Doing PHILOSOPHY: EAST AND WEST

The Difference between Eastern and Western Philosophy!!!

Western Philosophy
 They have veered away from a mythological tradition in order to explain the nature of things around
them through man’s recognized rationality and his ability for coherent thought.
 Usually focused on five categories (Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Logic and Aesthetics)
 Most develop by Ancient Greeks, Europeans and Americans
 They also make use of the three: Logic, Reasoning and Categorization
 Three Most Famous Philosophers: Socrates, Immanuel Kant and Plato
Eastern Philosophy
 Mostly China and India
 They have no dichotomy between the objective world and man as a human being.
 There is no dichotomy or separation between the man and objective world.
 They look at man as being one with the world.
 Summarized as philosophy being a way of life.
 Most school of Eastern Philosophy both have religious and philosophical.
 Three Most Famous Philosophers: Lao Tzu, Confucius, Buddha.
Filipino Thinking: From Local to Global
The Three dimensions of Filipino Thought
 Loob
 Puts one in touch with his fellow beings.
 Holistics and Interior dimensions
 Kagandahang Loob
 Kabutihang Loob
 Kalooban
 Filipino Philosophy of Time
 A human being is like a bird who flies up and goes down
 Looks at life as a series of ups and downs
 They look to the future with hope because life’s wheel cannot stay down forever
 Bahala Na
 Literally means to leave everything to God
 Puts complete trust in the Divine Providence
 The Filipino accepts beforehand whatever the outcome of his problem might be
 Bathala—is not an impersonal entity but rather a personal being that keeps the balance
in the universe
Filipino Thought and Values: Positive and Negative Aspects
 Positive Aspects
 Hospitality--he friendly and generous reception and entertainment of guests, visitors, or
strangers.
 Helpful to others/Bayanihan--The Bayanihan (pronounced as buy-uh-nee-hun) is a Filipino
custom derived from a Filipino word “bayan”, which means nation, town or community. The
term bayanihan itself literally means “being in a bayan”, which refers to the spirit of
communal unity, work and cooperation to achieve a particular goal.
 Respectful--mano,po and opo,halik sa kamay
 Hardworking--something or someone that is diligent in laboring and that puts effort into
doing and completing tasks.
 Loving and caring--extra attention to make someone or something looks or feel better.
 Debt of gratitude (utang n loob)-- a Filipino cultural trait which, when translated literally,
means "a debt of one's inner self (loob)." It is also often translated as a "debt of gratitude." ...
The essence of utang na loob is an obligation to appropriately repay a person who has done
one a favour.
 Negative Aspects
o We complain a lot
o Crab mentality--The picture is this: when you put several crabs in a crate, they will all try to
climb out in order to break free. You’ll observe that when one gets a bit ahead, the other crabs
will pull him down. A lot of Filipinos are like these crabs. Whenever one sees another
progressing in their own field, others become resentful and instead of seeing the achievement
of that person, they will try to highlight everything negative about him in an effort to bring
him down or tarnish if not lessen the person’s newly-acquired good image.
o Balimbing-- A reference to the many-sided star fruit, the term is applied to someone who
changes allegiance for personal convenience. The allusion is that the person is not only
double-faced, but multiple-faced.
 o Ningas Kugon--Filipinos are fond of starting a project with so much enthusiasm. This
enthusiasm is so contagious that it spreads like wildfire. At the first sign of problem or
difficulty, this enthusiasm is consumed as fast as it has spread.
o Padrino system-- the Filipino culture and politics is the value system where one gains favor,
promotion, or political appointment through family affiliation (nepotism) or friendship
(cronyism), as opposed to one's merit.
o Favoritism-- he practice of giving unfair preferential treatment to one person or group at the
expense of another.
o Always late-- Things can start on time and proceed as normal with or without the late person.
This is when the late person being late does negatively affect others.
o Mañana habit-- The word “Mañana” means tomorrow or specified future time as the action of
delaying or postponing something, or mamaya na in Filipino.
Lesson 2: Method of Philosophizing
Philosophizing
 Is a way to reveal the truth about various stages of life and everything associated with it
 Is to think or express oneself in a philosophical manner
 It considers or discusses a (matter) from a philosophical standpoint

Distinguishing Between FACT AND OPINION

a) OPINIONS
An opinion is a statement that cannot be proved or checked
It tells what someone thinks, feels, or believes
Clue words for opinion statements are:
think, feel, believe, seem
always, never, all, none, most, least, best, greatest, worst
b) FACTS
Facts are statements that can be checked or proved
We can check facts by conducting some sort of experiment, observation, or by verifying
(checking) the fact with a source document
Facts often contain numbers, dates, or ages
Facts might include specific information about a person, place or thing
Method of Philosophizing are the following:
A. Phenomenology: On Consciousness
 Edmund Husserl—founded Phenomenology
 Where the truth is based on the person’s consciousness.
 The word “phenomenon” comes directly from Greek (phainomenon) meaning “appearance”.
 Husserl’s formulates several phenomenological “reductions” and their shifts.
a) Epoche or “suspension” brackets all the questions of truth and reality and simply describes
the contents of consciousness.
b) Focuses on the essential features the meaning of consciousness.
B. Existentialism: Freedom
 It is not primarily on a philosophical method neither a set of doctrines but more of an
outlook or attitude supported by diverse doctrines centered on certain common themes as
follows:
1) Existence precedes essence.
2) Time is of the essence.
3) Humanism.
4) Freedom/responsibility.

