Introduction To Philosophy

PHI: 101 (RAK)

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY?
In a general sense, a person's philosophy is die sum of his fundamental beliefs and
convictions. In this sense everyone has a philosophy, even though he does not realize
it. All people have some ideas concerning physical objects, man, the meaning of life,
nature, death, God, right and wrong, and beauty and ugliness. Of course, these ideas
are acquired in a variety of ways. Especially during the early years of our lives, we are
continuously engaged, with varying degrees of consciousness views and attitudes from
our family, from companions, and from various other individuals and groups. These
attitudes may come to us through custom and tradition as expressed by behavior in
home, school, and church. They may be influenced by the movies, radio, television, and
books. They may be the result of some thinking on our part; or they may be largely the
result of convention and emotional bias. This broad, popular, or man-in-the-street view
of philosophy is not adequate for our purposes. It does not describe the work and task
of the philosopher. We need to define philosophy more specifically, since the broad
view does not distinguish philosophy from many vague, confused, and superficial
beliefs.
The word philosophy is derived from the Greek words philos ("loving") and sophia
("wisdom") and means "the love of knowledge and wisdom." But philosophy can be
approached or defined from a number of different points of view. Here we present five
that are supplementary rather than contradictory, although some philosophers may wish
to exclude one or more of them. Each approach must be kept in mind for a clear
understanding of the many meanings of philosophy and what particular philosophers
may say about the nature and function of philosophy.
1.Philosophy is a personal attitude toward life and the universe. When a person goes
through some crisis or unusual experience, often we inquire, "How does he take it?" or
"How does it affect him?" Sometimes the answer is, "He takes in philosophically." This
means that he sees the problem in its broad perspective or as a part of a larger scheme
of things; hence he faces the situation calmly and reflectively, with poise and
composure.
The mature philosophical attitude is the searching and critical attitude; it is also -the
open-minded, tolerant attitude expressed in the willingness to look at all sides of an
issue. It includes a readiness to accept life and the world as they are, and to try co sec
life in all its relationships. This does not mean enslavement to the present or to what
exists now, however, because philosophy is willing to look beyond the actualities to the
possibilities.

Introduction To Philosophy
PHI: 101 (RAK)

To philosophize is not merely to read and to know philosophy; it is also to think and to
feel philosophically. Philosophy begins in wonder, doubt, and curiosity. It grows out of
our developing awareness of the problems of human existence. Consequently;
philosophy is in part the speculative attitude that does not shrink from facing the difficult
and unsolved problems of life.
2. Philosophy is a method of reflective thinking and reasoned inquiry. This .method is
not the exclusive property of philosophy, as will readily be seen; it is die method of all
careful and accurate thinking. Philosophy, however, is more inclusive or synoptic than
arc the various sciences. Philosophical method is reflective and critical. It involves the
attempt to think through one's problems and to face all the facts involved. The
accumulation of more knowledge docs not by itself lead to understanding, since it does
not necessarily teach the mind to make a critical evaluation of facts or enable a person
to live his life according to consistent principles.
There are varieties of philosophical methods, as will be seen when die problems of
knowledge are studied in greater detail. Philosophers differ in the extent to which they
emphasize and accept or reject authority, reason, sense experience, and intuition.
These topics will be considered in Part-One, Methods of Inquiry.
3. Philosophy is an attempt to gain a view of the whole. Philosophy seeks to combine
the conclusions of die various sciences and long human experience into some kind of
consistent world view. The philosopher wishes to see life, not with the specialized slant
of the scientist or the businessman or the artist, but with the over-all view of someone
cognizant of life as a totality. In " speaking of "speculative philosophy," which he
distinguishes from "critical philosophy," C. D. Broad says, "Its objects to take over the
results of the various sciences, to add to them the results of the religious and ethical
experiences of mankind, and then to reflect upon the whole. The hope is that, by this
means, we may be able to reach some general conclusions as to the nature of die
universe, and as to our position and prospects in it."
Since die direction of learning during the past century has been toward analysis,
specialization, and the fragmentation of knowledge, it is well to keep in mind that many
of the great philosophers have refused to confine their attention to someone or even a
few aspects of experience. Plato, Aristotle, Aquinas, Hegel, Bergson, Dewey, and
Whitehead, to mention only a few, have sought to gain a comprehensive vision of
things.
While there are difficulties and dangers in setting forth any world view, there are also
dangers in confining one's attention to fragments of human experience. "The dangers of
the sort of narrow specialization which either refuses to look beyond its own little

