Nature Of Philosophy

Philosophy Thinking The act of questioning or wanting to know initiates philosophical thinking Philosophy which means pursuit of wisdom comes from the Greek word philos which means love sophia which means knowledge /wisdom

Love of wisdom pushes a person to make

a deliberate effort to seek the truth. A philosopher is a lover of knowledge who seeks knowledge for its own sake and not for any other motive. Philosophy is defined as the knowledge of all things acquired through the use of reasoning Its main objective is to seek the explanation for existence and the nature of being.

HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY
1. 2. 3. 4.
Ancient/Presocratic (7th century B.C.) Middle Ages (11th to 15th century A.D.) Modern Period (17th 18th century A.D.) Contemporary Period (20th century)

ANCIENT/PRESOCRATIC
Greek thinkers called themselves
wisemen but out of humility, Pythgoras, one of the Grek thinkers, preferred to call himself as someone who simply loved wisdom or a philosopher. From the on the Greeks had used the words philosophy to mean love of wisdom and philosopher to denote a lover of that wisdom.

MIDDLE AGES
Christian scholars and Arab philosophers
were the first to directly link philosophy to theology. The Christian faith being one of its main inspirations which became a stimulus to reason.

MODERN PERIOD
During this period, Rene Descartes
became known as the Father of Modern Philosophy for his philosophy of rationalism and empiricism. Rationalism as a philosophical doctrine specifically uses reasoning and proof in explaining reality. Empiricism regards experience as the only source of knowledge.

MODERN PERIOD
During this time, the abundance of
knowledge in science posed a challenge for all philosophers to prove then discoveries and breakthroughs alongside the growing rationalism and empiricism.

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
The development of several philosophical
doctrines further strengthened modern mans quest for the truth. Among the more contemporary doctrines are Marxism by Karl Marx, Kantianism by Immanuel Kant and Existentialism by Jean Paul Sartre. The succeeding philosophers discussed the use of inductive and deductive reasoning to prove their theories.

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
These philosophies developed
simultaneously with the new ideas, perceptions and scientific discoveries, which eventually led the people towards progress and development.

PHILOSOPHY AND NATURE OF MAN

As a living organism, man is capable of
feeding and nourishing himself to be able to grow and reproduce to preserve his race Man requires sensory knowledge through the external senses of smell, taste, and touch for nutrition; and hearing and sight for cognition.

The internal senses includes:

The consciousness or awareness of
sensation and the operation of external senses. The imagination or the formation of mental images or perceived objects that are reproduces even in their absence The memory or the ability to recall past events and states of consciousness; and

Cont. internal senses

The instincts which are actions conducive
to the well being of the person

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND BIOETHICS

1. 2. 3. 4.
Customs Habit Practice Etiquette

ETHICS
The term ethics traces its roots from the
Greek word ETHICOS which means moral duty. Ethics as a discipline is the study of human actions or conduct from a moral perspective as to whether they are good or bad.

ETHICS
Employs the faculty of human reasoning
in tackling the important question of what makes an upright life. Ethics is therefore, a noble and important science. Ethics is commonly associated with customs, habits, practices, etiquette, moral values and principles

1. Customs
As operationally defined, means long
established practices common to a particular community, class or race. A customs implies a more or less permanent way of acting as reinforced by traditions and social attitudes.

2. Habit
> Is applied to an individual and implies the repetition of the same action as to develop a natural, spontaneous or rooted tendency or inclination to perform it.

3. Practice
Applies to a regularly followed procedure
or pattern in conducting activities.

4. Etiquette
Means observance of social norms as
required by good breeding

2 PARTS OF ETHICS
1. General Ethics deals with basic
principles which are the morality of human acts 2. Social Ethics tackles the basic principles affecting man as a member of society.

OBJECTIVES OF ETHICS
Ethics aims to: 1. Make clear to us why one act is better than the other; 2. Enable us to live and have an orderly social way of life; 3. Appraise, criticize and evaluate intelligently the moral conduct and ethical system and; 4. Explore and aspire to the true value of life.

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
Professional ethics on the other hand, is
a branch of moral science concerned with to obligations which a member of a profession owes to the public, to his profession and to his clients.

BIOETHICS
Bioethics is relatively a new term It began to be discussed in the 1960s

when such phrases as medical ethics and biomedical ethics. Ban Reusselaer Potter, a cancer researcher invented the word. Bridges to the Future

Bioethics is coined from the term bios

which means life and ethics. Bioethics is the term used to describe the application of ethics to biological science, medicine and related fields. For M.T. Reich, it is a systematic study of human behavior, specifically in the fields of life sciences and health care, as examined in the light of moral values and principles.

In philosophy, bioethics is a branch of

ethics that is concerned with issues surrounding health care and the biological science. It focuses on challenges arising from modern biotechnology. Biotechnology is meant any technology that uses microorganisms and other biological materials for technological purposes.

SCOPE OF BIOETHICS
Issues and querries on human life at
three different stages. 1. The beginning of life (contraception and family planning;) 2. The middle of life (genetic engineering and family planning;) 3. The end of life (death and euthanasia).

SIGNIFICANCE OF BIOETHICS
The vitally important for every member of
the health profession to get acquainted with the ethical principles involved in biomedical procedures. Bioethics seeks to keep members of the health profession aware of the dos and donts of medical practice. It also tries to enhance their competence by understanding that the patient is a person and a holistic individual.

