WORDS TO REMEMBER:

 Philosophy  Theodicy
 Philein  Pythagoras
 Sophia  Material Cause
 Cosmology  Efficient Cause
 Metaphysics  Final Cause
 Ethics  Formal Cause
 Aesthetics  Reason
 Psychology  Senses
 Epistemology  Essence
 Social Philosophy

Pythagoras (6th Century BC) was a Greek philosopher who coined the word
“Philosophy”

Philosophy comes from the greek words “Philein” which means love and “Sophia”
which means wisdom.

Two Kinds of Wisdom

a. Divine Wisdom – Different from the wisdom of man, divine wisdom is a gift
from God.

Characteristics

 It is a gift from above

 Pure
 Peacable
 Gentle
 Open to Reason
 Full of Mercy
 Impartial
 Full of Good Fruits

b. Human Wisdom – Is the quality of having an experience, knowledge and good

judgement; the quality of being wise. In Philosophy, we define wisdom as a right
application of knowledge.
Knowledge is something we gain from experience, while Wisdom is deeper than
knowledge. It is the Mother of Morality and is knowing the correct application of the
knowledge you have.

Philosophy is defined as the science of all things in their ultimate cause through the aid
of human reason alone. (Pinon) Science is a pursuit of knowledge based on fact and
demonstration, and All Things that exist are the material objects of Philosophy.

THE BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

a. Logic – (Greek; “Logos”) The science of correct reasoning

b. Philosophy of a Human Person – (Greek “Prosopon” which means person)
The science of the study of man in relation to his own destiny, God and to his
Fellowmen.
c. Cosmology – (Greek; “Kosmos” which means world and “Logia” which means
study of) The science of inanimate objects.
d. Metaphysics – (Greek; “meta” which means beyond “physika” which means
physics) The science of being.
e. Ethics – (Greek; “ethikos” which means custom or character) The science of the
morality of human acts.
f. Aesthetics – (“Aisthetikos” which means sensitive, pertaining to sense
perception) – The science of art and beauty
g. Psychology – (“psyche” which means breath, soul, or spirit) The science of
human behavior.
h. Epistemology – (“episteme” means knowledge) A science of the theory of
knowledge.
i. Social Philosophy – (“koino nikos” which means group or associate) – A
science of principles governing human relations
j. Theodicy – (“Theos” which means God “dike” which means study) – The science
of the study of God.

The Five Ways of St. Thomas Aquinas – Discusses the proof of the existence of God
through reason. These are:

1. Argument From Motion

2. Argument from Efficient Cause
3. Argument from Possibility and Necessity
4. Argument from Gradation of Being
5. Argument from Design
Aristotle (384-322 BC) was a Greek philosopher who discussed the Four Kinds of
Cause.

Cause – explains the accounts for something

Four Kinds of Causes

1. Material Cause – What is the object made of?

2. Formal Cause – what makes this object different from others?
3. Efficient Cause – Who made it?
4. Final Cause – Why is it made?

Reason – The capacity to make things sensibly and consciously applying logic,
establishing and verifying facts, and changing or justifying practices. Human reason is
associated with thinking, cognition and intellect.

Phenomonology – comes from the greek word “phainomenon” which means the
appearing, and logos which means the study. It is a science or study of that which
appears. Zwaenpoel (1974) defines phenomenology as “a study of that which appears
as meaningful to consciousness in living experience by means of direct awareness.

Awareness connotes three things:

 The object of our intention “noema”

 The intentional act “noesis”
 The conscious self

Phenomonology refers to a person’s perception of the meaning of an event.

1.) Reflection – an Interiorization process where a person tends to enter into himself,
and makes some analysis about what really happened about himself and about what is
going on. Questions can be:

a) Why does this thing happen to me?

b) How am I now?
c) How am I going to face a situation like this?
d) If what I did was a mistake, where have I gone wrong?

2.) Sayings (Mga kasabihan) – are philosophically-inspired thought. The person has
the tendency to become close to nature. Because of the present predicament that he
finds unbearable, the thinking people opt to consider sayings to alleviate his mind and
heart from a troublesome situation. Their messages can ease the mids and even
soothe one’s heart.
3.) Stories (Kwento) – An account of imaginary or real people and events told for
entertainment but with a moral lesson in it.

Main Characteristics of Phenomenological Method

1.) Epoché – Literally defined as “bracketing”, a mathematical term borrowed by

Husserl to mean that we need to put inside the bracket all our natural attitudes of
our object inquiry. Natural Attitudes means our advanced concepts like
prejudices and biases.
2.) Phenomenological Eidetic Reduction – The word ‘eidetic’ comes from the
Greek word “eidos” which means an image, shape or form. This is an intelligible
term. You reduce an object to the level of the mind. It is about analyzing
essences, understanding what it is.
3.) Phenomenological Transcendental Reduction – Under this method, one
reduces the object to the mere activity itself of one’s own consciousness.