Introduction To Philosophy
PHI: 101 (RAK)

province or treats as nonsensical attempts to go beyond it far outweigh the risks of

attempting a world view."
4. Philosophy is the logical analysis of language and the clarification of the meaning of
words and concepts. Certainly this is one-function or philosophy. In fact, nearly all
philosophers have used methods of analysis and have sought to clarify the meaning of
terms and the use of language. There are some philosophers, indeed, who see this as
the main task of philosophy, and a few who claim this is the only legitimate function of
philosophy. Such persons consider philosophy a specialized field serving the sciences
and aiding .in the clarification of language rather than a broad field reflecting upon all of
life's experiences. This outlook is recent and has gained considerable support during
the last half century. It would limit what we call knowledge to statements about
observable facts' and their interrelationsthat is, to the business of die various
sciences. All linguistic analysts, however, do not define knowledge so narrowly. While
they do reject and try to "clean up" many nonscientific assertions, many of them think
that we can have knowledge of ethical principles and the like, though this knowledge is
also experientially derived. Those who take the narrower view neglect, when they do not
deny, all generalized world views and life views, as well as traditional moral philosophy
and theology. From this more narrow point of view the aim of philosophy is to expose
confusion and nonsense and to clarify the meaning and use of terms in science and
everyday a flairs.
The discussions centering around "philosophical analysis" as the function and method
of philosophy are involved and technical. The groups supporting this general position
have not been unified, as we shall sec in Chapter 16. We do need to emphasize here
that there are no philosophical schools which do not rely on analysis in some form. We
are using the terms philosophical analysis and linguistic analysis to describe those
philosophers who see this as the sole or at least the major task of philosophy.
5. Philosophy is a group of problems as well as theories about the solution of these
problems. There are certain perennial problems which interest mankind and for which
philosophers have always sought answers. Philosophy presses its inquiry into the
deeper problems of human existence beyond what eye hath seen or car heard. Some
questions raised in the past have been answered in a "manner satisfactory to most
men. For example, the existence of innate or inborn ideas has been denied since the
time of John Locke in the seventeenth century. Many questions, however, have been
answered only tentatively, and many problems remain unsolved.
What arc philosophical questions? The question "Did John Doe make a false, statement
on his income tax return?" is merely a question of fact. But the questions "What is

Introduction To Philosophy
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truth?" and '"What is the distinction between right and wrong?" have philosophical
importance.
Most of us stop at timessometimes because of startling events, often out of sheer
curiosityand think seriously about fundamental life issues: What is life land why am
There? What is the place of life in this great universe? Is the universe friendly or
unfriendly? Do things operate by chance or through sheer mechanism, or is there some
plan or purpose or intelligence at the heart of things? Is my life controlled by outside
forces or do I have a determining or even a partial degree of control? Why do men
struggle and strive for rights, for justice, for better things in the future? What do
concepts like "right" and "justice" mean, and what arc the marks of a good society?
Often men and women have been asked to sacrifice their lives, if need be, for certain
values and ideals. What arc the genuine values of life and how can they be attained? Is
there really a fundamental distinction between right and wrong, or is it just a matter of
one's own opinions? What is beauty? Should religion still count in a person's life? Is it
intellectually respectable to believe in God? Is there any possibility of a "life after
death"? Is there any way we can get an answer to these and many related questions?
Where docs knowledge come from, and can "we have any assurances that anything is
true?'' . These questions arc all philosophical. The- attempt to seek answers or solutions
to them has given rise to theories and systems of thought, such as idealism, realism,
pragmatism, logical empiricism, humanism, and materialism. Philosophy also means the
various theories, or systems of thought developed by the great philosophersmen like
Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Locke, Berkeley,
Kant, Royce, James, and others. Without these-men and their thoughts, philosophy
would not have the rich content it has today. Even though we may be unconscious of
die fact, we are constantly influenced by ideas that have come down to us in the
traditions of society.
So far we have been talking about philosophy in general. However, philosophy also
deals with the systematic body of principles and assumptions underlying a particular
field of experience. For example, there are philosophies of science, education, art,
music, history, law, mathematics, and religion. Any subject pursued far enough reveals
within itself philosophical problems.