MALPRACTICE AND NEGLIGENCE

Malpractice means any professional misconduct
or any unreasonable lack of skill or fidelity in the performance of professional or judiciary duties. Negligence, on the other hand, means the failure to do an action which a reasonable and prudent person would have done in similar circumstances. Certain elements need to be present before one can be accused of negligence, If one of these elements is not present, negligence cannot be declared.

ELEMENTS OF NEGLIGENCE
Existence of duty there must be a moral
obligation to do or not to do something as mandated by a persons profession. Failure to perform the duty when one fails to respond to the call of his/her profession. Injury resulting from such failure if there is grave harm that results from not doing ones duty or from doing wrong thing due to lack of knowledge.

NORMS OF HUMAN ACTS

The norms of human acts are set of directives that guide

us in making decisions on what ought to do or to be. All our actions and decisions are dictated by laws and our own conscience. Conscience is the practical judgement of reason upon an individual act as good and to be performed, or as evil and to be avoided. Law is an ordinance of reason promulgated for the common good by one who has legitimate authority.
It is an authoritative order that is just, honest, useful to a certain degree or permanency, promulgated or made known to the subject, and can possibly be fulfilled.

CLASSIFICATION OF LAWS
Laws are classified as either eternal or natural. 1. Eternal law is Gods eternal plan and
providence for the Universe. It is the divine reason or will commanding the preservation of the natural order of things and forbidding its disturbance, according to St. Tomas, it is the plan flowing from Gods wisdom directing all acts and movements.

ETERNAL LAW AND CREATURES

Irrational creatures follow the eternal law in the first way

they passively and necessarily obey eternal law by their very blind and unavoidable acts. Rational creatures follow eternal law in both ways. Man can know what is good and what is bad but cannot decide about what should be good or bad. Revelation teaches that the power to decide what is good and what is evil does not belong to man but to God alone.

NATURAL LAW
is the eternal law as known to humans through

reason. Example; to do good and avoid evil (St. Thomas) It is called natural because it is neither communicated in a supernatural way or as a result of a command of a legislature or authority. The precept of natural law is found and derived from the very nature of human beings.

PROPERTIES OF NATURAL LAW

Natural law is universal , immutable and indispensable. Natural law is universal because it binds every person at all times
and in all places. Its basis is the very nature of man The universality of natural law implies that the rights and duties it establishes apply to all men by the mere fact of their being human. The immutability of natural law refers to its unchanging characteristics. As soon as human beings gain the capacity to use their reason, certain fundamental norms will become evident to them. Indispensability means that no one is dispensed or excused from the observance of the natural law because its origin is God. Natural law is identical to Gods will. Evidently humans have no authority over a natural a law of this status. This means that if there is a dispensation of this law, there is a violation of Gods law.

CONTENT AND KNOWLEDGE OF NATURAL LAW

St. Thomas distinguishes three levels or groups of
propositions: The First Principle states that the strating point of practical reasoning is that good is to be done and pursued, and evil is to be avoided. St. Thomas distinguishes various sorts of basic human goods, corresponding to a persons natural inclinations. He classifies them into 3 groups corresponding to basic inclinations:
self preservation which is common to all beings; animal inclinations such mating and bring up of offspring; and good according to nature of reason such as knowing the truth about God and living in society

THE CONTEMPORARY BASIC GOODS OF HUMAN PERSONS IN THREE CATEGORIES:

1. Reflective or existential human goods which fulfill

human insofar as they are able to make choices and are capable of moral good and evil. These include: self integration or inner peace which consists in harmony among ones judgements, feelings and choices; authenticity which is sincerity or harmony and consistency between ones judgement, feelings choices and ones behavior; impersonal harmony which consist of fraternity, friendship, and justice; and harmony with God which is Religion

2. Substantive human goods which include bodily well being, including health and bodily integrity. These goods fulfill human persons as bodily beings. Knowledge of the truth and appreciation of beauty. These goods fulfill human persons as intelligent beings. Work or skillful performance and activity through which the person expands in the world, interacts with it, transform it and in doing so finds fulfillment. 3. Marriage and family life which are complex human goods that are substantive and reflective.

B. The Secondary Principle or the immediate conclusion seeks to specify further the first moral principle by excluding as immoral those actions incompatible with a true integral human fulfillment.
for example, one should do no evil that good may come about St Thomas also refers to the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you

C. The Third Principle of specific moral norms identifies specific human actions that ought to be done and those that should not be done.

TYPES OF NATURAL LAW AS PRESENTED OR FORBIDDEN

Affirmative Laws:
are always binding, but not at every
moment. Humans are morally obliged to adopt all ordinary means of preserving health and life.

Negative Laws:
are prohibitory. These are laws of the natural order which

are binding at all times. They state that no act, positive or negative, may be directly and deliberately willed as a means of destroying health or life.

Divine Negative Law

is a law expressly revealed by God. It
includes:
precepts from natural law e.g. ten Commandments, which are found in the Old and New Testaments and supernatural precepts which state that man is destines for a supernatural end.

Human Positive Laws:

are those enacted by the church or state. They are ordinances of reason derived

from the natural law or making a concrete and determinate application of the natural law, promulgated for the common good by a human institution in charge of society.

The Law of Charity

The bond of perfection is the love of God
in His intimate life, which only possible through the natural strength of charity. As God loves us do we have to love others.

The Law of Perfect Freedom

Since the new law is the love of charity, it
is also the law of perfect freedom.

The Grace, Justification, and Sanctity:

The grace of the Holy Spirit has the power
to justify us, that is to cleanse us from our sins through baptism and to communicate to us righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ.