The relationship between human beings and the environment is one of profound interconnection and mutual dependence. Over the course of history, humans have depended on the natural world for survival, sustenance, and growth. In the modern world, this relationship has grown more complex due to rapid industrialization, technological advancements, and population growth. At its core, however, the human person remains deeply connected to the environment—physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
In this essay, we will explore the intrinsic link between human beings and the environment, highlighting the philosophical, ecological, and ethical dimensions of this connection. We will also examine the modern challenges that threaten this delicate balance and offer insights into how we can restore and sustain a more harmonious relationship with the world around us.
The Human Person in the Natural World
Human existence is deeply rooted in nature. From a biological standpoint, humans are part of the Earth’s ecosystem, relying on natural resources such as air, water, and food for survival. The environment provides us with everything we need to live—oxygen from trees, water from rivers, and food from agricultural lands. It also plays a vital role in regulating the climate and maintaining the delicate balance that allows life to thrive.
However, humans are not merely passive recipients of nature’s gifts; we are also active participants in shaping the environment. Through agriculture, urbanization, and industrial activities, we have transformed landscapes, altered ecosystems, and introduced new materials into the environment. These actions have created both positive and negative outcomes. On one hand, human ingenuity has led to remarkable advances in living standards, healthcare, and technological progress. On the other hand, such progress has often come at a significant cost to the environment, leading to pollution, habitat destruction, and climate change.
The Philosophical Dimension: Our Place in the World
Philosophically, the relationship between humans and the environment has been the subject of intense debate. Various philosophical traditions offer different views on the role of humans in the natural world.
In many indigenous cultures, the environment is viewed as a living entity that is interconnected with all forms of life. Humans are seen as part of a larger web of existence, with a responsibility to live in harmony with nature. This perspective often emphasizes respect for the Earth and the understanding that the well-being of humans is tied to the well-being of the planet. The Lakota Sioux, for example, speak of “Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ,” which means “all my relations,” symbolizing the interconnectedness of all life forms.
In contrast, Western philosophical traditions have often placed humans at the center of the universe, seeing the natural world as something to be controlled, dominated, and exploited for human gain. This anthropocentric view, deeply rooted in the Judeo-Christian tradition, stems from the belief that humans have been given dominion over nature. This perspective has contributed to the idea that the environment exists primarily to serve human needs, a mindset that has been used to justify resource exploitation, deforestation, and industrialization.
However, modern thinkers such as environmental philosophers and ethicists argue for a more ecocentric worldview, where humans are viewed as stewards of the Earth, with a moral responsibility to care for the environment. Philosophers like Aldo Leopold and Arne Naess champion the idea of “deep ecology,” which emphasizes the intrinsic value of all living beings and ecosystems, independent of their utility to humans.
Ecological Impact of Human Activities
The impact of human activities on the environment has been dramatic, especially since the advent of the Industrial Revolution. Rapid industrialization, deforestation, and urbanization have led to widespread environmental degradation. Forests have been cleared to make way for agriculture, cities, and infrastructure projects, resulting in the loss of biodiversity and the destruction of habitats for countless species.
Climate change, driven by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation, poses one of the most significant threats to the environment. The increase in greenhouse gas emissions has led to rising global temperatures, causing extreme weather events, sea-level rise, and changes in ecosystems. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human-induced climate change has already led to observable impacts on ecosystems, including shifts in species distributions, altered growing seasons, and increased vulnerability to natural disasters.
Plastic pollution is another critical issue. The widespread use of plastic in modern society has resulted in vast amounts of plastic waste accumulating in oceans and waterways, harming marine life and ecosystems. Microplastics, tiny particles of plastic that are the byproducts of plastic degradation, have been found in the air, water, and even within the human body, raising concerns about their long-term health effects.
In addition to these global challenges, local environmental degradation—such as air and water pollution—affects millions of people, particularly in developing countries. Poor waste management, industrial emissions, and untreated sewage contribute to pollution levels that harm both the environment and human health.
Ethical Considerations: Responsibility and Stewardship
The environmental crisis has sparked a growing movement for environmental ethics, which calls for a reassessment of humanity’s role in relation to the Earth. At the heart of this ethical movement is the principle of stewardship. Stewardship involves the recognition that humans have a responsibility to care for the planet and its resources, not only for the sake of future generations but also for the intrinsic value of the natural world.
