Introduction

to
Philosophy!
BS Course
Introduction!
 What is Philosophy?
 In order to have a proper understanding of any discipline, subject or
terminology, it is very important & helpful to begin with the meaning or
definition of that discipline, subject or terminology.
 Commonly speaking, we can have two possible meanings or definitions of
terms:
 1. The Literal Meaning or Definition &
 2. The General Definition.
 Lets us begin with the literal definition of the term Philosophy first and our
approach for that would be analytical, since we would be analyzing the various
terms and concepts used during the process of definition.
 Literally speaking, the term Philosophy is the combination of two Greek Words:
 1. Philo or Philein, which means “Love of Something”, &
 2. Sophia, which means “Wisdom”.
 Hence, Philosophy can literally be defined as “Love of Wisdom”.
 Now an important question arises, if Philosophy is the love of wisdom, then what
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 Wisdom can be defined to be:
 The acquisition of Knowledge, that is practically applied in our life sincerely &
honestly, OR
 A sincere and honest practical application of the acquired knowledge is known
as wisdom. For Example;
 A scientist working in the field of genetic sciences can get the knowledge of,
say modifying a specific virus or bacteria.
 The initial stage will be having a theoretical understanding of that virus or
bacteria.
 Then attempting to find the practical ways and methods of modification.
 What a scientist/s can do, by practically modifying the species, is to use it
either for the benefit of humanity or against it.
 Another example: A bird eye view on the 20th century
 Einstein’ s E=mc2
 WWI, Arms race
 WWII, US-Japan, Pearl Harbor attack, July 1945 (Nuclear Weapon’s invention),
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 Usage was against the welfare and wellbeing of humanity.
 Let’s look at the positive use of that knowledge:
 We can seek help of the atomic or nuclear technology to overcome energy
crises.
 We also use it the medical world for treating cancer’s patients.
 So philosophical wisdom always makes an ethical and moral appeal as for as
the practical implementation and demonstration of the acquired knowledge is
concerned.
 After defining wisdom, we have arrived at another important philosophical
concept, that is “Knowledge”. Now how can we define Knowledge?
 Knowledge, according to Socrates, is a justified true belief.
 Let’s have an analysis of the Socratic definition as well.
 To include something into the category of knowledge:
 First of all, we must have a belief about something, as Socrates says,
 Secondly, we must consider our belief to be a true belief. We can never say
that we believe in something but our belief is false, as it is ridiculous to think
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 Thirdly, the truth of our belief should not come from vacuum, instead
we should have grounds or justifications for that belief, that is to say,
we must have proofs and evidences for it.
 Any of our claim of knowledge without justifications will be a mere opinion or
belief, which can be true or false, but knowledge is certainly true.

SIMPLE WORDS
Belief: To know something, you first have to believe it. For example, if you
think it will rain tomorrow, you have a belief about the weather.
 True Belief: Your belief also has to be true. You can’t say you know
something if it turns out to be false. If it doesn’t rain tomorrow, then your
belief was wrong.
 Justification: Finally, you need a good reason for your belief. This means
you should have some evidence to back it up. For example, if the weather
report says it will rain and you believe that, then you have a reason for your
belief.
 So, to truly know something, you have to believe it, it has to be true, and
you need a good reason to support that belief.
Nature of Wisdom or Knowledge!
 Is wisdom or knowledge a finished or complete product?
 Is it static and stagnant thing in nature OR,
 Is it a continues process?
 In order to understand the nature of wisdom or knowledge, we must keep into
account the following important points:
 1: Wisdom or knowledge is not a static or stagnant thing or commodity,
instead, it is an active and dynamic continues process of the;
 2: Acquisition of knowledge,
 Practicing it or struggling for the practical implementation of the acquired
knowledge,
 Keeping in view the ethical and moral (i.e., sincere & honest use)
considerations or dimensions of its practical use (for the welfare and wellbeing
of mankind rather than against it).
 3: Wherever “Reason” is used, wisdom is there, that is to say, the application
of reason is must for wisdom and knowledge.
Areas from Where We can seek or Discover
Wisdom or Knowledge!
 Throughout the history of philosophy, philosophers have pointed out towards
three important areas, from where we can seek wisdom or knowledge. These
are:
 1. Nature/ The Natural World or Universe/ The Objective World/ The Physical or
Material World/ The World of Perceptions or Observations.
 It is the world of different sciences, social sciences and arts & humanities.
 Physics – Mater & Energy
 Chemistry - Elements & Compounds
 Biology – Life
 Astronomy – Heavenly Bodies
 Sociology – Society
 Anthropology – Man
 Political Science – State & Government
 IR – Relations among states and non-state actors
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 2. The Inner World of Heart and/or Mind/ The Subjective World/ The World of
Introspection and/or Meditation/ The World of Feelings and Emotions.
