PHILOSOPHY: DEFINING IT

The word philosophy means different things to different people. Most often, philosophy is associated with the Filipino word pilosopo which has a different connotation. Sometimes, pilosopo is equated with the Spanish word falta razon which would mean illogical or being out of reason. Boersema (2009) said that even among philosophers themselves there is no single definition or notion that is universally accepted. On this note, some philosophers claim that the word philosophy cannot be defined since it is a way of life, a process, and thus cannot be defined. On the other hand, there are philosophers who attempted and insisted on defining philosophy.

Defining philosophy is in two ways: nominal and real. Nominal is derived from the Latin word nominalis which means with reference to a name. Hence, a nominal definition focuses on the name of a thing or concept without pointing out to the nature or essence of the thing that the term stands for. For example, the word Philanthropist is taken from the word Phil which is love, and anthropos which is man. Hence, a philanthropist is one who loves a fellow man. On the other hand, the word real is taken from the Latin Realis which means with reference to a reality. Real definition provides the nature or essence of the thing or concept that the term stands for. Taking again the word philanthropist as an example, a philanthropist is a humanitarian, especially one who disinterestedly gives large gifts of money for particular causes.

Dealing on the nominal definition of the word philosophy, it is taken from the two Greek words which were coined by Pythagoras. These two Greek words were Philos and Sophia (other authors would use philia or philein instead of philos). Philos means love and sophia means wisdom, so nominally, philosophy means "love of wisdom". According to Babor (2001), love is an urge, or drive of the will towards a particular object. As a drive, love seeks unity with its object; it desires to possess its object. On the other hand, wisdom is the good exercise or the application of knowledge. For Boersema (2009), "wisdom is a matter of understanding of how facts are interrelated, knowing underlying causes and connections, even knowing consequences or implications of those facts."

On its real definition, "philosophy is the science that investigates all things in their ultimate causes, reasons, and principles through human reason alone" (Babor, 2001). This definition gives a comprehensive understanding of the characteristics, nature and essence of philosophy as a field of knowledge. Philosophy as a science means it is a body of knowledge that is organized, systematic, evidenced and certain. Philosophy is a science of beings. The term being can refer to any reality that exists. Beings, therefore, can be spiritual being, mental beings, and material beings. This means that the field where philosophy covers and deals with is comprehensive and all-embracing as it considers all things as its subject matter.

Philosophy seeks for the ultimate reasons, causes and principles of beings. This means that philosophy provides an ultimate explanation in its search for truth. Because of this, philosophy is regarded as a universal science. As a universal science, it seeks to answer the fundamental questions about its object of study. Philosophy is unlimited in its scope. It sets no boundaries on its subject matter, while any departmental science is limited in its scope. Departmental science would only seek for proximate explanation, those that are observable and experiential to the senses. For example, Biology as departmental science and philosophy will provide a different explanation to the question: what is man? Biology would explain man as a living organism, with needs and desires. This explanation is directly and sensibly experienced. Philosophy goes deeper and beyond the explanations of the departmental sciences. Philosophy would ask deepest question like "What makes man a man?", "Why man is rational?" "What is the purpose of man?" The answers to these questions are not readily available and cannot be from any form of experimentation. These questions require deep thinking in the search for the ultimate answers.

The explanations and answers provided by philosophy are founded on ultimate reasons, causes and principles. Reason refers to terminal purpose of a thing, while a cause is anything that brings about a result or effect. For example, a question may be raised as, "What is the reason of man's existence?" "What is the cause of man's existence?" Putting back to mind Aristotle's four kinds of causes, they are as follows: material, formal, efficient, and final. Material cause is the material composition of a thing; formal cause is the essence or that which makes a thing in its fundamental actuality; efficient cause is something or a being that brings about a change and produces an object; final cause is the purpose of why such an action comes about. A simple illustration of the four causes is that of man. The material cause of man includes flesh, bones and fluids; formal cause is the wholeness of its body and its rational nature; the efficient cause is the parents; the final cause is happiness in communion with God.

The last thing to be considered in the real definition of philosophy is that philosophy uses human reason alone in dealing with its subject matter. This means that philosophy does not utilize faith or data from divine revelation to explicate certain phenomena under study. However, faith and reason do not in conflict with each other because their objective is the attainment of one and the same truth. Faith and reason are just different tools or ways by which truth can be known. Cruz (1995) said, "The only distinction is that philosophy sees reality in the domain of reason alone while theology views reality in the domain of faith and reason. Because of this, we may say that the beginning of theology is the end of philosophy, or where philosophy ends, theology begins."

