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Introduction to Philosophy
Welcome to the first module of this course, Philosophy of Man with

Logic! In this lesson, you will be able to understand the etymological
and formal meaning of Philosophy. Also, you will learn the different
branches of Philosophy and their meanings.
What is Philosophy?
Etymologically speaking, the term Philosophy came from the Greek
word philos meaning “to love” and sophia meaning “wisdom.” So,
Philosophy litearally means “the love of wisdom”.
In a same sense, Philosophy is the study of nature of knowledge,

existence, and reality.
According to Jacques Maritain, “Philosophy is the science by which

the natural light of reason studies the first causes or highest principles
of all things – is, in other words, the science of things in their first
causes, in so far as these belong to the natural order.”
As you move further in this course, your understanding of philosophy

will grow as how philosophers want people to see the “natural light” of
comprehending it.
Bertrand Russel’s Value of Philosophy

And Why We Should Study It?
Bertrand Russel discussed the value of Philosophy and why we should
study it. He says: “If we are not to fail in our endeavor to determine
the value of philosophy, we must first free our minds from the
prejudices of what are wrongly called 'practical' men. The 'practical'
man, as this word is often used, is one who recognizes only material
needs, who realizes that men must have food for the body, but is
oblivious of the necessity of providing food for the mind. If all men
were well off, if poverty and disease had been reduced to their lowest
possible point, there would still remain much to be done to produce a
valuable society; and even in the existing world the goods of the mind
are at least as important as the goods of the body. It is exclusively
among the goods of the mind that the value of philosophy is to be
found; and only those who are not indifferent to these goods can be
persuaded that the study of philosophy is not a waste of time.
Philosophy of Man with Logic 1

Philosophy, like all other studies, aims primarily at knowledge.

The knowledge it aims at is the kind of knowledge which gives
unity and system to the body of the sciences, and the kind
which results from a critical examination of the grounds of our
convictions, prejudices, and beliefs. But it cannot be
maintained that philosophy has had any very great measure of
success in its attempts to provide definite answers to its
questions.
If you ask a mathematician, a mineralogist, a historian, or any
other man of learning, what definite body of truths has been
ascertained by his science, his answer will last as long as you
are willing to listen. But if you put the same question to a
philosopher, he will, if he is candid, have to confess that his
study has not achieved positive results such as have been
achieved by other sciences. It is true that this is partly
accounted for by the fact that, as soon as definite knowledge
concerning any subject becomes possible, this subject ceases to
be called philosophy, and becomes a separate science. The
whole study of the heavens, which now belongs to astronomy,
was once included in philosophy; Newton's great work was
called 'the mathematical principles of natural philosophy'.
Similarly, the study of the human mind, which was a part of
philosophy, has now been separated from philosophy and has
become the science of psychology. Thus, to a great extent, the
uncertainty of philosophy is more apparent than real: those
questions which are already capable of definite answers are
placed in the sciences, while those only to which, at present, no
definite answer can be given, remain to form the residue which
is called philosophy.” (Russel, the Problems of Philosophy)
Also, according to Bertrand Russel, Philosophy:
 Has no definite answer that can be given
 Its role is to keep alive that speculative interest in the

universe which is apt to be killed by confining
ourselves to definitely ascertainable knowledge.
 The greatness of the objects which it contemplates, and

the freedom from narrow and personal aims resulting
from this contemplation.
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Branches of Philosophy
Metaphysics. Metaphysics is considered to be the study of the
fundamental nature of existence as such, and the fundamental
questions of reality, both of man and of the world. It examines the
composition of the universe, and asks “what is the world -- including
us -- made of?” “What is the ultimate substance?”
Ontology. Ontology is the study of being and existence; of being as

being.
Epistemology is the study of nature and scope of knowledge and

justified belief. It analyzes the nature of knowledge and how it is
related to truth, justification, and belief.
Ethics. It is the study of values and human actions. You never heard
animals criticize people. Most of the time, people are criticized by
other people. And when you criticize, you study the action. It answers
the question “What do I do?” It is the way by which we identify our
values and follow them. Do we follow our own happiness, or do we
sacrifice ourselves to a greater cause?
Morality. Ethics has a sub-field called Morality. It is the study of set

codes and systems of conduct.
Another branch of Philosophy is called Aesthetics. Aesthetics is

focused on the nature and appreciation of art. Questions like "What is
a work of art?", "What makes a work of art successful?" are commonly
present to studying aesthetics.
As a part of this course, Logic is a basic branch of Philosophy that

deals with science and art of correct inferential reasoning. Aristotle
defined logic as new and necessary reasoning, "new" because it allows
us to learn what we do not know, and "necessary" because its
conclusions are inescapable. It may ask questions like “what is the
difference between good and bad argument?” “What is the correct
reasoning?” Or in a good sense, Logic is a way of investigating the
structure and nature of the statements given.
Part of what you need to know while studying this course is Rational
Psychology or also called Philosophy of Man – one of the branches
of Philosophy that studies the principles of Man as a composite of
body and soul.

We cannot really deny that Philosophy is in everything even in

Science.
Cosmology is a branch of philosophy which deals with the

origin and structure of the universe: its parts, elements, laws,
characteristics such as space and time.
And finally, we have Theodicy. Theodicy does not question

the existence of God; rather it studies the nature and attributes
of God within the understating of human. Moreover, its main
concern is reconciling the goodness and justice of God with the
observable facts of evil and suffering in the world. (Sofia
Topia, 2009)
Activities:
1. Research assignment. Look for different meanings of philosophy
given by famous philosophers
2. In your own words, prepare a table that summarizes your

understanding of each branch of Philosophy
Glossary
Composite - made of different parts or elements
Fundamental - most important part of something
Justification - an acceptable reason for doing something
Medicine - the science that deals with treating disease.
Philos - To love.
Sophia - wisdom.
Ultimate - greatest or most extreme
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References
(2006). Retrieved from http://www.philosophyetc.net/2006/04/ten-things-
everyone-should-know-about.html
Branches of Philosophy. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.philosophy-

index.com/philosophy/branches/
Dungen, W. V. D. (2009). Theodicy. Retrieved from

http://www.sofiatopia.org/equiaeon/theodicy.htm
Maritain, J. (2005). An Introduction to Philosophy (Sheed and Ward Classic).

London, England: Sheed & Ward.
Russel, B. (n.d.). The Problems of Philosophy. Retrieved

fromhttp://www.personal.kent.edu/~rmuhamma/Philosophy/RBwriti
ngs/ProbPhiloBook/chap-XV.htm

BASIC TERMS IN LOGIC
Basic Terms in Logic
Welcome to the second module of this course, Philosophy of man with

Logic! For this lesson, you will become familiar with the terms used in
Logic and their function in this course.
What is Logic?
Etymological Definition:
Zeno the Stoic first coined the word “logic.”
Logic came from the Greek term:
λογικε ( logike ) which means a “thought”

Etymologically, logic means a “treatise pertaining to thought.”
Aristotle considered Logic as the “organon” or the tool or instrument of the

sciences.
Logic is the instrument for gaining knowledge or the tool for correct
thinking.
Formal Definition:
Logic is the study of science and art of correct inferential reasoning. Logic
deals with the laws, methods and principles of correct thinking. Thereby,
logic distinguishes correct from incorrect reasoning.
It is a science because it is a systematized body of knowledge about the

principles and laws of correct inferential reasoning. It follows certain rules
and laws in arriving at valid conclusions.
Logic is also considered art, the art of reasoning. As an art, it requires the
mastery of the laws and principles of correct inferential thinking.
Formal and Material Logic
Formal Logic discusses the conceptual patterns or structures needed for a

valid and correct argument or inference. It deals with the correct patterns of
argumentation.

Material Logic deals with the nature of the terms and propositions that are
used in the different types of inference. It discusses the types and meanings
of terms or words and sentences or propositions used in the arguments.
I. Simple Apprehension: First Intelletual Act

The first act of the intellect, by which it knows the essence or nature of the
thing, without affirming or denying anything about it.
It is through simple apprehension that the intellect forms a mental image of

the thing called idea.
Apprehension is the beginning of knowledge. It is when we have an

understanding or an idea of things that we can say we know.
Idea and Term: Product of Apprehension
Idea is the mental product of the apprehension. It is the mental or intellectual

image or representation of the object, because it represents the object of thing
in the intellect.
An idea is formed through the process called abstraction.
Abstraction is defined as the process by which the intellect strips the

object of its non-essential qualities, retains the essential ones, and
forms them into one image, which is the idea.
Characteristics of Idea:
1. Abstract
2. Universal
3. Immaterial
4. Spiritual
5. Constant
Term is the external manifestation or sign of an idea. It is a written or

spoken word.
Idea exists in the mind, but when it is expressed or manifested verbally, it

then becomes a term.
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The term is considered as a conventional sign, and as a sign it stands for

something, like a thing, object, place, person, event, etc. It is a conventional
sign for the connection between the thing of object it signifies and the term is
established by convention. The term or word is part of language and
language is used to express our thought about reality.
II. Comprehension and Extension: Logical Properties of Idea or

Term
Comprehension is the sum total of the attributes or thought elements which
constitute the idea. It is the meaning, the signification, the thought, content or
connotation of the idea.
Extension is the sum-total of all the individuals, things or beings or groups

to which the idea can be applied. It expresses denotation or the application of
the idea to different individuals or things.
Example:
Comprehension Extension
An institution of
higher UST, UP, ADMU,
UNVERSITY learning DLSU, UE,
AdU, NU, UERM, etc.

There is an inverse relation between the comprehension and extension of
idea. As the comprehension of the idea increases, the extension decreases
and vice versa. This means that, if the conceptual features of an idea
increase, the application of this idea will decrease.
Example:
UNIVERSITY
Comprehension Extension
AMA, STI, Samson Tech, All

Universities and Colleges, All public
and private primary and secondary
An institution of learning schools, etc.
An institution of higher learning All universities and colleges…
DLSU, ADMU, La Consolacion,
A Catholic Institution of higher San Sebastian, AdU, San Beda
learning College, UST
A Pontifical and Catholic Institution

of higher learning in the Philippines UST
The term with greater comprehension will have lesser extension and
the term with greater extension will have lesser comprehension.
III. Classification of Terms

A. According to Significance or Meaning (Comprehension)
1. Univocal – A univocal term is a term that is used in an identical sense. It

expresses only one meaning or sense when applied to several objects. A term
maybe univocal if it falls under the following conditions:
a. A term has no other possible meanings other than itself.
e.g. Homo Sapiens, Homo Erectus, solar system, heliocentricism, Rector

Magnificus, Supreme Pontiff, etc.
b. The term used is defined.
e.g.
Mercury is a planet in the solar system.
A notebook is a material used for writing made up of paper.
c. The terms used are taken to signify one meaning in two instances.
e.g.
The reverend father blesses the mother and the father of the child.
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Water is heavier than air and the air outside is fresh.
2. Equivocal – An equivocal term is a term that expresses two or more

different or unrelated meanings. Equivocal terms may be externally the same,
(same spelling and/or pronunciation) but different in sense. They may be
equivocal in:
a. pronunciation as in, son-sun, sweet-suite, pain-pane;

b. spelling, as in, bow-bow, read-read, lead-lead; or
c. both in spelling and pronunciation, as in club-club, watch-watch, ball-ball.
The sentence of the judge was not clear
I love Philosophy
My notebook is new
3. Analogous – an analogous term is a term that expresses a meaning that is

partly different and partly the same, or meanings that are related.
a. Analogy by proportion – when a term is applied to unlike objects

because of some resemblance between them.
Example:
“Foot”
 Foot of the mountain
 Foot of the stairs
“Leg”
 Leg of the chair
 Leg of the table
b. Analogy by attribution – when the term is used in an absolute sense

in one thing and then attributed in other things because of some
intrinsic relation with the first.
Example:
“Healthy” – Healthy food, healthy exercise, healthy medicine,

healthy body.

“Being” – Divine Being, human being, animate being, inaminate
being.
B. According to Application or Extension
1. Singular – A singular term is one that applies to only one individual

or object. It may be proper noun or name, a term prefixed by a
demonstrative pronoun, or a term with restrictive qualification.
e.g.
The 15th President of the Philippine Republic.
The Dean of the College
2. Universal – A universal term is one that is applied distributively to

all the individuals or objects in a class or to the class itself. It always
expresses a universal idea. It is usually prefixed by terms like all,
every, no, each, and other similar terms serving as universal
quantifiers.
e.g.
Every Catholic is a Christian.
A square is a polygon
3. Particular – A particular term is one that applies to only a part of

the extension of the universal. It is usually prefixed by terms like
some, few several, majority, many, a number of, and other similar
terms serving as particular quantifiers.
e.g.
Some students are lazy.
Several policemen are dishonest.
4. Collective – A collective term is one that applies to a collective idea.

It represents a group or class but does not apply distributively to the
individuals in the class or group. It may appear singular in form, but
because it represents a class it is considered collective.
e.g.
A flock of sheep is destroying the crops.
The family celebrates the holiday.
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IV. Predicaments and Predicables
Predicaments are classifications of universal natures and concepts.

Predicables are classifications of universal predicates in general.
Predicaments and Predicables are useful to put order in our universal

concepts by ways of classification and to assign the proper nature of things
when we try to understand and define them.
A. The Supreme Predicament
Aristotle called them Categories, which is the Greek term for

Predicaments. According to Aristotle, there are Two Supreme
Predicaments: that of Substance, and that of Accident. Above these two
is the Transcendental Being, and we use the concept Being to manifest
the one and the other.
Substance is being that carries existential actuality by itself (or a being

that exists by itself).
Accident is a modification of the substance, or being, and does not carry

existential actuality by itself, but in the substance of which it is a
modification (a being that does not exist by itself, but in the substance).
B. The Ten Predicaments
 The First Predicament is that of Substance; the remaining nine are

the sub-classification of the Predicament Accident, in other words,
Accident, the Second Supreme Predicament is further subdivided
into nine other Predicaments, comprising the different kinds of
accidents.
 Accidents are non-essential modifications of the substance. Some of

these are in the substance, e.g. quantity, quality; others are just
circumstantial determinations, as to place, time, etc.
1. Substance
 A nature that carries existential actuality and reality by itself,
and not a inhering in something else as subject. (e.g., a tree,
an animal)
 A nature that exists by itself
2. Quantity
 Modification of substance as regards the effect of having
extended and measurable parts.
 The extended and measurable parts, as regards dimensions
and weight.

3. Quality
A formal modifier of the substance.
e.g. health, figure, beauty, color.
Aristotle further subdivided Quality as follows:

a. Habit or Disposition:
Habit is a quality modifying the substance well or ill, as to itself, or

as to its operation, in a permanent manner.
 e.g. physical fitness, wisdom, virtue.
Disposition is a quality analogous to the former but not permanent in

character.
 e.g. a cold-ailment, an initiation in mathematics.
b. Capability or Incapability
Capability is power and strength for action;

Incapability is shortcoming of strength for action.
c. Passion and Passive modification
Passion is a quality of a transient nature resulting from some

alteration in the substance.
 e.g. fatigue, rash or heat, anger.
Passive modification is akin to the former, but it is of a lingering

nature.
 e.g. redness or paleness of complexion
d. Form and Figure
Both denote a quality that follows the dimensional termination of the

substance.
Form is said of the shape of artificial things.

Figure is said of the shape of natural things.
 e.g., the form of a house, the figure of a woman.
4. Relation
 Reference of one substance to another. e.g. fatherhood,
sonship, kingship.
5. Action
 Motion of the substance, commonly inducing a result in
another thing. (e.g. running, sawing, baking)
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6. Passion
 Modification of the substance as the result of the influence
of another agent. (e.g. a wound, a confusion)
 This accident should not be confused with the species of
Quality that runs under the same name (passion).
7. When
Circumstantial determination of the substance as to time, that is, as to a point
or portion, of certain duration. (e.g., at noon; between two or three o’clock)
8. Where
Circumstantial determination of the substance as to place, that is, as to a
point in space, or on a surface, or within a circumstantial body. (e.g., in
Baguio, on my face, in the stomach, in the air)
9. Posture
Determination of the substance as to the disposition of its parts. (e.g. upright,
standing, lying)
10. Habit
Determination of the substance as to external outfit. (e.g. dressed, armed)
C. Predicability, Kinds
Predicability is the aptitude of a universal concept to be said of many

subjects. It is a logical property of the universal concept. There are two
kinds:
a. Univocal
When the universal concept is applicable to many subject in exactly
the same sense. This is the usual case with the predicables.
b. Analogous
When the universal concept is applicable to many subjects in a sense
that is neither altogether the same nor altogether different, but
kindred.
D. The Predicables
The Predicables are the different kinds of Logical Universals, that is,
universal concepts that may be applied to many subjects. Taken as
Classifications, they are universal concepts bearing different kinds of
logical relationship to the subject.
1. Genus
A universal that expresses that part of the essence of the
subject, which the subject has in common with other
individuals of a different species.

o e.g., Man is an animal. (Animal bears an essential
feature, which man has in common with the brute).
2. Specific Difference
A universal that expresses that feature of the essence of
the subject, which distinguishers its essence from that of
other species.
o e.g. Man is rational. (Rational expresses the
essential feature of man, which distinguishes him
from the brutes.)
3. Species
A universal that expresses the whole essence of the
subject. It comprises both the Genus and Specific
Difference.
o e.g. Man is a rational animal.
4. Property
A universal that expresses an attribute that is not part of
the essence of the subject, but necessarily flows from it.
o e.g. Man is being capable of progress, of making
tools, of religious sentiment, of artistic feeling, of
wonderment.
5. Accident
A universal that expresses a feature that is not part of the
essence of the subject, nor necessarily associated with it,
but is associated with the subject merely in a factual and
contingent manner.
o e.g., Mary is beautiful and healthy. (Such attributes
are not necessarily said of the subject.)
V. Definition
In dealing with ideas and terms, there is a need to get familiar with its
meaning for the sake of clarity. Since terms and ideas do not possess absolute
univocity, we must be able to harness our capacity to give its meaning and to
be able to define them. In this way, the vagueness of discourse can be totally
clarified and the right understanding of its meaning and context can be
properly achieved.
A. Meaning of Definition
a. Etymology
 The term definition came from the Latin term definere which
means “to lay down.”
 To define means to lay down the markers or limits.
 So when we define, we are putting or laying down the
markers or limits of the word or term. Outside of the
markers, we can no longer apply the term or the word.
b. Real Definition
 The conceptual manifestation either of the meaning of the
term or of the formal features of the object.
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B. Kinds of Definition
a. Nominal 1 – A nominal definition simply explains the meaning of a term
or word. It may provide the origin or root word or an equivalent term.
i. Synonym – an equivalent term or word.
e.g. joy means happiness; the President means the Chief.
ii. Etymology – the origin or root of the word.

Biology – bio (=life) + logos (=study)
Philosophy – philos (=love) + Sophia (=wisdom)
b. Real 2 – A real definition explains what a thing or subject is. It explains

the nature of the object by giving its properties, characteristics, qualities, or
features. It could be a complete explanation of the object or thing or a simple
description of the object.
i. Essential – an essential definition explains the very nature of

the object by giving its proximate genus and specific
difference. The proximate genus consists of the essential
elements which makes the object or individual similar to
others. The specific difference is the distinctive element
which distinguishes it from others.
e.g.
Mother – a woman having a child.
Z genus W specific difference
Triangle – a polygon with three sides and three angles
i. Descriptive – A descriptive definition explains what a thing

or object is by giving the positive but non-essential features
of the object. Sometimes, it is difficult to give the essential
features of objects or things as this explains the general
acceptance of a simple description of its characteristics.
1 [Nominal = nomen (=name)]
1. Distinctive – a distinctive definition

explains an object or thing by giving the
set of distinctive characteristics of an
object or external features, those
features that are distinct to the object.
E.g. Water is a colorless, tasteless and

odorless substance.

2. Genetic – a genetic definition explains
an object by giving its origin or process
of production.
E.g. Water is a result of the combination

of two atoms of hydrogen and one atom
of oxygen
3. Causal – a causal definition explains a

thing or object by giving its efficient
cause, i.e. that which produces a thing,
or the final cause, i.e. the end or purpose
of an object or its efficient cause.
E.g. Painting is a work of art by a

painter.
Certain Types of Definitions are formulated by the following

certain formats:
Distinctive
X – is [genus] characterized by certain [qualities, properties, traits]

X Z is [genus] having the following or manifesting certain [traits, qualities,
symptoms, etc.]
Genetic
X – is [genus] derived from, or originated from [source, origin, etc.]
X – is [genus] produced through [processes, procedure, formulation, etc.]
Causal
X – is [genus] produced or created or made by [makes, creator, writer,
producer]
X – is [genus] used for, or designed to, or intended for [use, purpose, goal,
etc.]
C. Other Classification
Popular – A popular definition is based on the common knowledge or idea

of people about a thing or object.
E.g. Jose Rizal is our national hero.

Fiesta is a day of thanksgiving.
b. Scientific – Scientific definitions are usually technical definitions of

scientific terms. In the field of medicine and physical science, terms and
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objects or instruments, body parts and diseases are given scientific

definitions.
E.g. Diabetes insipidus is a disorder of the posterior lobe of the pituitary

gland due to a deficiency of vasopressin, the antidiuretic hormone (ADH).
c. Medical – definition of medical terms of procedures, using medical terms.

d. Legal – definition of legal concepts, procedures, using legal terms.
e. Lexical – definition given in the dictionary.
D. Rules of Definition
1. The definition must be clearer than the term being defined. It must not
contain terms which will only make it less intelligible.
E.g. Net is the reticulated fabric decussater at regular intervals with

interstices and intersections.
Happiness is a way station between too little and too much.
2. The definition must not contain the term being defined. The definition
must use other terms in defining. It is supposed to explain a particular term
and is not supposed to use the same term in the explanation.
E.g. Teacher is the person who teaches.

