PHILOSOPHYLooking at the Roots of

Philosophy

Review

Think back to last day – what is philosophy?Thinking about thinkingAsking questions and exploring all optionsCritical thinking rather than accepting information at face valueJustifying why we believe what we believeA love of wisdom

And:

Philosophy is an activity; that is, it is something people do. Anybody could read a philosophy book or study philosophical theories, but actually philosophizing is something people must do for themselves. It is a process.

One more thing…

An important objective of philosophy is autonomy. Autonomy is a term that refers to people’s ability to freely make rational decisions for themselves.

Philosophers want people to think for themselves by developing their own philosophical positions.

Think:

What is the difference between having an

opinion and thinking philosophically?

Where did philosophy come from?

Imagine living in a world without the modern science we take for granted. Imagine what you might think about:

The sunThe moonThe starsNatural disastersEclipses

Where did philosophy come from?

These first philosophers looked for explanations for all of these things.They did not just rely on the traditional myths and legends about the gods.They wanted answers that would satisfy their curiosity and intellect. They wondered, “What is the universe made of?” and “What is the nature of whatever it is that exists?”

Where did philosophy come from?

It is still a debatable subject amongst experts whether Philosophy originated in ancient Greece or Asia, or whether it started with even older peoples.

Most philosophers accept that Western ideas of philosophy originated in Athens in the 5th century BCE.

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Important philosophers in historyMajor areas of philosophyDefinitions and methods of philosophy

Have you heard of…

Thales of Miletus?Pythagoras?Socrates?Plato?Aristotle?But what do you actually know about

these men? Why do they matter?

Thales

Lived from approximately 624-546 BCEConsidered to be the first philosopherPrevious civilizations had relied on religion to explain phenomena around the world, he introduced a new generation of thinkers who relied on natural, rational explanations.

Thales

“What is the basic material for all cosmos?” monism waterMade a famous “prediction” about an upcoming harvest science and nature

Thales

Pythagoras

Look familiar?

“There is geometry in the humming of the strings, there is music in the spacing of the spheres.”

-Pythagoras

Pythagoras

Part of a school of thinkers seeking rational answersEverything in the universe conforms to mathematical rules and ratiosUnderstanding mathematical relationships allows us to understand the structure of the cosmos

socrates

socrates

Socrates is often referred to as one of the founders of Western philosophy. However, he wrote nothing, established no school and held no particular theories of his own. So why is he so important?

Socrates

Socrates developed and evolved a new way of thinking – what we now call the “Socratic Method”.

He persistently asked the questions that interested him. He asked questions that challenged commonly held assumptions. This method is an effective way of responding to those who claim to be “right” without being able to explain why.

Socratic method

Socrates

plato

Plato was a student of SocratesWhen Socrates was condemned to death in 399 BCE, Plato took it upon himself to record what he had learned from his mentorPlato himself asked the question, “how do we know what anything is?”

plato

Plato argued that for all things in the universe, there must exist some “ideal” form of each thing that all people are in some way aware of.

“If particulars are to have meaning, there must be universals.”

-Plato

platoWhat does Plato mean by the “ideal” in our heads? Think about it like this:When we see a bed, we know it is a bed. Because of this, we can recognize all beds, even though all beds are a little bit different. When we see a dog, we know it is a dog even though there are many more variations of dogs than say, beds. Plato says there is a characteristic of “dogginess” that lets us know it is a dog.Plato would say that is not just a shared “bedness” or “dogginess” that exists, but that we all have in our minds an idea of an ideal bed or dog, which we use to recognize any other bed or dog.

Plato and the allegory of the cave

allegory of the cave

Plato believes that everything our senses perceive in the material world is like the

shadows on the wall in the allegory – they are merely

shadows of reality.

allegory of the cave

What do the prisoners in the cave believe to be reality? Why?How does the released prisoner feel when he steps into the sunlight? Why?Why do the other prisoners laugh at the man when he returns to the cave? According to Plato and the allegory, what is truth?How can the allegory of the cave be compared to philosophy and obtaining knowledge? The allegory shows us there is a difference between appearances and reality. Can you think of a real life example to show that this is true?