WHAT DO YOU HAVE IN COMMON… HZT 4U PHILOSOPHY A QUICK INTRO

WITH THESE PEOPLE? They studied Philosophy!

WHAT’S YOUR STARTING POINT? What do you think philosophy is all about? What makes philosophy different from other courses? What do we mean when we say things like: “I’m being philosophical about _____________________ (my life, this situation…)

WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY? The use of reason and argument to search for truth and knowledge about reality. Philia = “love” Sophia = “Wisdom” Literally, the “love of wisdom”

THE STARTING POINT OF PHILOSOPHY Awe Wonder A question A puzzle A riddle “Philosophy begins in wonder. And, at the end, when philosophic thought has done its best, the wonder remains.” -Alfred North Whitehead

BEGINNING WITH WONDER… Philosophers use thoughtful reflection to investigate: The meaning of life What decisions should we make How should we live our lives

AS WELL AS ON OTHER TOPICS LIKE… Education Family Business Work Play Sports Medicine Health Aging Happiness Friendship Law Ethics Punishment Rewards Social class Euthanasia Abortion …

PHILOSOPHERS Study questions not easily answered by other methods Continue studying areas where thoughtful reasoning and argument are important Study: The nature of the universe & the place of humans in it Humans as members of society What can we know and understand, and why Issues where observation alone can’t help

BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY Logic Metaphysics Ethics Epistemology Social & Political Philosophy Aesthetics Philosophy of ______________

MAIN PERIODS IN PHILOSOPHY Ancient Classical period: 700 BCE-300 CE Middle Ages Medieval period: 900 – 1400 CE Modern Renaissance: 1500 – 1600 CE Enlightenment: 1687 – 1789 CE Early Modern: 1500 – 1800 CE Late Modern: 1800’s Contemporary: 1900 – present

CLASSICAL PERIOD Ancient Chinese: celestial & earthly realms Order within heavens  order in kingdom, family Lao Tzu (604 BCE): Taoism Ancient Indian: Upanishads Underlying reality behind mere appearances Illusions, Maya Yajnavalkya, Gargi Vachaknavi

CLASSICAL CONT. Ancient Greece Plato, b. 428/427 BCE – d. 348/347 BCE Student of Socrates Teacher of Aristotle Plato: basis of western Phil. “Socratic” dialogues mastery in rhetoric Topics: metaphysics & ethics Aristotle, BCE Topics: aesthetics, logic, physics, biology, politics, theatre, poetry Stoicism, 301 BCE – 180 CE Zeno, Panaetius, Posidonius, Seneca, Marcus Aurelius “spiritual” philosophy: reflect on good/evil, logic

CLASSICAL… St. Augustine of Hippo (354 – 430 CE) North African Scholar Catholic Theologian & Philosopher Used Stoicism: City of God, City of Man Hypatia of Alexandria ( CE) Philosopher, mathematician, astronomer Neo-Platonist No writings left, strong following, placed high value on science

MEDIEVAL PERIOD Great thinkers: logic, physics, theology, politics Ibn Rushd (Averroes) Thomas Aquinas Shri Madhvacharya William of Occam

RENAISSANCE Philosophers embraced a rebirth of classical ideas Neoplatonism: a religious, mystical philosophy from the 3 rd C CE. Humanism: included changing educational systems French humanist: Michel Eyquem de Montaigne English philosopher: Francis Bacon

ENLIGHTENMENT Isaac Newton ), Principia John Locke David Hume Jean-Jacques Rousseau Immanuel Kant Mary Wollstonecraft

EARLY MODERN René Descartes Thomas Hobbes Blaise Pascal

LATE MODERN Massive industrialization, developments in science & technology John Locke David Hume Jean-Jacques Rousseau Immanuel Kant Gottfried Leibniz Jeremy Bentham

CONTEMPORARY PERIOD Key beliefs that developed: Deconstruction Existentialism Structuralism Naturalism Quietism Thinkers: Jean-Paul Sartre Simone de Beauvoir Michel Foucault Jacques Derrida Ludwig Wittgenstein Martin Heidegger