A cookbook is a book for cooking
3. The definition must be convertible with the term being defined. The
purpose of this rule is to make sure that the definition is equal in extension
with the term being defined. The definition must not be too narrow nor too
wide. It must be accurate and precise.
E.g. A dog is a four-legged animal.

A wolf is a sheep-killing animal.
4. The definition must be an affirmative statement not negative whenever

possible. The definition is supposed to explain what a term or object is and
not what it is not. Only when the term is negative should the definition be
negative.
E.g. A child is an individual who is not yet an adult.

An amateur is not a professional.
Correct definition: Darkness is the absence of light.

Activities/Exercises
1. Give at least two (2) examples for each classification of terms.
2. Give one (1) example for each type of Predicaments and Predicables
and one (1) example for each type of definition.
References
(2006). Retrieved from http://www.philosophyetc.net/2006/04/ten-things-
everyone-should-know-about.html
Branches of Philosophy. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.philosophy-

index.com/philosophy/branches/
Dungen, W. V. D. (2009). Theodicy. Retrieved from

http://www.sofiatopia.org/equiaeon/theodicy.htm
Maritain, J. (2005). An Introduction to Philosophy (Sheed and Ward Classic).

London, England: Sheed & Ward.
Russel, B. (n.d.). The Problems of Philosophy. Retrieved

fromhttp://www.personal.kent.edu/~rmuhamma/Philosophy/RBwriti
ngs/ProbPhiloBook/chap-XV.htm
14
PROPOSITIONS
Propositions
Welcome to the third module of this course, Philosophy of man with

Logic! For this lesson, you will be able to discuss judgment,
enunciation, and types of proposition. You will also be able to
comprehend and apply the use of propositions in logic.
I. Judgment, Enunciation, Proposition
Judgment is the second act of the intellect by which it pronounces the

agreement or disagreement between terms or ideas. It is the act by which the
intellect relates or combines ideas or concepts.
When the intellect pronounces the objective identity or non-identity between

ideas or the agreement or disagreement of concepts, enunciation takes place.
Enunciation or a mental judgment is a pronouncement that is considered as

the mental product of the act of judgment.
2 Kinds of Judgment
1. Affirmative – is an expression of the agreement of identity between
two ideas or concepts.
2. Negative – is an expression of the non-identity or disagreement of

ideas or concepts.
view. Ideas in themselves are neither true nor false. It is

when ideas are combined that they attain logical value as
true or false. The assertion of truth happens in the very
moment of pronouncing or expressing the agreement
 A proposition is defined as a judgment expressed in sentence or a

sentence pronouncing the agreement or disagreement between terms.
.

PROPOSITIONS
 A proposition always has a truth-value: it may be true or false. No

proposition can be both true and false.
 Truth is defined as the agreement of the mental judgment, as

expressed in proposition, with reality. A proposition, that is true,
agrees with reality. False proposition is otherwise.
 For a sentence to be a proposition, it must express an

assertion or claim that is meaningful and coherent. It must
assert the truth or falsity about reality, especially between
ideas and concepts.
Types of Proposition
1. Categorical – expresses a direct judgment or a direct assertion of

the agreement or disagreement of two terms in an absolute manner.
Since categorical proposition expresses a direct claim, therefore its
truth-value is also immediately known.
E.g.
The flower is pleasant.
Maria is compassionate.
2. Hypothetical – does not express direct judgment, rather a relation

between two judgments, in which the truth of one depends on the
other. The hypothetical is always a compound statement since it is
always composed of two single or basic propositions.
E.g.
If there is typhoon, then the ground is wet.
Mother is either tired, or depressed.
Anne cannot study and party at the same time.
Types of Hypothetical Proposition:

a. Conditional – uses “if-then” statement;
b. Disjunctive – uses “either-or”;
c. Conjunctive – uses “and.”
II. The Categorical Proposition

Elements of Categorical Proposition
SUBJECT – the term designating the idea (thing) about which

something is affirmed or denied.
2
PROPOSITIONS
PREDICATE – the term designating the idea (thing or attribute)

which is affirmed or denied of the subject.
COPULA – the term expressing the mental act which pronounces
the agreement or disagreement between the subject and the predicate.
QUANTIFIER – expresses the application or extension of the
proposition.
Example:
All teachers are degree holders.

Quantifier subject copula predicate
Absolute Properties of Categorical Proposition

A. Quality of Proposition
The quality of the proposition affects the copula and makes the proposition
either affirmative or negative.
1. Affirmative – An affirmative proposition is a proposition whose predicate

is always affirmed of its subject according to the whole of its comprehension
and part of its extension. Based on this definition, the predicate of an
affirmative proposition is always particular except if the predicate of the
proposition is a definition of the subject. In such cases, the predicate applies
only to one individual the subject and, therefore, has a universal extension.
E.g. All doctors are literate persons.

Some books are expensive.
2. Negative – A negative proposition is one whose predicate is always denied

of its subject according to a part of its comprehension and the whole of its
extension.
E.g. Mothers are not males.

Majority of the Filipinos are not rich.
B. Quantity of Proposition
The quantity of the proposition expresses the number of individuals to whom

the proposition applies.
1. Universal – A universal proposition is a proposition whose subject is a

universal term, a term that applies distributively to each individual in a class

PROPOSITIONS
or to the class itself. It usually starts with terms denoting universality, like,
all, each, every, in case of negative proposition, no, nobody etc.
E.g. All priests are ordained.

Every Filipino is nationalistic.
2. Particular – A particular proposition is a proposition whose subject is a

particular term, a term used partly and indeterminately. Its subject is usually
preceded by terms, like, some, many, few, majority, a number of, minority,
most, etc.
E.g. Most of the students are computer enthusiasts.

Some members of the congress are corrupt.
3. Singular – a singular proposition is a proposition whose subject is a

singular term, i.e. it applies to all individuals.
E.g. The dean is the head of the college.

Jesus Christ is our Savior.
4. Collective – A collective proposition is a proposition whose subject is a

collective term, a term that applies to a class or a group.
E.g. The Abu Sayaff Group is responsible for the terrorist attack.
The faculty is competent.
III. Types Categorical Proposition

By combining the two properties of proposition, namely, quality and
quantity, we obtain four different types of propositions.
These propositions are symbolized by four vowel letters.
The four propositions are as follows:
A Universal Affirmative All X are Y.

E Universal Negative No X is Y / All X are
not Y.
I Particular Affirmative Some X are Y.
O Particular Negative Some X are not Y / Not
all X are Y.
4
PROPOSITIONS
IV. Scheme of Categorical Proposition

A categorical proposition follows a standard pattern, and for the sake of analysis we
reduce a proposition to its standard form by substituting letters and other signs in
place of the terms and the quality and quantity of the proposition and terms.
 The subject term may be symbolized by capital S, the predicate may be

symbolized by capital P.
 To indicate that the proposition is affirmative, we put a + sign between the S
and P.
 To indicate that the proposition is negative, we put a Q between S and P.
 To indicate that the proposition is universal, we put a small u after it and if
the term is particular then we put a small p after it.
 Hence, if the subject is universal, we write Su and if it is particular we write Sp.

 If the predicate is a particular term, then we write Pp and if it is a universal term, we
write Pu.
A universal affirmative proposition (A) has a universal subject, affirmative quality

and a particular predicate, unless the predicate is a definition of the subject. Hence
the pattern of an A proposition, for example:
All teachers are literate is Su + Pp
If the predicate is a definition of the subject, then the predicate is used as a singular
or universal term, because the predicate being a definition has no other extension but
the subject. Hence the pattern of the proposition:
A dog is a barking animal is Su + Pu
A universal negative proposition (E) has a universal subject, negative quality, and a
universal predicate. Hence the pattern of an E proposition, for example:
No teacher is illiterate is Su – Pu.
A particular affirmative proposition (I) has a particular subject, affirmative quality

and a particular predicate. Hence the pattern of an I proposition, for example:
Some students are discourteous is Sp + Pp.

PROPOSITIONS
A particular negative proposition (O) has a particular subject, negative quality and a
universal predicate. Hence the pattern of an O proposition, for example:
Some girls are not conservative is Sp – Pu.
Type Quality/Quantity Example Schema

A Universal Affirmative All mothers are compassionate u + Pp
A mother is a woman who has a Su + Pu (in case of
child. definition)
E Universal Negative All students are not out-of-school- Su Z Pu
youths
I Particular Affirmative Some foods are expensive Sp + Pp
O Particular Negative Some vendors are not taxpayers Sp – Pu
V. Logical Opposition (Square of Opposition)
 Opposition is the relation existing between propositions having the

same subject and predicate but different quality or quantity or both.
There are four types of opposition: contradiction, contrariety, sub-
contrariety, and sub-alternation.
 While quality and quantity are absolute properties of proposition,

logical opposition is considered as a relative property of proposition
because opposition happens only when we relate two propositions
with the same subject and predicate.
Types of Opposition
A. Contradiction
Contradiction is the opposition existing between two propositions having the
same subject, the same predicate, but different quality and quantity. It is the
opposition between A and O; E and I.
Rule: Contradictory propositions cannot be both true or both false at the

same time. Hence, if one is true, the other is false; if one is false, the other
is true.
Example:
A All men are mortals True

O Some men are not mortals False
E All students are not responsible False
6
PROPOSITIONS
I Some students are responsible True
B. Contrariety
Contrariety is the opposition existing between two propositions having the
same subject and predicate, the same universal extension, but different in
quality. It is the opposition between the two universals: A and E.
Rule: Contrary propositions cannot be both true but may be both false.
Hence, if one is true the other is false. If the one is false, the other may be
true or false, meaning doubtful or undetermined.
A All teachers are literate True

E All teachers are not literate False
A All birds are flying animals False
E All birds are not flying animals Doubtful
C. Sub-Contrariety
Sub-Contrariety is the opposition existing between two propositions
having the same subject and predicate, the same particular extension,
but different quality. It is the opposition between the two particulars:
I and O.
Rule: Sub-Contrary propositions cannot be both false, but may be

both true. Hence, if one is false the other one is true and if one is true
the other may be true or false, i.e. doubtful
O Some students are not enrolled False

I Some students are enrolled True
I Some movies are educational True
O Some movies are not educational Doubtful
D. Sub-Alternation
Sub-alternation is the opposition existing between proposition having

the same subject and predicate, the same quality, but different
extension or quality. It is the opposition between A and I; E and O.

PROPOSITIONS
Rule:
1. From the truth of the universal (A/E), follows the truth of the
particular (I/O). But from the truth of the particular (I/O), the
truth of the universal (A/E) does not follow. Hence, if the
universal is true, the particular is also true, but if the particular is
true, the universal need not be true, it may be false, i.e. doubtful.
2. From the falsity of the particular (I/O), follows the falsity of the
universal (A/E). But from the falsity of the universal (A/E), the
falsity of the particular (I/O) does not follow. Hence, if the
particular is false, the universal is also false, but if the universal
is dales the particular need not be false, it may be true, i.e.
doubtful.
8
PROPOSITIONS
3. Logical Opposition (Square of

Opposition)
Equivalence is the similarity in terms of meaning between propositions.
Equivalent propositions may be different in expression but they express the
same meaning. Like logical opposition, logical equivalence is a relative
property of propositions.
The process of forming equivalent proposition is called eduction. Eduction is

the process of immediate inference in which from a proposition taken as true,
another proposition which is implied in it is derived. There are two kinds of
eduction: obversion and conversion.
A. Obversion
Obversion is the process of eduction in which the derived proposition,

while retaining the subject of the original proposition, has, for its
predicate, the contradictory of the original predicate. The original
proposition is called obvertend and the derived proposition is called
obverse.
Example:
All men are not immortal (obverted)
All men are mortal (obverse)
Process of Obversion
1. Retain the subject.
All men are not immortal.

Subject copula predicate
2. Contradict the predicate – this means replacing the predicate

with a term of an opposite or contrary meaning. By prefixing the
term with non-, un-, im-, dis-, il-, and other similar terms, we
form their contradictory or opposite. Or we can give a different
term with an opposite meaning.


PROPOSITIONS
men mortal
3. Negate the copula – this means changing the quality of the

proposition. If the original proposition is negative then it is
changed to affirmative, if it is affirmative it is changed to
negative.

men mortal
4. Retain the quantity.

All men are mortal
The obverse proposition of A is E

The obverse proposition of E is A
The obverse proposition of I is O
The observation proposition of O and I
B. Conversion
Conversion is the process of eduction in which the derived proposition

takes the predicate of the original proposition for its subject and the
original subject for its predicate. The original proposition is called
convertend and the derived proposition is called converse.
Example:
All doctors are professionals (converted)
Some professionals are doctors (converse)
10
PROPOSITIONS
Process of conversion
1. Interchange the subject and the predicate. The subject of the original
proposition becomes the predicate of the converse proposition and
the predicate becomes the subject.
3. No term may have a greater extension in the converse proposition

than in the converted proposition. This is more of a rule rather than a
part of the process. If the term is particular in the original
proposition, it must remain particular: it cannot be universal.
However, if it is universal, it may remain universal or it can be used
as a particular term.

PROPOSITIONS
References
Fieser, James. Modern Philosophy. Retrieved from
http://www.utm.edu/staff/jfieser/class/315/4-empiricism.htm
Zunjic, Bob. The Critique of Judgment. Retrieved from

http://www.uri.edu/personal/szunjic/philos/critjudg.htm
12
SYLLOGISMS
Syllogisms
Welcome to the fourth module of this course, Philosophy of man
with Logic! For this lesson, you will be able to understand and
apply the use of syllogism in reasoning.
Reasoning, Argument, Syllogism

Reasoning is the third act of the intellect. It is the act by which the
intellect, from truths previously known, derives and pronounces
the truth of another proposition based on these truths. Thus,
the intellect, by way of inference, is able to know a new truth
based on previously known truths.
Reasoning, as a mental act, is also known as an inference.

Inference is the process of deriving or deducing another
proposition from given propositions. There are two kinds of
inference: immediate inference and mediate inference.
 Immediate Inference – this is an inference from one

proposition without the use of a third term. One may infer
or derive another proposition from the truth of one
proposition. Logical opposition and logical equivalence are
regarded as immediate inference.
E.g.
Some models are beautiful [ladies]
Some beautiful ladies are models.
 Mediate Inference – this is an inference based on at least

two propositions and it employs a third term.
E.g.
All commercial models are highly paid personalities.
Some commercial models are actresses.
Some actresses are highly paid personalities.
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SYLLOGISMS
The product of mediate inference is the argument. An argument

is a sequence of propositions in which from statements taken as
true another statement is inferred or derived. In this series of
propositions, the first two propositions are called the premises,
which provide the reason for the truth of another proposition called
the conclusion.
Two Kinds of Reasoning
a) Deductive Argument
Deduction (etym. Deduco – I lead down) is a process of reasoning

which proceeds from universal or general laws, principles or
statements to particular instances or propositions. An argument is
deductive when the truth of its premises is intended to guarantee
the truth of its conclusion.
The conclusion is already implied in the premises. Hence, if the

premises are true the conclusion becomes necessarily true.
b) Inductive Argument
Inductive argument (etym. Induco = I lead to) is a process of

reasoning which proceeds from specific or particular instances to
the formulation of general or universal principles or statements.
An argument is inductive when the truth of its premises is intended
to make likely or probably (but not guarantee), the truth of its
conclusion. Hence, in an inductive argument, true premises do not
necessarily guarantee or yield a true conclusion, even if all
premises are true, the conclusion could be false.
The premises of inductive arguments appeal to evidence

through sense experience. The premise only provides a partial
support to the conclusion and unlike in deductive arguments, the
conclusion is partly contained in the premises. The strength or
weakness of an inductive argument is based on its degree of
probability or risk of uncertainty. The strength of the argument
depends on a higher degree of probability.
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SYLLOGISMS
E.g.
Since Jane had a racquet in her hand, she was coming from the
tennis court.
Dressed in tennis outfit, she was perspiring heavily and was talking
about the game with somebody. Then it is likely that she had been
playing tennis.
---
Paolo is a Filipino. He is very sentimental and romantic.

Daniel is a Filipino. He is very sentimental and romantic.
Patrick is a Filipino and he is very sentimental and romantic.
---
Jojo is Filipino.
Therefore, he is very sentimental and romantic.
Syllogism
One form of deductive argument is the syllogism. The syllogism is

the standard expression of argument in Aristotelian logic. It is a
basic form of argument wherein it is arranged orderly so as to
show the structure or form of the argument and important terms
and propositions to facilitate logical analysis. The syllogism is a
set of three propositions, the first two being the premises and the
last is the conclusion. The conclusion must always follow and must
be derived from the premises.
A set of propositions is considered valid argument or a valid

syllogism by virtue of the logical connection among the
propositions and terms. This logical connection gives the syllogism
its consistency and logical force. For the syllogism to be consistent
and valid, it must follow the various rules and laws of deductive
inference.
Matter and Form of Syllogism

A syllogism has two basic elements, the matter and form. The
matter consists of the various ideas/terms and
judgments/propositions of the argument or syllogism. It is what the
syllogism or argument is all about, its substance, its content and its
meaning. In other words, it is what the argument says. The form
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SYLLOGISMS
consists of the logical connection of the ideas/terms and

judgments/propositions by virtue of which the conclusion follows
necessarily from the given premises. This logical connection of the
terms and proposition gives the syllogism its formal consistency or
consequence.
Formal consistency does not mean truth. An argument can still be

consistent or valid for as long as it follows the various inferential
rules, even if the propositions were false. Of course, it is important
that the propositions be true, so that the argument or syllogism is
both substantially true and formally correct.
Kinds of Syllogisms
Categorical Syllogism – is composed of categorical propositions.

The first two are the premises and the third is the conclusion. It
contains three terms: major, minor and middle terms.
E.g.
All inventors are scientists.
Some inventors are well-known worldwide.
Hence, some people who are well-known worldwide are scientists.
Hypothetical Syllogism – is composed of hypothetical

propositions. Unlike categorical, the terms in the hypothetical are
not identified as major, minor or middle.
E.g.
If the suspect is found guilty, then he will serve time in prison.
But he will not serve time in prison.
Ergo, he was found guilty.
Categorical Syllogism
The categorical syllogism is composed of three categorical
propositions and three terms. The first two propositions are called
the premises, while the last is called the conclusion. The first
premise is called the major premise and the second premise is
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SYLLOGISMS
called the minor premise. The conclusion expresses the agreement

or disagreement between the two main terms in the premises.
There are three terms: the major term which is the predicate of the
conclusion and it is contained in the major premise, the minor
term, which is the subject of the conclusion and it is contained in
the minor premise, and the middle term, which is the common term
and appears in both premises.
E.g.:
Premise Syllogism Term
Major Premise All bankers are businessmen Businessmen Major Term (P)
Minor Premise Mr. Cruz is a banker. Mr. Cruz Minor Term (S)
Conclusion Mr. Cruz is a businessman. Banker Middle Term (M)
Schema or Pattern of the Categorical Syllogism
stands for major term u indicates universal quantity of the term
stands for minor premise p indicates particular quantity of the term
stands for middle term
indicates affirmative quality − indicates negative quality
Syllogism Schema
All bankers are businessmen Mu + Pp
Mr. Cruz is a banker. Su + Mp
Mr. Cruz is a businessman. Su + Pp
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SYLLOGISMS
The General Laws Governing Categorical Argument

1. Dictum de Omni – this law states that whatever is
affirmed universally, in a formal manner, of a logical whole or
class, should also be affirmed of its logical parts.
E.g.
All X are Y
Some Z are X
Some Z are Y
2. Dictum de Nullo – this law states that whatever is

denied universally, in a formal manner, of a logical whole or
class, should also be denied of its logical parts.
E.g.
All X are not Y

Some Z are X
Some Z are not Y.
3. If each of two concepts agrees respectively with the same

third concept, then they also agree with each other. If A agrees
with B, and B agrees with C, then A agrees with C.
4. If one concept agrees with a third term and the other

disagrees with the same third term, then they disagree with each
other. If A agrees with B, but C does not agree with A, then B and
C do not agree with each other.
5. If each of the two terms disagrees respectively with the

same term then nothing can follow or can be concluded. If A is not
B and C is not A, then nothing follows.
Eight Laws of Categorical Syllogism

Rule 1. There must only be three terms in the syllogism.
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SYLLOGISMS
Fallacy of the four-term construction is committed when there

are four terms instead of three terms in the syllogism.
E.g.
All fruits are produced by plants.
Some things produced by plants are poisonous.
Some poisonous things are bananas.
Fallacy of Equivocation happens when one term expresses two

different meanings in the syllogism. Equivocation is committed
when the supposition of a term shifts or when an equivocal term
is used in the argument.
This applies to the two terms in the conclusion namely the major
and the minor terms. If a term is used as a particular in the
premise, it must remain particular in the conclusion, otherwise
the same term would have a wider extension in the conclusion and
that may not be the same term used in the premise. Under
deductive rules we cannot proceed with certainty from particular
to the universal, we cannot use a particular term in the
premise, and then conclude universally with the same term.
However, if a term is used as a universal in the premise,
then it may be used either as a universal or particular in the
conclusion. Under deductive rules we can proceed with
certainty from the universal to the particular, for the
particular is already included in the universal. If this rule is
violated, then an illicit process is committed: either illicit
process of the major term or illicit process of the minor term.
Fallacy of Illicit Major Term This is committed when major

term has a wider or greater extension in the conclusion than in
the major premise, or when the major term in particular in the
major premise and universal in the conclusion.
E.g.
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SYLLOGISMS
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SYLLOGISMS
Rule 7. No valid conclusion can be derived from two particular

premises.
Fallacy of Double Particular Premises – A syllogism

with two particular premises will always violate one or
more rules of inference, like undistributed middle term or
illicit process. Hence, for a syllogism to be valid, one premise
must be universal.
E.g.
Some government officials are elected by the people.
Some individuals who are elected by the people are politicians.
Some politicians are government officials.
Rule 8. The conclusion always follows the weaker side.

This means that if one premise is negative, the conclusion must be
negative; if one premise is particular, the conclusion must be
particular. So if the major or minor premise is negative, while the
other premise is affirmative, the conclusion must be a negative
proposition; if the major or minor premise is particular and the
other premise is universal, then the conclusion must be a particular
proposition. Otherwise, one commits a fallacy of a stronger
conclusion than in the premises.
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SYLLOGISMS
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SYLLOGISMS
VI. Moods of the Syllogism

The mood of the syllogism is the pattern of syllogism based in the
type of the propositions (A, E, I, O) that composed the syllogism.
There are 64 possible combinations of these propositions assuming
that they will be combined by three. But there are only 19 valid
moods in all the four figures: four in the first figure, four in the
second figure, six in the third figure and five in the fourth figure.
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SYLLOGISMS
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SYLLOGISMS
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SYLLOGISMS
References:
Corbi and Cohen, Logic: Language, Deduction and Induction (2005). Singapore: Pearson
Prentice Hall.
Jevons, Elementary Lessons in Logic Deductive & Inductive (2010). London and New York:
MacMillan and Co.
Moore and Parker, Critical Thinking (2006). Boston: McGraw Hill.
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
Informal Fallacies
Welcome to the fifth module of this course, Philosophy of Man

with Logic! At the end of the course you will be able to identify
the informal logical fallacies in arguments.
Fallacy
 Fallacies are defects in an argument.
 Fallacies cause an argument to be invalid, unsound, or
weak.
Formal Fallacies
 Identified through discrepancies in syllogistic patterns and

terms.
 Only found in deductive arguments.
 For a deductive argument to be valid, it must be absolutely
impossible for both its premises to be true and its
conclusion to be false. With a good deductive argument,
that simply cannot happen; the truth of the premises entails
the truth of the conclusion.
The classic example of a deductively valid argument is:

– 1. All men are mortal. (premise)
– 2. Socrates is a man. (premise)
– 3. Therefore Socrates is mortal. (guaranteed
conclusion)
– It is simply not possible that both (1) and (2) are true
and (3) is false, so this argument is deductively valid.
Informal Fallacies
 Identified by further analysis and delving deeper into the

flesh of the arguments in order to see the illogical patterns.
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
Informal Fallacies
Fallacy: Burden of Proof
Appeal to Ignorance ("Ad Ignorantiam")
Description of Burden of Proof
Burden of Proof is a fallacy in which the burden of proof is placed on the

wrong side. Another version occurs when a lack of evidence for side A is
taken to be evidence for side B in cases in which the burden of proof
actually rests on side B. A common name for this is an Appeal to
Ignorance. This sort of reasoning typically has the following form:
1. Claim X is presented by side A and the burden of proof actually

rests on side B.
2. Side B claims that X is false because there is no proof for X.
A very common example of this would be: “God exists because there is
no proof that He does not.”
Fallacy: Appeal to Authority
Also known as: “Ad Verecundiam”
Description of Appeal to Authority
An Appeal to Authority is a fallacy with the following form:
1. Person A is (claimed to be) an authority on subject S.

2. Person A makes claim C about subject S.
3. Therefore, C is true.
This fallacy is committed when the person in question is not a legitimate

authority on the subject. More formally, if person A is not qualified to
make reliable claims in subject S, then the argument will be fallacious.
Fallacy: Appeal to Popularity
Also known as: “Ad Populum”
Description of Appeal to Popularity
The Appeal to Popularity has the following form:
1. Most people approve of X (have favorable emotions towards X).
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
2. Therefore X is true.
The basic idea is that a claim is accepted as being true simply because
most people are favorably inclined towards the claim. More formally, the
fact that most people have favorable emotions associated with the claim
is substituted in place of actual evidence for the claim. A person falls
prey to this fallacy if he accepts a claim as being true simply because
most other people approve of the claim.
Fallacy: Appeal to Fear
Also known as: “Scare Tactics, Appeal to Force, Ad Baculum”
Description of Appeal to Fear
The Appeal to Fear is a fallacy with the following pattern:
1. Y is presented (a claim that is intended to produce fear).

2. Therefore claim X is true (a claim that is generally, but need not
be, related to Y in some manner).
This line of "reasoning" is fallacious because creating fear in people does

not constitute evidence for a claim.
For example, it might be prudent to not fail the son of your department
chairperson because you fear he will make life tough for you. However,
this does not provide evidence for the claim that the son deserves to pass
the class.
Fallacy: Appeal to Pity
Also known as: “Ad Misericordiam”
Description of Appeal to Pity
An Appeal to Pity is a fallacy in which a person substitutes a claim

intended to create pity for evidence in an argument. The form of the
"argument" is as follows:
1. P is presented, with the intent to create pity.

2. Therefore claim C is true.
This line of "reasoning" is fallacious because pity does not serve as

evidence for a claim. This is extremely clear in the following case: "You
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
must accept that 1+1=46, after all I'm dying..." While you may pity me
because I am dying, it would hardly make my claim true.
Fallacy: Hasty Generalization
Also known as: “Fallacy of Insufficient Statistics, Fallacy of Insufficient

Sample, Leaping to A Conclusion, Hasty Induction.”
Description of Hasty Generalization
This fallacy is committed when a person draws a conclusion about a

population based on a sample that is not large enough. It has the
following form:
1. Sample S, which is too small, is taken from population P.

2. Conclusion C is drawn about Population P based on S.
The person committing the fallacy is misusing the following type of
reasoning, which is known variously as Inductive Generalization,
Generalization, and Statistical Generalization:
1. X% of all observed A's are B''s.

2. Therefore X% of all A's are Bs.
The fallacy is committed when not enough A's are observed to warrant
the conclusion. If enough A's are observed then the reasoning is not
fallacious.
For example, if a bucket contains blue, red, green and orange marbles,
then a sample of three marbles cannot possible be representative of the
whole population of marbles. As the sample size of marbles increases the
more likely it becomes that marbles of each color will be selected in
proprtion to their numbers in the whole population. The same holds true
for things others than marbles, such as people and their political views.
Fallacy: Post Hoc
Also known as: “Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc, False Cause, Questionable
Cause, Confusing Coincidental Relationships with Causes”
Description of Post Hoc
A Post Hoc is a fallacy with the following form:
1. A occurs before B.
2. Therefore A is the cause of B.
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
The Post Hoc fallacy derives its name from the Latin phrase "Post hoc,
ergo propter hoc." This has been traditionally interpreted as "After this,
therefore because of this." This fallacy is committed when it is concluded
that one event causes another simply because the proposed cause
occurred before the proposed effect. More formally, the fallacy involves
concluding that A causes or caused B because A occurs before B and
there is not sufficient evidence to actually warrant such a claim.
Fallacy: Gambler's Fallacy
Description of Gambler's Fallacy
The Gambler's Fallacy is committed when a person assumes that a

departure from what occurs on average or in the long term will be
corrected in the short term. The form of the fallacy is as follows:
1. X has happened.
2. X departs from what is expected to occur on average or over the
long term.
3. Therefore, X will come to an end soon.
There are two common ways this fallacy is committed. In both cases a
person is assuming that some result must be "due" simply because what
has previously happened departs from what would be expected on
average or over the long term.
Fallacy: False Dilemma
Also known as: “Black & White Thinking.”
Description of False Dilemma
A False Dilemma is a fallacy in which a person uses the following

pattern of "reasoning":
1. Either claim X is true or claim Y is true (when X and Y could

both be false).
2. Claim Y is false.
3. Therefore claim X is true.
This line of "reasoning" is fallacious because if both claims could be

false, then it cannot be inferred that one is true because the other is false.
That this is the case is made clear by the following example:
____________________________________________________________________________________
INFORMAL FALLACIES
1. Either 1+1=4 or 1+1=12.

2. It is not the case that 1+1=4.
3. Therefore 1+1=12.
In cases in which the two options are, in fact, the only two options, this
line of reasoning is not fallacious. For example:
1. Bill is dead or he is alive.

2. Bill is not dead.
3. Therefore Bill is alive.
Fallacy: Begging the Question
Also known as: Circular Reasoning, Reasoning in a Circle, Petitio

Principii.
Description of Begging the Question
Begging the Question is a fallacy in which the premises include the claim
that the conclusion is true or (directly or indirectly) assume that the
conclusion is true. This sort of "reasoning" typically has the following
form.
1. Premises in which the truth of the conclusion is claimed or the

truth of the conclusion is assumed (either directly or indirectly).
2. Claim C (the conclusion) is true.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because simply assuming that the

conclusion is true (directly or indirectly) in the premises does not
constitute evidence for that conclusion. Obviously, simply assuming a
claim is true does not serve as evidence for that claim. This is especially
clear in particularly blatant cases: "X is true. The evidence for this claim
is that X is true."
Fallacy: Slippery Slope
Also known as: The Camel's Nose.
Description of Slippery Slope
The Slippery Slope is a fallacy in which a person asserts that some event
must inevitably follow from another without any argument for the
inevitability of the event in question. In most cases, there are a series of
steps or gradations between one event and the one in question and no
reason is given as to why the intervening steps or gradations will simply
be bypassed. This "argument" has the following form:
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
1. Event X has occurred (or will or might occur).

2. Therefore event Y will inevitably happen.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because there is no reason to

believe that one event must inevitably follow from another without an
argument for such a claim. This is especially clear in cases in which there
is a significant number of steps or gradations between one event and
another.
Fallacy: Red Herring
Also known as: Smoke Screen, Wild Goose Chase.
Description of Red Herring
A Red Herring is a fallacy in which an irrelevant topic is presented in

order to divert attention from the original issue. The basic idea is to
"win" an argument by leading attention away from the argument and to
another topic. This sort of "reasoning" has the following form:
1. Topic A is under discussion.

2. Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant to topic
A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A).
3. Topic A is abandoned.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because merely changing the topic

of discussion hardly counts as an argument against a claim.
Fallacy: Ad Hominem
Description of Ad Hominem
Translated from Latin to English, "Ad Hominem" means "against the

man" or "against the person."
An Ad Hominem is a general category of fallacies in which a claim or

argument is rejected on the basis of some irrelevant fact about the author
of or the person presenting the claim or argument. Typically, this fallacy
involves two steps. First, an attack against the character of person
making the claim, her circumstances, or her actions is made (or the
character, circumstances, or actions of the person reporting the claim).
Second, this attack is taken to be evidence against the claim or argument
the person in question is making (or presenting). This type of "argument"
has the following form:
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
1. Person A makes claim X.

2. Person B makes an attack on person A.
3. Therefore A's claim is false.
The reason why an Ad Hominem (of any kind) is a fallacy is that the
character, circumstances, or actions of a person do not (in most cases)
have a bearing on the truth or falsity of the claim being made (or the
quality of the argument being made).
Fallacy: Straw Man
Description of Straw Man
The Straw Man fallacy is committed when a person simply ignores a

person's actual position and substitutes a distorted, exaggerated or
misrepresented version of that position. This sort of "reasoning" has the
following pattern:
1. Person A has position X.

2. Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version of X).
3. Person B attacks position Y.
4. Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.
This sort of "reasoning" is fallacious because attacking a distorted

version of a position simply does not constitute an attack on the position
itself. One might as well expect an attack on a poor drawing of a person
to hurt the person.
Occam’s razor
Occam's (or Ockham's) razor is a principle attributed to the 14th
century logician and Franciscan friar William of Ockham.
Ockham was the village in the English county of Surrey where he
was born.
The principle states that "Entities should not be multiplied

unnecessarily."
Many scientists have adopted or reinvented Occam's Razor, as in

Leibniz's "identity of observables" and Isaac Newton stated the
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
rule: "We are to admit no more causes of natural things than such
as are both true and sufficient to explain their appearances."
The most useful statement of the principle for scientists is

"when you have two competing theories that make exactly the
same predictions, the simpler one is the better."
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INFORMAL FALLACIES
References:
The Nizkor Project: Fallacies (http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/);
University of California, Riverside: Department of Mathematics. “What is Occam’s
Razor?” (http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/occam.html)
Fallacies. (http://writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/fallacies/)
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MODULE OF INSTRUCTION
Self in the Western Perspective
Welcome to the sixth module of this course, Philosophy of Man

with Logic! At the end of the course you will be able to elaborate
and evaluate the notion of the self in perspective of major Western
philosophers as it relates to the question of dualism and
materialism.
PLATO (427-347 BC)

The Idealist
World of the Tri-Partite Soul
In the "Phaedrus," Plato presents three parts of the soul, which he

describes as follows:
 The Appetitive – the black horse – ignoble and rebellious
 The Spirited – the white horse – noble and obedient
 The Rational – the charioteer
1. The appetites, which includes all our myriad desires for

various pleasures, comforts, physical satisfactions, and bodily
ease. There are so many of these appetites that Plato does not
bother to enumerate them, but he does note that they can often
be in conflict even with each other. This element of the soul is
represented by the ugly black horse on the left.
2. The spirited, or hot-blooded, part, i.e., the part that gets angry
when it perceives (for example) an injustice being done. This is
the part of us that loves to face and overcome great challenges,
the part that can steel itself to adversity, and that loves victory,
winning, challenge, and honor. (Note that Plato's use of the
term "spirited" here is not the same as "spiritual." He means
"spirited" in the same sense that we speak of a high-spirited
horse, for example, one with lots of energy and power.) This
element of the soul is represented by the noble white horse on
the right.
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1
3. The Rational (nous), our conscious awareness, is represented

by the charioteer who is guiding (or who at least should be
guiding) the horses and chariot. This is the part of us that
thinks, analyzes, looks ahead, rationally weighs options, and
tries to gauge what is best and truest overall.
The Immortality of the Soul:
 “The soul through all her being is immortal, for that which is
ever in motion is immortal; but that which moves another and
is moved by another, in ceasing to move ceases also to live.
Only the self-moving, never leaving self, never ceases to move,
and is the fountain and beginning of motion to all that moves
besides.” - Phaedrus
 Plato also believes in reincarnation where the philosopher or

“lover, who is not devoid of philosophy” is the highest in level.
(Phaedrus)
 The nature and form of the soul is to give life; therefore it

must participate in giving life, and not admit to death, and thus,
survive death.
“And must not the same be said of that which is immortal?

If the immortal is also imperishable, it is impossible for the
soul to perish when death comes against it. For, as our
argument has shown, it will not admit death and will not be
dead, just as the number three, we said, will not be even,
and the odd will not be even, and as fire, and the heat in the
fire, will not be cold.” – Phaedo, 106b
Evil:
 Evil is a submission to the appetites
 Man does injustice because he has forgotten his true

nature which belongs with ideas and forms.
A Society Reflecting The Soul

“Come, then, let us create a city from the beginning, in
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2
our theory. Its real creator, as it appears, will be our

needs.” – The Republic, 369c
1. Reason – the ruling class – comprised of the most intelligent

and able members of society. (The Mind of the state)
2. Courage – the military class – comprised of the physically

and spiritually well-disciplined. (The Heart of the state)
3. Appetites – the merchant class – comprise of the working

men and women who are necessary for society in providing
basic needs such as food and money, but do not have the
strength, either intellectually or spiritually, to rise above their
passions. (The Stomach of the state)
ARISTOTLE (384-322 BC)

The Materialist
Hylomorphism (from De Anima Book II)
 Form – “(a) in the sense of matter or that which in itself is not 'a
this'” (potentiality) – body
 Matter – (b) in the sense of form or essence, which is that
precisely in virtue of which a thing is called 'a this' (actuality) –
soul
 Compound – “(c) in the sense of that which is compounded of
both (a) and (b)”
o Form is what makes matter a “this,” the soul is the form
of a living thing, its actuality.
 The Soul is Matter and Form, hence hylomorphic, derived from
Greek terms for matter (hulê) and form or shape (morphê).
Three Levels of Soul: Man as a Rational Animal
Vegetative – corresponds to nutrition and

growth, as well as reproduction. – plants
Sensitive – corresponds to perception and the
ability to have senses. – animals
Rational – corresponds to the intellect and the
ability to think. – human beings
“That is why it is in a body, and a body of a definite kind. It was a

mistake, therefore, to do as former thinkers did, merely to fit it into a
body without adding a definite specification of the kind or character of
that body. Reflection confirms the observed fact; the actuality of any
given thing can only be realized in what is already potentially that thing,
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3
i.e. in a matter of its own appropriate to it. From all this it follows that
soul is an actuality or formulable essence of something that possesses a
potentiality of being besouled.” – De Anima Book II: 2
The Good Life: Man as a Political Animal (from Nicomachean Ethics

Book I)
The rational part, on the other hand, is subdivided too into two parts:
1. The superior part which possesses reason with authority and in itself
and;
2. The desiring part which it shares with the irrational part as we

aforementioned.
The function of man should be an activity which is peculiar and proper to

him, something that “follows or implies reason.”(I: 7)
 Aristotle believed that man had a natural drive for society, being
a political animal, as well as for knowledge, God, and ultimately,
happiness. (we all just want to be happy)
 The Good Life for Aristotle is one that is directed towards the
mentioned natural dispositions to the greatest extent possible.
 Eudaimonia – when Philosophy is able to guide and direct a
human being from irrational deceptions towards his natural
dispositions.
 Virtue – is the Golden Mean between two extremes
RENÉ DESCARTES (1596 - 1650)
The Rationalist
Cogito ergo sum. "I think, therefore I am."
Rationalism – A Philosophical school of thought which believes in the

superiority of the mind in finding the truth and acquiring knowledge, but
since pure reason tends to be very formalistic, they tend to be dogmatic.
I attentively examined what I was and as I observed that I could suppose

that I had no body, and that there was no world nor any place in which I
might be; but that I could not therefore suppose that I was not; and that,
on the contrary, from the very circumstance that I thought to doubt of the
truth of other things, it most clearly and certainly followed that I was;
while, on the other hand, if I had only ceased to think, although all the
other objects which I had ever imagined had been in reality, existent, I
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4
would have had no reason to believe that I existed; I thence concluded

that I was a substance whose whole essence or nature consists only in
thinking, and which, that it may exist, has need of no place, nor is
dependent on any material thing; so that "I," that is to say, the mind by
which I am what I am, is wholly distinct from the body, and is even more
easily known than the latter, and is such, that although the latter were
not, it would still continue to be all that it is. – Discourse on Method, Part
4.
1. I can doubt everything that I thought I knew and pretend that

they never existed. (Perhaps as part of my imagination, or by
being fooled into believing that they exist)
2. But I cannot doubt that I doubt, and that I thus exist to doubt.
(because that would self-refuting)
3. Therefore, the “I” that doubts, is entirely distinct from the
physical and thus the body.
Descartes’ Two Arguments for Dualism (that the Mind is distinct from
the body):
(From the Meditation VI in his Meditations on First Philosophy)
On the one hand, I have a clear and distinct idea of myself, in so far as I
am simply a thinking, non-extended thing [that is, a mind], and on the
other hand I have a distinct idea of body, in so far as this is simply an
extended, non-thinking thing. And accordingly, it is certain that I am
really distinct from my body, and can exist without it
1. I have a clear and distinct idea of the mind as a thinking, non-

extended thing.
2. I have a clear and distinct idea of body as an extended, non-
thinking thing.
3. Therefore, the mind is really distinct from the body and can exist
without it.
There is a great difference between the mind and the body, inasmuch as
the body is by its very nature always divisible, while the mind is utterly
indivisible. For when I consider the mind, or myself in so far as I am
merely a thinking thing, I am unable to distinguish any parts within
myself; I understand myself to be something quite single and
complete….By contrast, there is no corporeal or extended thing that I can
think of which in my thought I cannot easily divide into parts; and this
very fact makes me understand that it is divisible. This one argument
would be enough to show me that the mind is completely different from
the body.
1. I understand the mind to be indivisible by its very nature.
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5
2. I understand body to be divisible by its very nature.

3. Therefore, the mind is completely different from the body.
DAVID HUME (1711-1776)

The Empiricist
Empiricism – A Philosophical school of thought which believes in the

superiority of the experience in finding the truth and acquiring
knowledge, but since senses are can be deceiving, empiricists tend to be
skeptics.
The Bundle Theory
“For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I
always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold,
light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself
at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the
perception. When my perceptions are removed for any time, as by sound
sleep, so long am I insensible of myself, and may truly be said not to
exist. And were all my perceptions removed by death, and could I neither
think, nor feel, nor see, nor love, nor hate, after the dissolution of my
body, I should be entirely annihilated, nor do I conceive what is further
requisite to make me a perfect nonentity” – A Treatise of Human Nature,
Book I, Part 4, Section 6.
“All the colours of poetry, however splendid, can never paint natural
objects in such a manner as to make the description be taken for a real
landskip. The most lively thought is still inferior to the dullest
sensation.” – An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, of the
Origin of Ideas.
Perceptions – succeed each other, and do not exist all at the same time.
These are therefore divisible, separable, and can exist in themselves,
even without our conscious knowledge.
Impressions – all our lively, direct, perceptions when we love or hate,

become happy or sad.
Thought or Idea – this is the less forcible and lively perception of the
mind which occurs when we reflect on previous impressions. Therefore,
these are semblances of such direct impressions.
Imagination/Creative powers of the mind – amounts to no more than

the faculty of compounding, transposing, augmenting, or diminishing the
materials afforded us by the senses and experience.
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6
 Compounding: Taking two or more impressions and adding them

together (e.g., imagining a golden mountain, which = gold +
mountain)
 Transposing: Taking an impression and re-arranging its parts
(e.g., imagining a person with arms where their legs should be,
and vice versa)
 Augmenting: Taking an impression or making it larger or greater
(e.g., imagining an ant the size of an elephant)
 Diminishing: Taking an impression and making it smaller or
lesser (e.g., imagining an elephant the size of an ant)
According to Hume:
 All our more complex ideas can be reducible to simple ideas.

(e.g., God as a supreme and perfect Being is taken from human
qualities.)
 He who has not learned or directly experienced something will
not really be able to know about a specific idea. (e.g., I do not
know what steak is if I have never seen or tasted a steak)
References:
Hallman, M. 1995. Expanding Philosophical Horizons. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing
Company
Kelley, W.1972. Readings in the Philosophy of Man. Ny: Mcgraw Hill Book Co.
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7
Self in the Eastern Perspective
Welcome to the seventh module of this course, Philosophy of Man

with Logic! At the end of the course you will be able to understand
and evaluate the notion of the self in the perspectives of Hinduism,
Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism.
Hinduism
Hindu philosophy is a vast philosophical system which highlights
the inner man and his reality
IMPORTANT TEXTS: (besides epics)
The Vedas – the oldest extant literary works of the Aryan mind;
Veda means “knowledge” in Sanskrit.
– reveal a subtle combination between idealism and naturalism, of

gods and of nature.
The Upanishads – Mostly meditations and deeper reflections on

the Vedas.
– “Upanishad” is derived from the word “sad,” which means “to sit
down;” “Upa” means “nearby;” “ni” means “devotedly.”
– “to sit down near the teacher in a devoted manner to receive

instruction on the highest reality.”
– It is believed more than 200 Upanishads exist but the traditional

number is 108, based on the Muktikopanishad. Of these, 11 or 12
are regarded as authentic and of philosophical significance.
Monistic Idealism or Idealistic Monism – a doctrine which

upholds the existence of only one reality: The Consciousness.
Brahman – the ultimate reality; the supreme reality which

transcends all things and yet underlies all things as the ground of
all things.
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1
– It is the Universal Self, the Absolute, the ultimate cause of this

universe.
– Objective
Atman – the individual mind, soul, and spirit which feels; it is the
“Life-Breath” of man which comes and goes in a single breath.
– Subjective
Differences in depiction in the Upanishads:
Brahman Atman
Presented as the older Seen as the later
The less intelligible The more significant
The unknown that needs to be The known through which the unknown
explained (Brahman) finds its explanation
The first principle so far as it is The first principle so far as it is known

comprehended in the universe in the inner self of man
The cosmic principle of the universe The psychical principle
The true self is the main topic of investigation in the Upanishads.
Five Types of Self – Five Sheaths (Kosas):
1. Annamayatman – the self which consists of flesh and blood

and is dependent on food, and therefore is changeable. This is the
physical self. (body)
2. Paranamayatman - The Self that consists of the vital breaths in

man and is dependent on vital breath. This is the self as the
principle of natural life. It is contained in the Annamayatman.
(vital brain)
3. Manumayatman – The self that is dependent on volition. It is

the principle of the will. It is within the Pranamayatman. (volition,
will)
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2
4. Vijnamayatman – the self that is the principle of intellection.

(intellect)
5. Annandamayatman – the self that is dependent on bliss. It is

the innermost kernel of man and of nature as a whole. It is in
contrast with the reality of experience which lies beyond the other
side, unutterable and unfathomable. (bliss)
The Development of the concept of the self from the States of

Consciousness (Mandukya Upanishad):
1. Vaisvanara or Vishva – The Waking State – This is a state

common to all men. It is directed to the objects of the external
world, thus to gross objects. It has consciousness of the external
world. Here we find a subject-object duality.
2. Taijasa – The Dreaming State – This is a state where the mind

has phantasms or images of objects of the external world. In here
we would find a subject-object duality.
3. Prajna - The Deep Sleep State – This is the state that has no
dream image; hence no objects. This has no subject-object duality.
There is a shadow because we see here a shadow of supreme bliss,
not positive bliss.
4. Turiya – The Fourth State – This is the suppression of the

consciousness of objects and union with the eternal knowing
subject. This is the state of pure consciousness.
The Brahman is described in two ways in the Upanishads:
Saguna Brahman – “Lower Brahman”
Nirguna Brahman – “Higher Brahman”
Saguna Brahman Nirguna Brahman
Cosmic Acosmic
All Comprehensive Indeterminate
Full of qualities Qualityless
Describable Indescribable
Knowable Unknowable
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3
Regarded as the cause of production, The Transcendental Absolute

maintenance and destruction of this
universe
 Brahman is one, but we view it in two ways.

 Saguna Brahman is the one we know while Nirguna Brahman
is the extreme abstraction.
 E.g. The lower part of the balloon is Saguna while the upper,
invisible part is Nirguna Barhman
 All beings arise from Brahman, live in Him, and are absorbed
in Him. (Chand. 3.14.1)
 Brahman is the foundationless consciousness, the fundamental
postulate of all knowledge.
 Atman = Brahman (Tat Tvam Asi) – Read the story of
Uddalaka and Svetaketu in the Chandogya Upanishad below.
 Our innermost individual being is the innermost being of
universal nature and of all her phenomena.
Maya – specifically refers to the illusion superimposed upon

reality as an effect of ignorance.
1. Atman is the knowing subject within us.
2. Atman, as the knowing subject, is itself unknowable, for as a

subject, it can never be an object.
3. Atman is the sole reality, for it is the metaphysical unity which

is manifested in all empirical plurality. This unity, however, is not
to be found elsewhere than in ourselves, in our consciousness.
The two functions of Maya:
 Concealment – it hides the atman
 Projection – it manifests the atman as the world which we

perceive (the accidents or phenomena)
(2 ways of viewing the same thing)
The Early Philosophical Systems
 Sankhya – Metaphysical framework of the origins of reality.
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4
 Yoga – Experiencing the levels of one’s Being and

consciousness
 Vaishesika – Systematic and realistic view of the metaphysical

and cosmological elements of reality.
 Nyaya – Logical and Epistemological in focus concerning the

objective exposition of the right knowledge of reality.
 Mimamsa – means revered thought; the systematic

investigation of actions, rituals and sacrifices and principles
according to which the Vedas are interpreted. (Earlier portion
of the Veda)
 Vedanta – Guided by the belief of an underlying unity of the

world, it is a self-inquiry into the underlying nature of man’s
experience and his knowledge of reality. (Later portion of the
Veda)
o Pre-Shankara
o Shankara
o Post-Shankara
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5
Chandogya Upanishad: Tat Tvam Asi
There lived once Svetaketu. . . To him his father Uddalaka . . .

said: "Svetaketu, go to school; for no one belonging to our race,
dear son, who, not having studied, is, as it were, a Brahmin by
birth only"
Having begun his apprenticeship when he was twelve years of age,

Svetaketu returned to his father, when he was twenty-four, having
then studied all the Vedas, conceited, considering himself well-
read, and stern.
His father said to him: "Svetaketu, as you are so conceited,

considering yourself so well-read and so stern, my dear, have you
ever asked for that instruction by which we hear what cannot be
heard, by which we perceive what cannot be perceived, by which
we know what cannot be known? "
"What is that instruction, Sir?" he asked. . .

"Fetch me . . . a fruit of the Nyagrodha tree."
"Here is one, Sir."
"Break it."
"It is broken, Sir."
"What do you see there?"
"These seeds, almost infinitesimal."
"Break one of them."
"It is broken, Sir."
"What do you see there?"
"Not anything, Sir."
The father said: "My son, that subtle essence which you do not
perceive there, of that very essence this great Nyagrodha tree
exists.
"Believe it, my son. That which is the subtle essence, in it all that
exists has its self. It is the True. It is the Self, and you, . . .
Svetaketu, are it. "
"Please, Sir, inform me still more," said the son.
"Be it so, my child," the father replied.
"Place this salt in water, and then wait on me in the morning."
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6
The son did as he was commanded.

The father said to him: "Bring me the salt, which you placed in the
water last night."
The son having looked for it, found it not, for, of course, it was
melted.
The father said: "Taste it from the surface of the water. How is it?"
The son replied: "It is salt."
"Taste it from the middle. How is it?"
"Taste it from the bottom. How is it?"
The father said: "Throw it away and then wait . . . on me.
He did so, but the salt exists forever.
Then the father said: "Here also, in this body, you do not perceive
the True, my son; but there indeed it is.
"That which is the subtle essence, in it all that exists has its self. It
is the True. It is the Self, and you, Svetaketu, are it."
Buddhism
The Four Noble Truths
"I teach suffering, its origin, cessation and path. That's all I teach",
declared the Buddha 2500 years ago.
The Four Noble Truths contain the essence of the Buddha's

teachings. It was these four principles that the Buddha came to
understand during his meditation under the bodhi tree.
1. The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
2. The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)
3. The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
4. The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
 The Buddha is often compared to a physician. In the first two

Noble Truths, he diagnosed the problem (suffering) and
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7
identified its cause. The third Noble Truth is the realisation that
there is a cure.
 The fourth Noble Truth, in which the Buddha set out the
Eightfold Path, is the prescription, the way to achieve a release
from suffering.
The three roots of evil (Samudāya)
These are the three ultimate causes of suffering: (Attachments)
 Greed and desire, represented in art by a rooster
 Ignorance or delusion, represented by a pig
 Hatred and destructive urges, represented by a snake
Nirvana
 Nirvana means extinguishing. Attaining nirvana - reaching

enlightenment - means extinguishing the three fires of greed,
delusion and hatred.
 Someone who reaches nirvana does not immediately disappear

to a heavenly realm. Nirvana is better understood as a state of
mind that humans can reach. It is a state of profound spiritual
joy, without negative emotions and fears.
 Someone who has attained enlightenment is filled with

compassion for all living things.
Path to the cessation of suffering (Magga)
 The final Noble Truth is the Buddha's prescription for the end
of suffering. This is a set of principles called the Eightfold
Path.
 The Eightfold Path is also called the Middle Way: it avoids

both indulgence and severe asceticism, neither of which the
Buddha had found helpful in his search for enlightenment.
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8
The eight divisions/The Noble Eightfold Path:
The eight stages are not to be taken in order, but rather support and
reinforce each other:
1. Right Understanding - Sammā ditthi
o Accepting Buddhist teachings. (The Buddha never

intended his followers to believe his teachings blindly,
but to practise them and judge for themselves whether
they were true.)
2. Right Intention - Sammā san̄kappa
o A commitment to cultivate the right attitudes.
3. Right Speech - Sammā vācā
o Speaking truthfully, avoiding slander, gossip and

abusive speech.
4. Right Action - Sammā kammanta
o Behaving peacefully and harmoniously; refraining from

stealing, killing and overindulgence in sensual pleasure.
5. Right Livelihood - Sammā ājīva
o Avoiding making a living in ways that cause harm, such

as exploiting people or killing animals, or trading in
intoxicants or weapons.
6. Right Effort - Sammā vāyāma
o Cultivating positive states of mind; freeing oneself from

evil and unwholesome states and preventing them from
arising in the future.
7. Right Mindfulness - Sammā sati
o Developing awareness of the body, sensations, feelings

and states of mind.
8. Right Concentration - Sammā samādhi
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9
o Developing the mental focus necessary for this

awareness.
The eight stages can be grouped into:
 Wisdom (right understanding and intention),
 Ethical Conduct (right speech, action and livelihood) and;
 Meditation (right effort, mindfulness and concentration).
The Buddha described the Eightfold Path as a means to

enlightenment, like a raft for crossing a river. Once one has
reached the opposite shore, one no longer needs the raft and can
leave it behind.
Two major schools of Buddhism:
1. Hinayana – literally means “Lesser Vehicle;” dubbed by the

Mahayana school.
2. Mahayana – literally means “Bigger Vehicle.” (The imported

Buddhism of China)
Hinayana Mahayana
No God Buddha was made god

The End was Nirvana taken as Extinction The end is Nirvana, taken as Positive Bliss
of suffering
Highest Ideal is the Arhat Highest Ideal is Bodhisattva
The Means to an end is Contemplation and The Means to an end is the Middle Path
Meditation on the Four Noble Truths
Believes in a Self-help salvation Salvation is with the help of others
Exhibits dry asceticism Exhibits loving interest in the world
Negativistic and Egoistic outlook Positivistic in outlook
Daoism
Daoism is a Chinese philosophical and religious system,
dating from about the 4th century BC. Among native
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10
Chinese schools of thought, the influence of Daoism has

been second only to that of Confucianism.
II. Basic Tenets
The essential Daoist philosophical and mystical beliefs can

be found in the Daodejing, (Tao-te Ching, Classic of the
Way and Its Power) attributed to the historical figure Laozi
(Lao-tzu, 570-490 BC) and possibly compiled by followers
as late as the 3rd century BC.
 Whereas Confucianism urged the individual to

conform to the standards of an ideal social system,
Daoism maintained that the individual should
ignore the dictates of society and seek only to
conform with the underlying pattern of the universe,
the Dao (or Tao, meaning “way”), which can
neither be described in words nor conceived in
thought.
 But this mystical way is what leads to the moral
“virtue” the De.
 To be in accord with Dao, one has, in the negative
sense, to “do nothing” (wuwei)—that is, nothing
strained, artificial, or unnatural, but also, in the
positive sense, follow the flow of nature, in its
“spontaneity” (ziran) – that is, naturalness.
 Through spontaneous compliance with the impulses
of one's own essential nature and by emptying
oneself of all doctrines and knowledge, one
achieves unity with the Dao and derives from it a
mystical power. This power enables one to
transcend all mundane distinctions, even the
distinction of life and death.
 At the sociopolitical level, the Daoists called for a
return to primitive agrarian life.
III.History
Unsuited to the development of an explicit political theory,

Daoism exerted its greatest influence on Chinese aesthetics,
hygiene, and religion. Alongside the philosophical and
mystical Daoism discussed above, Daoism is also
developed on a popular level as a cult in which immortality
was sought through magic and the use of various elixirs.
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11
Experimentation in alchemy gave way to the development,

between the 3rd and 6th centuries, of various hygiene cults
that sought to prolong life. These developed into a general
hygiene system, still practiced, that stresses regular
breathing and concentration to prevent disease and promote
longevity.
About the 2nd century AD, popular Daoist religious

organizations concerned with faith healing began to appear.
Subsequently, under the influence of Buddhism, Daoist
religious groups adopted institutional monasticism and a
concern for spiritual afterlife rather than bodily
immortality. The basic organization of these groups was the
local parish, which supported a Daoist priest with its
contributions. Daoism was recognized as the official
religion of China for several brief periods.
Various Daoist sects eventually developed, and in 1019 the

leader of one of these was given an extensive tract of land
in Jiangxi (Kiangsi) Province. The successors of this
patriarch maintained control over this tract and nominal
supremacy over local Daoist clergy until 1927, when they
were ousted by the Chinese Communists. In contemporary
China, religious Daoism has tended to merge with popular
Buddhism and other religions.
Confucianism
Main Concepts of Confucianism: the twin concepts of jen
and li are often said to constitute the basis of Confucianism.
A. Jen (wren): human heartedness; goodness; benevolence,

man-to-man-ness; what makes man distinctively human
(that which gives human beings their humanity).
1. The virtue of virtues; Confucius said he never really saw it

fully expressed. The other virtues follow from it. He never
gives and defends a definition of it although he does
characterize it.
2. It is dearer than life itself--the man of jen will sacrifice his

life to preserve jen, and conversely, it is what makes life
worth living.
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12
3. Jen is a sense for the dignity of human life--a feeling of

humanity towards others and self-esteem for yourself.
a. Such feeling applies to all men--not just one nation or

race. It is the foundation of all human relationships.
b. There is the belief that jen can be obtained; indeed, there

is the belief in the natural perfectibility of man. Hence,
he rejects the way of human action where one satisfies
likes and avoids dislikes.
c. The first principle of Confucianism is to act according to

jen: it is the ultimate guide to human action.
4. We should seek to extend jen to others.
B. Li (lee): principle of gain, benefit, order, propriety;

concrete guide to human action.
1. Two basic meanings to li: (1) concrete guide to human

relationships or rules of proper action that genuinely embody
jen and (2) general principle of social order or the general
ordering of life.
2. Confucius recognized that you need a well ordered society

for wren to be expressed.
3. First Sense: the concrete guide to human relationships.
a. The way things should be done or propriety: positive

rather than negative ("Do's rather than Don'ts).
b. The main components of propriety emphasize the

openness of people to each other.
(1) The reification of names: language used in

accordance with the truth of things.
(2) The Doctrine of the Mean: so important that an

entire book is dedicated to it in the Confucian canon:
the proper action is the way between the extremes.
(3) The Five Relationships: the way things should be

done in social life; none of the relationships are
transitive. (Note that 3 of the 5 relations involve family;
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13
the family is the basic unit of society).
(a) father and son (loving/reverential)
(b) elder brother and younger brother

(gentle/respectful)
(c) husband and wife (good/listening)
(d) older friend and younger friend

(considerate/deferential)
(e) ruler and subject (benevolent/loyal)
(4) Respect for age: age gives all things their worth:
objects, institutions, and individual lives.
4. Second Sense of li: principle of social order; ritual;

ordering of life; conforming to the norms of jen (the limits
and authenticity of li).
a. Every action affects someone else--there are limits to

individuality.
b. Confucius sought to order an entire way of life.
c. You shouldn't be left to improvise your responses

because you are at a loss as to how to behave.
d. A. N. Whitehead's quotation of a Cambridge vicar: "For

well-conducted people, life presents no problems."
C. Yi (yee); righteousness; the moral disposition to do good

(also a necessary condition for jen or for the superior man).
1. Yi connotes a moral sense: the ability to recognize what is

right and good; the ability to feel, under the circumstances,
what is the right thing to do.
a. Not chih, moral wisdom per se, but intuition.
b. Most of us live under the sway of different kinds of

"I's." In this case, the identification is with an impersonal
ego. (In Freudian terms, almost like the super-ego.)
c. The impersonal ego is the assimilated or appropriated
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14
values of our culture--the Confucian true self.
2. Some actions ought to be performed for the sole reason

that they are right--regardless of what they produce; not for
the sake of something else.
a. The value in the act is the rightness of the action

regardless of the intention or the consequences of the act.
b. Hence, yi is a different way than either stoicism

(intention with soft determinism) or utilitarianism
(consequences with free will).
c. Confucianism is similar to Kant's ethics of duty: the

action is done as a good-in-itself, not as a means to an end.
3. Acting from yi is quite close to practicing jen. Compare the

two situations:
a. A person does all actions for the sake of yi because they

are the right thing to do (i.e., the behavior forms the
disposition). This example is the way we learn; it is not an
example of yi.
b. A person does all actions for the sake of jen because

respect for humanity implies the right human way to act
(i.e., be concerned about who you are, not the individual
things you do). This example is practiced until it becomes
second-nature, then it is right.
D. Hsiao (showe): filial piety; reverence
1. Parents are revered because they are the source of your life.
They have sacrificed much for you.
2. One should do well and make the family name known and
respected: bring honor to your family.
3. Consider someone you respect and admire who saves your

life or someone who has sacrificed his life for you--as,
indeed, your parents did. Hence, the reverence.
4. Hsiao implies that you give your parents not only physical
care but also emotional and spiritual richness. When the
parents die, their unfulfilled aims and purposes should be the
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15
purposes of the children.
5. What do you do if your values are different from your

parents? i.e., in a changing society?
6. The beginnings of jen are found in hsiao (family life).
a. Once the reverence and respect is understood for parent,

hsiao can be extended by generalization to family, friends,
society, and mankind.
b. Respect for the sake of reverence affects who you are.
E. Chih (chee): moral wisdom; the source of this virtue is

knowledge of right and wrong. Chih is added to
Confucianism by Mencius (muhn shoos) who believed that
people are basically born good.
1. Since we draw the difference between right and wrong

from our own mind, these ideas are innate.
2. Man is a moral animal for Mencius. Man has the potential

to be good for Confucius.
3. How, then, does Mencius account for the origin of evil?
a. From external circumstances: nature and the needs for

survival.
b. From society and culture being in disarray: it would be

to our disadvantage to be moral.
c. From lack of knowledge: we do not seek to find out the

options we have. We fail to develop our feelings and
senses.
F. Chun-tzu (choon dzuh): the ideal man; the superior man;

gentle person in the most significant sense.
1. He is at home in the world; as he needs nothing himself.

