Course Title: Process of Doing Philosophy – Part 1

Week No. 001 / Module 001

Lesson 1 – Process of Doing Philosophy – Part 1

Content of the Module

1. What is the best approach to philosophy
a. Logic
b. Reason and Logic
2. The Value of Philosophy
a. What is the value of philosophy?
3. Holism

Introduction to Philosophy

At its simplest, philosophy (from the Greek or phílosophía, meaning ‘the

love of wisdom’) is the study of knowledge, or "thinking about thinking", although the
breadth of what it covers is perhaps best illustrated by a selection of other alternative
definitions:
• the discipline concerned with questions of how one should live (ethics); what
sorts of things exist and what are their essential natures (metaphysics); what
counts as genuine knowledge (epistemology); and what are the correct principles
of reasoning (logic) (Wikipedia)
• investigation of the nature, causes, or principles of reality, knowledge, or values,
based on logical reasoning rather than empirical methods (American Heritage
Dictionary)
• the study of the ultimate nature of existence, reality, knowledge and goodness, as
discoverable by human reasoning (Penguin English Dictionary)
• the rational investigation of questions about existence and knowledge and
ethics (WordNet)
• the search for knowledge and truth, especially about the nature of man and his
behavior and beliefs (Kernerman English Multilingual Dictionary)
• the rational and critical inquiry into basic principles (Microsoft Encarta
Encyclopedia)

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Course Title: Process of Doing Philosophy – Part 1
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• the study of the most general and abstract features of the world and categories
with which we think: mind, matter, reason, proof, truth, etc. (Oxford Dictionary of
Philosophy)
• careful thought about the fundamental nature of the world, the grounds for human
knowledge, and the evaluation of human conduct (The Philosophy Pages)

As used originally by the ancient Greeks, the term "philosophy" meant the pursuit
of knowledge for its own sake, and comprised ALL areas of speculative thought,
including the arts, sciences and religion.

Philosophical questions (unlike those of the sciences) are

usually foundational and abstract in nature. Philosophy is done primarily
through reflection and does not tend to rely on experiment, although the methods used to
study it may be analogous to those used in the study of the natural sciences.

In common usage, it sometimes carries the sense of unproductive or frivolous

musings, but over the centuries it has produced some of the most important original
thought, and its contribution to politics, sociology, mathematics, science and
literature has been inestimable. Although the study of philosophy may not yield "the
meaning of life, the universe and everything", many philosophers believe that it
is important that each of us examines such questions and even that an unexamined
life is not worth living. It also provides a good way of learning to think more clearly
about a wide range of issues, and its methods of analyzing arguments can be useful in a
variety of situations in other areas of life.
Philosophy is such a huge subject that it is difficult to know how to break it
down into manageable and logical sections. Perhaps the most basic overall split at the
highest level is geographical, between Eastern Philosophy and Western Philosophy (with,
arguably, African Philosophy as a possible third branch at this level).

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Course Title: Process of Doing Philosophy – Part 1
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What is the best approach to philosophy?
We can approach philosophy by looking at its history (eg The ancient Greeks,
Descartes etc) or we can study by topic (philosophy of science, philosophy of mind etc).
Both have their merits. Whichever we choose, its important to have an understanding of
what philosophers have thought about and we will be examining key works of the key
philosophers. Philosophy is also about using our imagination to come up with new ideas
and argue in their defence, or to challenge existing ideas by providing rational arguments
against them. It is an activity. To argue effectively we need to be aware of what it is to
reason. There is little (or nothing) to be gained by proclaiming we have a ‘philosophy’
about this or that without supporting our ideas by reason or if we have no declared
reasons for holding a view to simply state ‘’that’s what I believe and that’s all there is to
it’’. Doing Philosophy

Logic
In Star Trek when Spock is referred to as being ‘logical’ it is usually taken to
mean that he is without emotion. Sherlock Holmes is considered similarly ‘cold’. Why is
this? And what is being ‘logical’ anyway?

Reason and Logic

‘The madman is not the man who has lost his reason. The madman is the man who has
lost everything but his reason.

