Core Philosophical Concepts Explained

Posted on Aug 26, 2025 in Philosophy and ethics

Fundamental Philosophical Concepts

Pre-Rational Ideas & Justification

These concepts often precede or underpin rational thought:

  • Theoretical Justification: The basis for understanding.
  • Imagination: A key faculty in forming ideas.
  • Grounded Understanding: Comprehending the whole tradition.
  • Ultimate Justification: The final and justifying principle.
  • Supernatural: Concepts beyond natural explanation.
  • Arbitrariness: Lack of inherent reason or order.
  • Symbolic: Representation through symbols.

Core Characteristics of Philosophy

Philosophy is distinguished by several key features:

  • Totality of Reality: It seeks to understand the whole of reality.
  • Human Experience: It is interested in all aspects of human experience.
  • Radical Knowledge: Aims to reach the fundamental, explanatory reality, focusing on the ‘why’ rather than just the ‘how’.
  • Rational Knowledge: Seeks to understand and interpret reality through structured arguments and reasoning.
  • Critical Knowledge: Confronts dogmatism by analyzing, evaluating, and questioning assumptions.

Essential Functions of Philosophy

Philosophy plays a crucial role in various domains:

  • Interdisciplinarity: It questions, analyzes, and evaluates the concepts and methods of other fields of knowledge.
  • Defining Truth: Attempts to define what truth is in every field of knowledge and determine the best methods to achieve it.
  • Critical Thinking: Enables us to understand the world, teaches proper reasoning, and encourages abstract thought beyond concrete thinking.
  • Moral and Sociopolitical Guidance: In practice, it guides human behavior in moral and sociopolitical spheres.
  • Ultimate Problems: Deals with fundamental problems that extend beyond the scope of science.

Science: Greco-Medieval vs. Modern Views

Greco-Medieval Scientific Thought

Characterized by:

  • Cosmology: Often Geocentrism (Earth-centered universe).
  • Universe: Heterogeneous (diverse in nature).
  • Vision: Qualitative (focus on qualities).
  • Causality: Emphasis on Final Causality.
  • Model: Theoretical or speculative, often using the living being as a model.
  • Model Science: Biology.
  • Assumptions: Contains philosophical and, in the Middle Ages, theological assumptions.
  • Relationship: Not fully separated from philosophy and theology.

Modern Scientific Paradigm

Characterized by:

  • Cosmology: Heliocentrism (Sun-centered universe).
  • Universe: Homogeneous (uniform in nature).
  • Vision: Quantitative (focus on measurable quantities).
  • Causality: Emphasis on Efficient Causality.
  • Model: Theoretical and practical, often using the machine as a model.
  • Model Science: Mathematics.
  • Assumptions: Contains philosophical assumptions.
  • Relationship: Separates from philosophy and theology.
  • Worldview: Vision is deterministic and causal; the universe is orderly, stable, and predictable.

Doxa vs. Episteme: Opinion and Knowledge

A fundamental distinction in epistemology:

  • Doxa (Opinion):
    • Depends on our senses.
    • Is superficial and limited knowledge.
    • Is uncritical: not analyzed or demonstrated.
    • Explains only a part of reality.
  • Episteme (Knowledge/Science):
    • Depends on objective reality.
    • Is rational, systematic, and organized by a coherent order.
    • Is critical: it analyzes, evaluates, and judges.
    • Seeks to explain the entire reality.

Metaphysics: Substance and Accidents

Defining Substance

Substance: The underlying subject or being that exists by itself. It is what remains when you remove its attributes. It is also referred to as the substratum or essence.

Understanding Accidents

Accidents: These are the qualities of a subject. They do not exist by themselves but in relation to a substance, expressing characteristics such as quality, location, quantity, or time.

Theories of Reality: Monism, Dualism, Pluralism

Monism Explained

Monism: The belief that everything that exists is explained through a single substance. This substance can be material for some, or spiritual for others. The diverse beings we observe are due to qualitative changes from that single underlying reality. Example: For Thales, the origin of everything was water.

Dualism Explained

Dualism: The view that reality is explained from two distinct and often opposite dimensions, typically a material and a spiritual one. Example: Plato believed that man is composed of a material part (the body) and a spiritual part (the soul).

Pluralism Explained

Pluralism: The theory that reality is composed of a plurality of originating principles and substances. Example: For the Greek atomists, everything was explained by atoms moving in a vacuum.

Philosophical Criteria for Truth

Various criteria are used to determine what is true:

  1. Time: The future will reveal whether what we now think is true or false.
  2. Tradition: A thing is considered true due to long-standing custom or common sayings (e.g., proverbs).
  3. Authority: Accepting as true the word of someone considered wise or a leader.
  4. Psychological or Moral Certainty: Conviction based on an internal, subjective feeling of certainty or self-fidelity.
  5. Evidence: The criterion of truth par excellence. Something is believed to be true when it is self-evident, requiring no further proof.
  6. Intersubjectivity and Dialogue: In the scientific model, for example, a hypothesis is considered true if it can be verified by experiment and if there is consensus within the scientific community.