Introduction

A. What is philosophy?
The word philosophy is a combination of two Greek nouns, philia which means "love" or
"friendship," and sophia which means "wisdom." A philosopher, consequently is "a lover of
wisdom."

Western philosophy began in ancient Greece about eight hundred years B.C. At that time,
the chief component of Greek culture was a powerful religious mythology, known as
Olympianism. These early myths offered primitive explanations of natural phenomena, human
history, and the gods. They provided standards of conduct, morality, social obligations,
education, art, religious practices, and so on. The most important mythical view of life was
expressed in the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems attributed to the ancient Greek poet
Homer (c. eighth century B.C.). For the Greeks of Homer’s era, everything happened through
some kind of divine agency. They believed, for example, that the sun was carried around the
heavens by Apollo’s golden chariot, that thunder and lightning were hurled down from the top of
Mount Olympus by Zeus, and that the motion of Poseidon’s trident created waves. Other natural
phenomena were thought to have similar divine origins. The nature of the community, victory or
defeat in war, the course of love, and other human aff airs were also directly tied to the gods. The
ancient Greek gods were exaggerated human beings: bigger, stronger, and faster. Like human
beings, they were also jealous, sneaky, biased, lazy, promiscuous, and violent. They were not,
however, morally or spiritually superior to humans. In fact, the gods were often indifferent to
human affairs, including human suffering, because they were involved in complicated soap
operas of their own. Occasionally the gods took an interest in an individual human being or
involved themselves in wars or politics, often treating people as pieces in an elaborate chesslike
game.

We have legend, if not history, to tell us that the word philosophy was coined by
Pythagoras in the 6th century B.C. This ancient Greek teacher is praised for his humility or his
clear-sightedness in recognizing the fact that a man, by the use of his unaided natural powers,
can never attain to wisdom pure and simple. He can be, and should be, a lover of wisdom, a
seeker after wisdom. But he may never presume to call himself absolutely wise. And hence
Pythagoras called his own deep studies, not wisdom, but the love or the quest of wisdom; that is,
he called these studies philosophy.

Unfortunately, it was not Pythagoras who was declared the first philosopher. It was Thales
of Miletus. He was given this appellation because he was the first Western man who rejected the
accepted mythology, holding that each has the right to offer an alternative to the reigning
Olympianism. Because of this Thales brought a new kind of being into the world – a questioning
being. This being is what Pythagoras referred to as the philosophos, the lover of wisdom, whom
he loved so much.

B. What is wisdom?
What is this wisdom which philosophy seeks? Wisdom is not the same as knowledge,for a
person might know much and still be unwise. Wisdom indeed involves knowledge, but it also
includes the ability, the inclination, and the steady purpose of putting knowledge to best/good
use. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) says in his book Summa Contra Gentiles that a man is to be
called wise when he knows what he has to do and plans and manages to do it well. Thus wisdom
involves several things: an end or purpose to be attained; an appreciative knowledge of this
purpose; an ability, an inclination, and a steadfast effort to achieve the known purpose in the best
possible manner.

Thus, it is wisdom to work for a known good purpose in a steady, devoted, and
enlightened way. Such is wisdom considered subjectively, that is, in its subject, in the person
who possesses it. Taking the term wisdom in an objective sense (that is, as a thing in itself,
independent of a possessor) and regarding it in a most general way, we may say that wisdom is
the sum-total of the things worth knowing and working for, which can attract the best efforts of
the best minds and wills. This is the wisdom which philosophy pursues. This that deepest
knowledge of which philosophy is the love and the untiring quest.

