1 a What is Philosophy

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Sculptor: Neil Dawson "Horizons"

What is philosophy?

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What is philosophy?

How are we going to answer this question?

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What is philosophy?

How are we going to answer this question?

1. Reading samples of philosophical texts

2. Contrasting philosophy with other areas

3. Doing philosophy

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380BC 1077 1274 1641 1955 1970 2008 Aristotle 384 BC

Hume 1776

Kant 1785

Clifford 1877 Dennett 1978

Some of the works we’ll read

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Level of difficulty of the readings

Rachels [long]

Descartes [short but difficult]

Clifford [a bit long]

Dennett [fun short story]

Churchland [a bit long]

Flew & Mitchell [short, but a bit difficult]

Nussbaum [long]

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This week

General goals and methods of philosophy

Why study philosophy?

Course requirements

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History of Western Philosophy

Ancient (6th BC – 5th AC)

Medieval (5th - 14th Century)

Modern (16th–today?)

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Things that have changed throughout the history of philosophy

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Things that have changed throughout the history of philosophy

Objects studied Methods used Relations among different disciplines Priority of some questions

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Philosophical tasks that will always be important

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Philosophical tasks that will always be important

Analyzing important concepts Examining basic assumptions Evaluating sources of beliefs Understanding questions about values Exploring connections among different

areas of research

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Conceptual analysis

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Conceptual analysis

Basic goal Clarify our concepts by defining them in

terms of simpler components

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Importance of Conceptual Analysis

Before debating We need to clarify the terms used in a

debate

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Importance of Conceptual Analysis

Decision-making Important decisions depend on how we

define our concepts Examples: Happiness, freedom, love,

justice, democracy, knowledge, evidence

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Questions for later

What are concepts? What is to analyze them? What tools can we use to analyze them?

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Examining our beliefs and sources

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Examining our beliefs and sources

Basic questions Do I have good arguments and enough

evidence for my basic beliefs? Is my belief system coherent?

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Questions for later

Why examine our beliefs? How far should we go?

How can we begin to examine our beliefs? What is knowledge, opinion, evidence?

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Questions about values

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Questions about values

Not the same thing: Describing Explaining Evaluating

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Questions about values

Example: What happened? How did it happen? Is what happened right?

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Example: What kind of education do students get in different countries? What kind of education is more efficient, valuable, etc?

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Terms related to values

Normative Related to values and evaluations

Normative statement An evaluation according to some standard

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Normative terms

Examples Ethical vs. unethical Rational vs. irrational Efficient vs. inefficient Artistically valuable vs. no artistic value

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Questions for later

Are all evaluations just a matter of opinion?

What makes ethical statements true or false?

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Connections among different areas

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Connections among different areas

Beyond a particular problem Implications of a result outside its

discipline

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Connections among different areas

Examples Technology and ethics Neuroscience and personal identity Biology and politics

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Consistency between belief-systems

Example Are the teachings of religion X compatible

with science? Are my political beliefs compatible with the

findings of psychology and sociology?

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Areas of philosophy today

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Theoretical philosophy

Epistemology: What is knowledge? How do we know?

Ontology: What kinds of things exist (e.g., minds, numbers, gods)?

Philosophy of mathematics, science, mind, language, etc.

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Practical philosophy

Ethics Political philosophy Philosophy of religion, art, law, technology,

etc.

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Recap

Philosophical tasksAnalyzing important conceptsExamining basic assumptions Evaluating sources of beliefsUnderstanding questions about valuesExploring connections among different areas of research