He is at the disposal of others and completely beyond
personal ambition.
2. He is intelligent enough to meet anything without fear.
3. Few people can attain this ideal; the central virtue is, of
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16
course, jen.
a. Personal relationships come before anything else (i.e.,

before thinking, reasoning, studying).
b. The five virtues come from within the impersonal ego:

(1) kindness, (2) rectitude, (3) decorum, (4) wisdom, and
(5) sincerity.
G. Te (day): power by which men are ruled; the power of

moral example (the whole art of government consists in the
art of being honest).
1. The patterns of prestige are used in the service of

governance of the country.
2. Government is good if it can maintain: (1) economic

sufficiency, (2) military sufficiency, and (3) confidence of the
people.
The Key Terms in Confucianism form an intricate web of

concepts.
A. jen: human heartedness; humaneness
B. li: principle of gain, benefit; in general,
"principle," propriety, ritual, social order.
C. yi: righteousness; the moral disposition to do good.
D. hsiao: filial piety, reverence; familial love
E. chih: moral wisdom
F. chun-tzu: the ideal person; the superior man
G. te: virtue; power; power by which people are ruled; power of
moral example
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17
References:
Brian White. (1993). Buddhist Studies. Retrieved from http://www.buddhanet.net/e-
learning/5minbud.htm
China Culture.org. (2015) Confucian Philosophy. Retrieved from

http://www.chinaculture.org/gb/en_madeinchina/2005-09/27/content_73480.htm
Ronnie Littlejohn. Daoist Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved

from http://www.iep.utm.edu/daoism/
Shyam Ranganathan. Hindu Philosophy. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Retrieved from

http://www.iep.utm.edu/hindu-ph/
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18
Man and Spirituality
Welcome to the eighth module of this course, Philosophy of Man

with Logic! At the end of the course you will be able to elaborate
and evaluate the notion of the self in light of articulating a concept
of a God.
Anselm’s “Ontological Argument”

The general idea of the ontological argument is based on the notion
that the concept of God as the greatest being implies that God
exists—if not, there could be something greater, namely an existent
greatest being—but this being would be God.
The structure of the Ontological Argument can be outlined as

follows (The argument is based on Anselm's Proslogion 2):
1. We conceive of God as a being than which no greater can

be conceived.
2. This being than which no greater can be conceived either

exists in the mind alone or both in the mind and in reality.
3. Assume that this being than which no greater can be

conceived exists in the mind alone.
a. Existing both in the mind and in reality is greater

than existing solely in the mind.
b. This being, existing in the mind alone, can also be

conceived to exist in reality.
c. This being existing in the mind alone is not

therefore the being than which no greater can be
conceived. (See statement 1 above.)
4. Therefore, this being than which no greater can be

conceived exists in reality as well as exists in the mind.
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1
Thomas Aquinas, “The Five Ways”

1. Part I. The Argument from Motion. (Thomas argues that
since everything that moves is moved by another. There must
thereby exist an Unmoved Mover.)
a. Evident to our senses in motion—the movement

from actuality to potentiality. Things are acted on.
(Again, note that the argument proceeds from empirical
evidence; hence it is an à posteriori or an inductive
argument.)
b. Whatever is moved is moved by something else.

Potentiality is only moved by actuality. (An actual oak
tree is what produces the potentiality of an acorn.)
c. Unless there is a First Mover, there can be no motions.

To take away the actual is to take away the potential.
(Hence, which came first for Aristotle, the chicken or
the egg?)
d. Thus, a First Mover exists.
2. Part II. The Argument from Efficient Cause. (The sequence

of causes which make up this universe must have a First
Cause.)
a. There is an efficient cause for everything; nothing can

be the efficient cause of itself.
b. It is not possible to regress to infinity in efficient
causes.
c. To take away the cause is to take away the effect.
d. If there’s no first cause then there will be no others.
e. Therefore, a First Cause exists (and this is God).
3. Part III. The Argument to Necessary Being. (Since all

existent things depend upon other things for their existence,
there must exist at least one thing that is not dependent and so
is a Necessary Being.)
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2
a. Since objects in the universe come into being and pass

away, it is possible for those objects to exist or for those
objects not to exist at any given time.
b. Since objects are countable, the objects in the universe
are finite in number.
c. If, for all existent objects, they do not exist at some
time, then, given infinite time, there would be nothing
in existence. (Nothing can come from nothing—there is
no creation ex nihilo) for individual existent objects.
d. But, in fact, many objects exist in the universe.
e. Therefore, a Necessary Being (i.e., a Being of which it
is impossible that it should not exist) exists.
4. Part IV. The Argument from Gradation. (Since all existent

things can be compared to such qualities as degrees of
goodness, there must exist something that is an Absolutely
Good Being.)
a. There are different degrees of goodness in different

things.
b. There are different degrees of being in different
things—the more being, the more goodness. (The
notion of the Great Chain of Being1 is being
presupposed.)
c. For there to be degrees of being at all, there must be
something which has being in the highest degree.
d. Therefore, a Being in the Highest Degree or Perfect
Being exists.
5. Part V. The Argument from Design. (Also named “The

Teleological Argument”— The intricate design and order of
existent things and natural processes imply that a Great
Designer exists.)
a. All things have an order or arrangement, and work for

an end. (That is, from Physical Science – inductive)
1“...the conception of the universe...composed...of an infinite, number of links ranging in hierarchical order from
the meagerest kind of existents, which barely escape nonexistence, through 'every possible' grade up to the
_ens_perfectissimum_...'' Arthur O. Lovejoy, The Great Chain of Being, New York: Harper & Row, 1936, 59.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3
b. The order of the universe cannot be explained by

chance, but only by design and purpose.
c. Design and purpose is a product of intelligence.
d. Therefore nature is directed by a Divine Intelligence or
Great Designer.
Dostoevsky, “The Problem of Evil”

1. Fyodor Dostoevsky (1821-1881) is a Russian novelist whose
works anticipate existential psychoanalysis.
a. Several biographical points should be briefly mentioned.
i. Both parents died before Dostoevsky graduated from a
military engineering academy in St. Petersburg.
ii. He was arrested, sentenced to death, but after a mock
execution and a commuted sentence, he was sent to a
Siberian penal colony for four years.
iii. Dostoevsky suffered from epilepsy; he experienced a
conversion experience to Christianity.
iv. Aside from the brief early acclaim for Poor Folk, he did
not receive literary fame until several years before his
death.
v. His influence is profound upon twentieth century
writers and philosophers.
b. In the Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche writes, "Dostoevski,
the only psychologist, incidentally, from whom I had
something to learn; he ranks among the most beautiful
strokes of fortune in my life…"
2. "The Problem of Evil" as discussed in The Brothers
Karamazov:
a. Why does Ivan think that children are innocent and adults
are not? Why does he think we can love children when they
are close, but we can only love our neighbor abstractly?
i. Innocence, for Ivan, has to do with the intention of an
act rather than the outcome of an act. The child is
innocent because the child did not intend to hurt the
hound. Since an adult can intend do harm when there
are not harmful consequences, an adult cannot be
experientially innocent as a child could be.
ii. We can love our neighbor abstractly in the sense that all
people have the same nature, but once we come to
know the foibles of our neighbor, we lose sight of
human nature. People in general share no disagreeable
qualities; specific persons have specific disagreeable
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4
qualities which can distract us from loving them.

Children have not yet developed the adult
idiosyncrasies such as mistrust, greed, and cruelty.
Dostoevsky seems to see naivety as innocence and the
consciousness of adults as awareness of right and
wrong.
b. Does the General deserve to be shot for turning his hounds
upon the child?
i. "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and
a tooth for a tooth.' But I say to you, do not resist one
who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right
cheek, turn to him the other also; and if anyone would
sue you and take your coat, let him have your cloak as
well; and if any one forces you to go one mile, go with
him two miles. Give to him who begs from you, and do
not refuse him who would borrow from you. You have
heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your
enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that
you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for
He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and
sends rain on the just and on the unjust." (Matthew
5:38:45.)
ii. "If men fight, and hurt a woman with child, so that she
gives birth prematurely, yet no harm follows, he shall
surely be punished accordingly as the woman's husband
imposes on him; and he shall pay as the judges
determine. But if any harm follows, then you shall give
life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,
foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for
stripe." (Exodus 21:22-25.)
c. What does Ivan mean when he says, "I most respectfully
return him the ticket?"
i. Ivan says he accepts God simply. He apparently
believes in a classical Euclidean creation: there is an
underlying order and meaning to life with an eternal
harmony with regularity and law.
ii. It's the world, itself, created by God that he cannot
accept.
iii. Ivan doesn't accept the world, and he states he will take
his own life. He reveals the feeling, "Stop the world, I
want to get off."
d. Possible explanations which are sometimes taken to
account for the death of an innocent child in a universe
created by God.
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5
i. The problem described by Ivan is the example of a

child, as his mother is forced to watch, being torn apart
by hounds set upon him by the master. Ivan asks how
we can account for the suffering of the child.
(1) Eternal harmony: Suffering and evil will vanish
like a mirage at the end of the world. Just as seeing
the individual colors of the rainbow does not
indicate to us that all colors taken together produce
white, so likewise seeing the individual events of
live does not indicate to us that all events taken
together produce the whole picture of the universe.
(2) Consciousness: "Good" and "evil" are polar
concepts—without sin we cannot have known good
and evil. (In Christianity, the eating of the apple
represents the origin of consciousness.) Without the
possibility to do harm, people could not be
conscious of what is good—people would not be
people, but robotic.
(3) Trust Alone: The suffering of the innocent child is
simply beyond human understanding. I.e., it's
absurd. The problem of evil is a mystery because
Christianity is not an idea but is essentially a
nonintellectual way of life as it is.
(4) Freedom: Given paradise, people preferred
freedom. It's our freedom which makes us people as
opposed to other natural processes. The existence of
evil is the price paid for free choice. Human beings
qua human beings could not choose only the good.
(A crucial question Dostoevsky suggests is whether
people actually seek freedom. Moreover, would
God allow freedom of choice in the afterlife?)
(5) Future Harmony: Evil events will produce
something better in the future for others (e.g.,
consider cases where there is a "necessary evil" or
cases where the ends justify the means.) For
example, my suffering today will produce a better
world for my children and others in succeeding
generations. The world course is getting better and
better—we are overcoming evil before the final
redemption at the end of the world.
(6) Paying for father's crimes: We all share
responsibility for what has happened in the past.
"The sins of the father are visited upon the sons."
(Source of the quotation results from a violation of
the second Commandment: worship not a graven
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6
image. "For I the Lord thy God am a jealous God

and visit the sins of the fathers upon the children
unto the third and fourth generation." Cf.,
Deuteronomy 5:8-10 and Exodus 20:5.)
(7) Saving the world from a future evil: The child
would have grown up to sin (perhaps be a mass
murderer). By his death by the hounds, the world is
saved from his future evil deeds.
(8) Suffering is necessary for the price of truth: No
truth can be won without overcoming evil is some
form. Some kinds of good can only originate from
evil events.
ii. Additional oft-cited accounts for the problem of evil do
not address the cases of the suffering of an innocent
child and do not address the cases of nonmoral evil
such as flood, tornado, and earthquake.
(1) God's punishment for evil behavior: God is a just
God and punishes unrighteous behavior which leads
human beings either to repentance or rebellion.
(2) Evil is a test or trial: Evil is necessary for
improvement of the soul, spiritual growth, and
testing faith.
(3) Evil does not exist: Evil is an illusion or a lack of
the being of goodness. Evil arises at the
disappearance of goodness.
e. What does Alyosha mean when he says to Ivan, "That is
rebellion"?
i. Alyosha is suggesting that Ivan has forgotten that there
is a God who could forgive the guilt resulting from the
death of the child.
ii. For Ivan no just God would permit a crime like the
suffering of an innocent child. Ivan believes God is just,
but he rejects the world God has created.
3. The crucial aspect of Dostoevsky's approach to the problem of
evil in the Brother's Karamazov is how can we believe
rationalizations of solutions in the face of the horrors of natural
atrocity and the death of a small child.
Pascal’s Wager
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7
1. Several biographical points of Blaise Pascal(1632-1662)

a. With no formal education, Pascal studied languages at
home until he became fascinated with Euclid's Elements.
b. At sixteen Pascal wrote an important essay on the geometry
of conic sections for a group of mathematicians who later
formed part of the French Academy.
c. He studied and made contributions to the physics of gases
and liquids.
d. By correspondence with Fermat, Pascal helped form the
origin of probability theory. His final work solved several
important problems raised by the cycloid: a mathematical
curve formed by the path taken by a point on the
circumference of a circle as it rolls along a straight line.
e. The Pensées from which "The Wager" is taken is a
collection of fragments reconstructed by editors who might
not accurately reflect the original writing of Pascal.
2. The Wager
a. According to Pascal, how much can be known about God?
i. God is so completely different from us that there is no
way for us to comprehend him.
ii. We can know that God is, but we cannot know what
God is.
iii. Ordinary human descriptions are futile and paradoxical
when applied beyond the bounds of everyday
application when we say God is all-powerful, all-good,
and all-knowing. These predicates are beyond our
experience.
b. Pascal's Wager.
i. Pascal does not think that the atheist or the believer
would be convinced by his Wager. Instead, he directs
the Wager to the curious and unconvinced.
ii. I have a choice: either first I believe God exists or
second I do not believe God exists.
iii. First, if I believe God exists, and God in fact does exist,
then I will gain infinite happiness. However, if I believe
God exists, and God in fact does not exist, then I will
have no payoff.
iv. Second, if I do not believe God exists, and God in fact
does exist, then I will gain infinite pain. However, if I
believe God does not exist, and God in fact does not
exist, then I will have no payoff.
v. Thus, I have everything to gain and nothing to lose by
believing in God, and I have everything to lose and
nothing to gain by not believing in God. On these
grounds, one would be foolish not to believe.
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8
c. Is Pascal's Wager a proof of God's existence or not?

i. I come to have faith in God by "acting as if I believed."
I, in effect, change my attitude, not my reason.
ii. Pascal indicates we learn from those who believe and
become like them. As a result of the Wager, we have
nothing to lose and everything to gain.
iii. By rational decision theory, one can calculate the
expected return of a payoff. Suppose I wonder whether
I should enter the Family Publisher's Sweepstakes with
a possible payoff of 20 million dollars. I look in the fine
print and see that the chance of winning the payoff is 1
in 450 million. I can calculate my "expected" return by
doing a thought-experiment. Suppose I enter the contest
an indefinite number of times; I will win on the average
the amount calculated by the following formula:
[the probability of winning] X [the payoff] = [the

expected return].
(1) So, doing the math ...
[1 / 450,000,000] X [$2,000,000] = [$0.0044] or
less than a half of a penny.
(2) Obviously, if I return my entry by mail I would
normally lose money because of the cost of the
stamp, the opportunity cost of my time, and, among
other things, the shoe leather used on the way to the
post office.
iv. With God's promise of an afterlife, however, the payoff
is so large that the expected return makes it almost
irrational not to believe, even if the probability were
low. Even so, of course, there is no certainty there
would be a payoff.
v. The everyday beliefs we act on are the things we
believe the strongest. We never bother to prove these
beliefs. We do not try to prove the existence of the
external world, that the sun will rise tomorrow, that the
floor will remain under our feet, or that we are awake.
vi. It is little matter that we can, or cannot, prove these
beliefs, so likewise, it is little matter that we prove
God's existence. We simply assume life will go on,
without proof; otherwise, it would be disastrous to our
everyday existence if we were occupied with proving
these ordinary things.
vii. In sum, Pascal's Wager is not intended to be a
philosophical proof; the Wager is just intended as a
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9
persuasive, pragmatic consideration directed to the

agnostic.
d. What major objections can we construct to the Wager? Can
the objections be countered?
i. Two main objections are often raised to Pascal's Wager.
(1) To believe in God simply for the payoff is the
wrong motive for belief. Such self-seeking
individuals would not properly serve the Deity.
(2) In order to be sure of a payoff, an individual would
not know which God or gods to believe in to cover
the conditions of the wager. Would the Wager also
hold for Zeus, Odin,or Mithra? One would have to
believe in all gods to be sure, but if there were only
one God in fact, then this strategy would defeat
itself.
ii. Pascal could argue objection (1) isn't about subjective
intentions; it's about objective probabilities.
iii. Pascal could argue for objection (2) the different
conceptions of different religions could refer to the
same God.
e. What is the meaning of Pascal's sentence, "The heart has its
reasons which reason does not know?"
i. Human beings live not by reason alone. Without heart,
feeling, emotion, life would lose its value.
ii. Our uniqueness as a species might be the ability to
think, but let not that blind ourselves to the fact that our
whole value individually or as a group is not in reason
alone.
References:
Lander University: Introduction to Philosophy – Philosophy of Religion Notes. Lee C. Archie
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10
Freedom
Welcome to the ninth module of this course, Philosophy of Man

with Logic! At the end of the course you will be able to investigate
the differing notions of freedom.
AUGUSTINE THE CONVERTED CONVERTER (354 – 430)

"Understanding through faith"
 Recognized as one of the greatest Christian philosophers of

antiquity, Augustine brought classical pagan philosophy together
with Christian thought to create a theology which has had a
profound and lasting influence on Western Christianity.
 His career in the Catholic Church was dominated by controversy

and debate as he struggled to promote unity within the church
against the heretical groups which threatened to divide it,
particularly the Donatists and the Pelagians.
 His lasting influence in Christian theology however is in his

scripture commentaries and in his masterpiece, "De civitate Dei"
(The City of God), in which he espoused a doctrine of divine
predestination, derived from the original sin.
KNOWING GOD
 He was introduced by Ambrose, the eminent bishop of Milan, to

Neo-platonism through which he found solutions to his questions
about the nature of God.
 He was converted to Christianity in 386 and baptized the following

year, after which he left Milan to return to Africa. In Hippo, he
lived in a small religious community.
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Freedom 1
 In 391, Augustine was forced to accept ordination as assistant

priest to the old bishop, upon whose death 5 years later, he entered
the episcopate in which he would remain until his death.
CONVERSION
"I made strenuous efforts on behalf of the preservation of the free

choice of the human will, but the grace of God defeated me."
(Confessions Bk 8)
Augustine's search for truth was long and took him down many
paths. When he found truth, it came as revelation.
 In Milan, he was introduced by Bishop Ambrose to certain

Platonic works.
 Deep meditation on the dialectic method led to his first truly

spiritual experience, a vision of eternal and unchanging beauty.
 Disappointed at the transience of the experience and his inability to

avoid earthly distractions, he turned to St Paul. He opened the
letters at random and the phrase that caught his eye was "put on
Christ" (Romans 13). He abandoned his marriage plans, resigned
his teaching post and was baptized.
"At long last I came to love you, beauty so ancient, yet ever new."
(Confessions x.37) With these words, Augustine proclaims his
conversion to Christianity, an event that was to shape the thinking
of the church in later generations.
MAN OF HIS TIMES
 Augustine described himself as a "man who writes as he progresses

and progresses as he writes". He addressed the many issues
dividing the Church and Empire of his time.
 Some of his works are aimed specifically at the Manichaeism he

had for a time followed. At least he knew what he was fighting - in
this case, the idea of evil as an equal and opposite force to good.
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Freedom 2
 Elsewhere, he attacked the various Christian sects, by promoting

the "catholic" or universal church.
 His magnum opus, "The City of God" was occasioned by the sack
of Rome 410 when pagan critics blamed weakness of Empire on
Christianity. It is one of most detailed, comprehensive and
definitive apologies ever written. It aims to provide a total world
view from a Christian perspective. (Epistulae 143)
COSMIC PLAN
 Augustine tried to outline the position of Christians in the less than

the Holy Roman Empire. He did so by postulating two cities - one
earthly, one heavenly.
 Augustine uses his metaphor of the two cities to reveal God's plan
for his creation. For him, history is linear and works toward a
predestined end.
 It has as its beginning, the Creation, as its centre point, the

redemptive act in Christ, and continues in the spirit towards the
consummation, the judgment and transformation of all into a new
heaven and a new earth.
 The Christian was not just involved in his own personal salvation,
but was part of the Creator's master plan. The earthly and heavenly
cities have their respective culminations in Hell and Heaven.
PLATO REINTERPRETED
 Perhaps Augustine's greatest contribution to thought was his

interpretation of Platonic thought into a Christian framework.
 Augustine was convinced that from Plato to Christ was but a small
step, and the teaching of the church was in effect "Platonism for
the multitude."
 Platonism had given him the "hint" to "search for the incorporeal."
The only thing he found missing was "the Logos made flesh," that
is Christ.
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Freedom 3
 His writing provided Christianity with its first coherent system of

thought, but as he lay dying during the long Vandal siege of Hippo,
his last recorded words were not from the Bible but from Plotinus.
(Confessions 7.20)
 Coming to his divine revelation via Neo-platonism, Augustine

combines the neo-Platonic impersonal ideal of the One or the
Absolute and the biblical concept God as love, power, justice and
forgiveness.
 The new vision of God expanded Christian thought beyond the

biblical limits and ensured the survival of Platonic thought.
 He was a conduit between the pagan world of classical philosophy

and the new Christian world view, "the first modern man".
THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
 Augustine's emphasis on will was a response to the dualism of

Manichaeism which saw evil as a potent force, equal and opposite
to good. According to this, by his very nature, man was
predestined to sin.
 To Augustine, nothing created by God is evil by nature. Only the

will, not one's nature, is the source of evil. Sinning was man's
choice, an act of will.
 The source of sin is the result of the soul's weakness and this is due
to its being created out of nothing. Even its immortality is not due
to its own nature but to the gift and grace of the Creator.
 Evil is simply misdirected love; evil is just a lack of good, a

privation of the good. As man becomes insubordinate to God, so
the flesh becomes insubordinate to the will.
ORIGINAL SIN
 Augustine always maintained the idea of man's free will. For
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Freedom 4
some, this was inconsistent with God's omnipotence. God must

have foreknowledge to be God, so sin must in some way be
predetermined.
 But Augustine believed that God can know things without

undermining free will. God's knowledge of a person is not that he
will be forced to sin, but that he will sin.
 Augustine traces the inevitability of man's sinning, not to God, but

to Adam. Adam's sin so altered man's nature, transmitted to his
posterity, that human will is now incapable of redirecting itself
from its centre.
 Now it is only through God's grace that man can come to eternal
goodness, beauty and truth.
PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY UNITED
 The essential nature of man is not reason but will. No man believes
in the true God, the God of moral demand, unless he wills to do so.
Only from the rightly oriented will, with the mind turned towards
the redeeming God, can man discover truth and achieve happiness
(beatitude).
 But man tends to will something other than the true God, create
God in his own image, unless touched by Divine Grace.
 There can be no reasoning to faith, to truth, only reasoning from

faith. Faith precedes understanding. There can be no severance of
theology and philosophy.
 Theology is faith seeking understanding.
THE PROBLEM OF SEX
 Christians should consider themselves as travellers passing through

the earthly city, following the pilgrim's path, keeping their eye on
their heavenly destination, undistracted by earthly pleasures.
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Freedom 5
 Within this scheme of things, sex posed a particular problem.

