judeo-Christian tradition on ethics


  Doing what is right
• Ethics


  A branch of philosophy that used to study ideal human behavior and ideal ways of living
• The approaches to ethics and meanings of related concepts have varied over time among thinkers
• Ethics


  A systematic approach to understanding, analyzing and distinguishing matters of right and wrong, good and bad, admirable and deplorable as they relate to the well-being of and the relationships among sentient beings
• The word 'ethics'


  Derived from the Greek term 'ethos' which means 'character', or, in plural form, 'manners'
• Ethics


  The branch of philosophy that deals with morality or the rightness or wrongness of human conduct
• Ethics


  Also called moral philosophy, it evaluates moral concepts, values, principles, and standards
• Ethics


  The study of things like values, principles, norms, and beliefs that shape our choices