1.1 What Is Philosophy?

• the study of nature, consciousness, morality, beauty, and social organizations on topics like: free will or the existence of God
• to gain the broadest and most fundamental conception of the world as it exists
• a philosopher is a lover or pursuer (philia) of wisdom (sophia)

Historical Origins of Philosophy

• But the earliest Greek philosophers were not known as philosophers; they were simply known as sages.
• the figure of the sage, the individual found in early societies around the world who mediated between the everyday and the transcendent realm
• philosophical thought requires abstract thinking of the sort required for the bureaucratic administration of society and that many societies developed philosophical traditions out of these practices of abstract reasoning

The Sages of India, China, Africa, and Greece

• The Seven Sages are partially considered wise men and are said to be the authors of the ancient Indian texts known as the Vedas
• So the sage is one who listens to insight from the heavens and then is capable of sharing that wisdom or acting upon it to the benefit of his society
• The aim of philosophy, abstractly formulated, is to understand how things in the broadest possible sense of the term hang together in the broadest possible sense of the term

Beginnings of Natural Philosophy

• Particularly in Greece, the sage tradition blends into a period of natural philosophy, where ancient scientists or philosophers try to explain nature using rational methods.

How It All Hangs Together

• Philosophical know-how, Sellars says, has to do with knowing your way around the world of concepts and being able to understand and think about how concepts connect, link up, support, and rely upon one another—in short, how things hang together.

1.2 How Do Philosophers Arrive at Truth?

Sources of Evidence

• History, intuition, common sense, experimental philosophy, and results from other disciplines

History

• Given the influence of philosophy on world history, it is worthwhile to engage with the writings of past philosophers to inform our understanding of pressing philosophical questions of today.

Intuition

• This concept of intuition is clearest in mathematical examples. Importantly, it is quite different from the way that many people use the word intuition today to mean something like “gut feeling” or “hunch.”
• The truth of this mathematical sentence is so clear that if it turned out to be wrong, you would have to give up core beliefs about the nature of numbers, addition, and equality. This kind of clarity is a paradigm of intuition.
• There are many other places outside of pure linguistic analysis and mathematics where intuitions are helpful.
• At that point, we might be using the term intuition to stand in for belief or perspective.

Common Sense

• The idea of common sense is frequently used to describe a basic set of facts or common knowledge that any adult human being ought to possess.

Experimental Philosophy

• The basic idea motivating experimental philosophy is that philosophers use terms and concepts that can be tested in a laboratory.

Results from Other Disciplines

• philosophers attempt to gain some understanding of truth as a whole, they ought to welcome evidence from other disciplines that can help them better understand portions of that whole truth.

Logic

• logic, which is, in some sense, the science of reasoning.

Argument

• in logic, one must recognize that claims are the product of arguments. In particular, a claim is just the conclusion of a series of sentences, where the preceding sentences (called premises) provide evidence for the conclusion

Explanation

Coherence

• A set of beliefs or statements is coherent, or logically consistent, if it is possible for them to all be true at the same time.

Conceptual Analysis

• Conceptual analysis involves the analysis of concepts, notions, or ideas as they are presented in statements or sentences.

Predicates

• Predicates are descriptive terms
• Frege demonstrated that any sentence in natural language could be translated into a formal, symbolic language, provided that we consider the sentence to be a kind of function that describes a relationship between names (or objects) and concepts.

Descriptions

• any proper name can be substituted with a description that identifies the one and only thing named.

Enumeration

• The process of enumeration can help us specify the nature of the thing we are talking about. In effect, we are identifying the parts that make up a whole.

Thought Experiments

• to clarify the relationship between concepts, they often consider hypothetical scenarios meant to isolate one or more features of a concept and place it in the appropriate relationship with other concepts. Such hypothetical scenarios are called thought experiments.

