1. Revealing The Whole 36653f

REVEALING THE WHOLE

PHILOSOPHY • At its simplest meaning ….Greek word Philo meaning love and sophia meaning wisdom… • Philosophy is love of wisdom • As used originally by the ancient Greeks, the term "philosophy" meant the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake, and comprised ALL areas of speculative thought, including the arts, sciences and religion.

• Philosophical questions (unlike those of the sciences) are usually foundational and abstract in nature. • Philosophy is done primarily through reflection and does not tend to rely on experiment, although the methods used to study it may be analogous to those used in the study of the natural sciences.

Why am I here?

A. DISCOVERING PHILOSOPHICAL REFLECTION

• To reflect philosophically is to think about an important question that does not have a definite or ready answer. • No amount of research would be able to provide a definite and conclusive answer to What is the some questions that puzzle us. What if there is no after-life?

Why love, when you get hurt?

purpose of my existence?

• Difficult questions that do not have definite answers like the ones we have been describing are significant. • They are the questions that matter to us for they reflect our desire to understand or at least make sense of our experiences.

• The answers we find directly affect the way we go through life. • These sort of questions are called philosophical. • When we ponder on a philosophical question, we are engaged in a philosophical reflection.

• PHILOSOPHY allows us the freedom to ask even those questions that others believe to already have a definite answer. • Movies, songs, and literatures are examples of creative ways of asking a philosophical question.

• When we ask a philosophical question, we do not simply inquire about a specific question that is triggered by certain situations. • A philosophical question always contains a bigger problem • Such questions are not only personally significant, they are also all encoming. • The answer one finds will determine his/her choices in life.

• Not to ask a philosophical question is to go through life confused and lost. There are things we encounter in this world that are simply puzzling and unsettling.

Sample Questions 1. Why does man work at the expense of health? 2. Why is love complicated? 3. Why do people have to die? 4. Why can’t my parents understand me? 5. Why do people say that ‘forever’ is not altogether real in love and relationship?

The UNIVERSAL AND THE PARTICULAR • Particular refers to a part of the whole • Universal pertains to the whole WHY AM I HERE?

• Part of the reason why we ask this question is due to some challenges or struggles we encounter daily…. • Purpose is like a thread that is woven through everything that happens.

I. Martin Heidegger (1889-1976) German philosopher

• Responsible for the term “hermeneutics of facticity” which simply means that people interpret things as they encounter them in different ways. • According to him, a scientific question is always confined to the particular, whereas a philosophical question “leads into the totality of beings” and inquires into the whole.(The Essence of Human Freedom, 2002)

• Beginning with a particular question that unavoidably goes to the roots, a philosophical question eventually becomes a revelation about the whole of reality. • https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/232277-theessence-of-human-freedom-an-introductionto-philosophy-and-the-essence-of-truth-onplato-s-cave-allegory-and-theasetetus/.

• What we ask about the essence of human freedom, the problem is not limited to man and freedom. • Instead, we find that we cannot avoid asking about the essence of man, the essence of the world, and the essence of God. • When we ask philosophically about freedom, we venture into an inquiry about the whole. • It is no longer a particular problem, but a universal problem.

• After a philosophical question is raised, how does one proceed to finding an answer? • Philosophy has its own methods and criteria of proceeding with its inquiries. • such procedures make up the various traditions and movements in the history of philosophy as you will see in the next lessons.

• Those who engage in a philosophical reflection must recognize that possible answers to philosophical reflection require adequate justification or rational basis. • Answers that sound right or seem right will simply not do.

II. Plato (427-347 B.C.E.) warned as early as 360 B.C. that there were things that deceive, confuse or misled in this world. • To know what is real requires much intellectual effort and rational ability. • A person is responsible for the answers he/she hold on to. • This means we are to blame in case we are fooled into believing a falsehood.

• How do we guard against deceptions? • God did not give us a life manual, but He gifted us with intellect or mind (faculty or reason) to figure things out on our own. • In doing so, we are given dignity and autonomy.

C. Truth and Dialectics • Philosophers rely on the human faculty of reason as they philosophize. • Through this rational capacity, they arrived at a technique to resolve philosophical questions. This is called dialectics. • Dialectics is an art of refutation that dates back to the ancient Greek. Philosophers wrote dialogues.

• Philosophical discovery is seen as the result of collaboration with partners in dialogue or conversation. • Dialogues illustrate how dialectics is an effective means of examining and evaluating truth claims.