The Value of Philosophy

Having now come to the end of our brief and very incomplete review of the
problems of philosophy, it will be well to consider, in conclusion, what is the value of
philosophy and why it ought to be studied. It is the more necessary to consider this
question, in view of the fact that many men, under the influence of science or of practical
affairs, are inclined to doubt whether philosophy is anything better than innocent but
useless trifling, hair-splitting distinctions, and controversies on matters concerning which
knowledge is impossible.

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This view of philosophy appears to result, partly from a wrong conception of the
ends of life, partly from a wrong conception of the kind of goods which philosophy
strives to achieve. Physical science, through the medium of inventions, is useful to
innumerable people who are wholly ignorant of it; thus the study of physical science is to
be recommended, not only, or primarily, because of the effect on the student, but rather
because of the effect on mankind in general. Thus utility does not belong to philosophy.
If the study of philosophy has any value at all for others than students of philosophy, it
must be only indirectly, through its effects upon the lives of those who study it. It is in
these effects, therefore, if anywhere, that the value of philosophy must be primarily
sought.

But further, if we are not to fail in our endeavour to determine the value of
philosophy, we must first free our minds from the prejudices of what are wrongly called
'practical' men. The 'practical' man, as this word is often used, is one who recognizes only
material needs, who realizes that men must have food for the body, but is oblivious of the
necessity of providing food for the mind. If all men were well off, if poverty and disease
had been reduced to their lowest possible point, there would still remain much to be done
to produce a valuable society; and even in the existing world the goods of the mind are at
least as important as the goods of the body. It is exclusively among the goods of the mind
that the value of philosophy is to be found; and only those who are not indifferent to
these goods can be persuaded that the study of philosophy is not a waste of time.

Philosophy, like all other studies, aims primarily at knowledge. The knowledge it
aims at is the kind of knowledge which gives unity and system to the body of the
sciences, and the kind which results from a critical examination of the grounds of our
convictions, prejudices, and beliefs. But it cannot be maintained that philosophy has had
any very great measure of success in its attempts to provide definite answers to its
questions. If you ask a mathematician, a mineralogist, a historian, or any other man of
learning, what definite body of truths has been ascertained by his science, his answer will
last as long as you are willing to listen. But if you put the same question to a philosopher,
he will, if he is candid, have to confess that his study has not achieved positive results

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such as have been achieved by other sciences. It is true that this is partly accounted for by
the fact that, as soon as definite knowledge concerning any subject becomes possible, this
subject ceases to be called philosophy, and becomes a separate science. The whole study
of the heavens, which now belongs to astronomy, was once included in philosophy;
Newton's great work was called 'the mathematical principles of natural philosophy'.
Similarly, the study of the human mind, which was a part of philosophy, has now been
separated from philosophy and has become the science of psychology. Thus, to a great
extent, the uncertainty of philosophy is more apparent than real: those questions which
are already capable of definite answers are placed in the sciences, while those only to
which, at present, no definite answer can be given, remain to form the residue which is
called philosophy.

This is, however, only a part of the truth concerning the uncertainty of
philosophy. There are many questions—and among them those that are of the
profoundest interest to our spiritual life—which, so far as we can see, must remain
insoluble to the human intellect unless its powers become of quite a different order from
what they are now. Has the universe any unity of plan or purpose, or is it a fortuitous
concourse of atoms? Is consciousness a permanent part of the universe, giving hope of
indefinite growth in wisdom, or is it a transitory accident on a small planet on which life
must ultimately become impossible? Are good and evil of importance to the universe or
only to man? Such questions are asked by philosophy, and variously answered by various
philosophers. But it would seem that, whether answers be otherwise discoverable or not,
the answers suggested by philosophy are none of them demonstrably true. Yet, however
slight may be the hope of discovering an answer, it is part of the business of philosophy
to continue the consideration of such questions, to make us aware of their importance, to
examine all the approaches to them, and to keep alive that speculative interest in the
universe which is apt to be killed by confining ourselves to definitely ascertainable
knowledge.