Aristotle, a Greek philosopher who followed Plato, arrives at the famous claim that “nature abhors a vacuum” (i.e., nature would not allow empty space between matter) by constructing a thought experiment. To argue for this conclusion, Aristotle assumes that there is such a void and then asks, how could one know the distance between two points in a vacuum? If there is any distance between two points, Aristotle reasons, that distance would have to be the property of something. But, by hypothesis, there is nothing between the two points: it is a pure void. Aristotle bases his reasoning on the idea that it is impossible for properties to exist without something they are the property of. This argument reveals that Aristotle thinks distance is a property of matter. Accordingly, it is impossible to measure distance in a pure void. Therefore, Aristotle reasons, it is not possible for a void to exist because it would occupy a distance that has no measure. Puzzles like this one can prompt fruitful philosophical reflection.

Trade-offs

No one picture is so obviously true that all others can be discarded. Instead, we have to evaluate each picture of the world and understand the trade- offs that these pictures impose on us.

"Biting the Bullet"

• “bite the bullet.” This means that you are willing to accept the negative consequences of the view because you find the view attractive for other reasons.*

Reflective Equilibrium

• This process of going back and forth between an assessment of the coherence of the theory and judgments about practical, applied cases is called reflective equilibrium.

1.3 Socrates as a Paradigmatic Historical Philosopher

"The Life Which Is Unexamined Is Not Worth Living"

• We may then speculate that an unexamined is not worth living because it is dictated by beliefs and ideas that have never been tested, justified, or accounted for.

Examination of the Self

Examination of Nature

• Neglecting that drive to understand the world around us is like neglecting a natural skill

Human Wisdom Is Worth Little or Nothing

• does not claim to have knowledge about the topic in question and is genuinely happy to learn from others.

Understanding the Limits of Knowledge

• to be aware of what you do not know and not to assert knowledge where you lack it.

The Socratic Method

• Socratic method, that was characterized by his asking questions of others rather than explaining his own beliefs.
• to assist the person being questioned in discovering the truth on their own

The Importance of Doing No Harm

Socrates's Harm Principle

• No one willingly chooses what is harmful to themselve
• When a person does harm to others, they actually harm themselves.
• the greatest harm that can come to anyone is for their soul—or their character—to become corrupted

Comparison of Socrates's Harm Principle with Ahimsa in the Indian Tradition

• ahimsa, in Sanskrit, literally means “the absence of doing injury or harm.”
• possible comparisons between the Indian notion of ahimsa and Socrates’s harm principle. Both doctrines teach that by causing harm, acting through violence, or causing suffering to others, we actually harm ourselves.
• they ought to recognize the harm that comes from attachment, from trying to hold on to any product of the unending chain of causes.

What Can You Do with a Philosophy Major?

Becoming a Philosophy Teacher

To pursue a career in academic philosophy, you must major in philosophy as an undergraduate and continue your studies in the field by doing some graduate work.

Alternatives to Academic Philosophy

Philosophy undergraduate and graduate degree majors have many options outside of teaching and research in an academic environment.

An Overview of Your Philosophy Textbook

• generally reflects the broad areas of specialization in contemporary academic philosophy.
• Areas of specialization can be grouped into the following fields: historical traditions;metaphysics and epistemology; science, logic, and mathematics; and value theory.

Ch 1 — Review Questions

1.1 What Is Philosophy?

1. What are some common characteristics of ancient sages in the Greek, Indian, and Chinese traditions?

They were the proto-philosophers. They were interested in finding the truth of the world by contemplating about the world. They were believed to be spiritual or divine. They were considered wise.

Note: Sages = wisdom through divine access + social/communal advisory role. Philosophers = wisdom through rational inquiry.

2. What characteristics are essential for being identified as a "sage"?

They were treated as divine and special and to possess wisdom.

Note: A sage receives divine wisdom, transmits it, and acts on it for society's benefit. Flow: heaven → sage → community.

3. What is the connection between sages and philosophers?

Sages were seen as divine because they possessed wisdom. Philosophers are those who pursue and love knowledge.

Note: Sages transition into philosophers as culture moved away from divine revelation toward rational inquiry. Same goal (wisdom), different method.

4. Provide one example of an ancient philosopher or sage who was doing something like natural science. What made this philosopher's activity scientific?

Aristotle. He was empirical and examined nature the way Socrates was examining the self.