The definition of philosophy above seemed lengthy for it discusses almost every word in the definition. Corazon Cruz provided a brief real definition as "search for meaning" (Cruz, 1995). But as mentioned, there is no single definition of philosophy that is universally accepted.

Chinese people also have their own definition of philosophy which is Zhe-Xue, where Zhe means wisdom, and Xue means study, so philosophy is the study of wisdom. This definition of the Chinese is close to the definition of the Greeks which is love of wisdom. The character Zhe also signifies mouth and hand which suggests inseparability of words and actions. With this, Chinese philosophy is the translation of words into actions. Briefly, a person ought to live what he says.

As Chinese have Zhe –Hue for philosophy, similarly, Hindus have their own. For Hindus, philosophy is Darsana. "Darsana means seeing, seeing not only through the eyes, but through the whole being of one who sees" (Babor, 2001). This view of the Hindus means seeing the whole of reality through a total advertence and involvement of the looker. This definition of philosophy is looking at things objectively, removing biases and prejudices on certain realities.

Philosophy as a Study

Unlike other fields of study which has specific purpose and focus, for example, Chemistry which deals on the study of chemicals, philosophy studies any subject area. For this reason, philosophy is not a departmental science; rather, it is a universal science, making it the mother of all sciences. With this, philosophy has a wide range of inquiry such as: What is there? What can be known? How should a life be lived? How to attain happiness? What is good reasoning?

To answer these questions, there are specific branches of philosophy that can provide answers to these queries. There are two main branches: Theoretical and Practical. Theoretical philosophy includes Metaphysics, Ontology, Cosmology, Epistemology, and Theodicy. On the other hand, Practical Philosophy includes Logic, Ethics, Aesthetics, Semantics, and Axiology.

Theoretical

Metaphysics is the study of reality. It answers the questions: What is there? What is man? What makes man rational? What is an individual thing? What is a substance? and others.

Cosmology is the study of the "cosmos" or the universe. It answers the questions, What is time? What is space? What is man in relation to the universe? Is the world created?

Epistemology is the study of the validity of human knowledge. It answers the questions, What is knowledge? "What can be known?" What is the process of knowing? How do we know that what we know is true?

Theodicy is the philosophical study of God. It deals with the questions, Is there God? What are the proofs for God's existence? What is evil? Can we reconcile the existence of God and the presence of evil in the world?

Practical

Logic is the science and art of correct thinking. It raises the questions, "What is good reasoning?" What is correct reasoning? How do we know if our thinking is correct? Correct thinking leads to correct reasoning. This is a necessity that the human person needs to develop in order to avoid fallacies or erroneous judgment. Logic as used technology, or other similar aims is referred to as "formal logic". It uses symbols to represent its arguments. In contemporary times, this is being developed for technological purposes, such as computer processes. Nonetheless, the basics of logic rests in developing correct thinking and finding the best strategies in decision making decisions so as to avoid error and be at ease in making arguments.

Ethics is the science of the morality of human conduct. It answers the question, "How should a life be lived?" This branch is valuable since it deals on how human acts should be performed. How an act is done determines the culpability of the agent, whether he is worthy of praise or blame. To determine whether the human person is acting correctly, he is guided by some norms of morality. These norms are fundamental for man in order for him to live a moral life and to attain the ultimate goal: happiness.

Aesthetics is the study of the nature of works of art and the aesthetic experience. It determines the bases of what make something beautiful. It answers the questions, "What is beauty?" What is a work of art?" "Why are works of art considered to be valuable?"

Semantics is the study of the relationship between words and meanings. This study can be dealt in two ways: in linguistic and in philosophy. In linguistic, it deals with word and sentence meaning in existing languages. On the other hand, in philosophy, it is the abstract study of meaning in relation to language or symbolic logic systems. It basically concerns with the formal relations of signs to one another.

Axiology is the study of value. This value can be treated in different studies such aesthetics and ethics. As it in investigates the nature of beauty and art, it extend its studies to social and political philosophy.

Other disciplines of Philosophy include Philosophy of Science, Law, Politics, Religion, History, Mind, Environment, Literature, Language, and many others.

Importance of Philosophy

The study of philosophy enables us to think carefully and clearly about important issues. We need to be able to look beneath and beyond specific circumstances or examples (as in our kleptomania example), to examine whether our beliefs, theories and arguments contain hidden assumptions or gaps which might lead us to jump to unwarranted conclusions, or to hold inconsistent opinions. While we can often afford to take for granted such received wisdom in our daily lives, it is vitally important to be able to examine issues critically, to spot where underlying opinions influence areas of our thinking (for good or ill), and to identify what the consequences might be if we are led to change our beliefs. This is where philosophy comes into its own. In studying philosophy, we learn to take a step back from our everyday thinking, and to explore the deeper, bigger questions which underpin our thought. We learn to identify hidden connections and flawed reasoning, and we seek to develop our thinking and theories so that they are less prone to such errors, gaps and inconsistencies. This is a vital contribution to human knowledge. It prompts you to work across disciplinary boundaries, and to think flexibly and creatively about problems which do not present immediate solutions. Because philosophy is an activity as much as a body of knowledge, it also develops your ability to think and work independently.

