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INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

Delve into the origins of philosophy with a focus on ancient logic and thinkers like Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes. Discover the pursuit of wisdom and love of truth that shape philosophical thought. Explore the branches of philosophy and the early theories on the origins of the cosmos. Uncover the critical and speculative aspects of philosophy, from metaphysics to epistemology, and unravel the use of logic in the ancient world. Gain insights into the elemental principles and cosmological beliefs that laid the groundwork for modern philosophical inquiry.

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INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

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  1. INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHY

  2. Definition • What is PHILOSOPHY?

  3. Etymological (origin of the word) • Philia - love • Sophia – wisdom Philosophy= love of wisdom

  4. What is to love…? • What is wisdom? • How is it to love WISDOM?

  5. LOVE • Pursuit of something • Be PASSIONATE in that pursuit • WISDOM • Physis • First principle • The source of all things • The destination of all things

  6. Branches or Divisions of Philosophy • Speculative or Descriptive • Interested in nature, essence, or substance of reality (Metaphysics) • Normative philosophy • Interested in the goodness or badness of a human act (Ethics) • Practical philosophy • Interested in TRUTH in relation to action (Logic) • Critical philosophy • Truth without being necessarily related to/with action (Epistemology)

  7. LOGIC: ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY Pre-Socratics • Main interest would be the PHYSIS Physis • The physis problem is a search to identify that thing of which all else is derived and will return (the source or origin of the world) • Cosmological

  8. THALES • 685 B.C. • Miletus in Ionia • Achievement: practical triumphs • Military engineering • Geometry • Astronomy

  9. Thales’ first cause… • WATER • The substance from which the entire cosmos emerged (and perhaps will also return) • Water is a natural phenomenon, not a personified god or goddess

  10. Logical reasoning… • Biology (Proofs) • Life depends on water • Seeds (source of most life has moist) • Heat provides moist The problem of solid objects?

  11. ANAXIMANDER • Milesian • 610 B.C. • Student of Thales • Natural Philosophy, Astronomy • First man to construct a MAP of the known world • First to build SUNDIAL • Build celestial globe with a chart of stars

  12. Physis?

  13. UNBOUNDED (APEIRON) • Source out of which everything derives and also the unifier within nature. • Indefinite (unlike water), no particular qualities of its own • Neutral between opposites

  14. UNBOUNDED (APEIRON) • Something that can’t be comprehended • Limitless or infinite (in order to give rise to everything in the universe) • Unlimited potentialities

  15. How was the cosmos generated? • UNBOUNDED – moves in eternal motion • As it moves something separates off (creation of something) • Gives rise to the creation of the OPPOSITES; most important forces in the system

  16. PLURALITY and MAINTENANCE • PLURALITY • Give rise to the multitude of objects 2. MAINTENANCE • Manages to remain stable and predictable

  17. The Pre-Evolutionary Theory • Cause and Effect • Human when born needs care from someone else in order to survive • Human = Effect • First human = Cause? • From FISHLIKE creatures

  18. ANAXIMENES • Student of Anaximander • Last Milesian philosopher • Physis: AIR

  19. AIR • Soul/ breathy thing • Unlimited and inexhaustible • Proofs: • Living creatures depend on air – life • Holds together and guides living creatures

  20. Critics: • Big step backward from Anaximander’s Was he not aware of this? • Step going back to the natural world • Air is something that can be observed; the apeiron can’t • Air is natural; Apeiron is theoritical

  21. Air is somewhat superior to the unbounded • It exists • It is observable • Scientificapproach Unbounded has no qualities, but a source of all in the world?...

  22. Air’s qualities… • Always on a move (eternal motion) • Can either be rarefied or condensed • when rarefied = it becomes hot/fire • Condensed = wind → water → clouds → earth → stone

  23. Famous evidence… • Breath • Rarefaction = HOT • Condensation = COLD

  24. XENOPHANES • Born in Colophon 570 B.C • Poet and philosopher • Adamant in rejecting the Olympian gods (anthropomorphic) • There is only one non-anthropomorphic god who is unmoving, but all seeing, all hearing, all thinking; who controls the whole universe with his thought

  25. Attacks on the traditional gods… • Result of the human tendency to project our own nature onto the gods (Freudean) • Different people/races have different gods relating to themselves • If animals could draw their gods… • Horses – god horses • Oxen – god oxen

  26. epistemology • Milesians • straight empirical observations + conclusion • Xenophanes • Straight empirical observation, but added:

  27. Human knowledge is impossible in most fields of inquiry • Mind cannot comprehend everything there is in the world; once one is focused on one thing, the rest observable things are left unattended

  28. Alternative to empirical observation… • Use of REASON • Where human observation fails, we allow our reason to go beyond THEORIZE Observation with reason yields true knowledge…

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