1. Philosophy is difficult to define, because of; wide scope and the
problem of existence of philosophers.
2. Philosophy is a discipline of all disciplines. It uses logical
thinking/rational inquiries to answer questions. It probes the real realities
of man.
3. Philosophy is reflection on human experience.
§ It deals with total human experience and every question of
life.
§ Philosophy is the knowledge of everything. Philosophy is
simply, the love of wisdom (practical/speculative wisdom).
§ Wisdom is the acquisition and application of knowledge and
it transcend experience.
4. Philosophy is a reflective discipline that solves problems through
thinking, and prescribes values.
5. Philosophy is the search for reality (METAPHYSICS),
§ Philosophy is the search for truth (EPISTEMOLOGY).
§ Philosophy is the search for the best form of life.
§ Philosophy as a rational study of nature.
6. PHILOSOPHIE-French/German, FILOSOFI-Arabic/Italian,
PHILOSOPHIA-Latin.
7. THALES was the 1st in history to give serious thought to the
composition of nature. He believed nature is composed of WATER. He said, water,
fire, air, earth accounted for the unity of nature.
While, HERACLITUS believed that the
universe is a LIVING FIRE.
8. PLATO founded the “Socratic dialogue” which was a method of
criticizing received ideas. It was fully developed into a philosophy of the
Absolutely HEGEL.
9. Pragmatism is a theory of truth and meaning. It is also called
empiricism, instrumentalism and experimentalism. John Dewey, C.S Pierce, W.
James.
10. The Ionians were the earliest philosophers
in the West.
11. “without philosophy, Man is just
a little above animals”...........VOLTAIRE DEFINITIONS OF PHILOSOPHY.
§ It means curiosity, desire for fresh experience and pursuit
of intellectual culture........PLATO.
§ It is a rational investigation of certain fundamental
problems about the nature of man, and his world....HIRST (1968).
§ It is the process of asking questions.......SCHOFIELD
(1978).
§ It is a speculative in which one tries by reasoning to build
consistent ideal world that ought to be..AKINPELU (1981)
METAPHYSICS
a. It was coined by ANDRONICUS of Rhodes who edited
Aristotle’s works in 70BC. It has “Meta”
which means after and “Physika”
meaning within the confines of nature.
b. It is the science of being as
being, dealing with the origin concepts.
c. It is a speculative philosophy.
It is the basis of other branches.
d. It is the study of what make up
the universe.
e. It is classified into; ONTOLOGY and COSMOLOGY. Other classifications are; PSYCHOLOGY AND THEOLOGY.
It is sub-divided into 2;
i. IDEALISM:it explains that reality is mental. Idealists
include; Plato, Leibniz, Descartes, Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, Froebel.
ii. MATERIALISM: it explains that matter is real. Materialists
include; Aristotle, Karl Marx, Gilbert Ryle, Democratize.
EPISTEMOLOGY
a. It is derived from the Greek words
“Episteme” meaning knowledge and “Logos” meaning theory. It is the theory
of knowledge. Knowledge is based on conclusive evidence, while belief is based
on assumption.
b. The Sophists were the first group
of sceptic to claim that certain knowledge is unattainable by man.
Sceptics were; Georgias, Pyrrho.
c. The types of knowledge are;
§ Revealed,
§ intuitive,
§ empirical,
§ rational
§ and authoritative.
AXIOLOGY
a. It is derived from the Greek
words “axia” meaning value and “logos” meaning study.
It is philosophical study of value.
b. It is classified into; ETHICS and
AESTHETICS.
RATIONALISM/EMPIRICISM
a. Rationalism is the view that
knowledge involves thinking and reasoning. The Rationalists are of the view of
Priori knowledge, which is the knowledge acquired independentlyof experience.
The father of modern rationalism is
RENE DESCARTES. Other rationalists are; Plato, St. Augustine, Immanuel Kant
etc.
b. Empiricism is the view that
knowledge involves the use of the senses. The empiricists are of the view of
Posteriori knowledge, which is the knowledge derived from experience.
LOGIC
a. It is the rule of correct thinking.
The primary function of logic is to detect errors in our thinking. Inferential
thinking deals with separating sound from unsound arguments.
b. It is a tool of philosophy of
action.
c. It gives the power of critical judgment,
ability to think quickly, clearly and distinctly. It also gives the capacity to
communicate the thought reasonably and correctly.
d. It is made from arguments.
The component of arguments is
proposition.
e. A proposition is the meaning of a
sentence. A proposition that is supported is called conclusion, while the
supporting is called premises.
f. In logic, conditional is when a
sentence is true if another sentence is true. It is also called implication.
g. Deduction is a general rule of
logic. A deductive statement can either be (Valid or Invalid).
h. Induction is a particular rule of
logic. An inductive statement can be classified into;(correct/reasonable/sound)
and (incorrect/unreasonable/unsound).
SYMBOLIC
LOGIC
a. Symbols are used for convenience
and not to decode complex inferences.
b. Symbolic logic is concerned with
syntax and not semantics.
c. Syntax is a set of rules that
governs how a concept is formed by combination.
d. Semantics is a branch of
linguistics, which deals with the meaning of words.
e. In symbolic logic, expressions
are connected through logical connectives.
They include; AND: is a conjunction
represented with a dot (.). it is used to connect two simple propositions or
sentences.
