Introduction (Philosophical and Sociological basis of Education) B.ED Notes

 

Introduction of Philosophy

• Philosophy (from Greek φιλοσοφία, philosophia, literally "love of wisdom") is the study of general and fundamental questions about existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. The term was probably coined by Pythagoras (c. 570 – 495 BCE). Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument, and systematic presentation. Classic philosophical questions include: Is it possible to know anything and to prove it? What is most real? Philosophers also pose more practical and concrete questions such as: Is there a best way to live? Is it better to be just or unjust (if one can get away with it)?] Do humans have free will?

• Historically, "philosophy" encompassed any body of knowledge. From the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century, "natural philosophy" encompassed astronomy, medicine, and physics. For example, Newton's 1687Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics. In the 19th century, the growth of modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize and specialize. In the modern era, some investigations that were traditionally part of philosophy became separate academic disciplines, including psychology, sociology, linguistics, and economics

• Other investigations closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits remained part of philosophy. For example, is beauty objective or subjective? Are there many scientific methods or just one? Is political utopia a hopeful dream or hopeless fantasy? Major sub-fields of academic philosophy include metaphysics ("concerned with the fundamental nature of reality and being"),epistemology (about the "nature and grounds of knowledge its limits and validity, ethics, aesthetics, politicalphilosophy, logic and philosophy of science

Categories of Philosophy

• Philosophical questions can be grouped into categories. These

groupings allow philosophers to focus on a set of similar topics and

interact with other thinkers who are interested in the same

questions. The groupings also make philosophy easier for students

to approach. Students can learn the basic principles involved in one

aspect of the field without being overwhelmed with the entire set

of philosophical theories.

• Various sources present different categorical schemes. The

categories adopted in this article aim for breadth and simplicity.

• These five major branches can be separated into sub-branches and

each sub-branch contains many specific fields of study.

• Metaphysics and epistemology

• Value theory

• Science, logic and mathematics

Metaphysics

• Metaphysics is the study of the most general features of reality, such

as existence, time, objects and their properties, wholes and their parts,

events, processes and causation and the relationship

between mind and body. Metaphysics includes cosmology, the study of

the world in its entirety and ontology, the study of being.

• A major point of debate is between realism, which holds that there are

entities that exist independently of their mental perception

and idealism, which holds that reality is mentally constructed or

otherwise immaterial. Metaphysics deals with the topic

of identity. Essence is the set of attributes that make an object what it

fundamentally is and without which it loses its identity while accident is

a property that the object has, without which the object can still retain

its identity. Particulars are objects that are said to exist in space and

time, as opposed to abstract objects, such as numbers, and universals,

which are properties held by multiple particulars, such as redness or a

gender. The type of existence, if any, of universals and abstract objects

is an issue of debate.

Epistemology

• Epistemology is the study of knowledge (Greek episteme).

Epistemologists study the putative sources of knowledge, including

intuition, a priori reason, memory, perceptual knowledge, selfknowledge

and testimony. They also ask: What is truth? Is

knowledge justified true belief? Are any beliefs justified? Putative

knowledge includes propositional knowledge (knowledge that

something is the case), know-how (knowledge of how to do

something) and acquaintance (familiarity with someone or

something). Epistemologists examine these and ask whether

knowledge is really possible.

• Skepticism is the position which doubts claims to knowledge.

The regress argument, a fundamental problem in epistemology,

occurs when, in order to completely prove any statement, its

justification itself needs to be supported by another justification.

This chain can go on forever, called infinitism, it can eventually rely

on basic beliefs that are left unproven, called foundationalism, or it

can go in a circle so that a statement is included in its own chain of

justification, called coherentism

• Rationalism is the emphasis on reasoning as a source of knowledge.

It is associated with a priori knowledge, which is independent of

experience, such as math and logical deduction. Empiricism is the

emphasis on observational evidence via sensory experience as the

source of knowledge.

• Among the numerous topics within metaphysics and epistemology,

broadly construed are:

• Philosophy of language explores the nature, the origins and the use

of language.

• Philosophy of mind explores the nature of the mind and its

relationship to the body. It is typified by disputes

between dualism and materialism. In recent years this branch has

become related to cognitive science.

• Philosophy of human nature analyzes the unique characteristics of

human beings, such as rationality, politics and culture.

• Metaphilosophy explores the aims of philosophy, its boundaries and

its methods

Value theory

• Value theory (or axiology) is the major branch of philosophy

that addresses topics such as goodness, beauty and justice.

Value theory includes ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy,

feminist philosophy, philosophy of law and more.

• Ethics, or "moral philosophy", studies and considers what is

good and bad conduct, right and wrong values, and good and

evil. Its primary investigations include how to live a good life

and identifying standards of morality. It also includes metainvestigations

about whether a best way to live or related

standards exists. The main branches of ethics are normative

ethics, meta-ethics and applied ethics.

• A major area of debate involves consequentialism, in which

actions are judged by the potential results of the act, such as

to maximize happiness, called utilitarianism, and deontology,

in which actions are judged by how they adhere to principles,

irrespective of negative ends.

Aesthetics-

• Aesthetics is the "critical reflection on art, culture

and nature. It addresses the nature of art, beauty and taste,

enjoyment, emotional values, perception and with the

creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more precisely

defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values,

sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. Its major

divisions are art theory, literary theory, film theory and music

theory. An example from art theory is to discern the set of

principles underlying the work of a particular artist or artistic

movement such as the Cubist aesthetic. The philosophy of

film analyzes films and filmmakers for their philosophical

content and explores film (images, cinema, etc.) as a medium

for philosophical reflection and expression

Logic, science and mathematics

• Many academic disciplines generated philosophical

inquiry. The relationship between "X" and the

"philosophy of X" is debated. Richard

Feynman argued that the philosophy of a topic is

irrelevant to its primary study, saying that

"philosophy of science is as useful to scientists

as ornithology is to birds." Curtis White, by contrast,

argued that philosophical tools are essential to

humanities, sciences and social sciences.

• The topics of philosophy of science are numbers,

symbols and the formal methods of reasoning as

employed in the social sciences and natural sciences

Logic

• Logic is the study of reasoning and argument. An argument is

"a connected series of statements intended to establish a

proposition." The connected series of statements are "premises"

and the proposition is the conclusion. For example:

• All humans are mortal. (premise)

• Socrates is a human. (premise)

• Therefore, Socrates is mortal. (conclusion)

• Deductive reasoning is when, given certain premises, conclusions

are unavoidably implied. Rules of inference are used to infer

conclusions such as, modus ponens, where given “A” and “If A then

B”, then “B” must be concluded.

• Because sound reasoning is an essential element of all

sciences, social sciences and humanities disciplines, logic

became a formal science. Sub-fields include mathematical

logic, philosophical logic,Modal logic, computational logic and nonclassical

logics. A major question in the philosophy of

mathematics is whether mathematical entities are objective and

discovered, called mathematical realism, or invented, called

mathematical antirealism.