 Soren Kierkegaard (1813-1855)

a) Insisted that the authentic self was personally chosen self as opposed to public or
“herd identity”.
b) Father of existentialism.
c) Rejected Plato and Aristotle (the idea that the essence of something determines
what it is “essence before existence.”
 Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900)
a) Took this view of opposition of the genuine individual versus the identity of “herd
identity”.
b) Most controversial and most important
c) Looks at life critically
d) Do not believe God exists
e) Reflects upon the concept of Nihilism
1. Total rejection of established laws and
institutions.
 2. Anarchy, terrorism, or other revolutionary
activity.
 Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980)
a) French Philosopher who emphasized the importance of free individual choice
regardless of the power of other people to influence and coerce our desires, beliefs
and decisions.
C. Post-Modernism: On Culture
 It is accepted that truth is not absolute (i.e. cultural).
 Post modernism is not philosophy
 It is best a holding pattern perhaps a cry of despair.
 Postmodernists believe that humanity should come at truth beyond the rational to the non-
rational elements of human nature including the spiritual.
D. Analytic Tradition
 Attempts to clarify, by analysis, the meaning of statements and concepts
 Language
a) Cannot objectively describe truth.
b) The most fruitful source of logical construction.
c) It is by the analysis of language that we are brought to knowledge of reality beyond
it.
 “Analysis” refers to a method; owing a great deal to the pioneers, Bertrand Russell, G.E.,
Moore, Wittgenstein an J.L Austin.
 Analytic Philosophers
1. Gottlob Frege (1848-1925)
 Recognized as father of analytic philosophy
 Logicism (reduction of mathematics to pure logic; i.e. no psychologism or
intuition)
 Quantification theory
2. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)
 Logicism
 Principia Mathematica 1910-13 with Alfred North Whitehead
 1916 dismissed from Cambridge and imprisoned during Great War for
pacifism
 He thought that the grammar of ordinary language was misleading.
 He thought that the world was composed of atomic facts and that
proposition.
3. Ludwig Wittgenstein
 An analytic philosopher, language is socially conditioned.
 His Tractatus Logico—put forward the picture theory of meaning.
4. Richard Rorty (1931-2007)
 Major critic of analytic philosophy
 Though analytically trained himself
 Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature 1980
5. Gilbert Ryle (1900-76)
 Linguistic philosophy, in the mid-20th century.
 Linguistic philosophers thought many of the traditional problems of
philosophy could be dissolved by the careful study of language as it is used.
Logic and Critical Thinking: Tools in Reasoning
 It is the centered in the analysis and construction of arguments.
 Two Types of Reasoning
1) Inductive Reasoning (observations in order to make generalizations often applied
in prediction, forecasting or behaviour)
2) Deductive Reasoning (draws conclusion from usually one broad judgements or
definition and one more specific assertion often an inference)
E. Fallacies
 To detect fallacies it is required to examine the argument’s content.
 Usual errors in reasoning and thus coming up with false conclusion and worse, distorting the
truth.
a) Appeal to pity (Argumentum ad misericordiam)—using emotions such as pity and
sympathy
 Example: You can’t fire me. I have a wife and 12 kids who will go hungry if I lose
this job.
b) Appeal to Ignorance (Argumentum ad ignorantiam)—whatever has not been proved
false must be true and vice versa
  Example: No one can actually prove that God exists; therefore God does not exist.
c) Equivocation—this is a logical chain of reasoning of a term or a word several times but
giving the particular word a different meaning each time
 Example: Human beings have hands; the clock has hands.
d) Composition—assuming that what is true of a part is true for the whole
 Example: Each brick in that building weighs less than a pound. Therefore the
building weighs less than a pound
e) Division—assuming that what is true for the whole is true for its parts
 Example: You come from a family of doctors and lawyers! Surely, you can do
better in this course!
f) Against the Person (Argumentum ad Hominem)—attacking the person instead of the
argument itself
 Example: Of course he believes that the government is flawed, he is a rebel and a
Communist.
g) Appeal to Force (Argumentum ad baculum)—using the threat of force or an
undesirable event to advance an argument
 Example: If you do not agree with my political opinions you will receive flat 70
on your card.
h) Appeal to the people (Argumentum as populum)—an argument that appeals or
exploits people’s vanities, desire for esteem and anchoring on popularity
 Example: I will pray online, why not go to church, who will “tag” my prayer there.
i) False Cause (Post hoc)—assuming a cause and effect relationship between unrelated
events
 Example: Every time you wear your red scarf, you cry. You should get rid of it.
j) Hasty Generalization—the generalization is reached too hastily. There are too few
instances or evidences to support such a conclusion.
 Example: You can’t speak French. I can’t speak French. Carla can’t speak French;
therefore, nobody in this school can speak French.
k) Begging the question(petition principia)—assuming that the thing or idea to be
proven is true
 Example: God exists because the bible says so, Why we can trust what the Bible
says? Easy, the Bible is the word of God.