Summary - Philosophy Session 1
We have launched our philosophy series. Each fortnight (Mondays, 7.30-8.30pm), there will be a zoom discussing specific topics. Some will be led by the Beloved team, others will be invited speakers.
Mondays, 7.30-8.30pm
July 12
July 26
August 9
August 23
September 6
September 20
October 4
October 18
November 8
November 22
December 6
After every session, we will upload the material online in case you weren’t able to attend.
summary of Session 1
What is Philosophy and How does it Impact our Lives?
What is Philosophy?
“Love of Wisdom” Philia – love / Sophia – wisdom.
Difference between knowledge and wisdom.
Knowledge = Scire (latin) – science – “to know”. Facts + Reasoned Facts (why) + the cause of a fact. A knowledge of things through their proper causes (secondary or intermediate causes)
Wisdom = is a kind of science. A knowledge of the highest causes. The first and ultimate causes.
Philosophy is the love of wisdom that ask for the ultimate causes. Like:
What does it mean to be a living thing as opposed to a non-living thing? Does non-being exist? What is time? What is place? What is movement? What constitutes a just law? What is justice? What is quantity? What is relation? What is infinity?
How does philosophy influence our lives?
Philosophical thought has influenced the history of the world down through the centuries. Philosophers may think independently, not fully realising perhaps their impact but over time, their thought permeates our culture and our own individual thought process. We are all influenced by philosophy.
In 1948, a well known booked called “Ideas have consequences” was written by a fellow called Weaver. He wrote warning of the impact “nominalism” (William of Occkham) would have on society: manipulate the beliefs and emotions of the populace, and ultimately to separate them from their humanity via "the commodification of truth", which according to him would reach a peak with consumerism.
Nearly a hundred on from this publication, the remnant of nominalism can be found in our society today.
Note: Nominalism is the doctrine that universals or general ideas are mere names without any corresponding reality. Only particular objects exist, and properties, numbers, and sets are merely features of the way of considering the things that exist.
Other philosphers that impact in history: Rousseau influenced the French Revolution and other political reforms or revolutions in Europe. Kant is believed to have had great infleunce in modern era, particularly in people like Karl Marx.
So what philosophical era are we in right now?
It is hard to name our philosophical era when we are living in it. It is only in retrospect that one recognises and can name historical eras. If you lived in the 1940s, you would not know at the time what philosophical era you were experiencing until you are out of it.
Timeline of key moments
Modern philosophy traditionally begins with René Descartes and his dictum "I think, therefore I am". 1650. It is the abrupt end of Scholasticism. 18th Century Enlightenment was its peak moment.
Post-modern philosophy (or contemporary) begins roughly around the 1950-1960s (perhaps a little later) which was a negation of the principles of modern philosophy.
History of Western philosophy is roughly divided into five sections—Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern, and Contemporary.
Difference between modern and post-modern philosophy?
Modernism (a rejection of renaissance philosophy)
Knowledge is certain, objective, good,
Focus in on the object
Logocentric reasoning and knowing.
Postmodernism (a rejection of modern philosophy)
Knowledge is not certain, not objective, not good. Feelings and Imagination (vision) prevail.
A rejection of absolute truth - construct your own meaning. Moral relativism - base values on feelings.
Reject objective knowledge. Fill vacuum with evolving visions driven by subjective wants and group thinking.
What is happiness?
(this section will be developed further in the next session)
Aristotle on the other hand discussed the objectivity of truth, of reality. He asked – what makes something good? When a thing has a proper operation. Good pen? Good bike? Good plant? It operates according to its nature: grows, reproduces, nourishes. Good horse? Power of sense knowledge (external/internal), sense appetite (concupiscible/irascible), locomotion
Good person? Powers of intelligence (to apprehend the nature of things) and will (desire)
And the complexity of those characteristics of goodness rise the more complex the being.
Note: The concupiscible passions (love and hate, desire and aversion, joy and sorrow) have the formal object sensible good or evil taken absolutely whereas the irascible passions (hope and despair, confidence and fear, anger) have the formal object sensible good or evil taken as difficult or arduous.
Interactive element of the session:
Taking popular culture, in this case, Ed Sheeran, Bad Habits:
What do you think are the manifestations of a post-modernist philosophy in our culture?
In the lyrics of this song, where do you see the conflict of man to achieve happiness/goodness.
to deepen further on the topic
This is probably the best explanation of post-modernism online I have come across. 2 1/2 hours long but well worth it.