Among the given definitions of philosophy, the ancient definition coined by Pythagoras, philos and sophia- love of wisdom is the one that gain many adherents. It is logical that there is nothing greater in this world than to seek and possess wisdom. Philosophy is the mother of all sciences since it does not confine itself to one and single area of study. As such, it provided several branches with specific purpose. In its search for truth, philosophy develops the agent to think critically and clearly so as to live aesthetically.

Modes/Methods of Philosophizing

Philosophy as a universal science serves different fields of study. To address different issues on each field, a method is a necessary. A method of philosophizing must be systematic, consistent, and capable of arriving at philosophical knowledge. Since the fields of study vary, approaches or methods being used likewise vary. Below are some of the basic methods of philosophizing:

Natural reason. The desire to know, to understand, and to determine the causes of things are aided by reason. In looking for the truth through analyzing particular situations is basically established by the aid of human reason. The use of the senses which lead to experiences are bases for analyses and investigations. From these analyses and investigations, one may be able to build philosophical notions.

Speculative Method. Philosophy is both speculative and practical. Speculative in this sense means theoretical since philosophy seek to know and understand. It investigates; it uncovers, and observes its subject matter. Moreover, the word theoretical in Greek theorein means to look at, to view or to contemplate. Hence, speculation seeks knowledge for its own sake.

Analytic. This method clarifies the meaning of concepts in their contextual used. By this, the agent analyses and examines the concepts, word, issues so as to determine its meaning. When meanings are properly of concepts are properly clarified, man is able to find solutions to his problems and he also able avoid difficulties.

Prescriptive. This method prescribes what course of actions should be followed after it has been analyzed. It aimed at providing criteria or conditions that will guide the agent in his judgment of issues and concerns. It offers norms or standards for particular course of behavior.

Historical. This method traces back the development of a particular study. It tries to give considerations to the significant periods of historical events. Through historical method, new concepts and innovations are produced.

6. Idealism. Advocates of this philosophical doctrine include Plato and Hegel. This method of philosophizing believes that ideas are the only reality. What the mind can conceive is more powerful than what can be perceived by the senses.

7. Realism. This is the anti-thesis of Idealism. The universe exists whether the mind conceives it or not.

8. Pragmatism teaches that practical consequences or real effects are vital components of meaning and truth. The basis of truth depends upon workability or practicality.

9. Existentialism emphasizes individual existence, freedom, and choice. The human person himself who defines the meaning of his life, and no one else, even God.

10. Dogmatism. Some proponents of this method include Descartes, Spinoza and Leibnitz. They believe that certain fundamental principles are self-evident and axiomatic; hence, do not need explanation or proof. Moreover, dogmatism may deduce conclusions from unproved premises

11. Empiricism. Some proponents include Bacon, Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Mill, and Bain. This method claims that all knowledge, whether scientific or philosophical, have its origin from sensations. This means that anything can be considered as knowledge if it passes through the senses, and can be verified by the senses itself.

12. Skepticism. Advocates of this doctrine include Hume, Mill, Bain, and Spencer. The extreme and consistent form of empiricism is Skepticism. They argue that that data provided by the senses are not reliable for one to consider something as knowledge. Hence, if the data provided by the senses are not reliable, then, neither the people are capable of understanding anything outside the boundaries of the senses. With this, they claim that people are incapable of acquiring true and certain knowledge.

13. Criticism. Kant is a great advocate of critical method. This method believes that a true philosophical method must be critical. Hence, anything that can be considered knowledge must surpass a critical inquiry, determining its nature, origin and its limits. By this, the range of philosophical investigations determined.

14. Rationalism. Rationalism depend its claim for knowledge on reason. As such, this method claims that knowledge is a product of reason interpreted by reason. Sensations and feelings are meaningless unless interpreted by reason. Hence, in the structure of knowledge, reason is prominent versus sensations and feelings.

15. Dialectical Method. Hegel is known for this method. He believes that the proper method for philosophy is dialectic. This method involves thesis, anti-thesis, and synthesis. Thesis refers to the positive facts brought about by thinking over a certain problem. Thesis is some facts encountered contradicting the thesis. The contradiction must be settled ending up to synthesis. Knowledge, therefore, grows through thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, referred to as dialectical method.