Many philosophers, it is true, have held that philosophy could establish the truth of
certain answers to such fundamental questions. They have supposed that what is of most

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Course Title: Process of Doing Philosophy – Part 1
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importance in religious beliefs could be proved by strict demonstration to be true. In
order to judge of such attempts, it is necessary to take a survey of human knowledge, and
to form an opinion as to its methods and its limitations. On such a subject it would be
unwise to pronounce dogmatically; but if the investigations of our previous chapters have
not led us astray, we shall be compelled to renounce the hope of finding philosophical
proofs of religious beliefs. We cannot, therefore, include as part of the value of
philosophy any definite set of answers to such questions. Hence, once more, the value of
philosophy must not depend upon any supposed body of definitely ascertainable
knowledge to be acquired by those who study it.

The value of philosophy is, in fact, to be sought largely in its very uncertainty.
The man who has no tincture of philosophy goes through life imprisoned in the
prejudices derived from common sense, from the habitual beliefs of his age or his nation,
and from convictions which have grown up in his mind without the co-operation or
consent of his deliberate reason. To such a man the world tends to become definite, finite,
obvious; common objects rouse no questions, and unfamiliar possibilities are
contemptuously rejected. As soon as we begin to philosophize, on the contrary, we find,
as we saw in our opening chapters, that even the most everyday things lead to problems
to which only very incomplete answers can be given. Philosophy, though unable to tell us
with certainty what is the true answer to the doubts which it raises, is able to suggest
many possibilities which enlarge our thoughts and free them from the tyranny of custom.
Thus, while diminishing our feeling of certainty as to what things are, it greatly increases
our knowledge as to what they may be; it removes the somewhat arrogant dogmatism of
those who have never travelled into the region of liberating doubt, and it keeps alive our
sense of wonder by showing familiar things in an unfamiliar aspect.

Apart from its utility in showing unsuspected possibilities, philosophy has a

value—perhaps its chief value—through the greatness of the objects which it
contemplates, and the freedom from narrow and personal aims resulting from this
contemplation. The life of the instinctive man is shut up within the circle of his private
interests: family and friends may be included, but the outer world is not regarded except

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as it may help or hinder what comes within the circle of instinctive wishes. In such a life
there is something feverish and confined, in comparison with which the philosophic life
is calm and free. The private world of instinctive interests is a small one, set in the midst
of a great and powerful world which must, sooner or later, lay our private world in ruins.
Unless we can so enlarge our interests as to include the whole outer world, we remain
like a garrison in a beleaguered fortress, knowing that the enemy prevents escape and that
ultimate surrender is inevitable. In such a life there is no peace, but a constant strife
between the insistence of desire and the powerlessness of will. In one way or another, if
our life is to be great and free, we must escape this prison and this strife.

One way of escape is by philosophic contemplation. Philosophic contemplation

does not, in its widest survey, divide the universe into two hostile camps—friends and
foes, helpful and hostile, good and bad—it views the whole impartially. Philosophic
contemplation, when it is unalloyed, does not aim at proving that the rest of the universe
is akin to man. All acquisition of knowledge is an enlargement of the Self, but this
enlargement is best attained when it is not directly sought. It is obtained when the desire
for knowledge is alone operative, by a study which does not wish in advance that its
objects should have this or that character, but adapts the Self to the characters which it
finds in its objects. This enlargement of Self is not obtained when, taking the Self as it is,
we try to show that the world is so similar to this Self that knowledge of it is possible
without any admission of what seems alien. The desire to prove this is a form of self-
assertion and, like all self-assertion, it is an obstacle to the growth of Self which it
desires, and of which the Self knows that it is capable. Self-assertion, in philosophic
speculation as elsewhere, views the world as a means to its own ends; thus it makes the
world of less account than Self, and the Self sets bounds to the greatness of its goods. In
contemplation, on the contrary, we start from the not-Self, and through its greatness the
boundaries of Self are enlarged; through the infinity of the universe the mind which
contemplates it achieves some share in infinity.

For this reason greatness of soul is not fostered by those philosophies which
assimilate the universe to Man. Knowledge is a form of union of Self and not-Self; like

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all union, it is impaired by dominion, and therefore by any attempt to force the universe
into conformity with what we find in ourselves. There is a widespread philosophical
tendency towards the view which tells us that Man is the measure of all things, that truth
is man-made, that space and time and the world of universals are properties of the mind,
and that, if there be anything not created by the mind, it is unknowable and of no account
for us. This view, if our previous discussions were correct, is untrue; but in addition to
being untrue, it has the effect of robbing philosophic contemplation of all that gives it
value, since it fetters contemplation to Self. What it calls knowledge is not a union with
the not-Self, but a set of prejudices, habits, and desires, making an impenetrable veil
between us and the world beyond. The man who finds pleasure in such a theory of
knowledge is like the man who never leaves the domestic circle for fear his word might
not be law.