C. The Method of Philosophy

Philosophy starts with questions. Ancient Western philosophers challenged the
mythological worldview by asking for rational explanations of questions that mythology could
not adequately answer. Some people argue that philosophy’s most important function is to
ascertain and then clearly propose meaningful questions. Socrates took the stand that it is not the
responsibility of philosophy to answer our questions; its responsibility is, rather, to question our
answers. What is called the philosopher’s quest is identified by the types of question that have
been asked over and over throughout history - Who or what I am?, How do I know? Am I
real? Is there some ultimate meaning in life? Questions like these constitute the basics of
philosophical inquiry. They also suggest the scope and intensity of the philosophic enterprise.
Science has much in common with philosophy. Both exhibit a passion for truth, and both
emerge from an inquiring and reflective attitude. The sciences focus their attention on limited
fields of interest where they attempt to describe the particular facets of the world so that the
world may be interpreted in systematic terms. Usually, it employs a step by step process of
knowing:
a. Awareness of the problem
b. Observation and collection of data
c. Organization, or classification of data
d. Formulation of hypotheses
e. Deductions from hypotheses
f. Testing and verification of hypotheses

Philosophy may use the descriptive materials and the theories of science to enhance or
support a position, but philosophy goes further by constantly challenging the basic assumptions
of science and by forever asking questions about the underlying nature, meaning, and ideal
possibilities of things.
D. Why philosophize?
Why philosophize? One of the goals of philosophical study is to increase intellectual
understanding of philosophy as an organized discipline or field of knowledge. This is done by
directing one’s attention towards identifying persistent philosophical questions as well as toward
comparing positions taken by philosophers on critical issues. The aim is to learn what
philosophers say, analyze the way they think, evaluate what they propose and assess the impact
of their ideas.
Another goal of philosophical study is much more personal. Here, students may be
motivated by a passionate desire to scrutinize and bolster their own personal convictions or to
find new and better ways of putting things together. However, to be able to do this, the student
must put himself/herself under the following obligations:

1. To become directly involved in philosophizing, that is, a willingness to ask the big
questions.
2. To state clearly what one means and to endeavor conscientiously to understand what
others express.
3. To extend the range of potential alternatives by broadening one’s understanding of the
reasonable or available options that might become “possible for me”.
4. To penetrate the roots of commitment to one’s choosen philosophical position.

Continuous critical evaluation of the frame of reference in which the students learn
becomes both the privilege and the obligation in engaging in philosophical study. There is the
danger of being captivated by a certain point of view simply because it is represented by a
particular teacher or a particular book. Students whose only concern is with ready-made
“answers” can be more easily bulldozed by dramatic appeals or poorly reasoned arguments. The
trick is to remain open-minded and perceptive and critical all at the same time. To hold such an
attitude demands the conscious and constant exercise of reasonable doubt.
 In a nutshell, philosophizing to be successful, the students must endeavor to be:
● Fair – willing to take a balanced look at all sides of an issue, even those with which we disagree;

● Sympathetic – willing to entertain and give credence to points of view other than our own on an issue;

● Skeptical – unwilling to accept at face value claims for which there is little rational basis;

● Objective - willing to keep their own personal biases, emotions, interpretations, and other “subjective”
factors out of the issue;

● Open-minded - willing to revise our beliefs in light of new information.

The reason for taking the positions above is this: “to do philosophizing is to assert that we are
individually free and personally responsible – responsible for what we do, for who we are, for the way
we face and deal with the world, and ultimately for the way the world is, because we cannot shift the
blame or burden onto God or Nature.”

E. Approaches in the Study of Philosophy

Two principal methods are used to introduce students to the field of philosophy. The first
is the historical approach; the second is the issue approach. The former concentrates on the
contributions of acknowledged philosophers, who are usually studied in chronological order. It
views philosophical thought in a developmental frame of reference. The history of philosophy is
customarily divided into six periods: Ancient philosophy, Medieval philosophy, Renaissance
philosophy, Early and Late Modern philosophy and Contemporary philosophy. However, the
historical approach and the issue approach are not incompatible: the pursuit of one leads
naturally to the pursuit of the other. The issue approach stresses involvement in the activity of
philosophizing. Here, it starts with issues or questions about which students may have already
formed some opinions. The issue approach is based on the conviction that interest in
philosophical inquiry can be excited more readily and that going will be less tedious if, at the
very outset, students plunge into the sea of ideas, where they must begin to think or sink.

F. Areas of Philosophy
In practice, philosophy consists of the systematic, comprehensive study of certain
questions that center on meaning, interpretation, evaluation, and logical or rational consistency.
The primary areas of philosophy are:

1. Epistemology, from the Greek for “knowledge,” is the branch of philosophy that asks
questions about knowledge, its nature and origins, and whether or not it is even possible.
Epistemological questions involve standards of evidence, truth, belief, sources of knowledge,
gradations of knowledge, memory, and perception. Epistemological issues cut across all other
branches of philosophy.

