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Philosophy Intro. Past Days’ Objectives. Understand more about your selected philosopher Construct an engaging presentation for our class. Today’s Objectives. Gain an understanding of the origins and basic categories of philosophy Pique y our interests by philosophizing
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Past Days’ Objectives • Understand more about your selected philosopher • Construct an engaging presentation for our class
Today’s Objectives • Gain an understanding of the origins and basic categories of philosophy • Pique your interests by philosophizing • Hear more details about philosophers from our group presentations (Charlie, Mike, Celeste, Leila requested to go first)
Intro Question: Think, Pair, Share • What is science? How might it be connected to philosophy? • Science: a systematic way to study the world in which we live. • Observation • Propose scientific questions • Design scientific experiments • Collect scientific info • Make scientific interpretations
Science as Philosophy? • The word “science” is a relatively modern word that came around 1400 A.D. • The word “scientist” was introduced in 1834 by a British scholar William Whewell. Before this time people who studied science were called natural philosophers.
Philosophy Origins • “Philosophy” comes from the Greek words philein, which means “to love,” and soph, which means “wisdom.” • “love of wisdom” • Today’s modern science stems from the three ways ancient philosophers investigated the world • Ideas • Observation • Application
Philosophy Origins • Earliest philosophers clustered around the Mediterranean Sea, most notably ancient Greece. • However, activities that we would ascribe to modern science were happening all over the world.
Philosophers we’ll learn about by date • Ancients • Confucius (551 BC – 479 BC) • Socrates (469 BC – 399 BC) • Plato (429 BC – 347 BC) • Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) • Early Modern • Descartes (1596-1650 --”I think, therefore I am”) • Kierkegaard (1813 – 1855) • Nietzsche (1844 – 1900) • Twentieth Century • Dewey (1859 – 1952) • Sartre (1905 – 1980)
Major Issues in Philosophy • Metaphysics: The ultimate structure of reality • Typical questions include: Does life have a meaning? Does God exist? How does one event cause another? What is essential and what is accidental in something’s nature? What can we say exists? • Epistemology: The nature of knowledge • Typical questions include: How is knowledge justified? What are the different sources of knowledge? What different kinds of knowledge are there? How can we know anything at all? • Ethics: The study of morality • Typical questions include: Are there objective rules for moral conduct? On what grounds can we say an action is right or wrong? Do we have free will? To what extent are we responsible for our actions? Should our moral decisions be indifferent to those affected by them (agent-neutral) or should we behave differently toward those close to us (agent-relative)?
Talking about ethics… • Let’s practice the act of philosophizing. • Gather with some friends and be ready to read about and then discuss your reactions to an ethical issue. • Try to declare your opinion and