The true philosophic contemplation, on the contrary, finds its satisfaction in every
enlargement of the not-Self, in everything that magnifies the objects contemplated, and
thereby the subject contemplating. Everything, in contemplation, that is personal or
private, everything that depends upon habit, self-interest, or desire, distorts the object,
and hence impairs the union which the intellect seeks. By thus making a barrier between
subject and object, such personal and private things become a prison to the intellect. The
free intellect will see as God might see, without a here and now, without hopes and fears,
without the trammels of customary beliefs and traditional prejudices, calmly,
dispassionately, in the sole and exclusive desire of knowledge—knowledge as
impersonal, as purely contemplative, as it is possible for man to attain. Hence also the
free intellect will value more the abstract and universal knowledge into which the
accidents of private history do not enter, than the knowledge brought by the senses, and
dependent, as such knowledge must be, upon an exclusive and personal point of view and
a body whose sense-organs distort as much as they reveal.

The mind which has become accustomed to the freedom and impartiality of
philosophic contemplation will preserve something of the same freedom and impartiality
in the world of action and emotion. It will view its purposes and desires as parts of the

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whole, with the absence of insistence that results from seeing them as infinitesimal
fragments in a world of which all the rest is unaffected by any one man's deeds. The
impartiality which, in contemplation, is the unalloyed desire for truth, is the very same
quality of mind which, in action, is justice, and in emotion is that universal love which
can be given to all, and not only to those who are judged useful or admirable. Thus
contemplation enlarges not only the objects of our thoughts, but also the objects of our
actions and our affections: it makes us citizens of the universe, not only of one walled
city at war with all the rest. In this citizenship of the universe consists man's true
freedom, and his liberation from the thraldom of narrow hopes and fears.

Thus, to sum up our discussion of 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; but above all because, through the greatness of the universe which
philosophy contemplates, the mind also is rendered great, and becomes capable of that
union with the universe which constitutes its highest good.

What is the value of philosophy?

To this question, we propose some possible answers.
1. First, it’s natural to wonder, to be inquisitive. Children are marvelous philosophers who
never tire of asking questions. However, you may reply that we have no duty to do what’s
natural, or that you don’t find it natural to philosophize.
2. Second, philosophizing is pleasurable. We find joy asking questions and considering
possibilities. Perhaps that is why Plato called philosophizing “that dear delight.”
Nonetheless, you might counter that it doesn’t suit your tastes.
3. Third, we appeal to philosophy’s usefulness. Any kind of knowledge is potentially useful,
and if philosophy engenders a bit of knowledge and wisdom, then it’s worthwhile.
Nevertheless, you may not value wisdom or knowledge unless it engenders material
reward.

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4. Finally, we might argue that philosophical (critical) thinking protects us against
unsupported ideology, unjustified authority, unfounded beliefs, baseless propaganda, and
questionable cultural values. These forces may manipulate us if we don’t understand
them, and can’t think critically about them. This doesn’t require a rejection of cultural
values, only a reflection on them. Otherwise, they aren’t our values, ideas, or beliefs—we
have accepted them second-hand. To this you might respond that reflection is laborious,
that ignorance is bliss, and that trust in authority and tradition maintain culture.

Holism
The term “meaning holism” is generally applied to views that treat the meanings of all of
the words in a language as interdependent. Holism draws much of its appeal from the way in
which the usage of all our words seems interconnected, and runs into many problems because the
resultant view can seem to conflict with (among other things) the intuition that meanings are by
and large shared and stable.

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References:
• https://philonotes.com/index.php/2017/12/24/doing-philosophy/
• https://www.slideshare.net/t0nywilliams/doing-philosophy
• https://www.slideshare.net/t0nywilliams/doing-philosophy-9144292
• https://reasonandmeaning.com/2016/03/25/the-value-of-philosophy/
• https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/meaning-holism/

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