W3: Reflection Log
FIELDS OF PHILOSOPHY
Metaphysics, Epistemology, Ethics, Applied Philosophy, Logic
Metaphysics is often called ‘first philosophy’ and, indeed, is a foundational area of philosophy. Metaphysics asks and attempts to answer questions about the nature of what exists. The reason questions within metaphysics cannot be addressed within the sciences is that metaphysics questions what might exist that cannot be discovered empirically. However, before the methods of science were developed, the best humans could do was to reason about the nature of the world around them. For this reason, questions that historically may have been addressed within metaphysics are, today, left to scientists to address.
METAPHYSICS
A tendency we see throughout our intellectual history is the desire to discover what constitutes the basis of reality. What creates the objects of our experience? To what, if anything, can all things be reduced? These were key questions for philosophers in the ancient period, particularly the Presocratics. Many were ‘monists’, meaning they believed a single element must be the fundamental source of all things. Plato and Aristotle, though, shifted the debate in metaphysics to a question that is still relevant and central to philosophy today: Is the natural realm all that exists, or does some transcendental realm also exist?
ANCIENT METAPHYSICS
After the Roman Catholic church dominated the western world for about 1,000 years, the age of reason, or the ‘Enlightenment’, brought with it an explosion of intellectual activity. We see this in the arts as well as in the sciences. During this time, philosophers were more free than before to explore ideas about the nature of reality. For this reason, we see grand metaphysical schemas developed by philosophers such as Descartes, Locke, Hobbes, Berkeley, and Spinoza – just to name a few. Many of these ‘pictures of reality’ are discussed in an introduction to philosophy class. It is a valuable intellectual exercise to consider and evaluate these. They may even be understood as works of art, of a type, insofar as they are creative and grand descriptions that aim to explain the nature of reality.
METAPHYSICS IN THE MODERN AGE
As we progress into the contemporary period, the influence of analytic philosophy and philosophy of language has a significant impact on metaphysics. Many philosophers today believe that reality just is what is described by scientists and that analysis along with careful use of language helps us to avoid confusions that, in the past, motivated projects within metaphysics. Ultimately, though, we find that questions about the true nature of reality remain central to human curiosity and our answers to them form the core of our systems of belief.
Metaphysics Today
Epistemology is defined as ‘the study of knowledge.’ Questions that are central to epistemology include:
- What is the nature of knowledge?
- How does knowledge differ from belief?
- Can we ever have certain knowledge?
- If we can have knowledge, what is its foundation?
Epistemology
During the ancient period, reason was understood as the path to knowledge. Many of the Pesocratics, for instance, focused their studies on mathematics and geometry. They believed that such pursuits uncover fundamental truths and patterns of reality.
A notable view of knowledge in the ancient period was advanced by Socrates and Plato and can be found in Plato’s dialogues. According to them, knowledge is innate – it lies within all of us – and it can be coaxed out through conversations with a teacher or mentor. On this view, knowledge is not something outside of us that we obtain. Rather, it is something already in us that we discover.
Socrates and Plato on Knowledge
During the Middle Ages, also known as the ‘Dark Ages,’ a clear preference for faith over reason in the pursuit of knowledge can be found in the works of St. Augustine, St. Anselm, and St. Aquinas. While they differed in their views on reason, they all believed that faith was the foundation of knowledge of God. For them, knowledge of God is the purest form of knowledge. Under this system of belief, if reason cannot demonstrate the existence of God, then so much the worse for reason.
Knowledge and the Church
With the onset of the Enlightenment came the dawn of the new sciences. Francis Bacon advanced the scientific method and intellectuals such as Kepler, Galileo, and Newton began to uncover principles and laws of nature that any person could confirm through the use of reason. No longer did man believe that knowledge was out of grasp and so had to be arrived at through divine revelation. The Enlightenment is marked by the belief that, using reason, man can uncover the nature of reality and create new and better ways of being.
The Enlightenment
Epistemology in the modern period centers on the debate between rationalism and empiricism. Is reason or experience the proper foundation of knowledge? In addressing this question, philosophers made clear their preference for reason or experience as our fundamental way of knowing the world. Some, though, remained skeptics and believed that we can have no certain knowledge.
The Modern Debate
The modern debate in epistemology is still relevant today, but there is a new contender in the field. ‘Pragmatism’ is the only philosophical view that is unique to the United States and it is primarily concerned with the nature of truth and knowledge. The pragmatist claim that ‘objective knowledge’ is not really the aim of our pursuit. Rather, we seek what will satisfy our curiosity and what will ‘work’ – in other words, truth is what will allow us to function successfully.
A Contemporary Contender
Within the field of ethics, philosophers have historically sought answers to questions such as:
- What is the nature of the ‘good’?
- What makes an action good?
- How can we distinguish good actions from bad
actions?
Ethics
In the ancient world, philosophers sought knowledge of virtue and the good life. For them, ethics was very much about the character of a person. Aristotle, for instance, believed that a person may achieve eudiamonia (highest happiness) by living a life of virtue guided by reason. For him, a person’s virtue is the mean between two extremes of action (vices). Aristotle believed that humans have unique functions – essential natures – and so he believed that virtue is relative to the individual. What would be brave for a soldier, for instance, would likely be foolish for a merchant.
Ethics in the Ancient Period
During the modern period, we find that, for the most part, philosophers abandon discussions of essential natures and virtuous characters. We see a shift from focusing on the individual within ethics to focusing on the nature of actions. Contemporary ethics, as well, is centered on the question of what makes an action good or bad. The essentialism of the ancient period is abandoned after the Enlightenment so that we can discuss individual actions and avoid the difficulty of discussing ‘persons’ within ethics.
Ethics After the Enlightenment
When philosophy is applied, it results in practice. For this reason, there are many different types of applied philosophy. Popular types of applied philosophy include applied ethics, political philosophy, philosophy of law, philosophy of science, philosophy of language, and philosophy of race, class, and gender. Applied philosophy seeks to uncover and/or advance the theory that guides practice in these areas.
Applied Philosophy
Finally, logic is a field within philosophy and is, in fact, our method. Since we deal in theory and ideology, our standard of acceptance for a theory must be its appeal to our rationality. As such, we want to ensure that we are reasoning well and that our arguments do not contain errors. We also want to be sure that we do not succumb to errors in reasoning. To achieve these goals, Aristotle set out to uncover the structure of human reason so it can be studied and improved. He produced the first system of logic. We may define logic as ‘the theory of correct inference.’ In other words, logic tells us when our reasons, if true, support the claims they are meant to support.
Logic