Note: Better example = Thales (Presocratic). He asked "what is the world made of?" and answered with nature (water as fundamental substance) — not gods. Replacing myth with natural causes = the birth of natural science.

5. What does it mean for philosophy to "have an eye on the whole"? How is this different from other disciplines?

I don't remember.

Note: Philosophy's domain IS the whole — how everything fits together. Other disciplines zoom in on one slice (economics, biology, physics). Philosophy zooms out and asks how all the slices connect, including questioning its own assumptions.

6. Why is it necessary for philosophers to discard suppositions or assumptions that may be acceptable in other disciplines?

Each assumption needs to be questioned or challenged. In economics, we assume rationality. But in philosophy, rationality itself needs to be examined closely — like Kahneman's behavioral economics challenging traditional assumptions.

Note: Other disciplines need working assumptions to make progress. Philosophy's job is to ask whether those assumptions are actually justified. It can't take anything for granted — including rationality, causality, even logic itself.

1.2 How Do Philosophers Arrive at Truth?

7. What are five sources of evidence commonly used in philosophy? Which of these are empirical? Which do not require observation or experiment?

History, evidence from other disciplines, logic, reasoning (same as logic?), experimental philosophy — and two more I couldn't name.

Note: The five sources are: (1) History, (2) Intuition, (3) Common Sense, (4) Experimental Philosophy, (5) Results from Other Disciplines. Logic is a method, not a source. Empirical: history, experimental philosophy, other disciplines. Non-empirical: intuition, common sense.

8. What are three techniques used in conceptual analysis? Explain how they work.

Isn't it the subject, object, and the predicate? Predicate is the mapping that applies context? Particular vs generality? I forgot.

Note: Predicates, definite descriptions and enumeration. They are there to get more precise about fuzzy concepts. Predicates clarify properties, definite descriptions to pin down the particualr, and enumeration to break the whole into parts.

9. What is coherence? What does it mean for a set of beliefs or statements to be coherent?

A set of beliefs must be correct in itself, and if one fails, then the whole collapses.

Note: logistically consistent, not correct or true.

10. What do philosophers mean by intuition?

An idea that is true in itself — a self-evident idea.

11. What are thought experiments?

A hypothetical case to provoke or challenge an idea and form the basis of discussion.

1.3 Socrates as a Paradigmatic Historical Philosopher

12. Consider Socrates's conclusion that "human wisdom is worth little or nothing." Do you think this is true? Why or why not?

Socrates believes that truth is divine and unlimited, and that we only see a fraction of it. I agree. The world is infinite and we only know so much. The rest is just inferred or deduced.

Note: it's more about the unexamined certainty < examined uncertainty. It's better to be aware that you don't know than claim you know everything

13. Do you think the Socratic method is an effective way of maintaining humility about knowledge?

Not necessarily. I use this method to test my girlfriend about news or general knowledge — she finds it annoying because I'm always testing her even when I start with questions.

14. What do you think Socrates means by "the life which is unexamined is not worth living"? Do you agree?

If you don't question your belief system and stay ignorant, you're not true to yourself or others. You just mislead yourself (bedriegen) — and this is worse than death. I agree, but there's a cost: seeking knowledge is mentally expensive. You can't keep asking why forever. At some point we need to stop — which is why people prefer shortcuts.

15. Compare and contrast Socrates's moral philosophy with that of the Hindu principle of ahimsa.

Both agree we should avoid harming others. But the framing differs:

• Socrates: harming others is bad because you end up harming yourself — by not living true to yourself and staying ignorant. If you know truth, you'd choose what's best and wouldn't harm others.
• Hindu/ahimsa: more about empathy and compassion for all living beings, because we all come from the same source.

1.4 An Overview of Contemporary Philosophy

16. What are the primary areas of specialization in academic philosophy?

I don't remember. I think: value theory, morality (same as value?), epistemology (study of knowledge?), philosophy of science, political philosophy, rationalism and empiricism. No formal philosophy background so this is a guess.

Note: (1) historical traditions, (2) metaphysics and epistemology, (3) science, logics and math and (4) value theory. Where did ideas comes from, what can we know, how do we reason, and what matters.