For instance, Mike danced and Mike
won a prize (p.q) OR/EITHER: is a disjunction represented with a vel (V). it is
used to specify which of two things is really the case. For instance, James
stole my book or no book was sent to me (pVq) IF/THEN: is an implication or
conditional statement represented with an horseshoe (ↄ).
For instance, if Okonkwo is brave,
then his mother deserves praise (pↄq)IF/ONLY IF: is called material
equivalence, and is represented with three bars (≡). It makes the antecedent
depends on it consequent. For instance, I can be hungry, if and only if I am
healthy (p≡q). {P and Q} are logical variables, while {.Vↄ≡}are logical
connectives.
FALLACY
1. It is derived from the Latin word
“fallor” meaning “I am
deceived”.
2. The main function of fallacies is
to assist in detecting errors and indicate the rules of correct thinking.
3. Fallacies are extra-logical forms
of arguments which persuades user to conclude unreasonable because it is beyond
rule of sound thinking.
Basic
types of fallacy
1. Fallacy of ambiguity: is also
called fallacy of clearness. It occur when the formulation of arguments contain
ambiguous words with a clusting meaning.
It classifications are;
a. Fallacy of equivocation:
is when a word has more than one meaning, thereby causing confusion. E.g. every
writer needs a pen, animals are kept in a pen, and therefore every writer needs
a place to keep.
b. Fallacy of amphiboly: is
caused from loose combination of words resulting into ambiguity.
c. Fallacy of accent: is
committed when one shifts the meaning of an argument by stressing a word or
phrase that should not be stressed.
d. Fallacy of composition: is
caused against the background of two closely associated invalid arguments.
e. Fallacy of division: it
assumes that what is true of the whole is true of the part.
2. Fallacy of relevance: it is also known as material
fallacies. The premises are irrelevant to establish true conclusion.
a. Argumentum ad Baculum (appeal
to force): is when someone forces others to accept his point of view. For
instance, when a boss want to sack you for not signing a document. E.g. I have
taken your pen; I am bigger and stronger than you, so you can’t get your pen
back.
b. Argumentum ad Hominem (Abusive):
is when an argument is directed to a person and not the issue at stake. E.g.
liquefied natural gas project is bad, because it was presented by a military
head.
c. Argumentum ad Hominem (circumstantial):
it is when an argument employs blackmail. It appeals to a person to accept an
irrelevant conclusion. E.g. Jim should accept the conclusion that all
university lecturers are rich, because Jim is a university lecturer and he is
rich.
d. Argumentum ad Ignorantium
(argument from ignorance): it is when one concludes because of lack of
clear evidence. E.g. peter has not been to Alaska, peter does not know that
Alaska exists, therefore, Alaska does not exist.
e. Argumentum ad Misericordiam
(appeal to pity): is when an argument is focused on a pity-cause. E.g. a
youth who killed his parent, appeal for leniency in court judgment because he
is now an orphan.
f. Argumentum ad Populum (appeal
to crowd): it is used to win conclusion not supported by evidence. It is
used by politicians, advertisers etc.
g. Argumentum ad Verecumdiam
(appeal to authority): it is used in the field of knowledge.
h. Fallacy of accident: is
when a general rule is not universally applicable. For instance, when there is
a rule against lie. E.g. a man was pursued by hired killers, and ran into my
house, and I told them, he is not here.
i. Converse accident (hasty
generalization)
j. False cause: is an error
of attributing a cause. It is the practice of inferring that one event is the
cause of another. E.g. lighting is the cause of thunder.
k. Complex questions: it is
error resulting from the answering of YES/NO.
l. Ignoratio Elenchi (irrelevant
conclusion)
LAW
OF THOUGHT
It is the basic principles of
thinking process which constitute the absolute starting points of forms.
According to ARISTOTLE, founder of
Logic, there are 3 laws of thought.
1.The law of identity: is
also known as the principle of identity. It states that, “if any statement is
true, and then it is true”. It does not recognize the fact of change.
2. The law of contradiction:
it states that “no statement can be both true and false”.
3. The law of excluded middle:
it states that “a statement is either true or false”.
The Quantification theory was
discovered by FREGE. It is the deepest single technical advance in logic.
HISTORY
OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY
1.Philosophy in the West is divided
into 3; Metaphysics, Epistemology and Ethics.
2.Ancient philosophy deals with
Cosmology. Philosophers of this school include; Thales, Anaximander,
Anaximenes, Pythagoras, Heraclitus, Democritus, Protagoras, Parmenides.
3.Medievalphilosophy deals with
scholasticism, which is simply, a Christian philosophy.
4.Modern philosophy deals with
rationalism and empiricism.
5.Contemporary philosophy deals with
the following;
a. Logicalpositivism: it asserts that, philosophy is an
activity and not theory. The key concept of this school is “verification”. The
school formed the “Vienna circle”. Philosophers of this school include; Moritz,
Schlick, Hans Halm, F. Waismann, Rudolf Carnap, etc.
b. Ordinary language philosophy: is known as philosophy of
analysis and logic. It theorists are; Wittgenstein and Russell.
c. Existentialism: is prominent in France and Germany. It was
developed by Soren Kierkegaard. Other theorists are; Martin Buber, Camus, Karl
Jaspers, Martin Heidegger, Jean Paul Sartre.
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