Augustine could never bring himself to reject sex as an evil.
Manichaeism saw the lower part of the body as entirely evil. Yet,
while a follower, Augustine maintained a mistress.
 Once he converted to Christianity he promoted the idea of the

beauty of all God's creation. He insisted that in marriage, the carnal
act was "put to a good and right use" and that the physical delight
of the act should be distinguished from the libido which is the
wrong use of the impulse. Yet he himself renounced sex and
became celibate.
ILLUMINATION
 For Augustine, all true knowledge proceeds from God.
 Influenced by the Neo-platonists, he regarded the soul as having an

inherent power of self-knowledge.
 Moreover, he accepted that this was best realized when the senses
were abandoned and the mind underwent purification through the
process of dialectic.
 For Plato, the Form of the Good, or the One, was superior to all
others.
 For Augustine, the One is God, and all the other Forms are ideas in
God's mind.
 Understanding comes, only when God illuminates the soul, which

has been suitably prepared and purified, making the Forms visible
to the inner eye of intelligence. To know, is to know God.
SARTRE, THE EXISTENTIALIST (1905 – 1980)

"Man is condemned forever to be free."
EXISTENTIALISM
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Freedom 6
 Sartre's philosophy of freedom derives from the

existentialist claim that existence precedes essence.
 There is no such thing as a given "human nature",
determining how we act and behave. Rather it is our
everyday acts and choices that make up our identity. Man
first of all exists and defines himself afterwards.
 We can choose to abandon ourselves passively to the
prevailing state of affairs, conform to status quo - thus
reducing ourselves to a mere object among objects. Or we
can choose to transcend what is given, by projecting
ourselves authentically towards a new horizon of
possibility. Either way, we are what we make of ourselves.
FREEDOM
 Sartre siezed on the need to view everyday objects as
phenomena - to examine them from different perspectives,
to identify their very essence.
 His first philosophical works explored the importance of
the imagination.
 Therein lay a major aspect of human freedom - the mind
unfettered by rules could recreate the world.
PHILOSOPHY OF FREEDOM
 As a nation with a history of revolution, the French placed

great importance on the idea of Freedom. "Freedom or
death" was a catchcry of the Revolution.
 Sartre interpreted freedom in a far different manner from
his nationalistic forebears.
 Ironically, Sartre's philosophy of freedom was crystallized
during the Nazi occupation of France. He had been a
soldier; he was active in the French Writers' Resistance
Movement. The war saw him change from an academic and
avant-garde intellectual to a committed activist. But his was
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Freedom 7
no ordinary cry for political freedom from tyranny; no

eulogizing of the joys of freedom.
 To Sartre, freedom is not something man must strive for.
Rather it is a condition of his very being which he must
confront and accept. The hero in Sartre's novel, "Age of
Reason", comes to this bitter conclusion:
"He was free, free for everything, free to act like an animal or like
a machine... He could do what he wanted to do, nobody had the
right to advise him... He was alone in a monstrous silence, free and
alone, without an excuse, condemned to decide without any
possible recourse, condemned forever to be free."(de Beauvoir
"Prime of Life" 135)
BEING-IN-THE-WORLD
 With Sartre, philosophy left the hallowed halls of academia
and became public domain.
 Much of his writing was done in cafes. He wrote novels
and plays. Philosophical issues are not abstract.
 Man is a being-in-the-world and Sartre presents him as
such.
 His heroes and anti-heroes suffer existential anguish as they
confront the absurdity of their existence, explore the
implications of their freedom and its associated burden of
personal responsibility.
 It was through these rather than through his philosophical
treatise, "Being and Nothingness", that most people became
familiar with existentialism.
BEING AND NOTHINGNESS

 Sartre's central concern is the conscious subject (being-for-
itself), which he distinguishes clearly from objects (being-
in-itself). Objects are massif/solid; they are what they are.
Conscious subjects are always in a state of aspiring to be
something other than what they are; they are what they are
not yet.
 It is this peculiar kind of "nothingness" - this state of not
being yet, this openness to further possibilities is
characteristic of consciousness. Negation, nothingness, is
not a thing-in-itself, but a product of consciousness.
 There is no such thing as the self, if by that we mean some
permanent already constituted identity or essence. My ego
exists only through my actions and I am constantly
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Freedom 8
remaking, reaffirming myself.
PHENOMENOLOGY
 Sartre is quoted as saying that anyone who wished, as he

did, to arrange the world in a personal pattern "must do
something more than observe and react; he must grasp the
meaning of phenomena, and pin them down in words."
 He was fascinated by the phenomenological movement and
its determination to describe human consciousness as it
exploded into the world, intentionally relating to the
everyday things around it and dynamically projecting new
meanings for its future.
 Sartre himself records that when he first read
phenomenology: "I was filled with hope ... Our generation
no longer had anything to do with the culture which created
us, a hackneyed positivism which was tired of itself... This
discipline brought us everything." (Sartre, Memorial essay
on Merleau-Ponty, 1961)
 For Sartre, there are two regions of being within

consciousness.
o In one realm, the being of "in-itself" ("en soi"), the
objects of consciousness simply exist, independent
and unaware of the consciousness that interacts with
them.
o The being of "for-itself" ("pour soi"), what most
would consider the conscious being, is conscious of
both itself and of objects in the realm of the "in-
itself". But since this level of consciousness is
simply an awareness of other objects, it is
essentially empty, transparent - a nothingness.
"The necessary condition for our saying not is that non-being be a
perpetual presence in us and outside of us, that nothingness haunts
our being."
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Freedom 9
"Being is what it is... the being of for itself is defined, on the

contrary, as being what it is not and not being what it is." ("Being
and Nothingness")
 So, not only does Nothingness exist, but it enters the

world through the human consciousness.
 To be a conscious being is to be aware of the gap between
my consciousness and its intended objects. It is to be in the
world and yet to be aware of not being one of the causally
determined objects of the world.
 My conscious being is ever aware of a distance, a void,
separating me from the realm of things.
 The thing that makes us human also makes the human
condition one of isolation from the "real world", so to
speak.
Man
 In a very real sense, existentialism sees man as creating

himself. Existence precedes essence.
 You exist - what you do with that existence, what you
actually become as a conscious individual, as a "being-in-
itself", is up to you.
 The individual must accept total responsibility for all
thoughts and actions.
ANGUISH AND BAD FAITH
 The constant need to define and remake ourselves is a

source of anguish.
 We totter on the brink of nothingness, experience dizziness,
nausea. The emptiness has to be filled. It will be filled by
whatever we plan to do, or think, or be. But often we seek
to escape from our freedom and responsibility, the painful
truth about ourselves.
 We pretend that affairs are unavoidable, that we have no
control over them. We pretend that we are not conscious
subjects, but objects. This is "bad faith"; this is self-
deception.
 We must have the courage always to seek moral
authenticity.
RELATIONSHIPS
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Freedom 10
 Each of us is both subject - the me that is me, and object -

the me that others perceive.
 Therein lies a source of inevitable conflict. When the Other
looks at me, I know that he organizes me into the pattern of
his own consciousness. Each, by existing, limits the other's
freedom. And so it is that conflict is the meaning of all
human relations - conflict and hopelessness. "Hell is other
people." (Sartre, No Exit)
 Of all human relationships, love is the most hopeless and
contradictory. Love seems to offer us a foundation, an
answer to our emptiness, a justification for our existence.
But as in all relationships, individual freedoms are in
conflict. I can either assume the role of master and make
the loved one an object to be manipulated, or allow myself
to be an object, enslaved, possessed by the lover. In Sartre's
terms, in love relationships one tends to adopt either a
sadistic or a masochistic stance, to be a manipulating
subject or a manipulated object.
THE OTHER
 As an individual conscious subject, I can only know others
as objects.
 Likewise, my "being-for-others" is that of object. I am a
"being-for-itself", a conscious subject, surrounded by
others who share my world but who can never truly know
me as subjective being.
 I need these others; therein lies my "looking-glass self". To
understand myself in all my dimensions, I depend on the
perception of others.
HEGEL, THE ABSOLUTE IDEALIST (1770 – 1831)

"The history of the world is nothing but the development of the
idea of freedom."
 A German absolute idealist philosopher, Georg Wilhelm

Friedrich Hegel saw reality in terms of a universal Absolute
Mind which manifests itself in both natural and human history.
 Hegel posits what he calls Universal Mind or Spirit (Geist) in
order to construct a system of thought that explains all of
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Freedom 11
reality in terms of such an Absolute Mind, a unified totality of

all rational truth.
 History is the embodiment of Mind's dialectic, with the great
epochs of history serving as the theses, antitheses and
syntheses in the movement towards the wholly rational
condition.
 For Hegel, the modern Nation State, as exemplified by Prussia,

embodied in its culture and institutions, the current stage of
Mind's progress towards unity with Reason, towards
consciousness of freedom.
 The choice to follow its moral system thus corresponds with
reason and is a greater freedom than choice making based on
individual whim. Thus Man finds his greatest happiness and
freedom when he becomes conscious that his personal ideals
match those of the state.
CAUGHT UP IN HISTORY
 Hegel is said to have finished the last page of his first great
philosophical work, "The Phenomenology of Mind", just as
Napoleon's troops occupied Jena. A week later, his house was
looted. He could no longer lecture at the university. Where lay
reason and freedom in such a world?
 Yet Hegel always remained committed to the concept that
"Reason is the Sovereign of the World... and the history of the
world, therefore, presents us with a rational process."
 This is because, Hegel views history as a totality not just a
series of events and individuals. He looks beyond "the
slaughter-bench of history" to identify an Absolute Mind, using
"the cunning of Reason" to steer mankind inexorably towards
the consciousness of freedom.
("Philosophy of History")
ORGANICISM
 Hegel thinks of various aspects of nature and reality as organic
in character, a functional interdependence of parts as in the
case of a living organism.
 The history of philosophy, he says, may be compared to the
stages of growth of the bud, the blossom and the fruit. The bud
gives way to the flower, the flower to the fruit.
 None of these stages has less reality or truth than the other.
They are all a part of the process of development.
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Freedom 12
 Human communities too are seen as interdependent. Each

individual plays a role, contributing to the good of the whole,
and benefiting by the association.
 The whole is more than the sum of the parts.
ABSOLUTE KNOWLEDGE
 For Hegel, the history of philosophy is the history of the
developing self-consciousness of Mind.
 Over time, conflicting philosophical theories have each laid
claim to their own exclusive truth, but in this, we see dialectic
in action.
 We should not focus on the conflicting views of the different
philosophic systems but view each as "elements of an organic
unity".
 The history of philosophy reveals the mind developing greater
self-awareness. Reality is constituted by the mind but at first
the mind does not realize this. It sees reality as outside itself.
 Only when mind awakens to reality as its own creation and
stops reaching for something beyond itself will the dialectic
end.
 Absolute knowledge is "mind knowing itself in the shape of
mind".
 HISTORY AND THE NATION STATE

History is the embodiment of Mind's dialectic, with the great
epochs of history serving as the theses, antitheses and
syntheses in the movement towards the wholly rational
condition.
 Hegel divides world history into three phases, each allowing
for increased freedom of rational choice making.
o In the first, the Oriental, only the ruler is considered
free;
o in the second, Greece and Rome, some are free;
o in the modern world, all are considered free, at least in
principle.
 For Hegel, the modern Nation State, embodies in its culture
and institutions, the current stage of Mind's progress towards
unity with Reason, towards consciousness of freedom
HEGELIANS - THESIS / ANTITHESIS
 There is perhaps some irony in the fact that after Hegel's death,
his philosophy should lead to two opposing schools of thought,
both claiming their origins in his philosophy.
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Freedom 13
 Those who became known as the Old Hegelians were

conservative and their influence was powerful for a time,
especially in Berlin.
 They came to regard the Prussian state as the exemplification
and culmination of the Hegelian dialectic.
 The Young Hegelians adopted a radical stance and became the

basis of a strong student movement. They believed that Hegel's
system provided a blueprint for the practical and inevitable
realization of a better world. They did not accept that the
Prussian state represented the ultimate synthesis.
 The Young Hegelians rejected Hegel's Absolute Idealism. They
could not accept Mind as the ultimate reality. They argued
instead that it is the physical and material life of human beings
that determines consciousness and thought.
 It was this materialistic stance that was later adopted by Marx
and from which he developed his theory of alienation.
 Marx claimed that Hegel had stood man on his head, as if spirit
and ideas were fundamental, while, he had turned Hegel right
side up again by pointing out that material factors are basic.
A PATTERN IN HISTORY
 Before Hegel, others had tried to see a pattern in history. Most

saw such patterns as cyclic. Here, for instance, is history as The
Wheel of Fortune (Rota Fortuna).
 This sees history progressing from peace to wealth, from
wealth to pride, from pride to war, from war to poverty, from
poverty to humility, from humility to peace.
 Hegel also saw history as progressing through a series of
phases, but not in eternal circles.
 To Hegel, history had a sense of direction, with the Universal
Mind progressing towards a total consciousness of freedom
through the process of the dialectic.
"The history of the world is nothing but the development of the idea of
freedom."
("Philosophy of History")
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Freedom 14
DIALECTIC
 The term dialectic was not new. The Greeks too had regarded
dialectic as the pathway to the highest form of knowledge.
 Hegel, however, gives the word new meaning. For him,
dialectic is more than a method for understanding reality. It is
an essential characteristic of reality itself. It is both the
rhythmic pattern of human thought and history, and a way of
understanding them. This rhythmic pattern is generally
characterized as thesis, antithesis and synthesis.
 It is a system of thought based on the resolution and
reconciliation of conflicting opposites.
 Through the dialectic method, Hegel is able to construct an all-
embracing philosophy incorporating all aspects of reality into a
meaningful totality.
THE MIND OF THE PEOPLE
"All value that a man has, all spiritual reality, he has only through the
state... No individual can step beyond it; he can separate himself
certainly from other individuals but not from the Spirit of the People."
 For Hegel, the Nation State is a great organic totality. Through

family and education, a man becomes inculcated with the
ethical ideals and fundamental beliefs that find expression in
the Mind or Spirit of the People. They are internalized, an
essential part of him.
 The Mind or Spirit of the People is expressed through the
nation's language, culture and institutions. Thus Man finds his
greatest happiness and freedom when he becomes conscious
that his personal ideals match those of the state.
("Reason in History")
 While to the modern mind, the concept of the nation state may
seem divorced from the ideals of revolution and freedom, this
was not so to the 18th century mind. In the aftermath of the
French Revolution, Robespierre created a cult of the Supreme
Being, a republican deity that embodied civic virtue and
opposition to tyranny.
 This contemporary engraving depicts choirs of citizens singing
hymns of praise to the Supreme Being.
ABSOLUTE MIND
 Absolute Mind is a unified totality of all rational truth.
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Freedom 15
 It is a unity-in-diversity, organising all areas of knowledge and

experience into a coherent whole.
 Study of the diverse areas of human knowledge reveals aspects
of reality.
 Full understanding of reality will involve uncovering the
underlying rational structure, the totality of Mind.
 This is Absolute Idealism.
THE INDIVIDUAL WILL
 For Hegel, the state is the only true individual

 The state "has supreme right over the individual whose supreme
duty it is to be a member of the state". Those individuals whose
will fails to identify with the larger will of the state become
alienated and alienation of individuals breaks up the organic
unity of the state.
 There are individuals who appear to have imposed their
individuality on the course of history. They have been able to do
so only because their will to personal liberty has been consonant
with the larger historical movements of the time.
FREEDOM
 Hegel distinguishes between what he terms formal freedom and

substantial freedom.
o Formal freedom, the sort of freedom of the individual
which inspired the Revolution, is negative. It merely
expresses the will of rebellious individuals against
oppressive authority.
o What is needed is a positive sense of freedom. This is
only possible within a social context and when the
individual is part of the larger life of the Mind or Spirit
of the People.
 The moral system of the state is rational because Mind's
dialectic has led history to this point.
 The choice to follow this moral system thus corresponds with
reason and is a greater freedom than choice making based on
individual whim.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Freedom 16
References:
Honer, S 1996. Invitation to Philosophy, 7TH Edition. . Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing
Company
Montemayor, Felix M. (2005). Introduction to Philosophy through the Philosophy of

man. Revised edition. National Bookstore.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Freedom 17
Ethics and Justice
Welcome to the tenth module of this course, Philosophy of Man

with Logic! At the end of the course you will be able to evaluate
the differing ethical systems in Philosophy.
Immanuel Kant
The Categorical Imperative
 Thematically, Kant's ethical theory represents the classical

formulation of deonotlogical ethics. For deontologists,
right action consists solely in the conformity of an action to
a justified rule or principle.
 For Kant, this becomes equivalent to the rational and
autonomous conformity of one's will to maxims that abide
by the CATEGORICAL IMPERATIVE (aka Moral
Law).
 In the Foundations for the Metaphysics of Morals (1785),
Kant tries to demonstrate how his position provides a
philosophical foundation for what is already commonly
understood by 'morality' and 'moral action.' Three concepts
will be analyzed: The Good Will, The Notion of Duty and
the Nature of Imperatives (both Hypothetical and
Categorical).
The Good Will
A "Good Will" is the only thing that is "good without

qualification." Other "goods," such as intelligence and
health, can be qualified. The Good Will is good by virtue of
the fact that it is "the will to follow the Moral Law."
The Notion of Duty
 There is a distinction between the "I want" (self-interest)

and the "I ought" (ethics). Moral actions are not
'spontaneous' actions.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
1
 Considering only those actions that are seemingly good (as

opposed to actions that we ordinarily recognize as wrong),
there is a distinction that can still be made within Duty
itself: Actions in mere accordance (conformity) with duty
and actions done from a sense of duty.
The Nature of Imperatives
 Imperatives are commands. Of commands, there are those

that command hypothetically and those that command
categorically.
 Hypothetical Imperatives have the general form: IF YOU
WANT 'A,' THEN YOU OUGHT TO DO 'B.'
For example, if you want to be an Olympic swimmer, you
ought to go swimming every day. The 'ought' in these
hypothetical imperatives is conditioned by our desires &
wants -- our 'goals.' Thus, if you don't want to be an
Olympic swimmer, then you don't have to go swimming
every day. Ultimately, our goals are grounded in self-
interest.
 A Categorical Imperative has the general form: DO 'A'
(i.e., it is unconditioned).
 For Kant, there is only one imperative that commands us
unconditionally and that is the Moral Law: "Act only on
that maxim whereby thou canst at the same time will
that it should become a universal law."
 This single categorical imperative, however, has three
formulations (the first two of which are):
o First Formulation: "Act as if the maxim of your
action were to secure through your will a
universal law of nature"
o Second Formulation: "Act so that you treat
humanity, whether in your own person or that of
another, always as an end and never as a means
only"
 The examples that Kant offers as a way to demonstrate the
use of these formulations in actual situations follows the
categories of duties that were used at his time. These
breakdown into four Kinds of Duties:
o Duties Toward Oneself (Perfect: Self-Preservation,
Imperfect: Self-Cultivation) and;
o Duties Toward Others (Perfect: Strict Obligation,
Imperfect: Beneficence).
_____________________________________________________________________________________
2
 Following these kinds of duties, Kant's examples are (1)