 It is the world of Psychology & Spirituality.
 Attempts are made to discover wisdom in the subjective realm of an individual
in order to arrive at some conclusions or answers related to questions about
which nature has failed to answer, or no clear and appealing answers were
present in the outer natural world.
 3. The World of Religion.
 The first two areas can be targeted by humans themselves by seeking help
from their own capacities, abilities skills or tools like sense organs, reason,
intuition or faith.
 Sometimes humans fail to get their answers themselves from the outer and
inner realms, in such situations, it is believed by many philosopher if not all,
that religion comes forward for our salvation.
 Wherever the limits of science and philosophy ends, the boundaries of religion
begin.
 In order to guide humanity during such complex situations of life, God or
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 After having a thorough analysis of the literal definition of philosophy, let’s
have a bird eye view upon the general definitions of it as well so as to develop
a comprehensive understanding of it.
 It is not possible to have a common and agreed upon general definition of the
term philosophy, because different thinkers attempt to define philosophy
according to their own terms.
 Empiricist thinkers will have their own understanding of it, whereas
rationalists will have their own while the religious one will have their own.
 Hence, an attempt will be made in the following lines to come up with various
general definitions both thinker wise and wide-ranging as well.
 Definitions given by different Thinkers!
 1. Omar Khayyam:
 According to Omar Khayyam, this universe is like an old menu script whose
first & last pages are lost. Philosophy is the study of finding out these two lost
pages.
 2. John Armstrong:
 Philosophy is the successful love of thinking.
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 3. Barry Smith:
 Philosophy is thinking fundamentally clearly and well about the nature of
reality and our place in it, so as to understand better what goes on around
us, and what our contribution is to that reality, and its effect on us.
 4. Simon Blackburn:
 Philosophy is a process of reflection on the deepest concepts, that is
structures of thought, that make up the way in which we think about the
world. So it’s concepts like reason, causation, matter, space, time, mind,
consciousness, free will, all those big abstract words and they make up
topics, and people have been thinking about them for two and a half
thousand years and I expect they’ll think about them for another two and a
half thousand years if there are any of us left.
 5. Clare Carlisle:
 Most simply put it’s about making sense of all this… We find ourselves in a
world that we haven’t chosen. There are all sorts of possible ways of
interpreting it and finding meaning in the world and in the lives that we live.
So philosophy is about making sense of that situation that we find ourselves
in.
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 6. Anthony Kenny:
 Philosophy is thinking as clearly as possible about the most fundamental
concepts that reach through all the disciplines.
 7. Michael Sandal:
 Philosophy is reflecting critically on the way things are. That includes
reflecting critically on social and political and economic arrangements. It
always intimates the possibility that things could be other than they are and
even better.
 8. Luciano Floridi:
 Philosophy is conceptual engineering. That means dealing with questions
that are open to informed reasonable disagreement by providing new
concepts that can be superseded in the future if more economic solutions
can be found — but it’s a matter of rational agreement.
 9. Ludwig Wittgenstein:
 Philosophy is an activity and philosophers do that activity. An activity of
arriving at the Ultimate Reality of the whole universe. Philosophy is like a
ladder used to reach towards ultimate reality.
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 10. Bertrand Russell:
 Philosophy is no man’s land.
 The point of philosophy is, that it begins with something so simple as to
seems not worth stating and ends with something so paradoxical that no one
will believe it.
 11. Alama Muhammad Iqbal:
 The spirit of philosophy is one of a free inquiry. It suspects all authority. Its
function is to trace back the uncritical assumptions of human thought in their
hiding places, and in this pursuit, it either ends in denial or makes a frank
admission of the incapacity of pure reason to reach towards Ultimate Reality.
 Other General Definitions!
 1. Philosophy is the rational inquiry of the whole universe.
 2. Philosophy is the study of Ultimate Reality.
 3. Philosophy is the study of the first principles of the world.
 4. Philosophy is the study of being and existence.
 5. Philosophy is the critical study of our fundamental assumptions and beliefs.
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 6. Philosophy is the study of the origin, nature, meaning and purpose of life.
 7. Philosophy is the study of the definition, nature, scope, conditions and
sources of knowledge.
 8. Philosophy is the logical and rational study of correct thinking (reasoning).
 9. Philosophy is the study of differentiating correct and incorrect behavior, or
the study of human conduct in the context of right and wrong/ good and bad.
 10. Philosophy is the conceptual study of beauty in itself.
 SUBJECT MATTER OF PHILOSOPHY: “ULTIMATE REALITY”