PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy comes from

two Greek word Philo and
Sophia, which mean love of
wisdom.
(Thus, a philosopher is a
“lover of wisdom”)
Pythagoras was said to have been the
first man to call himself a philosopher;
in fact, the world is indebted to him
for the word philosopher. It is said
that when Leon, the tyrant of Philius,
asked him of who he was, he said, “a
Philosopher” and he likened the
Philosopher to spectators at ancient
games.
Before that time the wise men
had called themselves a sage,
which was interpreted to mean
those who know. Pythagoras
was more modest. He coined the
word philosopher, which he
defined as one who is
attempting to find out.
According to him, men and
women of the world could
be classified into 3 groups:
1.those that love pleasure
2. those that love activity
3. those that love wisdom.
 MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy is the study of general
and fundamental problems, such as
those connected with existence,
knowledge, values, reason, mind, and
language.
Philosophy is the rational attempt to
formulate, understand, and answer
fundamental questions.
THREE ELEMENTS FOUND IN
PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH
• 1. The object of search is of real value to the
subject – “object” refers to a thing, “subject” to
the person philosophizing.
• 2. It “consumes” the whole person – his attention,
concentration, interest, and effort.
• - A philosopher observes, reads, reflects, and
writes on what to him now is the most important
thing in life.
THREE ELEMENTS FOUND IN
PHILOSOPHICAL RESEARCH
3. It is continued without let-up until..
• a. The answer is found
• b. The answer is not yet found but the
conviction is reached for the moment –
man can never be satisfied completely and
for always because man is a homoviator
(a travel who seeks answers to a lot of
questions).
 The philosopher
reaches for the
meaning of life – its
importance,
significance, value and
relevance.
 NATURE OF
PHILOSOPHY
• Man will always search for meaning of himself
and his world.
• Philosophy was born the very first time man
started wondering at what he saw around him.
• To early Greeks, philosophy was a superstar of a
subject. (A Greek philosopher was concerned not
only with particular types of knowledge, but with
all the types.)
FOUR MAIN BRANCHES OF
PHILOSOPHY
1. Logic – the science and art of correcting thinking.
2. Ethics – the science of the mortality of human acts.
3. Epistemology – the theory of knowledge, the goal of
which is truth, investigation of what distinguishes justified
belief from opinion.
4. Metaphysics – the foundation subject of all philosophy,
it deals with human reality and human thought that seek
to explain the fundamental concepts of man.
5. Aethetics – the study of what is beautiful and what is
good in the sensitivity of man.
 FOUR CONSIDERATIONS IN
THE MEANING OF
PHILOSOPHY
• a. Science. It is called science because the investigation is
systematic. It follows certain steps or it employs certain
procedures.
• b. Natural Light of Reason. Philosophy investigates things, not
by using any other laboratory instrument or investigate tools.
Instead, the philosopher uses his natural capacity to think or
simply, human reason alone or so-called unaided reason.
• c. Study of All Things. A philosopher studies human beings,
society, religion, language, God, and plants, among other
concerns. It is not one-dimensional or partial, it is
multidimensional or holistic.
FOUR CONSIDERATIONS IN THE
MEANING OF PHILOSOPHY
d. First Cause of Highest Principle. A principle is that from which
something proceeds in any manner whatsoever.
• Principle of Identity – whatever it is; and whatever is not is not;
everything is what it is. Everything is its own being, and not
being is not being.
• Principle of Non Contradiction – it is impossible for a thing to
be and not to be at the same time, and at the same respect.
• Principle of Excluded Middle – a thing is either is or not;
everything must be either be or not be; between being and not
being, there is no middle ground possible.
• Principle of Sufficient Reason – nothing exists without a
sufficient reason for its being and existence