DEFINITION OF PHILOSOPHY

ETHICS AS A BRANCH OF PHILOSOPHY

Greek words “philein” ( to love) and sophia (wisdom) ,
love of wisdom. It is an attempt to think rationally
and critically about life's most important questions in
order to obtain
knowledge and wisdom about them.
KEY TERMS TO REMEMBER
ARGUMENT a reason given for or against a matter
under discussion.
WORLDVIEW an ordered sense of proposition that
one believes, especially propositions about life’s most
important questions.
RATIONAL - based on or in accordance with reason or
logic.
PRESUPPOSITION something that you believe is true
without having any proof.
IMPORTANCE OF PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy helps…
 improve critical thinking skills
 develop our ability to analyze arguments,
 identify key principles
 solve problems
 arrive at sound decisions, and identify central
issues in dilemmas.
 improving communication skills
 formulating good questions
 distinguishing the meaningful queries from
useless ones.
 The Pre-Socratics (ancient philosophers who
came before Socrates), in their desire to
know the principle which underlies reality,
focused their inquiry on the nature's
processes.
 When Socrates appeared their investigation
process shifted from the natural world to the
human person. His street dialogues which
centered on what kind of person one needs to be
grabbed the attention of every curious audience
 Plato, his student, developed the ethical
orientation of this discipline in his attempt to
describe man as struggling to live according to a
defined form or ideal way of living.
 Aristotle, who learned from Plato, envisioned an
ethical person as one who practices moderation
and uses reason so as to achieve happiness.
 The succeeding thinkers who made ethics as the
focal point of their inquiry provided a range of
frameworks with which to assess the moral
realities they were facing during their periods. Up
until today, such theories are being utilized even
on complex issues we experience.
RELATIONSHIP WITH OTHER DISCIPLINES
 Compared to such fields which provide us factual
knowledge about reality, ethics helps determine
the nature of normative theories and their
application to moral issues.

DISTINCTION FROM OTHER DISCIPLINES

Philosophy is a second order and self-referential

discipline. It is the only field of study that has no
unquestioned assumptions. It aids a discipline by
helping clarify its concepts argument forms and
other issues internal to a field.

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY

 Metaphysics - the search to know what is real.

 Ethics -explores the nature of moral virtue;
study of the nature of moral judgments
 Epistemology deals with nature, sources,
limitations and validity of knowledge; explains
how we know what we claim to know how we
can we find out what we wish to know, and how
we can differentiate truth from falsehood.
 Logic - concerned with the truth or validity of
our arguments regarding certain objects
 Aesthetics -concerned with the establishment of
the criteria of beauty.