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What is philosophy ?. A simple question with a much more complicated ‘answer’!. Philosophy and Humanity…. Consider the following: -humans are philosophical beings -people naturally question and wonder (just think of any 4 year old you know!)
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What is philosophy? A simple question with a much more complicated ‘answer’!
Philosophy and Humanity… • Consider the following: • -humans are philosophical beings • -people naturally question and wonder (just think of any 4 year old you know!) • -it is inherently connected to the human ability to think critically and to problem solve (beyond instinct)
But what does it MEAN? • It is thinking about thinking • It is “critical thinking about the general nature of the world…the justification of belief…and the conduct of life” (according to Anthony Quinton)
But the dictionary says… • The word is derived from two Greek words • -philein: to love • -sofia: wisdom • But often…loving wisdom leads one to realize how very little we ‘know’!
Key Eras in Philosophy • The Pre-socratic Thinkers (those who came before Socrates c620-450 BCE) • The Academics (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and beyond, c470 - c500 CE) • The Scholastics/Age of Science (St. Anselm - Newton, 1033 - 1642)
Continued… • The Rationalists (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, 1600 - 1720) • The Empiricists (Locke, Hume, Voltaire, Diderot, 1630 - 1785) • The Idealists (Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, 1680 - 1850)
Continued… • The Liberals (Smith, Wollstonecraft, Bentham, Mill, Comte, 1725 - 1850) • Evolutions/Pragmatists/Materialists (Darwin, Dewey, Marx, etc.1850-1940) • The Existentialists/Linguistic Turn (Kierkegaard - Chomsky, 1845 - 2000) • The Postmodernists (Foucault, Derrida, etc. 20th Century)
So… • Many aspects of philosophical thought from traditional to cutting edge • There is philosophy in everything we do, see, think and ponder!