Garcia, Dan Drexter Z.

February 27, 2015

BS EE/ First Year D-1R

The Branches of Philosophy in Personal Perspective

Listening to Sir Aranas’s third lecture, made me think, answer, and criticize some topics

and philosopher’s ideas about the branches of Philosophy namely aesthetic, metaphysics,

epistemology, ethics, logic, and philosophy of X.

At first, Sir Aranas asked all of us “what is beauty” and “what is art”, and then I derived

this simple answer from his discussion: beauty is the appreciation of things and art is the

expression of what an individual thinks. He also asked us “what is knowledge” and for me, it is

the collection of thoughts and ideas of a person about something that is worthy to acquire. The

last question I remembered him asking was “what is reality”. In turn, this question made me ask

myself if I am real and if I really exist. For me, reality is what the senses perceive and each

person exists in their own reality, whatever it may be.

There were some ideas, in which philosophers said, that I agreed to but there were also

some that I rejected. The ones that I agreed upon were: first, “art promotes cultivation of the

mental powers for sociable communication,” said by Immanuel Kant. Art is really a

representation of what a man thinks of what he is making. Also, through his art piece, he can

convey his thoughts to others. The second idea was said by Plotinus about beauty. He said that

“beauty is a manifestation of the divine on earth.” As what I believe, God created us from the

dust and molded it to produce a wonderful creation.

 Furthermore, the thoughts that I rejected were, first, the idea of Plato about the art. As

what he said in his book The Republic, “art is not necessary in perfect republic because it only

moves man father to reality.” My first argument is that his reference of reality, based on my

understanding, is only his “ideal state,” but ironically, it will never happen. What if the art is

based on what the artist and his audiences perceive as reality, then, art is not a tool that moves

them farther to the real world but moves them closer to their reality. In that point, Plato has lost

his argument. And the second thought is proposed by Tertullian about beauty when he said, “A

beauty is evil, a surreptitious diversion of earth.” What if beauty is used to promote equality and

common good, then later on, to help the needy and the poor, is beauty in that sense is evil?

I have really enjoyed thinking about the ideas of different philosophers about the

branches of Philosophy. In that lecture class, concluding some facts, developing present

information and welcoming new ideas made me excited and creative. Also, because of this

discussion, I have felt that I became a philosopher in my own little way.

Garcia, Dan Drexter Z. February 27, 2015

BS EE/ First Year D-1R

History of Western Philosophy: Digging the Ancient Curiosity

Curiosity in ancient civilization is very vital to the communal growth because it helped

man to think freely and critically even though there was insufficient intellectual capacity. The

fourth week’s lecture was focused on the ancient philosophy. It is when men learned to ask and

to reason out the scientific explanations behind everything. The era is further divided into two

parts—the Pre-Socratic and Socrates and the Socratic schools philosophers.

The discussion helped me to frequently ask questions about reality and to curiously

inspect to the uncommon events. Furthermore, the questions that I remembered answering in my

mind were: “where did the world came from,” “is there ‘the one’ that is not changing, eternal

and indivisible,” “is Zeno’s paradox on ‘the stadium runner Achilles and the tortoise the arrow’

can be applied in real life,” “is Plato’s republic, real or can happen,” and “is the idea separate

from substance?”

The question “where did the world came from”, is answered in the Holy Scriptures but if

I will be tasked to choose from the ideas of Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Phythagoras, and

Empredocle in which assumption is near to reality, I will choose the latter. Air, water, earth, and

fire, through the forces love and strife, will be combined in order to produce something new.

And as an example for materials created by love, air plus fire will help us to cook food (without
oxygen, we cannot produce fire) and water plus soil will produce pots. Also, the phenomena

created by hate are: air plus fire will yield forest fires and water plus earth will cause landslides.

As for the second question, there is no such thing on earth that is “eternal, not changing,

and indivisible.” Humans, animals, plants and even the earth are temporary, changing and

divisible. The third question about Zeno’s paradox can be answered by analyzing the situation.

If Achilles and the tortoise have the same speed then he cannot surpass the tortoise. But if

Achilles is faster than the tortoise, then, Zeno will be wrong. Let’s say time is equal to distance

divided by speed, and the distance of the stadium is constant to the two contenders, we can

conclude that the faster the contestants, the shorter his time to complete the race.

My fourth question was “is Plato’s republic, real or can happen”. As I reread the slides, I

conclude that it is only ideal but is highly improbable. The first reason is you cannot control a

man’s desire in art. Second, I can say that there is no ruler that cannot possess material things

and cannot consider his family as his own. And third, there is no assurance that the citizens and

soldiers will forever be submissive to the ruler. Moreover, my answer to the fifth question is no.

It is because you cannot think of something without actually seeing the material. How can I

know that a chair is a chair if I have not seen a chair before? And also, the chair itself will

represent the idea that it is created for us to sit on it.

Curiosity will really lead us to question things that will soon lead us to answers that could

satisfy our inquiries. Through this method, people will become more imaginative, creative, and

logical that will lead to further innovations, ideas, and inventions that would benefit humanity.