• A claim or proposition requires sufficient proof and logical argument to be regarded as true. • One has to give good reasons as basis for any claim and the claim must be able to withstand further scrutiny and examination.

III. Socrates (469-399 B.C.E.) is most noteworthy in his use of dialectics. • His famous advise – “Know thyself.” • His method of question and answer illustrates how views need to be defended with consistency and clarity. • The series of questioning and answering he subjected Athenians into was effective in drawing out underlying assumptions.

• The dialectics of the ancients later developed in the modern ear into thesis, antithesis, and synthesis. • The exchange or confrontation between differing positions (one as thesis and the other one is antithesis) culminates to a synthesis that is a resolution of opposing views.

GERMAN PHILOSOPHERS G.W.F. Hegel (1770-1831)

He belongs to the period in philosophy known as “German idealism” which shared Plato’s view that ideas are real as opposed to matter.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) Introduced the concept of “historical materialism,” which embodies his theory that societies rise and fall as a result of class struggles.

• Hegel and Marx proposed that there is a dialectical pattern even in history as reflected in resolutions of contradictions through time. • Thus, the interplay of opposing views is necessary for progress. • Confrontations of this kind must not be avoided at all. We need this exchange of ideas so we can grow.

• Dialectics is indispensable since it lead us closer to truth. • Finding the truth, in a way, involves a kind of “truth-ing,” and dialectics is one of its earliest and tested forms. • Philosophy teaches us to be open as we strive to know better. Debating amiably (that is, a confrontation without aggression) with someone allows us to discover many things. • It reveals our believes and challenges us to defend those beliefs.

REFLECT ZONE #1. your philosophical question, What is the bigger context of which it is a part? What aspects of human experience are inevitably connected to your inquiry?

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!!!

QUIZ # 1……TRUE or FALSE:

•Write your FIRST NAME if your answer is TRUE. Write your SURNAME if your answer is FALSE.

____ 1. Synthesis is a result of thesis and antithesis. TRUE ____ 2. To philosophize is to think about an important question that have a definite or ready answer. FALSE ____ 3. The problem of freedom includes the concept of world, aside from man and God. TRUE

____ 4. By way of analogy, with philosophy as a bird, ultimately, one will know which way to go and what to do. FALSE ____ 5. Philosophy is an irrational activity that teaches us to search for truth and hold on to beliefs we can defend. FALSE

____ 6. Dialectics are ancient German’s technique of arriving at truth through systematic exchange of opinions. FALSE ____ 7. G.W.F. Hegel shared Plato’s view that ideas are real as opposed to matter. TRUE

Identification: Identify who/what is being referred to in each item: 8-9. The whole is attributed to __________ while ___________ is part of the whole. 10. It is the best tool humans have in dealing with problems and in their pursuit of truth and meaning. ___________ 11. He engaged Athenians in the marketplace with his series of questions. _________ 12. He is known for introducing the concept of historical materialism. ___________

13. The philosopher who warned us of deceptions of this world. ___________ 14. The philosopher who claimed that a philosophical question inquires to the whole. ____________ 15. It is when people understand things as they see them in different ways. ___________

Essay: What philosophical question/questions have you asked in the past or are you asking yourself right now? How significant your question/s is in your life?

Quiz 1

•Identification: Identify who/what is being referred to in each item:

1. The problem of freedom includes this concept aside from man and God. 2. It is the best tool humans have in dealing with problems and in their pursuit of truth and meaning. 3. By way of analogy, with philosophy as __________, ultimately, one will know which way to go and what to do.

4. It is a result of thesis and antithesis. 5. To _____________ is to think about an important question that does not have a definite or ready answer. 6-7. The whole is attributed to ______________ while ______________ is part of the whole.

8. The philosopher who warned us of deceptions of this world. 9. Ancient Greek’s technique of arriving at truth through systematic exchange of opinions. 10. The philosopher who claimed that a philosophical question inquires to the whole.

11.He engaged Athenians in the marketplace with his series of questions. 12.He is known for introducing the concept of historical materialism. 13. A rational activity that teaches us to search for truth and hold on to beliefs we can defend.

14. It is when people understand things as they see them in different ways. 15. He shared Plato’s view that ideas are real as opposed to matter.

Key answer: 1. Synthesis 2. Reflect Philosophically 3-4. universal/particular 5. World 6. Reason/mind/intellect 7. Light 8. Socrates 9. Karl Marx 10. Philosophy 11. Plato 12. Dialectics 13. Martin Heidegger 14. Hermeneutics of facticity 15. G.W.F. Hegel