Are You Ready?

Session 6:
Philosophical Enterprise
By: Fr. John F. Kavanaugh S.J.

I. Objectives:
1. Understand the nature of philosophical question by
way of formulating questions and reflecting on the
questions being asked from ones own experience.
2. Appreciate the validity of rules as contributory to
ones personal growth by way of writing.
3. Demonstrate a deeper understanding of his/her selfproject by creatively presenting this thru writing or an
artwork.

Activity:
Dice
Questions

Instructions:
At the onset, a student will ask a question to one of his classmates
whose name is drawn from a box.
The student will ask a question on several topics like:
1.) family, 2.) love, 3.) school, 4.) hobby, 5.) food and 6.) books
using the question words: 1.) who, 2.) when, 3.) where, 4.) why, 5.) how and
6.) what.

The teacher will roll the dice twice in order to determine what topic to
be asked and the type of question word to be used.
Make sure that questions need not to be too offensive and personal
on the part of the person being asked.
Likewise, if the questioner fails to ask the right question, he/she will
be penalized by having to answer any question coming from the class.

Discussion proper:

Why do we have to know first the self?

If you come to understand your identity as a man and your
potentialities as a questioner, it will lead me to the realm of right
behavior and action.
Before you know what to do, you must know first who you are and
what you can be.
If you know who you are, who you really are, then you can know
what to do.

What could possibly happen if we dont have a

careful analysis and exact reflection?

Without careful analysis and exacting reflection, our

insight and conclusions could most probably turn in to
sheer conjecture, sentimentality or philosophical
warm blankets.
(pg. 6, Paragraph 2, 6th sentence)

What are philosophical blankets?

Philosophical blankets are our comfort zones.

Why do we have to leave it behind?

We have to leave it behind because after all, we are not
questioning about how to attain a good and a beautiful life, but
rather we are questioning because we want to know the truth of
ourselves!
Truth is not something that we choose. For truth is truth and it is
only by truth that we can only be free- be it palatable or not, a
comfort or a threat.

Where does the grandeur of philosophy lies?

Philosophy's greatness lies in the individual

philosophers drive toward the
truth.

Common misconceptions about Philosophy

Picture of an isolated thinker
Great system builder
Conceive list of philosophical courses
Memorized answers to the questions which he
himself never asked.
Philosophy as a separate discipline.

We must know that:

Philosophy is a discipline of Questioning.

Philosophy is a discipline of Liberation.
Philosophy is a discipline of Personhood.

Discipline of Questioning
The act of questioning (inquiry) is the initiation
to philosophy.

Where does philosophy begins?

It begins with the questioning self (knowing the self)authenticated with
experience.
But it doesnt mean that the self will not include the non self (egocentric).
Instead, it must be exocentric, meaning the non self (exo), which is outside
the self must be in communion with the self (centric or center).
This is so since any starting point must be experientially authenticated.
And you cannot have an experience without the non self.

PHILOSOPHY AS A DISCIPLINE OF LIBERATION

Philosophy as a discipline of Liberation

implies a release or even a revolt from
historical, sociological and psychological
encapsulation.

So what does it mean?

In philosophical questioning
we are free from blind
adherence and unquestioning
acceptance.
Blind adherence is following a
certain tradition or norms
without knowing why, which
leads us to unquestioning
acceptance.

So does it mean that we are trying

to negate the culture or the norms
that we actually do or follow?
Herein the philosopher initiates a revolution, not of
negation but of affirmation- by opening himself to the
fullest possibility that might be offered to him.
This movement does mean to reject the past and present
structures for these are part of his life.

Philosophy as a discipline of personhood

If I am to be a philosopher, the it is I who must philosophized.
This means that we are not just the fruits of the past but we must
not stop doing, creating, judging, evaluating, and interpreting our
own philosophy, for this is our creative project.
We could learn from the philosophies of the old but we must also
have our own.
We are driven by our personhood: to know and to do something
about ourselves.

Upon searching for truth about ourselves,

it doesnt matter if we succeeded or not ,
what matters most is that we pursued
diligently and reflectively that some
resolution might be found.