Philosophy as Adventures of Ideas

Week1

What is Philosophy?

Kazuyoshi KAMIYAMA

NIT, Ibaraki College

2017/4/15

CONTENTS

What is Philosophy?

Three approaches to this problem

(1) historical approach

(2) problems approach

(3) linguistic approach

linguistic approach 1

linguistic approach 2

To sum up

Why do you learn philosophy?

Recommended Reading

What is Philosophy?

THREE APPROACHES TO THIS PROBLEM

(1) historical approach

(2) problems approach

(3) linguistic approach

(1) HISTORICAL APPROACH

Thales (predicted an eclipse in 585 BC)，Parmenides，Heraclitus，Pythagoras

→ Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle （Greek philosophy）

→ Augustine，Thomas Aquinas （medieval philosophy)

→ Descartes，Locke, Hume, Kant, Hegel (modern philosophy）

→Marx, Nietzsche，Frege, Russell, Wittgenstein, Husserl，Heidegger, Sartre,

Quine, Kuhn, Rawls，Derrida, … （contemporary philosophy）

cf. 16，17，18 centuries：natural science（Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Newton,･･）

philosophy = what these “philosophers” have been doing

(2) PROBLEMS APPROACH

Why is there something rather than nothing?

(the riddle of existence)

What is existence?

What is reality? How much do you know about reality?

Do you really know yourself?

What is knowledge?

What is truth?

What is time? Where is the past?

Are numbers artifacts (objects made by human beings)?

If not, what are they?

Do we have free will or is everything predetermined?

Why should one do what is morally right, and refrain

from doing what is morally wrong?

What is morality?

How should we organize society? What is justice?

Does God exist? Can we prove the existence of God?

Where does the soul go after we die?

What is happiness(or well-being)?

・・・

What is philosophy?

philosophy = the activities for asking and answering to

these “philosophical” problems

THREE FEATURESOF PHILOSOPHICAL PROBLEMS

(1) very general

(2) extraordinary (or fundamental)

(3) not easy to give a clear-cut answer

Science, Religion, Literature, Arts, and SF have

some important things in common with Philosophy.

They are (at least sometimes) adventures of ideas!

philosophy

religion

literature

artsscience

SF

WHY PHILOSOPHY?

Because

there are still lots of deep problems in our world,

or

we are not God.

(There are no philosophical problems for God!)

(3) LINGUISTIC APPROACH 1

the origin of the word “philosophy”

Ancient Greek: φιλοσοφία

φίλος (philos, “beloved”) + σοφία (sophia, “wisdom”)

the love of wisdom

LINGUISTIC APPROACH 2

two senses of the word “philosophy”

1) the narrow sense

philosophy

= what Thales, Plato, etc. have been doing

(the investigation of philosophical problems)

= (or ⊂ ) adventures of ideas

2) the wide or ordinary sense

philosophy = the set of beliefs an individual or an

organization has about what is good and what is

not, which he/she/it would not easily give up

(simply a policy)

ex. Philosophy of Donald Trump

TO SUM UP

philosophy = inquiries about the fundamental problems of the

world and man, or adventures of ideas

(philosophy1)

or

philosophy = the set of beliefs an individual or an organization

has about what is good and what is not, which he/she/it would

not easily give up

(philosophy2)

Ex. (philosophy2)

the philosophy of Steve Jobs,

the Apple Computer, Sony, Shiseido, NY Yankees,

Manchester United, the Unesco, ・・

UNESCO CONSTITUTION

That since wars begin in the minds of men,

it is in the minds of men that the defences of

peace must be constructed.

QUESTION

What’s your philosophy?

WHY DO YOU LEARN PHILOSOPHY?

The higher you climb, the more you need general

points of view-philosophy.

Doing philosophy (philosophy1) is to think about

general, deepest problems, which is going to give

you a general point of view, deep understanding

about yourself, society and world, and to help you to

be an independent, open-minded person who has

philosophy (philosophy2).

NOTE: WHO IS AN OPEN-MINDED PERSON ?

(According to an opinion)

An open-minded person is someone who is willing to consider

ideas, opinions and arguments purely on their merit.

If an idea can be shown to be correct then an open-minded person

will alter their world-view with this new-found knowledge.

If the new idea does not stand up to scrutiny however, it will be

rejected.

NOTE２

Main branches of philosophy1

Ontology(or metaphysics): study of being in general

Epistemology: study of knowledge

Theories of values

Ethics(or moral philosophy): study of proper action,

well-being

Political philosophy: study of justice

Aesthetics: study of beauty

Philosophy of religion: study of sacredness

NOTE3THE ORIGIN OF PHILOSOPHY

“Philosophy begins in wonder.“ (Plato, Theaeteus)

"It was their wonder, astonishment, that first led men

to philosophize and still leads them.“

（Aristotle, Metaphysics)

RECOMMENDED READING

Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections and

Replies, Cambridge University Press, 1986.

ルネ・デカルト『省察』(ちくま学芸文庫)

Jim Holt, Why Does the World Exist?: An Existential Detective Story, Liveright, 2012.

ジム・ホルト『世界はなぜ「ある」のか?:「究極のなぜ?」を追う哲学の旅』 (ハヤカワ・ノンフィクション文庫)

Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese

Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation, Oxford University Press, 1995.

野中・竹内『知識創造企業』東洋経済新報社

Plato, The Republic, Penguin Classics, 2007.プラトン『国家』（岩波文庫）

Karl Jaspers, Way to Wisdom: An Introduction to Philosophy, Second Edition, Yale University

Press, 2003. カール・ヤスパース『哲学入門』（新潮文庫）