“ Philosophy and the Search of wisdom ”

1. “Philosophy and theSearch of wisdom” Mrs. Karen Hernández 11th Grade

2. LearningObjectives • WhatisPhilosophy? • What are thePrimaryAreas of Philosophy? • Whatisan Archetype? • Howdoesan Archetype differsfromanStereotype? • Whatiswisdom? • Whatisknowledge? • Whatisbelief?

3. Philosophy • Philosophyisalreadyanimportantpart of ourlife. ThewordPhilosophy comes fromGreekrootsmeaning“ TheLove of Wisdom’’, Theearliestphilosopherswereconsideredwisemen and women, orsages, becausetheydevotedthemselvestoasking‘’Big Questions’’. • For a long time, mostphilosopherswereconsideredwisdomseeking amateurs. Thatisphilosophywas a wayfor living, forthem, not a way of making a living. • Youdonthaveto be a philosophertoaskphilosophicalquestions, youjusthaveto be a naturallycuriousthoughtfulperson, these are somekinds of questionsphilosophersstudy:

4. DoesGodexist? • What’sthemeaning of life? • Why do innocentpeoplesuffer? • Iseverything a matter of opinion? • Whatisthebestform of government? • How are mindsconnectedtobodies? • Isthere a standard forrightorwrongforeveryone, or are moral standardsrelative? • Isbeauty in theeye of thebeholder?

5. Areas of Philosophy Theprimaryareas of philosophy are listedhere: • Metaphysics: encompassesthestudy of whatissometimestermed“ultimatereality’’, metaphysicsraisesquestionsaboutrealitythatgobeyondsenseexperience, beyondordinaryscience. • Metaphysicalquestionsinvolve free will, themind-bodyrelationship, supernatural existence, personal inmortality, and thenature of being, • Episthemology: fromtheGreekfor‘’knowledge’’, isthebranch of philosophythatasksquestionsaboutknowledge, itsnature and origins, and whetherornotitiseven posible. • Epistemologicalquestionsinvolvesstandards of evidence, truth, belief, sources of knowledge, gradations of knowledge, memory and perception.

6. Ethics: FromtheGreekword ‘’ethos’’, encompassesthestudy of moral problems, practicalreasoning, right and wrong, good and bad, virtues and vices, character, moral duty, and relatedissuesinvolvingthenature, origins and scope of moral values. • Ethicalissuesincludetruth-telling, relativism and universality. • Social and PoliticalPhilosophy: Are concernedwiththenature and origins of thestategovernment, exercise of power, effects of social institutions on individuals, ethnicity, gender, social status and thestrengths and weaknesses of differenttypes of societies.

7. Philosophical Archetypes • Anarchetypeisanimagethat has beensharedbythewhole human racefromtheearliest times, itrepresentsourconception of theessence of a certainkind of person. Anarchetypeis a fundamental, original model of sometype: mother, warrior, trickster, cynic, saint, pessimist, optimist, atheist, rationalist, idealist and so on. • A Philosophical Archetype: Is a philosopherwhoexpressesan original orinfluentialpoint of view in a waythatsignificantlyaffectssubsequentphilosophers and non philosophers.

8. Thedifferencebetweenanarchetype and an ideal isthatthearchetypeneednotto be goodorperfect. Thedifferencebetweenanarchetype and anstereotypeis in itsdepth, a stereotypeis a simplisticdistortion of a type of person. Anarchetype, bycontrast, is a powerfulrepresentation of a fundamental response to universal experiences. • Archetypesexemplifyessentialways of copyingwiththe universal aspects of life (suffering, death, loss, society, wealth, knowledge, love, purpose). There are archetypes of evil as well as good and of fools as well as of wisepeople.

9. Onephilosophicalarchetypeisthe“skeptic”: theybelievethatanyclaimtoknowledgemustbepersonallyverifiedbytheirownsensoryexperience, theymustsee, touch, taste ormeasureeverything. • Anotherphilosophicalarchetypeistheutilitarian: theybelievethatpainisinherentlybad, thatpleasureisinherentlygood and thatallcreaturesstrivetobe as happy as possible, thusutilitarianarguethatourprivate and communalbehaviorshouldalwaysmaximizepleasure and minimizepain. Youmightrecognizetheirfamousprinciple: “Alwaysactto produce thegreatesthappinessforthegreatestnumber of people”.

10. Wisdom, Knowledge and Belief • Thechiefgoal of wisdomis a fundamental understanding of reality as it relates to living a goodlife. At itscore, wisdomisreasonable and practical, focusingonthe true circumstances and character of each individual. • Wisdomisgoodjudgementaboutcomplexsituations, itinvolvesreflection, insight, a capacityforlearningfromexperience and some plausible conception of humancondition.

11. Knowledge • Philosophersgenerallyagreethatknowledgeissomeform of true belief. Questionsthenarise as howtodistinguish true belieffrommistakenbelief. • Philosophersalsodistinguish and practicalknowledge. • Theoreticalknowledgeinvolvestheaccuratecompilation and assessment of factual and systematicinformation and relationships. • Practicalknowledgeconsists of skillsneededtothingslikeplayingthe piano, remove a tumor and bake a cake.

12. Belief • In contrasttoknowledge, beliefreferstothesubjective mental acceptancethat a claimis true. • Beliefsunlikeknowledgeneednottobe true. Becausebeliefs are subjective mental states. Itispossibletobefirmlyconvincedthat a beliefiscorrectwhenitisnot, other times ourbeliefs are true butwecannotofferevidenceforthem. • Althoughbeliefs can be true or false, “false knowledge”, isimpossible . • Somebeliefs are more reasonablethanothers, and thereis a bigdifferencebetweeninformedbelief and merebelief.

13. MereBelief: Refersto a convictionthatsomethingis true forwhichtheonlyevidenceisthecinvictionitself. Merebeliefvalidatesitselfor tries to. • Mostphilosophers and scientistsbelievethattruthcannotbereducedtomerelybelievingsomething.