One of the key principles of environmental ethics is sustainability. Sustainability calls for the careful management of natural resources to ensure that future generations will have access to the same resources and opportunities as current generations. This principle is based on the understanding that the Earth’s resources are finite and must be used in a way that does not cause irreversible harm to ecosystems or deplete the planet’s capacity to support life.
The concept of environmental justice is also central to the ethical discourse on human-environment relations. Environmental justice focuses on the fair distribution of environmental benefits and burdens, ensuring that no group of people, particularly marginalized communities, bears a disproportionate share of environmental harm. Indigenous peoples, for example, have often been displaced from their ancestral lands due to industrial projects, while low-income communities frequently suffer from higher levels of pollution and environmental hazards.
The Path Forward: A Call for Reconnection
Restoring the relationship between humans and the environment requires a fundamental shift in how we view our place in the world. This shift involves moving away from an exploitative, anthropocentric mindset toward a more holistic, ecocentric understanding of our role as part of the Earth’s ecological community.
Education and awareness are crucial to fostering this new mindset. By teaching future generations about the importance of environmental conservation, sustainability, and the interconnectedness of all life forms, we can help cultivate a sense of responsibility and care for the natural world.
At the policy level, governments and international organizations must take decisive action to address environmental challenges such as climate change, deforestation, and pollution. This includes transitioning to renewable energy sources, implementing sustainable agricultural practices, and protecting biodiversity through conservation efforts.
On an individual level, people can contribute to environmental sustainability by adopting eco-friendly practices in their daily lives, such as reducing waste, conserving energy, and supporting sustainable products. While these actions may seem small, they collectively have the potential to make a significant impact.
Conclusion
The relationship between the human person and the environment is one of deep interdependence. The Earth sustains human life, providing essential resources and regulating the climate. At the same time, human activities have the power to shape, protect, or harm the environment. As we face the growing challenges of environmental degradation and climate change, it is imperative that we recognize our responsibility to care for the planet and strive to live in harmony with the natural world. The path forward requires not only technological solutions but also a profound shift in our ethical and philosophical understanding of our place within the Earth’s ecosystems.
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One of the dominant themes in the course Introduction to the Philosophy of the Human Person is the idea that the human person is an embodied spirit. But first of all, we need to define terms here because, as it appears, the meaning of the concept “embodied spirit” is not directly clear to students who do not have a strong background and orientation in philosophy. So, what do we exactly mean by “embodied spirit”?
The most direct connotation that comes to mind when we say something is “embodied” is that it is being materialized or incarnated. Hence, when we say “embodied spirit”, we normally thought of a spirit being incarnated. However, the idea of the human person as an “embodied spirit” does not necessarily refer to the incarnation or materialization of spirit as an immaterial entity. The embodiment of the spirit in the context of Christian philosophy (as is well known, the concept of the embodied spirit is specific to Christian philosophy) specifically refers to the inseparable union of body and soul. Thus, when we say “embodied spirit” we mean that the body is not separate from the soul, just as the soul is not separate from the body.
So, when we say that the human person is an embodied spirit, we specifically mean that the human person is the point of convergence between the material and spiritual entities, that is, between the body and soul. We cannot talk, therefore, of the human person without the union of body and soul, just as we cannot talk of anything without the union of (as Aristotle would have us believe) matter and form.
Now, to understand the specificity of the human person as an embodied spirit is important because aside from the fact that it enables us to know our potentialities and limitations, it also exposes us to a thorough and deeper understanding of ourselves as a unique creature united by body and soul. With this caveat in mind, let us now proceed to an engagement with one of the most famous philosophers in this particular scholarship, namely, Aristotle.
Aristotle on the Human Person as an Embodied Spirit
Before we engage Aristotle’s account on the human person as an embodied spirit, that is, again, as a union of body and soul, it is important at this point to provide the theoretical context of this issue. As we may already know, Aristotle’s account of the human person as an embodied spirit is in large part a reaction against Plato’s take on the nature of the human person.
For Plato, the nature of the human person is seen in the metaphysical dichotomy between body and soul. This dichotomy implies that there is an inherent contradiction between the body and the soul. On the one hand, the body, according to Plato, is material; hence, it is mutable and destructible. On the other hand, the soul is immaterial; hence, it is immutable and indestructible.
