LESSON 3:
METHODS OF
PHILOSOPHIZING
FACT OR OPINION
■ The Earth is round.
■ Dogs are the best pets.
■ The Philippines is an archipelago.
■ It will rain tomorrow.
■ The capital of the Philippines is Manila.
■ Chocolate is the tastiest flavor of ice cream.
■ The sun rises in the east.
■ Basketball is the most popular sport in the world.
■ Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world.
■ Studying hard is important for success.
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In today’s society, we encounter a lot of
information
• 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?
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In today’s society, we encounter a lot of
information
• Philosophers often wrestle with the
concept of 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 or4 may not carry truth.
WHAT IS
TRUTH
& WHY IS IT
IMPORTANT?
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1.
KNOWLEDGE
The clear awareness and understanding of
something. It is the product of questions
that allow for clear answers provided by
facts.
Our knowledge is comprised of ideas and
beliefs that we know to be true.
“
I know that...
I know why...
I know how...
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.
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2.
facts
Propositions or statements
which are observed to be real or
truthful
“
Example: “I know that fish live in water.”
How do we know?
Because fish really do live in water.
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3.
CLAIM
Statements that are not evidently or
immediately known to be true
They require further examination to
establish whether it is true or false.
“
Example:
“I know that my school is the best school in the
city.”
You may know that reading is a better activity
than playing basketball but the truth of your
statement will be contested by other people.
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How do we know if something is TRUE?
■ 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.
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EXAMPLE:
■I am alive.
■I have a body.
■I can breathe.
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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 analysed.
■Nothing is taken as true unless there is
sufficient reason and evidence to prove that
is indeed true.
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EXAMPLE:
■Am I alive?
■Do I have a body?
■Can I breathe?
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Now, Examine yourself
■ Do you have a pulse? Can you feel your
heartbeat?
■Do you have arms, legs and feet?
■Try to take a deep breath, then exhale.
Were you ble to do it?
■If your answer is “yes” then you can
conclude with certainty that.....
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you can now
say...
■I am alive!
■I have a body!
■I can breathe!
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1.
A BELIEF is true if...
it can be justified or
provE THROUGH the use
of one’s senses.
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EXAMPLE:
■I am a Filipino.
Can we use our senses to
prove this satements as fact?
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We can look at a dictionary
■Filipino (noun):
-A native of the Philipine Island.
-A citizen of the Reublic of the
Philippines
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2.
A BELIEF is true if...
it is based on facts.
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Are you now
convinced that you
are a filipino?
If not....
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We can try the following...
Look for
Ask your official
parents or
other
relatives.
& documents
that prove
you are a
Filipino.
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👪
When all of your
family members
answered “Yes!”...
Then you are a Filipino.
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3.
A BELIEF is true if...
you Get a consensus
and people agree on a
common belief.
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BUT
this approach has certain
Getting
limitations.
everyone agree
on
may notsomething
make that belief true.
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4.
A BELIEF is true if...
there are official
documents/ supporting
facts.
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Looking at official documents
Since it is BUT,
Birthcertifiate
shows factual
issued by an this also
istitution
information
that the has a
regarding your
birth.
documens limitatio
are truthful.
n
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EVIDENCE
especially documents can be
forged or falsified.
A person may
be issued with
documents
but it may contain wrong
information or typographical
error. 31
if your name is
mispelled in your
birthcertificate
DOES YOUR IDENTITY CHANGE?
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Example:
I can ride a bike/ Can I ride
a bike?
I can fry an egg/ Can I fry
an egg? 33
5.
A BELIEF is true if...
a person can prove a
statement through an
action.
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How will you prove that you can really cook an
egg?
■The obvious answer would be, is to
actually ride it cook it.--- BUT, some would
argue that the proof is not only in the act but
also in the product.
■This means that you should not only show
that you can fry an egg but that also you can
make delicious fried eggs.
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