The Basics of Philosophy - Assignment Example

?What is Philosophy? I. Introduction The word philosophy literally means “love of wisdom”. This does not tell much except the nature of philosophy, or at least its followers. The followers do not necessarily mean that they are wise, but they love searching for wisdom. How does it differ from other fields especially religion? Generally though, philosophy seeks answers to questions, but mostly about origin. About how humans started and stuff like that. Usually though, those questions are rooted in the religious or mythological framework. Wisdom about origin, therefore, can be said to have come from traditional religious practices, from people who are thought to have supernatural powers as declared by “God”. These are very religious by nature. However, by 6 BC there are non-religious thinkers in Greece that were called the Milesians. Unlike the traditional, supernatural people, these people are thought to have conducted their thinking through reason and observation, not by tradition or by a right from the Gods. These people are the first philosophers. Although their view is quite simple, the basic thought of thinking (which is secular inquiry) is considered philosophy. However, there are many forms of secular inquiry these days, so what makes philosophy different from, say, science? Before, at the beginning, there was no distinction but as time went by, they went and formed new disciplines. First, it was mathematics then it was natural philosophy (or science, as it is called now). Now, whenever a question cannot be answered by these two fields, it is then referred to modern philosophy. Questions like “What is the meaning of life?”. But of course, philosophy is best known for asking the most difficult and most basic of questions, like if Gods do exist or not, or what is good or evil. Philosophy is also defined by its methods. Although not as conceptual as science, philosophy is governed by logic. Like scientists, though, they formulate hypothesis that would answer the question by reason. Unlike religion, which is usually found on mysticism. There are four branches of philosophy: logic, epistemology, metaphysics and axiology. II. The Milesians The earliest known philosophers are from Miletus, hence they are called the Milesians. They are Thales, Anaximander and Anaximenes. They are also called Presocratic Philosophers – basically philosophers before Socrates. Thales is most famous for his three beliefs: everything is made up of water, magnets have souls and everything is full of gods. Now back then, everyone thought that matter is made up of four distinct elements: water, air, fire and earth. These elements, with different combinations, can transform into different objects. Now, Thales argued that these elements are actually just other forms of water. Thales probably observed that water has three forms and phases: solid, liquid and gas – leading him to say that. Perhaps, he thought, that water in the solid state could become metal; it would be vapor at some point and it may form fire. There is also this theory that Thales observed that when you water the plant, the plant becomes healthy – as if water is transformed from its liquid state and into a plant. Magnets have souls – magnets seem to have life as they behave like living things. They move. Thales took this as evidence that magnets have souls. Ancient Greeks have this distinction between living and nonliving things. Things with souls are alive and anything with a soul would be active. For him, the soul is not something that is added onto an object that can be separated, but rather, it is an inseparable part of an object. For the third belief about “everything is full of gods”, then maybe Thales is insinuating that maybe everything is also full of souls as in souls = gods. If that is the case, then Thales would be insinuating that all things are living things but they may not move actively like the magnets that only move at certain times and situations. Anaximander claims that everything is made up not of the elements but of apeiron. Anaximenes’ belief is like Thales’, but instead of water, it is air. For him, everything is made up of air. Now why are they so important? III. Religion vs. Philosophy This is where the differentiation between religion and philosophy comes in. One must have to remember that during that time, most of the people believe that the gods controlled everything: from the tides and currents to the emotions of people. These deities have emotions that are so volatile that they are like humans. Now these Milesians diverted away from this belief by observing nature and its properties – the elements and how they can be made into other compounds. For most people that time, understanding nature meant understanding the Gods. To understand the Gods, one must be privileged like the oracles. Thales and his company did not subscribe to this notion, at least in understanding their own environment. They used their senses and reason, that could be used by everyone as well. Recall that point where the magnets have souls. Zeus cannot possibly have given the magnet a soul, but rather, because of the magnet’s observable traits, Thales was lead to conclude that the magnets indeed have souls. Plus the fact that Thales did not arrive at this conclusion because Zeus gave him special secret knowledge. He knew through observing the behavior of the magnets. This is the major difference between religion and philosophy. Although both schools of thought are about beliefs, philosophy is about evidence and proof. Religion is mostly based on faith and pure belief. One can say that philosophy is practical and evidenced based while the other basically relies on the fact that people can actually have beliefs on certain things that do not hold evidence. This can be quite dangerous because blind faith can drive people to be very passionate, and passionate thinking is not quite rational. This would drive people to make actions purely out of emotions. Emotional actions are, to put it bluntly, stupid, because they were not thought out completely. Sometimes, it could be irrational and illogical as well. Hence, one must always back ones beliefs with reasons and logic to be more guided in one’s actions and thoughts. Reference: Vuletic, M. The Milesians (2012). Web: http://www.vuletic.com/hume/ph/milesians.html Read More