Suicide, (2) Promise-breaking, (3) Squandering Talents, (4)
Helping Others.
Friedrich Nietzsche
The Affirmation Of Life
 The two key insights to all Nietzsche—

o Life is terrible and tragic
o The superior person realizes this and has the
strength to say "yes" to life
Will To Power
 According to Nietzsche, all is born with a will to power;
that is, the driving force of humanity: man’s ambitions, his
hopes and his dreams, etc.
 The superior person neither shrinks from the struggle of
life, nor struggles blindly, but wills to live deliberately and
consciously. Nietzsche calls this sense of joy and vitality
accompanying the imposition of values on a meaningless
world tragic optimism. It is belies the "reality" that the
world is not Will to Existence, but Will to Power.
 "This world is the Will to Power—and nothing else! And
you yourselves too are this Will to Power—and nothing
else!"
 The world is not illusion, so the Will to Power is not some
underlying, transcendent metaphysical unity but the actual
process of becoming in the world. Will to Power is the
intelligible character of this process—however it is not the
"truth" about the world. Will to Power must be understood
not as new metaphysical doctrine about reality but a way of
looking at the world, perhaps a "hypothesis."
 In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche notes that logical
method compels the look for a principle of explanation: "A
living thing desires above all to vent its strength—life as
such is will to power—: self-preservation is only one of the
indirect and most frequent consequences of it" (13).
"Granted finally that one succeeded in explaining our entire
instinctual life as the development and ramification of one basic
form of will—as the will to power, as my theory—; granted that
one could trace all organic functions back to this will to power and
could also find in it the solution to the problem of procreation and
nourishment—they are one problem—one would have acquired the
right to define all efficient force unequivocally as: will to power.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
3
The world seen from within, the world described and defined
according to its `intelligible character’—it would be `will to
power’ and nothing else.—" (36)
Critique Of Morality
 There are two "moralities"…
o Master-morality or aristocratic morality: good/bad
= noble/despicable. Applied to men, not actions.
Values are created out of the "abundance" of the
noble human being’s life and strength and imposed
upon the world by will to power.
o Slave-morality or herd-morality: Good/evil = what
is useful to the society of the weak/what threatens
or harms the herd. Born of resentment "becoming
creative."
 From the point of view of the higher human being, co-
existence is possible, if the herd was content to keep its
values to itself. But it isn’t—it tries to impose its values
universally, and succeeded in Christianity.
 For Neitzsche, the universal, absolute moral system should
be rejected and replaced with graduation of rank among
different types of morality. In Beyond Good and Evil he
advocates rising above the herd-morality which favors
mediocrity and prevents higher development.
 Nietzsche does not advocate immorality [even though he
referred to himself as an "immoralist"]—people who reject
morality will destroy themselves. The higher individual
respects values and needs self-restraint. This individual
goes beyond good and evil as these terms are understood in
the morality of resentment. The higher individual integrates
human nature in all its aspects as an expression of strength.
God Is Dead
 The concept of God is hostile to life.
 For Nietzsche, some great men have been believers. But
now, when the existence of God is no longer taken for
granted by most people, freedom, strength and
independence demand aethism. Nietzsche’s own rejection
of God proved his inner strength to himself. He was able to
live without God.
 Implications of the Death of God according to Nietzsche:
o Rejection of absolute values. (Can’t have a
"secularized" form of Christianity)
o Nihilism (because most men in the West know no
other values but Christian values)
_____________________________________________________________________________________
4
o "Active nihilism" a nihilism that seeks to destroy

what it no longer believes
Superman
 Übermensch or superman is not superior in breeding or

endowment, but in power and strength. The superman
confronts all the possible terrors and wretchedness of life
and still joyously affirms it.
In Thus Spake Zarathustra Nietzsche proclaims, "Not
`humanity’ but Superman is the goal." "Man is something
that must be surpassed; man is a bridge and not a goal."
 Superman is not inevitable, the result of some determined
process. It is more a myth, a goal for the will: "Superman is
the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: Superman is to
be the meaning of the earth." Superman cannot come unless
superior individuals have the courage to transvalue all
values.
 Nietzsche never gives a clear description of Superman—
how could he, he does not exist! He describes him as "the
Roman Caesar with Christ’s soul," as Goethe and Napoleon
in one, the Epicurean god appearing on earth. Superman or
Zarathustra would be the highest possible development and
integration of intellectual power, strength of character and
will, independence, passion, taste, and physique. He would
be highly-cultured, skilful in all bodily accomplishments,
tolerant out of strength, regarding nothing as forbidden
unless it is weakness ("virtue" or "vice"). He is the man
who has become fully free and independent and affirms life
and the universe.
Eternal Recurrence
 In Ecce Homo, Nietzsche asserts that the point of Thus
Spake Zarathustra was not Superman, but the doctrine of
"eternal recurrence." Eternal recurrence is the highest form
of "yea-saying" that can be attained.
 The idea is that life, even in its smallest details, will recur
innumerable times. This dismaying and oppressive notion
is a further test of strength for the Übermensch. The world-
approving man is the one who wishes to have life in all its
misery and terribleness play over again and again, and who
will cry "Encore" each time. This would be the ultimate
liberation. "Oh, how should I not be ardent for eternity and
for the marriage-ring of rings—the ring of the return?"
 But this is more than a test of strength for Nietzsche. In the
worlds of Frederick Coppleston, the doctrine of eternal
recurrence "fills a gap in his philosophy. It confers on the
_____________________________________________________________________________________
5
flux of Becoming the semblance of Being, and it does so

without introducing any Being which transcends the
universe." According to Nietzsche, if you say that the
universe never repeats itself but constantly creates new
forms, this displays a yearning after the idea of God. The
world must be enclosed upon itself if transcendence is to be
banished.
LIBERALISM
– a philosophical worldview which emphasizes equality and liberty

among men. Liberals usually dwell on subjects such as freedom,
rights, fairness, etc.
Jeremy Bentham
 He argued against "natural law" theory and thought that the
classical theories of Plato and Aristotle as well as notions such
as Kant's Categorical Imperative were too outdated, confusing
and/or controversial to be of much help with society's ills and a
program of social reform.
 He adopted what he took to be a simple and 'scientific'
approach to the problems of law and morality and grounded his
approach in the "Principle of Utility."
The Utilitarian Calculus
_____________________________________________________________________________________
6
 As with the emerging theory of capitalism in 18th and 19th

Century England, we could speak of "pleasures" as "PLUSES"
and "pains" as "MINUSES."
 Thus the utilitarian would calculate which actions bring about
more pluses over minuses (or the least amount of minuses,
etc.).
 In measuring pleasure and pain, Bentham introduces the
following criteria:
o Its intensity.
o Its duration.
o Its certainty or uncertainty.
o Its propinquity or remoteness.
He also includes
o Its fecundity. (more or less of the same will follow)
o Its purity. (its pleasure won't be followed by pain &
vice versa)
In considering actions that affect numbers of people, we
must also account for:
o Its extent; that is, the number of persons to whom it

extends; or (in other words) who are affected by it....
 As a social reformer, Bentham applied this principle to the
laws of England -- for example, those areas of the law
concerning crime and punishment. An analysis of theft reveals
that it not only causes harm to the victim, but, if left
unpunished, it endangers the very status of private property and
the stability of society.
 In seeing this, the legislator should devise a punishment that is
useful in deterring theft. But in matters of "private morality"
such as sexual preference and private behavior, Bentham felt
that is was not at all useful to involve the legislature.
 Bentham also thought that the principle of utility could apply to
our treatment of animals. The question is not whether they can
talk or reason, but whether they can suffer. As such, that
suffering should be taken into account in our treatment of
them. Here we can see a moral ground for laws that aim at the
"prevention of cruelty to animals" (and such cruelty was often
witnessed in Bentham's day).
John Rawls
 A Theory of Justice (1971) is not, strictly speaking, a work on
ethics but rather a particular species of ethics, namely, justice.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
7
 Nevertheless, the broad view and expansiveness of A Theory of

Justice provides many moments of ethical reflection with
issues ranging from intuitionism and utilitarianism to the ethics
of Kant and Aristotle.
 As such, it contains the central issues of ethics from within its
own interest.
 The theory of justice revolves around the adaptation of two
fundamental principles of justice which would, in turn,
guarantee a just and morally acceptable society:
o First Principle -- Each person is to have an equal right
to the most extensive total system of equal basic
liberties compatible with a similar system of liberty for
all.
o Second Principle -- Social and economic inequalities
are to be arranged so that they are both:
 to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged,
and
 attached to offices and positions open to all
under conditions of fair equality of opportunity
Rawls makes it explicit that the most relevant condition required

for this hypothetical contract is a veil of ignorance which deprives
people of the knowledge of the most particular facts about
themselves and their society. According to Rawls, morally
adequate principles of justice are those principles people would
agree to in an original position which is essentially characterized
by this veil of ignorance.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
8
References:
Hallman, M. 1995. Expanding Philosophical Horizons. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Publishing
Company
Montemayor, Felix M. (2005). Introduction to Philosophy through the Philosophy of

man. Revised edition. National Bookstore.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
9
Philosophy of Man with
Logic
Basic Terms in Logic
• Etymologically: Logike = thought
• “Treatise pertaining to thought”
• Study of correct inferential reasoning
• Deals with the laws, methods and principles of correct

thinking.
• Also considered art, the art of reasoning.
What is Logic?
1. Formal Logic
2. Material Logic
Two Objects of Logic

• The conceptual patterns or structures needed for a
valid and correct argument or inference
Formal Logic
• Deals with the nature of the terms and propositions that
are used in the different types of inference
Material Logic
Apprehension
Judgment
Reasoning
Three Acts of the Mind

• The first act of the intellect
• IDEA
Simple Apprehension
• The process by which the intellect strips the object of its
non-essential qualities, retains the essential ones, and
forms them into one image, which is the idea
Abstraction
1. Abstract
2. Universal
3. Immaterial
4. Spiritual
5. Constant
CHARACTERISTICS OF IDEA:
• The external manifestation or sign of an idea. It is a
written or spoken word.
Term
Comprehension and Extension:
Logical Properties of Idea or
Terms
• Comprehension
• the sum total of the attributes
• Extension
• expresses denotation or the application of the idea to
different individuals or things.
According to…
• Significance and meaning

• Application of extension
Classification of Terms
• Univocal (One meaning)
Conditions:
a. A term has no other possible meaning other than itself.
b. The term used is defined
c. The terms used are taken to signify one meaning in two
instances.
According to significance
and meaning
• Equivocal
• expresses two or more different or unrelated meanings
• Analogous
• a term that expresses a meaning that is partly different and partly
the same.
o Analogy by proportion
o Analogy by attribution
1. Singular
2. Universal
3. Particular; and
4. Collective
According to Application
or Extension
• Singular
• Is one that applies to only one individual or object.
Example:
• The 15th President of the Philippine Republic.
• The Dean of the College.
• Universal
• term is one that is applied distributively to all the individuals or
objects in a class or to the class itself.
Example:
• Every Catholic is a Christian.
• A square is a polygon.
• Particular
• is one that applies to only a part of the extension of the universal
Example
• Some students are lazy.
• Several policemen are dishonest
• Collective
• represents a group or class but does not apply distributively to the
individuals in the class or group.
Example:
• A flock of sheep is destroying the crops.
• The family celebrates the holiday.
Predicaments = universal natures and concepts
Predicables = universal predicates in general
Predicaments and
Predicables
Predicaments = from the Greek word categories
2 Supreme Predicaments:
• Substance
• Accident
The Supreme
Predicaments
• Substance
• Being that carries existential actuality by itself.
• Accident
• a modification of the substance, or being , and does not
carry existential actuality by itself.
1. Substance
2. Quantity
3. Quality
• Habit or Disposition
• Capability or incapability
• Passion and Passive modification
• Form and Figure
The Ten Predicaments

4. Relation
5. Action
6. Passion
7. When
8. Where
9. Posture
10. Habit
Predicability is the aptitude of a universal concept to be
said of many subjects.
1. Univocal
2. Analogous
Kinds of Predicability
1. Genus
Ex: Man is an animal.
2. Specific Difference
Ex: Man is rational.
3. Species
Ex: Man is a rational animal.
The Predicables
4. Property
Ex: Man is being capable of progress, of making tools, of
religious sentiment, of artistic feeling, of wonderment.
5. Accident
Ex: Mary is beautiful and healthy. (Such attributes are not
necessarily said of the subject.)
• Etymology
• definere = lay down
• Real Definition
• The conceptual manifestation either of the meaning of
the term
Meaning of Definition
a. Nominal
– A nominal definition simply explains the meaning of a
term or word.
Synonym – an equivalent term or word.
Example:
• joy means happiness
• the President means the Chief
Kinds of Definition
Etymology – the origin or root of the word
Example:
Biology
bio (life) + logos (study)
Philosophy
philos (love) + Sophia (wisdom)
b. Real
• could be a complete explanation of the object or thing or a simple
description of the object.
• Essential
• Descriptive
• Distinctive
• Genetic
• Causal
Other classifications
of definitions
• Popular
• Scientific
• Medical
1. The definition must be clearer than the term being
defined.
2. The definition must not contain the term being defined.
3. The definition must be convertible with the term being
defined.
4. The definition must be an affirmative statement not
negative whenever possible.
Rules of Definition
Philosophy of
Man with Logic
Propositions
• The second act of intellect
• Agreement and disagreement between terms and
ideas.
Judgment
• The mental product of
the act of judgment.
Enunciation (mental
judgment)
• Affirmative
• Negative
2 kinds of judgment
• This is an expression of the agreement of identity
between two ideas or concepts.
Affirmative
• This is an expression of the non-identity or disagreement of
ideas or concepts.
Negative
Proposition
• judgment expressed in sentence.

• sentence pronouncing the agreement or disagreement between
terms.
• always has truth value.
• Truth or False
• no proposition can be both true and false.
• Agreement of the mental judgment.
• Reality
TRUTH
1. Categorical
• direct judgment or a direct assertion of the
agreement or disagreement of two terms in an
absolute manner
• Examples:
The flower is pleasant.
Maria is compassionate.
Types of Proposition
2. Hypothetical
• Does not express direct judgment.
Example:
• If there is typhoon, then the ground is wet.
• Mother is either tired, or depressed.
• Anne cannot study and party at the same time.
a. Conditional – uses “if-then” statement;
b. Disjunctive – uses “either-or”;
c. Conjunctive – uses “and.”
Types of Hypothetical
Proposition.
• The SUBJECT is the term designating the idea (thing) about
which something is affirmed or denied.
• The PREDICATE is the term designating the idea (thing

or attribute) which is affirmed or denied of the subject.
• The COPULA is the term expressing the mental act which

pronounces the agreement or disagreement between the
subject and the predicate.
• The QUANTIFIER expresses the application or extension of

the proposition
Elements of Categorical
Proposition
1. Affirmative proposition - predicate is always affirmed.
Examples:
• All doctors are literate persons.
• Some books are expensive.
2. Negative Proposition - predicate is always denied of
its subject.
Example:
Mothers are not males.
Absolute properties of
categorical proposition
1. Universal – subject is a universal term, a term that is
distributive to each individual in a class or to the class
itself.
Examples:
• All priests are ordained.
• Every Filipino is nationalistic.
Quantity of Proposition
2. Particular - subject is a particular term, a term used
partly and indeterminately.
Examples:
• Most of the students are computer enthusiasts.
• Some members of the congress are corrupt.
3. Singular - subject is a singular term. i.e. it applies to all
individuals.
Examples:
• The dean is the head of the college.
• Jesus Christ is our Savior.
4. Collective - subject is a collective term, a term that applies
to a class or a group.
Example:
• The Abu Sayaff Group is responsible for the terrorist attack.
• The faculty is competent.
A Universal Affirmative All X are Y.
E Universal Negative No X is Y / All X are not Y.
I Particular Affirmative Some X are Y.
O Particular Negative Some X are not Y / Not all X

are Y.
Types of Categorical
Proposition
S = subject term
P = predicate
+ = affirmative proposition between S and P
Q = negative proposition between S and P
u = universal proposition
p = particular
Su = subject is universal
Sp = subject is particular
Pp = Predicate is particular term
Pu = predicate is universal term
Schema of Categorical
Proposition
Examples:
• All teachers are literate is Su + Pp
• A dog is a barking animal is Su + Pu
• No teacher is illiterate is Su – Pu.
• Some students are discourteous is Sp + Pp.
• Some girls are not conservative is Sp – Pu.
1. Contradiction
2. Contrariety
3. Sub-contrariety
4. Sub-alternation
Types of Opposition
1. Contradiction is the opposition existing between two
propositions having the same subject, the same predicate, but
different quality and quantity.
EXAMPLE:
A All men are True
mortals.
O Some men are False
not mortals
E All students False
are not
responsible
I Some True
students are
responsible.
2. Contrariety is the opposition existing between two
propositions having the same subject and predicate, the same
universal extension, but different in quality.
EXAMPLE:
A All teachers are True
literate
E All teachers are not False
literate
A All birds are flying False
animals
E All birds are not Doubtful
flying animals
3. Sub-Contrariety is the opposition existing between two
propositions having the same subject and predicate, the same
particular extension, but different quality.
EXAMPLE:
O Some students are False
not enrolled.
I Some students are True
enrolled.
I Some movies are True
educational.
O Some movies are Doubtful
not educational.
4. Sub-Alternation - Sub-alternation is the opposition
existing between proposition having the same subject and
predicate, the same quality, but different extension or
quality. It is the opposition between A and I; E and O.
EXAMPLE:
A All philosophers are
great thinkers True
I Some philosophers
are great thinkers True
I Some students are
diligent True
A All students are
diligent Doubtful
E No criminal is a
good person. False
O Some criminals are
not good persons Doubtful
I Some computers
are user-friendly False
A All computers are
user-friendly False
• The similarity in terms of meaning between propositions
Logical Equivalence
The process of immediate inference in which from a
proposition taken as true, another proposition which is
implied in it is derived.
Eduction
1. Obversion
2. Conversion
Two kinds of Eduction

• The process of eduction in which the derived proposition,
while retaining the subject of the original proposition,
has, for its predicate, the contradictory of the original
predicate.
Examples:
All men are immortal. (Obverted)
All men are mortal.(Obverse)
Obversion
1. Retain the subject
2. Contradict the predicate
3. Negate the copula
4. Retain the quantity.
Process of obversion:
The process of eduction in which the derived proposition
takes for its subject the predicate of the original proposition
and for its predicate the original subject.
Examples:
• All doctors are professionals. (Converted)
• Some professionals are doctor. (Converse)
Conversion
1. Interchange the subject and the predicate
2. Retain the quality.
3. No term may have a greater extension in the converse
proposition than in the converted proposition.
Process of conversion:
Philosophy of
Man with Logic
Syllogism
• The third act of intellect
• The intellect, from truths previously known, derives

and pronounces the truth of another proposition
based on these truths.
• Also known as INFERENCE
Reasoning
Process of deriving or deducing
another proposition from given
propositions.
Inference
1. Immediate
2. Mediate
Two Kinds of Inference

An inference from one proposition without the use of a third
term.
Example:
Some models are beautiful (ladies).
Some beautiful ladies are models.
Immediate Inference
An inference based on at least two propositions. It employs
a third term.
Example:
•All commercials models are highly paid personalities.
•Some commercial models are actresses.
•Some actresses are highly paid personalities.
Mediate Inference
• The product of mediate inference.
• A sequence of propositions in which from statements
taken as true another statement is inferred or derived.
Propositions:
- premises
- conclusion
Argument
1. DEDUCTIVE ARGUMENT
- a process of reasoning which proceeds from
universal or general laws, principles or statements to
particular instances or propositions.
Example:
•All men are mortals.
•Socrates is a man.
•Socrates is mortal.
Two Kinds of Reasoning

2. INDUCTIVE ARGUMENT
- A process of reasoning which proceeds from specific or
particular instances to the formulation of general or
universal principles or statements.
Example:
•Since Jane had a racquet in her hand, was coming from the
tennis court.
•Dressed in tennis outfit, she was perspiring heavily and was
talking about the game with somebody.
•Then it is likely that she had been playing tennis.
A set of three propositions, the first
two being the premises and the last
is the conclusion.
Syllogism
1. Matter
2. Form
Matter and Form of

Syllogism
• The matter consists of the various ideas/terms and
judgments/propositions of the argument or syllogism.
• The form consists of the logical connection of the ideas/terms

and judgments/propositions by virtue of which the conclusion
follows necessarily from the given premises.
a. Categorical Syllogism
Example:
•All inventors are scientists.
•Some inventors are well-known worldwide.
•Hence, some people who are well-known worldwide are
scientists.
Kinds of Syllogism
b. Hypothetical Syllogism
Example:
•If the suspect is found guilty, then he will serve time in prison.
•But he will not serve time in prison.
•Ergo, he was found guilty.
• Composed of three categorical propositions and three
terms
• First 2 propositions = premises
• Last proposition = conclusion
Schema or Pattern of the
stands for major indicates

term universal
U quantity of the
term
indicates
stands for minor particular
P
premise quantity of the
term
stands for middle
term
indicates indicates
affirmative quality − negative
quality
Syllogism Schema
All bankers are businessmen Mu + Pp
Mr. Cruz is a banker. Su + Mp
Mr. Cruz is a businessman. Su + Pp

1. Dictum de Omni – this law states that whatever is
affirmed universally, in a formal manner, of a logical
whole or class, should also be affirmed of its logical parts.
Example:
All X are Y.
Some Z are X.
Some Z are Y.
2. Dictum de Nullo – this law states that whatever is
denied universally, in a formal manner, of a logical whole or
class, should also be denied of its logical parts.
Example:
All X are not Y.
Some Z are X.
Some Z are not Y.
3. If each of two concepts agrees respectively with the same third
concept, then they also agree with each other. If A agrees with B,
and B agrees with C, then A agrees with C.
4. If one concept agrees with a third term and the other

disagrees with the same third term, then they disagree with
each other. If A agrees with B, but C does not agree with A, then
B and C do not agree with each other.
Rule 1. There must only be three terms in the syllogism.
Fallacy of the four-term construction is committed when
there are four terms instead of three terms in the syllogism.
Example:
•All fruits are produced by plants.
•Some things produced by plants are poisonous.
•Some poisonous things are bananas.
Eight Laws of Categorical

Syllogism
Fallacy of Equivocation happens when one term expresses
two different meanings in the syllogism. Equivocation is
committed when the supposition of a term shifts or when an
equivocal term is used in the argument.
Example:
•Love is blind.
•God is love.
•God is blind.
Rule 2 . No term may have a greater extension in the conclusion
than in the premises.
Fallacy of Illicit major term
Example:
All boxers are fighters.
Mu + Pp Part. Maj Term
Some soldiers are not fighters. Sp - Mu
Some soldiers are not fighters
Sp - PuUniv. Maj. Term
Fallacy of Illicit Minor Term
Example:
All boxers are fighters. Mu + Pp
Some soldiers are not fighters. Sp - Mp__Part. Min. Term
Some soldiers are not fighters . Su + Pp Univ. Maj. Term
Rule 3. The middle term must not appear in the conclusion.
Fallacy of misplaced middle term
Example:
All philosophers are wise.
St. Thomas is a philosopher.
St. Thomas is a wise philosopher
Rule 4. The middle term must be taken as a universal in the
premises at least once.
Fallacy of the undistributed middle term
Example:
All congressmen are legislators. Pu + Mp Part. Mid. Term
All senators are legislator. Su + Mp Part. Mid. Term
All senators are congressmen. Su + Pp
Rule 5. If both premises are affirmative, the conclusion must be
affirmative.
Fallacy of negative conclusion
Example:
All bankers are businessmen.
Some bankers are accountants.
Some accountants are not businessmen.
Rule 6. No conclusion can be drawn from two negative premises.
Fallacy of two negative premises
Example:
No pagan believes in Jesus Christ.
No Christian is pagan.
Therefore, ?
Rule 7. No valid conclusion can be derived from two particular
premises.
Fallacy of double particular premises
Example:
Some government officials are elected by the people.
Some individuals who are elected by the people are politicians.
Some politicians are government officials.
Rule 8. The conclusion always follows the weaker side.
Philosophy of
Man with Logic
Informal Fallacies
• Fallacies are defects in an argument.
• Fallacies cause an argument to be invalid, unsound, or

weak.
What is a Fallacy?
• Identified through discrepancies in syllogistic patterns
and terms.
• Only found in deductive arguments.
• For a deductive argument to be valid, it must be

absolutely impossible for both its premises to be true and
its conclusion to be false. With a good deductive
argument, that simply cannot happen; the truth of the
premises entails the truth of the conclusion.
Formal Fallacies are:

1. All men are mortal. (premise)
2. Socrates is a man. (premise)
3. Therefore Socrates is mortal. (guaranteed conclusion)
Deductively valid
argument (Example)
Delving deeper into the flesh of the arguments
Informal Fallacies are:

• Claim X is presented by side A and the burden of proof
actually rests on side B.
• Side B claims that X is false because there is no proof for
X.
Example:
“God exists because there is no proof that He does not.”
Fallacy: Burden of Proof

(Appeal to Ignorance)
Form:
• Person A is (claimed to be) an authority on subject S.
• Person A makes claim C about subject S.
• Therefore, C is true.
Fallacy: Appeal to
Authority
Form:
• Most people approve of X (have favorable emotions
towards X).
• Therefore X is true.
Fallacy: Appeal to
Popularity (Ad Populum)
Form:
• Y is presented (a claim that is intended to produce fear).
• Therefore claim X is true (a claim that is generally, but
need not be, related to Y in some manner).
Fallacy: Appeal to Fear

Form:
• P is presented, with the intent to create pity.
• Therefore claim C is true.
Fallacy: Appeal to Pity

Form:
• Sample S, which is too small, is taken from population P.
• Conclusion C is drawn about Population P based on S.
Fallacy: Hasty
Generalization
Inductive Generalization, Generalization, and Statistical
Generalization:
Form
• X% of all observed As are Bs.
• Therefore, X% of all As are Bs.
Form:
• A occurs before B.
• Therefore, A is the cause of B.
Fallacy: Post Hoc

Form:
• X has happened.
• X departs from what is expected to occur on average or
over the long term.
• Therefore, X will come to an end soon.
Fallacy: Gambler's Fallacy

Form of Reasoning:
• Either claim X is true or claim Y is true (when X and Y

could both be false).
• Claim Y is false.
• Therefore, claim X is true.
Fallacy: False Dilemma

Example:
• Either 1+1=4 or 1+1=12.

