Introduction to Philosophy: Key Concepts and Terms
Myth
Myth: (From the Greek). In the Greek world, myths were stories handed down orally. They explained the origin, source, and relationships among the gods, the origin of man, and vital aspects of life, death, love, destiny, freedom, and guilt. Myths also taught political, social, moral, and even technical rules.
Logos
Logos: (From the Greek logos). A crucial term in rational approaches to the world. It can be translated as thought, reason, concept, word, knowledge, but perhaps the most accurate term is right. Thus, biology explains or gives a reason for living, theology explains God, and anthropology explains man.
A common phrase summarizes the emergence of philosophy: philosophy is the transition from myth to logos. This implies that early philosophers accepted two principles:
- The world is rational; it has a logos.
- We have a logos (or reason) that we use to understand reality and guide our conduct.
Philosophical Learning
Philosophical knowledge is not merely historical (doxographical) knowledge of past figures like Aristotle or Plato. It’s about the present. Philosophy is second-order knowledge, presupposing prior “first-degree” knowledge (technical, political, mathematical, biological, etc.).
Philosophy, in the strict sense, is not the “mother of the sciences.” It presupposes a mature state of science and technology. As second-order knowledge, philosophy doesn’t have a fixed field like mathematics or physics. Its “field” is defined in relation to others, their similarities and contradictions. Identifying these outlines what we call ideas.
Metaphysics
Metaphysics: Any systematic doctrinal construction based on ideas that lack an empirical basis, leading to abstract concepts beyond the phenomenal world. Examples include Soul, God, and the world as a total reality.
Epistemology
Epistemology: The branch of philosophy studying scientific knowledge. It deals with the historical, psychological, and sociological aspects of knowledge acquisition and the criteria for justification or invalidation.
The term “epistemology” is often used interchangeably with “theory of scientific knowledge.” However, its meaning has broadened to encompass “theory of knowledge” in general, including specific epistemologies like scientific epistemology, epistemology of physics, or psychology.
Anthropology
Anthropology: A social science studying human beings holistically. It uses tools and knowledge from natural and social sciences. Anthropology aims to produce knowledge about humans in various areas, always within a societal context. It covers biological evolution, the development and livelihoods of past peoples, current social structures, and the diversity of cultural expressions and languages.
Ethics
Ethics: (From Latin). The branch of philosophy studying human action in terms of standards and goals that determine its rightness. Fundamental notions include goodness and kindness as the end and quality of human action. Different ethical systems are determined by the concept of the ultimate human good. Kant attempted to establish a formal ethics independent of prescriptive and theological content.
Politics
Politics: All matters relating to the polis, or city. The art of governing people. Political wisdom is the wisdom of the ruler.
Logic
Logic: A formal science and branch of philosophy studying the principles of valid demonstration and inference. The word derives from ancient Greek, meaning “endowed with reason, intellectual, dialectical, argumentative.” Logic examines the validity of arguments based on their structure (logical structure), regardless of specific content or language. This makes it a “formal” science.
Traditionally considered part of philosophy, its development has shown close ties to mathematics, leading some to regard it as mathematical logic.
Philosophy
Philosophy: Attributed to Pythagoras, who asked not to be called wise (as only God is truly wise) but a philosopher, a lover of wisdom. Philosophy means love of wisdom.
While there’s no single definition agreed upon by all philosophers, it’s said that human wisdom is the knowledge of all things that humans know or can know. It’s also considered the science of all causes, acquired through reason (often interpreted as the light of reason and the soul).
In conclusion, philosophy is a form of knowledge seeking explanations through reason and rational argument.
Relativism
Relativism: Any philosophical position denying the existence of absolute truths, whether in knowledge, morality, or metaphysics. Protagoras of Abdera is considered the first defender of relativism, stating, “Man is the measure of all things: of the things that are, that they are, and of the things that are not, that they are not.”
Despite being criticized throughout much of philosophy’s history, relativism has seen a resurgence in contemporary thought, particularly in anthropology, sociology, and culture, becoming a widespread position.
Sophism
Sophism: (From the Greek “sophisma,” meaning artifice or specious reasoning). A fallacy, a false argument used to defend something false and/or confuse an opponent in a dialogue or discussion.
Biology
Biology: About four billion years ago, Earth was a fireball with a thin crust constantly bombarded by meteorites. No current life could have survived, but the chaos of volcanic eruptions, geysers, and meteorite impacts provided the necessary elements for life.
