PHILOSOPH

Y
Module 3

Prepared By:
Mary Mildred P. De Jesus
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LEARNING OBJECTIVES
1. Distinguish 3. Evaluate truth
opinion from from opinions in
truth different
2. Realize that the situations
methods of using the methods
philosophy lead to of philosophizing.
wisdom and truth
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WAYS OF
DOING
PHILOSOPHY
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EXERCISES:
INSTRUCTIONS:
Each member lists two facts about
themselves (these are your truths) and one
lie. Everyone else tries to decide which is the
lie out of the three given statements. The key
to tricking your colleagues is to choose
obscure truths to tell and a lie that sounds
believable.
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Have you ever experienced believing in

something you thought is true but in the end
you discovered that it is false?
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In today’s society, we encounter a lot of
information from various sources such as the
media and our interactions with our friends,
family, and members of the community. Most of
the information we receive is helpful, but some
may mislead us or may even be utterly false.
Every day we are confronted with news, claims
and announcements from our peers, family
members, figures of authority, the government,
and media. How do we know if they telling the
truth?
 Philosophers often grapple with the concept of
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truth. Knowledge must be truthful to gain

validity and acceptance.
 For example, when we answer a “True or
False” test, we judge if the statements we read
are true or false. This means that statements
may have truth or may not have truth.
Statements about the world or reality are
called propositions and these propositions
may or may not carry truth. Propositions are
usually stated as short statements or
sentences.
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 According to philosophy if you want to

know the truth you have to use, not
your emotions, but your thinking
ability.
 But sometimes, what we perceive or
believe as true may be far from the truth
itself.
 Sometimes we need guidance to
straighten our thoughts.
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WHAT IS TRUTH AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

 Knowledge is the clear awareness and

understanding of something. It is the
product of questions that allow for clear
answers provided by the facts. Our
knowledge is comprised of ideas and
beliefs that we know to be true.
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WHAT IS TRUTH AND WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
 One important aspect of knowledge it is based on reality. This
simply means that what we know is what is observable or evident
in the real world. Propositions or statements which are observed
to be real or truthful are considered FACT.
 There are statements, however, that are not evidently or
immediately known to be true. This statement is CLAIM, and
further examination is required to establish whether it is true or
false.
 Science considers truth as something observable and empirical.
This means that any claim can be proven by verification and
experimentation.
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HOW DO WE KNOW IF SOMETHING IS TRUTH?
 Ancient Greek Philosophers approached the problem of truth by
looking at the nature of knowledge and how we know what we know.
We assume that everything we know about this world is true. But
philosophers who pondered upon the origins of knowledge doubted
everything there is to know about themselves and the world.
 Example: I am alive! I have a body! I can breathe!
 Doubt has very important purpose in philosophy as it drives our desire
to discover truth. In philosophy, systematic doubt is employed to
determine truth. This means that every statement, claim, evidence, and
is scrutinized and analyzed. Nothing is taken as true unless there is
sufficient reason and evidence to prove that is indeed true. Let’s
rewrite the statements as questions to make them easier to analyzed.
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HOW DO WE KNOW IF SOMETHING IS TRUTH?
 Am I alive?
 Do I have a body?
 Can I breathe?
 The obvious answer would be examine yourself to
determine if needed you are alive, that you have a body,
and you can breathe.
 Then you can now say:
 I am alive!
 I have a body!
 I can breathe!
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 One perspectives on TRUTH-

 a belief is true if it can be justified or
proven through the use of one’s senses.
 a belief for statement is true if it is
based on facts. Getting consensus or
having people agree on a common belief
is another way of determining what is
true. But this approach has certain
limitations.
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 For example, if you can get your
classmates to agree that you do not need to
study to become successful, it does not
make that belief true. Therefore, you have
to use other means to really answer the
question. Determining truth requires a
person to prove a statement through an
evidence.
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JOHN CORVINO’S THREE DISTINCTION OF OPINION AND
TRUTH:

1.BELIEF AND REALITY DISTINCTION – Reality is

unarguably seen and felt by the human senses. Whereas,
Belief is a by product or a manifestation of any reality.
 For example: Your reality right now is your being a
student enrolled in a certain curriculum. – There can be
several beliefs system that can thrive out from that
reality: Finishing academic year with either outstanding
grades or just passing remarks. Graduating with honors
or graduating simply as an ordinary graduate.
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JOHN CORVINO’S THREE DISTINCTION OF OPINION AND TRUTH:

2. SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE DISTINCTION -

Perspective is what makes fact as possibly an opinion or
opinion as potentially a fact. This can vary according to
one’s experience and position making judgment as either
subjective or objective.
 What makes your viewpoint subjective is when you rely
so much on your perception as dictated by your mind.
And when something appears to you objectively that
means there are reasons outside of the mind that make
the thing true.
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Exhibit A: Look at the picture below

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JOHN CORVINO’S THREE DISTINCTION OF OPINION AND TRUTH:

3. Descriptive and Normative Distinction - How any

experience is labelled depends on their representations
from the world.
 There is such a thing we call Descriptive statements
which simply narrates what happens, while there are the
 Normative statements which evaluate the events
according to the perspective of people, a certain culture
and law.
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JOHN CORVINO’S THREE DISTINCTION OF OPINION AND TRUTH:

3. Descriptive and Normative Distinction

Examples:
 Descriptive statement –
Michael Jackson died in 2009
 Normative statement –
 Michael Jackson was the greatest musician
ever;
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DISTINGUISHING TRUTH FROM OPINION?