• It is not the case that 1+1=4.
• Therefore 1+1=12.
Example:
• Bill is dead or he is alive.

• Bill is not dead.
• Therefore Bill is alive.
• Premises in which the truth of the conclusion is claimed
or the truth of the conclusion is assumed (either directly
or indirectly).
• Claim C (the conclusion) is true.
Fallacy: Begging the

Question
Form:
• Event X has occurred (or will or might occur).

• Therefore, event Y will inevitably happen.
Fallacy: Slippery Slope

Form:
• Topic A is under discussion.
• Topic B is introduced under the guise of being relevant to
topic A (when topic B is actually not relevant to topic A).
• Topic A is abandoned.
Fallacy: Red Herring

Form:
• Person A makes claim X.

• Person B makes an attack on person A.
• Therefore A's claim is false.
Fallacy: Ad Hominem
Form:
• Person A has position X.
• Person B presents position Y (which is a distorted version
of X).
• Person B attacks position Y.
• Therefore X is false/incorrect/flawed.
Fallacy: Straw Man

• A principle attributed to the 14th century logician and
Franciscan friar William of Ockham.
• "Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily."
What is Occam's Razor?

Philosophy of
Man with Logic
Self in The Western
Perspective
Id
The appetitive part of man which pertains to the most basic
biological instincts.
Libido
The sexual drive. Freud believed that the sexual drive is as
natural and insistent as hunger and that the libido manifests
its influence as early as birth.
Psychic Apparatus/
Model of the Psyche
Superego
The normative society which functions in order to tame the id for

the sake of civilization and stable co-existence with other
humans.
Ego
The conscious, rational part which is the manifest product of the

Superego taming the Id
Unconscious – “backs of our minds,” slips of the
tongue (Freudian slips)
Preconscious - available to the conscious mind.
Repression - The ego’s mechanism for suppressing and

forgetting instinctual impulses.
Instinct - a pre-lingual bodily impulse that drives our

actions
Terms to be familiar with:

Death Drive - a natural desire to "re-establish a state of
things that was disturbed by the emergence of life"
Life Drive - the sexual instincts
Pleasure Principle - the desire for immediate

gratification
Reality Principle - the deferral of that gratification.

• Neurosis – A neurosis represents an instance where the
ego's efforts to deal with its desires through repression,
displacement, etc.
• Psychosis – A mental condition whereby the patient

completely loses touch with reality.
Mental Disorders
Sigmund Freud
• “In neurosis, the ego suppresses part of the id out of
allegiance to reality, whereas in psychosis it lets itself be
carried away by the id and detached from a part of
reality”
According to Freud…
Karl Marx
“Men can be distinguished from animals by consciousness,
by religion or anything else you like. They themselves
begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as
they begin to produce their means of subsistence, a step
which is conditioned by their physical organisation.”
Karl Marx
• Human consciousness does not shape social reality.
Dialectal Materialism
• Ideology is a form of belief or consciousness.
Marx’s Ideology
Ideologies hide or deny inequality and oppression
Ideologies morally justify oppression
Ideologies define oppression as inevitable
Ideologies offer false or symbolic solutions
Forms of ideological
consciousness:
• Responsible for epochal changes in the major structures
of society
Class Struggle
• The proletariat owns no means of production and must
sell its labor to the bourgeoisie for a wage.
• The bourgeoisie owns the means of production and hires
the labor-power of proletarians to produce a profit.
The "proletariat" and the

"bourgeoisie."
Workers in capitalist society do not produce freely as an
expression of their true human potential and aspirations but
under coercive conditions that dictate what and how they
must produce.
Alienation
1. Alienation from product of labor
2. Alienation from process of labor
3. Alienation from other workers
4. Alienation from human "species being"
Four aspects of
alienation:
The Revolution
Philosophy of
Man with Logic
Self in the Eastern
Perspective:
Hinduism, Buddhism,
Confucianism, and Daoism
HINDUISM
• Vast philosophical system.
• Inner man and reality
Hinduism
external
invisible
imperishable
unchanging
Soul
inner-self or soul
true self
essence of an individual
Atman
Ultimate reality
Universal Self
Absolute
Ultimate cause of the universe
Brahman
Knowledge
Idealism and naturalism
Gods and nature
The Vedas
Meditations and reflections on the Vedas
The Upanishads
1. Annamayatman - physical self
2. Paranamayatman - principle of natural life
3. Manumayatman - principle of the will
4. Vijnamayatman - principle of intellection
5. Annandamayatman - in contrast with the reality of
experience
Five Types of Self – Five

Sheaths (Kosas)
The Development of the Concept of the Self from the
States of Consciousness (Mandukya Upanishad)
1. Vaisvanara or Vishva
“The Waking State”

- it is directed to the objects of the external world.
- it has consciousness of the external world.
2. Taijasa
“The Dreaming State”
- a state where the mind has phantasms or images of objects of
the external world.
3. Prajna
“The Deep Sleep State”

- the state that has no dream image; hence no objects.
4. Turiya
“The Fourth State”

- the suppression of the consciousness of objects and union with
the eternal knowing subject.
- the state of pure consciousness.
• Sankhya
• Yoga
• Vaishesika
• Nyaya
• Mimamsa
• Vedanta
The Early Philosophical

Systems
BUDDHISM
1. The truth of suffering (Dukkha)
2. The truth of the origin of suffering (Samudāya)
3. The truth of the cessation of suffering (Nirodha)
4. The truth of the path to the cessation of suffering
(Magga)
The Four Noble Truths

1. Greed and desire, represented in art by a rooster
2. Ignorance or delusion, represented by a pig
3. Hatred and destructive urges, represented by a snake
The Three Roots of Evil

(Samudaya)
Enlightenment
Nirvana
The final Noble Truth is the Buddha's prescription for the
end of suffering. This is a set of principles called the
Eightfold Path.
Path to the Cessation of

Suffering (Magga)
• Right Understanding - Sammā ditthi
• Right Intention - Sammā san̄kappa
• Right Speech - Sammā vācā
• Right Action - Sammā kammanta
• Right Livelihood - Sammā ājīva
• Right Effort - Sammā vāyāma
• Right Mindfulness - Sammā sati
• Right Concentration - Sammā samādhi
The Noble Eightfold Path

• Wisdom (right understanding and intention),
• Ethical Conduct (right speech, action and livelihood) and;
• Meditation (right effort, mindfulness and concentration).
The eight stages can be

grouped into:
CONFUCIANISM
1. Jen (wren)
2. Li (lee)
3. Yi (yee)
4. Hsiao (showe)
5. Chih (chee)
6. Chun-tzu (choon dzuh)
7. Te (day)
DAOISM
• Chinese philosophical and religious system
• The influence of Daoism has been second only to that of
Confucianism.
Daoism
Daodejing (Tao-te Ching, Classic of the Way and Its Power)
Basic Tenets
• De = virtue
• Wu wei = do nothing
• Ziran = spontaneity
Philosophy of
Man with Logic
Man and Spirituality
• The concept of God as the greatest being implies that God
exists—if not, there could be something greater, namely
an existent greatest being—but this being would be God.
Anselm's "Ontological
Argument"
Part I. The Argument from Motion.
a. Evident to our senses in motion
b. Whatever is moved is moved by something else.
c. Unless there is a First Mover, there can be no motions.
d. Thus, a First Mover exists
Thomas Aquinas, “The

Five Ways”
Part II. The Argument from Efficient Cause. (The sequence of
causes which make up this universe must have a First Cause.)
a. There is an efficient cause for everything; nothing can be the
efficient cause of itself.
b. It is not possible to regress to infinity in efficient causes.
c. To take away the cause is to take away the effect.
d. If there’s no first cause then there will be no others.
e. Therefore, a First Cause exists (and this is God)
Part III. The Argument to Necessary Being.
a. Since objects in the universe come into being and pass away, it
is possible for those objects to exist or for those objects not to
exist at any given time.
b. Since objects are countable, the objects in the universe are

finite in number.
c. If, for all existent objects, they do not exist at some time, then,
given infinite time, there would be nothing in existence.
d. But, in fact, many objects exist in the universe.
e. Therefore, a Necessary Being.

Part IV. The Argument from Gradation.
a. There are different degrees of goodness in different things.
b. There are different degrees of being in different things
c. For there to be degrees of being at all, there must be something
which has being in the highest degree.
d. Therefore, a Being in the Highest Degree or Perfect Being
exists.
Part V. The Argument from Design. (Also named “The
Teleological Argument”
a. All things have an order or arrangement, and work for an end.
b. The order of the universe cannot be explained by chance, but
only by design and purpose.
c. Design and purpose is a product of intelligence.
d. Therefore nature is directed by a Divine Intelligence or Great
Designer.
Blaise Pascal
• According to Pascal, how much can be known about
God?
• God is so completely different from us that there is no
way for us to comprehend him.
• We can know that God is, but we cannot know what God
is.
Pascal’s Wager
Philosophy of
Man with Logic
Freedom
Freedom
Augustine the Converted
Converter
• One of the greatest Christian philosophers of antiquity.
• Brought classical pagan philosophy together with
Christian thought to create a theology
Augustine the Converted

Converter
• He was introduced by Ambrose, the eminent bishop of
Milan, to Neo-platonism.
• He was converted to Christianity in 386
• In 391, Augustine was forced to accept ordination as
assistant priest to the old bishop
Augustine’s View of
Knowing God
"At long last I came to love you, beauty so ancient, yet ever
new." (Confessions x.37)
The Conversion of
Augustine
• The Earthly and Heavenly cities
• History is linear and works toward a predestined end.
• The Christian was not just involved in his own personal
salvation, but was part of the Creator's master plan.
The Cosmic Plan

• Response to the dualism of Manichaeism which saw evil
as a potent force, equal and opposite to good.
• Nothing created by God is evil by nature.
• The source of sin is the result of the soul's weakness and
this is due to its being created out of nothing.
• Evil is simply misdirected love; evil is just a lack of good,
a privation of the good.
The Problem of Evil

• Augustine always maintained the idea of man's free will.
• But Augustine believed that God can know things without
undermining free will.
• Augustine traces the inevitability of man's sinning, not to
God, but to Adam.
• Now it is only through God's grace that man can come
to eternal goodness, beauty and truth.
Original Sin
• The essential nature of man is not reason but will
• But man tends to will something other than the true God,
create God in his own image, unless touched by Divine
Grace.
Philosophy and Theology

United
• Within this scheme of things, sex posed a particular
problem. Augustine could never bring himself to reject
sex as an evil.
• Once he converted to Christianity, he promoted the idea
of the beauty of all God's creation
• He insisted that in marriage, the carnal act was "put to a
good and right use" and that the physical delight of the
act should be distinguished from the libido which is the
wrong use of the impulse.
The Problem of Sex

• For Augustine, all true knowledge proceeds from God.
• Influenced by the Neo-platonists, he regarded the soul as
having an inherent power of self-knowledge.
• For Plato, the Form of the Good, or the One, was superior to
all others.
• Understanding comes, only when God illuminates the soul,
which has been suitably prepared and purified, making the
Forms visible to the inner eye of intelligence. To know, is to
know God.
Illumination
Sartre, the Existentialist
• Sartre's philosophy of freedom derives from the existentialist
claim that existence precedes essence.
• He argued that there is no such thing as a given "human
nature", determining how we act and behave.
• We can choose to abandon ourselves passively to the prevailing
state of affairs, conform to status quo -
• Sartre seized on the need to view everyday objects as
phenomena
• His first philosophical works explored the importance of
the imagination.
• Therein lay a major aspect of human freedom
Freedom
• Freedom is not something man must strive for.
• A condition of his very being which he must confront and
accept.
• "He was free, free for everything, free to act like an animal or
like a machine... He could do what he wanted to do, nobody
had the right to advise him... He was alone in a monstrous
silence, free and alone, without an excuse, condemned to
decide without any possible recourse, condemned forever to be
free."(de Beauvoir "Prime of Life" 135)
Philosophy of Freedom
• Philosophy left the hallowed halls of academia
• He wrote novels and plays. Philosophical issues are not
abstract.
• "Being and Nothingness"
Being in the World

• Conscious subject (being-for-itself)
• "nothingness"
Being in Nothingness
• “must do something more than observe and react; he must
grasp the meaning of phenomena, and pin them down in
words."
Phenomenology
1. The being of "in-itself" ("en soi"),
2. The being of "for-itself" ("pour soi")
Two regions of being

within consciousness
• Anguish.
• The emptiness has to be filled.
• This is "bad faith"; this is self deception.
• We must have the courage to always seek moral
authenticity.
Anguish and Bad Faith

LOVE
Relationships
Hegel, the Absolute
Idealist
• Universal Mind or Spirit (Geist)
• History is the embodiment of Mind's dialectic
Hegel, the Absolute

Idealist
• The history of philosophy is the history of the developing
self-consciousness of Mind.
• “elements of an organic unity”
• Reality is constituted by the mind but at first, the mind
does not realize this.
Absolute Knowledge
• The Nation State is a great organic totality.
• This contemporary engraving depicts choirs of citizens
singing hymns of praise to the Supreme Being.
The Mind of the People

• Totality of all rational truth.
• A unity-in-diversity.
• The totality of Mind.
Absolute Mind
• The state is the only true individual
• Their will to personal liberty has been consonant with the
larger historical movements of the time.
The Individual Will

• Formal freedom and substantial freedom.
Freedom
Philosophy of
Man with Logic
Ethics and Justice
Immanuel Kant
Central figure of modern philosophy
Immanuel Kant
For deontologists, right action consists solely in the
conformity of an action to a justified rule or principle.
The Categorical
Imperative
The only thing that is "good without qualification."
Good Will
• Imperatives are commands.
• Hypothetical Imperatives
• IF YOU WANT 'A,' THEN YOU OUGHT TO DO 'B.'
The Nature of Imperatives

"Act only on that maxim whereby thou canst at the same
time will that it should become a universal law."
Moral Law:
"Act as if the maxim of your action were to secure through
your will a universal law of nature"
First Formulation:
"Act so that you treat humanity, whether in your own person or
that of another, always as an end and never as a means only"
Second Formulation:
• Duties Toward Oneself (Perfect: Self-Preservation, Imperfect:
Self-Cultivation) and;
• Duties Toward Others (Perfect: Strict Obligation, Imperfect:

Beneficence).
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
• The Affirmation of Life
• Life is terrible and tragic
• The superior person realizes this and has the strength to say
"yes" to life
FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE
• All is born with a will to power; that is, the driving force
of humanity.
• The superior person neither shrinks from the struggle of

life, nor struggles blindly, but wills to live deliberately
and consciously.
Will to Power
1. Master-morality
2. Slave-morality
Critique Of Morality
• Implications of the Death of God according to Nietzsche:
• Rejection of absolute values. (Can’t have a "secularized"
form of Christianity)
• Nihilism (because most men in the West know no other
values but Christian values)
• "Active nihilism" a nihilism that seeks to destroy what it no
longer believes
“God is dead.”
A philosophical worldview which emphasizes equality and
liberty among men.
Liberalism
Jeremy Bentham
"natural law"
"Principle of Utility."
Jeremy Bentham
• Its intensity.
• Its duration.
• Its certainty or uncertainty.
• Its propinquity or remoteness.
• Its fecundity
• Its purity.
• Its extent
The Utilitarian Calculus

John Rawls
THEORY OF JUSTICE - “one of the most important works
in moral philosophy”
John Rawls
• First Principle
• Second Principle
• To the greatest benefit of the least advantaged
• Attached to offices and positions open to all under
conditions of fair equality of opportunity
A Theory of Justice

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Introduction to Philosophy

Welcome to the first module of this course, Philosophy of Man with

In a same sense, Philosophy is the study of nature of knowledge,

According to Jacques Maritain, “Philosophy is the science by which

As you move further in this course, your understanding of philosophy

Bertrand Russel’s Value of Philosophy

Philosophy of Man with Logic 1

Philosophy, like all other studies, aims primarily at knowledge.

 Has no definite answer that can be given

 Its role is to keep alive that speculative interest in the

 The greatness of the objects which it contemplates, and

Ontology. Ontology is the study of being and existence; of being as

Epistemology is the study of nature and scope of knowledge and

Morality. Ethics has a sub-field called Morality. It is the study of set

Another branch of Philosophy is called Aesthetics. Aesthetics is

As a part of this course, Logic is a basic branch of Philosophy that

Philosophy of Man with Logic 3

We cannot really deny that Philosophy is in everything even in

Cosmology is a branch of philosophy which deals with the

And finally, we have Theodicy. Theodicy does not question

2. In your own words, prepare a table that summarizes your

Fundamental - most important part of something

Justification - an acceptable reason for doing something

Medicine - the science that deals with treating disease.

Ultimate - greatest or most extreme

Branches of Philosophy. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.philosophy-

Dungen, W. V. D. (2009). Theodicy. Retrieved from

Maritain, J. (2005). An Introduction to Philosophy (Sheed and Ward Classic).

Russel, B. (n.d.). The Problems of Philosophy. Retrieved

Philosophy of Man with Logic 5

Basic Terms in Logic

Welcome to the second module of this course, Philosophy of man with

Zeno the Stoic first coined the word “logic.”

Logic came from the Greek term:

λογικε ( logike ) which means a “thought”

Aristotle considered Logic as the “organon” or the tool or instrument of the

It is a science because it is a systematized body of knowledge about the

Formal and Material Logic

Formal Logic discusses the conceptual patterns or structures needed for a

Philosophy of Man with Logic 1

I. Simple Apprehension: First Intelletual Act

It is through simple apprehension that the intellect forms a mental image of

Apprehension is the beginning of knowledge. It is when we have an

Idea and Term: Product of Apprehension

Idea is the mental product of the apprehension. It is the mental or intellectual

An idea is formed through the process called abstraction.

Abstraction is defined as the process by which the intellect strips the

Term is the external manifestation or sign of an idea. It is a written or

Idea exists in the mind, but when it is expressed or manifested verbally, it

The term is considered as a conventional sign, and as a sign it stands for

II. Comprehension and Extension: Logical Properties of Idea or

Extension is the sum-total of all the individuals, things or beings or groups

AdU, NU, UERM, etc.

Philosophy of Man with Logic 3

AMA, STI, Samson Tech, All

A Pontifical and Catholic Institution

III. Classification of Terms

1. Univocal – A univocal term is a term that is used in an identical sense. It

e.g. Homo Sapiens, Homo Erectus, solar system, heliocentricism, Rector

Water is heavier than air and the air outside is fresh.

2. Equivocal – An equivocal term is a term that expresses two or more

a. pronunciation as in, son-sun, sweet-suite, pain-pane;