In places where the crust solidified and cooled, rainfall formed ponds and lakes of liquid water (a mixture of water, ammonia, methane, acids, and salts). Gases like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen joined the atmosphere.
Psychology
Psychology: A set of psychological skills reached through the philosophical method. Philosophical psychologies emphasize reason and show little interest in empirical observation and experiment. Thus, it’s considered speculative or purely rational, while scientific psychology synthesizes reason with empirical observation and experiments.
Early philosophical psychologies focused on the soul. Modern philosophers prefer to speak of the mind. Historically, psychology has been divided into several interrelated and overlapping areas of study.
Civilization
Civilization: From the Latin root civis (civil and civic), related to civitas (city), the center of urban life as opposed to rural or barbarian life. Being civilized came to mean being refined, polished, and courteous.
Civilization can be seen as all works related to transforming material life, using technology, inventing machinery, and providing tangible objects to meet various needs.
Culture
Culture: The set of all forms, models, or patterns (explicit or implicit) through which a society governs behavior. It includes customs, practices, codes, standards, rules of manner, dress, religion, rituals, norms of behavior, and belief systems.
Alternatively, culture can be seen as all the information and skills possessed by humans. The concept is fundamental to disciplines studying society, especially anthropology and sociology.
Nature
Nature: Equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world, or material universe. It refers to the phenomena of the physical world and life in general, usually excluding human-made objects or interventions.
“Nature” can refer to the general rules governing living things (plants and animals) and sometimes to the processes associated with inanimate objects.
Immanent
Immanent: An activity is immanent when its action remains within the being where it originates and ends. It opposes transcendence. Immanent philosophy prioritizes internal religious experience over reflective wisdom of God. Maurice Blondel and Edouard Le Roy strongly defended this perspective.
Transcendent
Transcendent: Concerning matters that go beyond a limit, often the space-time limit of the physical universe. Transcendence means going beyond what is natural in knowledge and life, like the soul and immortality, or institutions aiming for an eternal nature (e.g., a city, civilization, or culture).
It becomes an objective, “the most important thing,” forming the basis for action and the meaning of everything done. This is particularly relevant to belief in the soul’s immortality, Final Judgment, and God, who becomes the primary object of the transcendent dimension.
Method: Hypothetical-Deductive
Hypothetical-deductive method: The procedure followed by researchers to make their work scientific. It involves several steps: observing the phenomenon, creating a hypothesis to explain it, deducing consequences or propositions from the hypothesis, and verifying the truth of these statements by comparing them with experience.
This method combines rational reflection (hypothesis formation and deduction) with empirical observation (observation and verification).
Paradigm
Paradigm: A model or sustained pattern in an epistemological or scientific discipline, or, on a different scale, in other societal contexts. The word comes from the Greek paradeigma (“model” or “example”).
In science, the concept is associated with Thomas Kuhn’s The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. For Kuhn, a paradigm defines what should be observed and scrutinized, the types of questions to be asked, their structure, and the interpretation of scientific results.
A paradigm is a model for conducting research and experiments, assuming it can be replicated. However, it’s more than just an experimental model; it reflects how scientists understand, think about, and practice science.
Theoretical Reason
Theoretical Reason: According to Kant, the fundamental question of reason is “What can I know?” Answering this rationally involves analyzing how anyone can know: the extent of human knowledge, its goals, and its limits.
Theoretical reason can also refer to the use of reason for understanding universal laws, evidence, or logical truths. Since Descartes, reason has been conceived as a single power illuminating direct knowledge, referred to as the natural light of reason.
Practical Reason
Practical Reason: In Critique of Practical Reason, Kant clarifies that he refers to transcendental freedom, taken in an absolute sense, which speculative reason requires to use the concept of causality. He refers to freedom in a pure and common sense, not as an appearance subject to the laws of nature or causality.
Kant conceives of freedom as a capacity unrelated to the mechanisms of nature.
Intelligence
Intelligence: Directly related to IQ. Historically, it has been given significant importance, but high IQ alone doesn’t guarantee success. Skills are needed to ensure success, leading to the concept of experiential intelligence, which involves specific expertise for analytical, consistent, and logical processes.
Emotional Intelligence
Emotional Intelligence: The ability to recognize feelings in oneself and others and manage them effectively. It encompasses a wide range of skills, including understanding emotions, managing them, recognizing them, creating self-motivation, and building relationships in various contexts.
Developing empathy, tolerance, and understanding one’s own extroverted or introverted nature are crucial for social integration and resolving everyday situations.