Transcript Someone might wonder….       What am I? What is consciousness? Could I survive my death? Am I a puppet of destiny or do I have my.

Someone might wonder….
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What am I?
What is consciousness?
Could I survive my death?
Am I a puppet of destiny or do I have
my own free will?
Does the world presuppose a creator?
How do I know if my opinions are
objective or just subjective?
What is Philosophy?
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The term philosophy is a compound from the Greek
words philo (love) and sophia (wisdom). It is best
defined as the love of exercising one’s curiosity and
intelligence.
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Pythagoras (ca. 530 BCE) was the first to call himself
a philosopher. Three classes of people at the games:
Athletes- skilled seekers of fame; merchants- shrewd
seekers of wealth; spectators- contemplative seekers
of truth. For Pythagoras, rational reflection on
abstract mathematical concepts purifies the soul by
freeing it from attachment to bodily desires.
Philosophy’s Four Main Areas
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Metaphysics:
Examines the nature
of reality. What is
real? Does God
exist? What is the
self? Are we free?
Logic: Examines
reasoning. How can
we make reliable
inferences?
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Epistemology:
Examines the
concept of
knowledge. What
can we know and
how do we know
what we know?
Ethics: Examines
the concepts of right
and wrong.
Why study philosophy?
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For fun! To satisfy our
natural curiosity, to
seek better answers to
the existential
questions. To enjoy the
pleasures of
philosophical reflection.
For self-improvement.
Reflection improves
practice.
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Thinking about what
you are doing, why you
are doing it, and how
you could do it
differently make you
better at what you do.
Theory affects practice,
bad theories lead to bad
practices. Eg. Karma,
samsara; heaven,
egoism.
Personal Freedom
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Only by subjecting the
values and beliefs of our
culture to critical scrutiny
can we avoid being duped by
persuasive propagandists
who have an interest in
manipulating us. To be truly
autonomous and self
determined we must learn to
think critically, to question
what we hear and ask for
evidence.
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For a better society. True
democracy requires citizens
who can contemplate the
common good without being
duped by groups with a
religious or political agenda.
Only careful, critical thinkers
can evaluate social policy
proposals from an objective
and impartial perspective.
Plato’s Conception of
Philosophy
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Philosophical wisdom
stands up to critical
scrutiny. A clear,
articulate, rational
system of ideas.
Dialectical methodcritical analysis of
traditional beliefs.
Rational search for
unchanging reality.
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To know a things reality
is to know the end or
purpose it serves. To
know human nature is
to grasp the ideal that
human nature strives to
realize.
Discovering this ideal
shows one how to live a
life of fulfillment.
Recent Philosophers on
Philosophy
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That department of
knowledge which deals with
ultimate reality, or the most
general causes and
principles of things. Oxford
Dictionary.
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All those enquiries which
have for their object to trace
the various branches of
human knowledge to the
first principles in the
constitution of our nature.
D. Stewart
…the scientific knowledge of
man. J.S. Mill
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…a collective name for
questions which have not been
answered to the satisfaction of
all that have asked them.
William James
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The attempt to arrive at a
general description of the whole
universe. G. E. Moore
Every philosophical problem…is
found to be not really
philosophical at all, or else to
be…logical (arising out of the
analysis of propositions).
Bertrand Russell
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A critical discussion of critical
discussion. John Passmore
Philosophy of science is philosophy enough.
Origins of Philosophy
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A paradigm shift in ancient Greece- from
supernatural to natural explanations of the
universe.
Supernaturalists rely on divination and
inspiration to discover divine motives. What
is Zeus thinking and how can we influence
him? Claims are supported by intuition,
shared subjective experience, and appeals to
authoritative traditions. Naturalists rely on
evidence and reasoning; claims that are open
to criticism and investigation on the basis of
consistency and empirical evidence.
Presocratic Philosophy: The
Milesians
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Thales (ca.580 BCE) Water
as the ultimate cause of all
things. All things are filled
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things arise, to that they
return of necessity when
they are destroyed; for they
suffer punishment and make
reparation to one another for
their injustice according to
the order of time.
with gods.
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One thing that is the cause
of everything.
This thing contains a
principle of change.
An ultimate material that
explains change while
remaining itself unchanged.
Anaximander(ca.610-ca. 546
BCE) From what source
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The boundless. An
unspecific, infinite blob from
which earth, air, fire, and
water emerged.
Anaximines (ca. 545 BCE)
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The boundless is too
obscure. A thing with
no characteristics would
be nothing.
The ultimate substance
is air. Qualitative
change results from
changes in the density
of air ( i.e., from
quantitative change).
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When air is dilated into
a rarer form it becomes
fire, while air that is
condensed forms
winds…if this process
goes further, it gives
water, still further,
earth, and the greatest
condensation of all is
found in stones.
Heraclitus vs Parmenides
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Heraclitus (ca. 470 BCE) This
world…was ever, is now, and
ever shall be an everlasting
fire.
Fire- a process; always
changing yet somehow
remaining the same.
One cannot step into the
same river twice.
What appears permanent,
is really in flux.
War is king. Endless cycles
of creation and destruction.
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Parmenides (ca. 515-ca. 440
BCE) The concept of change is
contradictory. The appearance
of change must be an illusion.
What is, is. What is not, is not.
(There is no nothing.) What is,
is uncreated, indestructible,
eternal, unchangeable.
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…all these things will be but a
name… which mortals believed true,
viz., that things arise and perish,
that they are and are not, that they
change their position and vary in
color.
Parmenides and Zeno
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Creation- (a) out of nothing,
or (b) out of something. (a)
is impossible because there
is no nothing. (b) impossible
since what is, is; it cannot be
something else.
Destruction- impossiblewould be a disappearance
into nothing.
Change- impossible. Change
= transformation into
something else, to become
what it is not.
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(ca. 490 BCE)
Zeno’s paradoxes: Achilles
can never catch the tortoise.
Before any distance can be
traversed, half the distance
must be traversed. These
half distances are infinite in
number. It is impossible to
traverse distances infinite in
number.
Therefore, motion is
impossible.
Atomism
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Empedocles (ca. 440 BCE)
Eternal, uncreated roots of
earth, air, fire, and water are
mixed together and
separated by the forces of
love and strife. A crude
version of natural selection:
…many heads grew up
without necks, and arms
were wandering about
naked, bereft of shoulders,
and eyes roamed about
alone with no foreheads.
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Democritus (ca. 460-370 BCE)
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The universe consists of atoms and
empty space; everything else is
merely thought to exist….[T]he
atoms are unlimited in size and
number, and they are born along in
the whole universe in a vortex, and
thereby generate all composite
things- fire, water, air, and earth,
for even these are conglomerations
of given atoms…All things happen
by virtue of necessity, the vortex
being the cause of the creation of
all things.
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Each atom is a Parmenidian one.
The Sophists
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As belief in the old religious myths waned, and a new
class or merchants arose, a group of philosophers
emerged teaching oratory skill and debate. For a
fee one could learn to win friends and influence
people. These enlightened men, who were liberated
from superstition and ignorance, would teach their
customers how to acquire wealth, fame, and honor.
Man is the measure of all things. Protagoras
When Zeus is uncrowned, chaos succeeds to his
place, and chaos rules. Aristophanes