Philosophy exam

1. Define the difference between philosophy and common sence

• Philosophy does not have a lot to do with common sense!

• Common sense :

• a form of evidence that is based on conventional wisdom and tradition,

• Sound judgement not based on specialized knowledge

• Native good judgement

• The unreflective opinions of ordinary people

• Common sense: „Everything that can be seen or touched or smelled; everything that can be sensually perceived”

• Philosophy: „Is it really so? On what premisses do we assume that what I see is what really exists?”

• Common sense: conservative, lazy, popular

• Philosophy: inquiring, critical, ironic, revolutionary

• Common sense

• People cannot be trusted

• There is no justice

• I know what I see

• Philosophy

• What people? What is trust?

• What is justice? How do we apply justice

My knowledge is based on my reasoning

2. Define the difference between philosophy and humanities/science

• The basic and most fundamental difference between philosophy and sciences is the subject of their research: while the subject of sciences as well as humanities is limited and restricted, the subject of philosophy goes far beyond their main fields and frames of reference.

• Thus philosophy is much more UNIVERSAL: the subject of sciences cannot be discussed

• For example: a physicist does not question the idea of causation, physicist simply use this idea for the explanation of physical phenomena; a philosopher may or may not trust this notion and may event rebut a such a presumption.

• the method of the sciences and humanities is experimental (empirical)

• the method of philosophy is neither simply experimental nor simply deductive. Philosophy questions our way of perceiving the world, it questions the sources of human knowledge and questions the veracity of human experience.

3. Define the difference between philosophy and ideology

• Philosophy is not ideology!

Ideology:

• a set of doctrines or beliefs that form the basis of a political, economic, or other system

• the body of ideas reflecting the social needs and aspirations of an individual, group, class, or culture.

• Ideology may refer to Philosophy but it never simply reflects or copy a given philosophical system, for the simple reason that philosophers (with a few exceptions) never give us simple, ready-made recipes for life and action.

• Ideology needs simplicity and reduction: it is usually based on a few essential statements: a complicated and sophisticated ideology would be useless.

4. What are the three general branches of phylosophy/what are the basic philosophycal questions?

Theoretical

• Ontology

• Epistemology

• Pratical

• Axiology

• Ethics

• Aesthetics

• Political Philosophy

Ontology

philosophical inquiry into the nature of being itself, a branch of metaphysics

• Branch of metaphysics concerned with identifying, in the most general terms, the kinds of things that actually exist Thus, the "ontological commitments" of a philosophical position include both its explicit assertions and its implicit presuppositions about the existence of entities, substances or beings of particular kinds.

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• What is nature of the world?

• What exists?

Epistemology

• Branch of philosophy that investigates the possibility, origins, nature, and extent of human knowledge

• What are the sources of human knowlege?

• What is the defintion of truth?

• How can I be certain?

Axiology

• axiology - Branch of philosophy that studies judgments about value, including those of both aesthetics and ethics Thinking about value at this general level commonly emphasizes the diversity and incommensurability of the many sorts of things which have value for us.

• Axiology – what is a value? What is the nature of values?

• Ethics - Branch of philosophy concerned with the evaluation of human conduct.