Download UNDERSTANDING PHILOSOPHY AND ITS

NAME- NWOYEOCHA JENNIFER OBIANUJU
DEPT/COLLEGE-MBBS
COURSE CODE-GST 113
COURSE TITLE-LOGIC, PHILOSOPHY AND
HUMAN EXISTENCE
ASSIGNMENT TITLE-ETHICS
LEVEL-100
UNDERSTANDING
BRANCHES.
PHILOSOPHY
AND
ITS
 THE NATURE OF PHILOSOPHY
Key to understand philosophy is having an insight into the activities the
practitioners of the discipline have undertaken since its inception. This is
what Oladipo (2008:11) suggests when he holds that it is possible to provide
a fairly acceptable characterization of philosophy by considering “the
preoccupation of philosophers-professionals and non-professionals alikedown the ages and across cultures.” This approach to the study of
philosophy enable one to understand the goals that the progenitors of the
discipline set for it and how the practitioner of this important enterprise
have practiced the trade since its inception. This approach also enable one
to see how the discipline has evolved over time. In the light of this, a careful
consideration of the endeavours of somephilosophers is likely to reveal a
few things about the nature of philosophy even though fthe issues and
problems engaged by philosophers have changed from one milieu and from
one epoch to another. For our purpose, in this chapter, a critical
engagement with the way the Milesian philosophers did
philosophyundertaken in the bid to reveal a few things about what
philosophy is.
 BRANCHES OF PHILOSOPHY
The branches of philosophy may be divided into two broad categories-the
cardinal branches ofphilosophy and philosophy as a second order discipline.
 The cardinal branches are: metaphysic, epistemology, ethics and logic.
 The second order disciplines include philosophy of science, philosophy of
law, philosophy of social sciences, philosophy of education, and philosophy
of history, among others.
METAPHYSICS
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that deals with the study of reality
and the most basic issues regarding existence. Issues and problems in
metaphysics are addressed in two sub-branches- cosmology and ontology.
Cosmology deals with the study of the origin and structure of the universe,
while ontology deals with being or the nature of existence.
EPISTEMOLOGY
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that subjects to rigorous analysis
issues and problems relating to the origin, nature, justification and limit of
human knowledge. What is the distinction between knowledge and belief?
Is experience the most reliable source of our knowledge, or is it reason?
What is truth? How can cognitive claims be best justified? What conditions
must a claim meet for it to qualify as knowledge? These and more are some
of the questions to which answers have been given in epistemology.
ETHICS
Humans are social beings and most of their actions or inactions have
implications for other creatures that they share the biosphere with. Ethics,
also referred to as moral philosophy, is the branch of philosophy that deals
with moral rules that ought to guide social relations among humans as well
as regulate how human beings ought to relate with other living and nonliving things around them. It is concerned with the evaluation of human
actions in order to determine whether these actions are right or wrong,
good or bad, just or unjust.
LOGIC
Philosophy involves the construction of good arguments, that is, arguments
that are devoid of errors in reasoning. Philosophy also deals with the
evaluation of people’s arguments in order to subject to thorough scrutiny
the premise(s) on which they rest. As a branch of philosophy, logic deals
with the inculcation of skills that are crucial for the construction of good
arguments and for evaluations of arguments made by others.
PHILOSOPHY AS A SECOND ORDER DISCIPLINE
Apart from the primary concerns of philosophy studied the four cardinal branches
discussed above, there are other branches which may be categorized under the
second order discipline of philosophy. A second order discipline is different from a
first order discipline in that a first order discipline examines a particular subjectmatter. First order disciplines include sociology, economics, English, law, ad
chemistry. These disciplines have specific matters they study. In contradiction, a
second order discipline employs its own methodology and tools for the
examination of the presuppositions of another academic discipline. Philosophy as
a second order discipline is so-called because the subject-matter of the other
academic disciplines which are scrutinized in it are not studied in philosophy.
Philosophy’s concern with this subject-matter is secondary in nature, philosophy is
interested in other academic disciplines purposely to subject their aims,
presuppositions, and products to rigorous analysis.
ETHICS AND ITS GOALS
 Ethics is the analytical evaluation of moral codes.
 It is the systematic study of human conduct [moral codes of what is wrong
or right, good or bad] in the society.
 Ethics is applied to many things like business, medical, environmental,
research, work, Christian etc.
 It is the national inquiry which consists in a systematic search of truth,
knowledge or the principle of reasoning concerning moral beliefs.
The ultimate aim of ethics is to furnish human beings with standards
which they can make distinction between good and bad actions, right and
wrong actions, acceptable and non-acceptable actions, recommendable and
non-recommendable actions
 BRANCHES OF ETHICS
---METAETHICS; This is the conceptual analysis in ethical discourse, the
clarification of concept in moral discourse, for example, emotivism and
prescriptivism, divine command[depends on what religion says] and ethical
relativism[depending on culture]. It is all the study of the concepts involving
practical reasoning.
---NORMATIVE ETHICS; This is the principle that ought to guide human
conducts and develop norms in making moral decisions
NORMATIVE ETHICAL THEORIES
-Ethical hedonism; This emphasizes the pleasure over pains determining the
rightness and wrongness of actions.
-Ethical egoism; This seeks and maximizes pleasure of happiness for the self.
-Ethical altruism; For, others regardless of the consequence for himself.
-Utilitarianism; This promotes the greatest number of pleasure of happiness for
the great number of people.
SHORTCOMINGS OF NORMATIVE THEORIES
-Humans make it look like the end would always justify the means.
-Humans sometimes are incapable of seeing which action benefits everyone.
-Humans sometimes are incapable of seeing the outcomes.
---DEONTOLOGICAL/CONSEQUENTIALIST THEOR; This is known as the end
of justice means. Moderate Deontological emphasizes that consequence do
matter. Etreme Deontological rejects the consequence of actions in determining
the morality of it.
Kant’s Moral Theory is an example which states that ”we are responsible for
our motives to do bad or good and we are held morally accountable”.