2. Metaphysics encompasses the study of what is sometimes termed “ultimate reality.” As

such, metaphysics raises questions about reality that go beyond sense experience, beyond
ordinary science. Metaphysical questions involve free will, the mind–body relationship,
supernatural existence, personal immortality, and the nature of being. Some philosophers
question the very possibility of a reality beyond human experience, while others base their
philosophies on metaphysical notions.

3. Ethics, from the Greek word ethos, encompasses the study of moral problems, practical
reasoning, right and wrong, good and bad, virtues and vices character, moral duty, and related
issues involving the nature, origins, and scope of moral values. Today, it is not uncommon for
ethicists to specialize in medical ethics, business ethics, environmental ethics, academic ethics,
issues of ethnicity and gender, and the nature of the good life. Ethical issues include truth-telling,
relativism, and universality.

4. Social and political philosophy are concerned with the nature and origins of the state
(government), sovereignty, the exercise of power, the eff ects of social institutions on
individuals, ethnicity, gender, social status, and the strengths and weaknesses of diff erent types
of societies.
5. Aesthetics is the study of value in the arts or the inquiry into feelings, judgments, or
standards of beauty and related concepts. Philosophy of art is concerned with judgments of
sense, taste, and emotion.

6. Philosophy of Religion studies religious beliefs and values in the light of reason,
scientific evidence, facts of nature, etc. Its posture is neither acceptance nor rejection of the
claims of any particular religion. The philosophical task is primarily one of criticism in the sense
of careful analysis and evaluation.

7. Contemporary Philosophy concerns itself with explaining the relation between the
theories of the natural sciences and the ideas of the humanities or common sense. Examples here
are Queer Theories, Environmental Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, and Philosophy of
Biology, among others.

G. Philosophical Attitude
What intellectual orientation, expectations and attitudes one must exhibits in seeking
wisdom, especially in the company of others? The following philosophical attitudes are the must:

1. To be significant to each person in the joint enterprise, philosophical discussion calls for
a community of tolerance. The object here is to promote an environment in which all may freely
speak, react and explore. Personal tolerance is expected; intellectual agreement is not. All who
wish to enrich and intensify the study of philosophy might consider this covenant: to agree to
disagree in an atmosphere of mutual respect.
2. The depth and range of philosophical discourse also depend on the accuracy and clarity
of communication between all participants. Language is essential, but also sets limit to the
meanings that can be exchanged, especially if set in a formalized pattern. Thus, to avoid such
pitfalls, exchange of ideas in the process of communication must be viewed in the format of a
dialogue, rather than as debate. A debate is a language game where one must strive to win or be
declared the loser according to formal and arbitrary rules. A dialogue, on the other hand, is a
form of conversation in which the communicants strive for reciprocal understanding. It is not a
contest game, but a mutual search for meaning.
3. Philosophy is not something one simply learns; it is also something one lives.
Philosophy is human beings passionately aware of themseves and their world.

H. Philosophical Risks
Philosophy is an an adventure of ideas. But any adventure involves risks, and philosophical
venture is of no exception. There are hazards in studying philosophy, so to speak:

1. It is said that little knowledge is dangerous thing. But to attain greater knowledge, one
must start, at least, with a small amount. And greater knowledge itself is also dangerous. It is like
opening a Pandora box.
2. Indulging in a philosophic venture is signing for an adventure of the mind. Students will
be exposed to different standards of ideas, and here lies the danger: the risk of more direct self-
awareness, the risk of disturbing earlier patterns of thought and action, and the risk of
remodelling the plan on which their philosophy of life was built upon. Doors once opened are
very hard to close again. Many are discouraged or threatened when they moved into another
room, a wider life space. But many also respond to the challenge and embrace the risk – “I can’t
go back; I can only go on from here”.
3. The adventure of philosophy is like one being thrown into the sea of turbulence and
confusion. Either you float or you sink. There are no guarantees - only questions: continue
drifting in the vast and hopeless middle, or swim towards the island of survival.