OPINION are statements go beyond providing
facts. They also provide conclusions or
perspectives regarding certain situations. Some
of statements even advance a belief about a
certain thing or person.
 Opinions are also the bases for making
arguments and convincing people that a
certain claim is a fact.
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DISTINGUISHING TRUTH FROM OPINION?

 CONCLUSIONS is a statement in an argument
that indicates of what the arguer is trying to
convince the reader/listener.
ARGUMENTS are a series of statements that
provide reasons to convince the reader or listener
that a claim or opinion is truthful. Thus we need
to be very careful when we listen to arguments
since not all arguments are truthful.
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DISTINGUISHING TRUTH FROM OPINION?

Arguments often take the form of statements that
are either claims of facts and are phrased in such a
way that they seem reasonable. However, a number
of arguments may be based on faulty reasoning.
These kinds of arguments are called FALLACIES.
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FALLACIES
Is a defect in argument other than its
having false premises.
To detect fallacies, it is required to
examine the argument’s content.
 Most Common Fallacies:
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A. Appeal to Pity (Argumentum ad misericordiam)

A specific kind of appeal to emotion in which
someone tries to win support for an argument or
idea by exploiting his or her opponent’s feelings
of pity or guilt.
B. Appeal to Ignorance (Argumentum ad
misericignorantiamordiam)
concluding that something is true since you can’t
prove it is false.
 Most Common Fallacies:
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C. Ad Hominem - uses personal attacks rather than

logic.
D. Straw man argument - attacks a different subject
rather than the topic being discussed — often a
more extreme version of the counter argument.
E. Slippery Slope - assumes that a certain course of
action will necessarily lead to a chain of future
events.
 Most Common Fallacies:
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F. False Dilemma/False Dichotomy - presents

limited options — typically by focusing on
two extremes — when in fact more
possibilities exist.

G. Hasty Generalization - is a claim based on a

few examples rather than substantial proof.
 Most Common Fallacies:
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H. Red Herring - is an argument that uses confusion or

distraction to shift attention away from a topic
and toward a false conclusion.
I. Appeal to Hypocrisy - also known as the TU
QUOQUE FALLACY — focuses on the
hypocrisy of an opponent. The TU QUOQUE
FALLACY deflects criticism away from oneself
by accusing the other person of the same problem
or something comparable.
 Most Common Fallacies:
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J. Causal Fallacy - are informal fallacies that occur

when an argument incorrectly concludes that a
cause is related to an effect. Think of the causal
fallacy as a parent category for other fallacies
about unproven causes.
K. Sunk Cost - is when someone continues doing
something because of the effort they already put in it,
regardless of whether the additional costs outweigh
the potential benefits. "Sunk cost" is an economic term
for any past expenses that can no longer be recovered.
 Most Common Fallacies:
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L. Appeal to Authority - is the misuse of an authority’s

opinion to support an argument. While an
authority’s opinion can represent evidence and
data, it becomes a fallacy if their expertise or
authority is overstated, illegitimate, or irrelevant to
the topic.
M. Equivocation - happens when a word, phrase, or
sentence is used deliberately to confuse, deceive,
or mislead. In other words, saying one thing but
meaning another.
 Most Common Fallacies:
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N. Bandwagon Fallacy - assumes something is true (or

right or good) because others agree with it. In
other words, the fallacy argues that if everyone
thinks a certain way, then you should, too.
O. Circular Argument - known as PETITIO
PRINCIPII (“begging the question”), occurs when
the premises presume, openly or covertly, the very
conclusion that is to be demonstrated .
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DISTINGUISHING TRUTH FROM OPINION?

BELIEFS are statements that express convictions
that are not easily clearly explained by facts. To
judge the truthfulness of belief, we must also
consider things if we rely merely on facts.
EXPLANATIONS are statements that assume the
claim to be true and provide reasons why the
statement is true.
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DISTINGUISHING TRUTH FROM OPINION?

Some of these fallacies may be intentional, as the
person making the claim is desperate to convince
you to accept his or her argument.
BIAS or the personal views of the person
presenting. Biases are not necessarily errors in
reasoning, but refer to tendencies or influences
which affect the views of people.
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TRUTH AND OPINION LEAD US TO WISDOM?

Understanding of opinions and facts and the means to
distinguish one from the other can further improve our
understanding and appreciation of varied views and ideas. The
ability to determine truth goes hand in hand with the holistic
perspective and enables us to make wiser decisions, especially
in choosing the ideas and views which we find acceptable.
An individual cannot live his or her life just agreeing with
everybody he or she meets. A critical mind aided by
philosophy can help us form our own personal point of view
that can guide us in making decisions and actions when faced
with a problem.
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REFERENCES:
 https://philosophy-question.com/library/lecture/read/146120-w
hat-is-partial-and-holistic-perspective-in-philosophy#0
 https://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_epistemology.html
 https://study.com/learn/lesson/epistemology-examples-types.ht
ml
 https://www.slideshare.net/CareSamontina/
methods-of-philosophizing-102536936
 https://thebestschools.org/magazine/15-logical-fallacies-know/