Inasmuch as the body is material, mutable, and destructible, while the soul is immaterial, immutable, and indestructible, Plato contends that in the context of the nature of the human person, the body’s existence is dependent on the soul while the soul’s existence is independent of the body. In fact, in the Timaeus, Plato argues that the soul existed prior to the body. Plato writes: “…the gods made the soul prior to the body and more venerable in birth and excellence to the body’s mistress and governor”. Interestingly then, as Eddie Babor claims, the contention above made Plato conclude that the human person is just a soul using a body.
According to Plato, there are three parts of the soul, namely, the rational, the spiritual, and the appetitive. Plato tells The Myth of the Charioteer to comprehend the complex nature of the soul, but we will not discuss this topic here since our task here is just to provide an overview of Plato’s account of the human person, which serves as a background to Aristotle’s account of the human person as an embodied spirit.
For Plato, the rational soul is located in the head, the spiritual soul in the chest, and the appetitive in the abdomen. According to Plato, the spiritual and appetitive souls contribute to the motion and activity of the whole person, while the rational soul’s function is to guide the spiritual and appetitive souls.
According to Plato, the appetitive part of the soul drives the human person to experience thirst, hunger, and other physical wants, while the spiritual soul drives the human person to experience abomination, anger, and other emotional feelings. Lastly, it is the rational part of the soul that enables the human person to think, reflect, analyze, comprehend, draw conclusions, and the like.
As we can see, the rational soul, which is the highest of all parts of the soul, guides the other two parts, namely, the appetitive and the spiritual. “What else could perform this guiding function, from Plato’s point of view, than the rational part of the soul? Think of a desperately thirsty man in the desert. He sees a pool of water and approaches it with all the eagerness that deprivation is able to create. But when he reaches the pool, he sees a sign: ‘Danger. Do not drink. Polluted.’ He experiences conflict within. His desire urges him to drink. But reason tells him that such signs usually indicate the truth, that polluted water will make him very ill or may kill him, and that if he drinks he will probably be worse off than he doesn’t. He decides not to drink. In this case, it is the rational part of the soul that opposes his desire. His reason guides him away from the water.”
The principle then that drives the person to drink is called “appetite”, while the principle that forbids the person to drink the water because it is polluted is called “reason”.
“Another example could be that of a man who is angry with another person who insulted him. Out of anger, he may desire to kill his mocker but does not actually kill the culprit because he knows that if he does he will be imprisoned. With the same thread of reasoning, Plato argues that it is the spirit in man that makes the person angry with his derider, yet his anger is curbed by reason, that is, by the rational soul.”
Hence, again, for Plato, desire, spirit, and reason make up the soul. Desire motivates, spirit animates, and reason guides. And for Plato, if reason can successfully guide desire and spirit, then the human person will attain a well-balanced personality.
If we recall, for Plato, the soul exists prior to the body; hence, the soul is an entity distinct from the body. Now, it is important to note that if we talk about the human person, we talk about the body and soul and that they are inseparable. But this is not the case for Plato. Plato believes that the body and soul are separable. In fact, for Plato, as already mentioned, the human person is just a soul using a body. And Plato believes that the soul is imprisoned in the body and that the soul survives the death of the body because it is immaterial, immutable, and indestructible. This means that for Plato, when the person dies, the body decomposes (because it is material, mutable, and destructible) while the soul leaves the body and goes back to the World of Forms. It must be noted that in Plato’s doctrine of form, there are two kinds of worlds, namely, the World of Forms and the World of Matter. And for Plato, everything comes from the World of Forms and everything that exists (World of Matter) will go back to the World of Forms after it perishes. Again, when the human person dies, the body decomposes and the soul will go back to the World of Forms and lives there eternally. It is here where Aristotle’s notion of the human person as an embodied spirit comes in.
Indeed, Aristotle disagrees with Plato’s dualism which implies the concept of “otherworldliness”. Aristotle believes that there is no dichotomy between the person’s body and soul. The body and soul for Aristotle are in a state of unity. They are inseparable. Hence, unlike Plato, Aristotle believes that we cannot talk about the soul apart from the body and vice versa. Now, how does Aristotle view the human person as an embodied spirit?
First, we need to understand that the term soul is the English translation of the Greek word psyche. And for Aristotle, the general definition of the soul involves the concept of life. Thus, the soul for Aristotle is the principle of life. This suggests, therefore, that anything that has life has a soul.
As the principle of life, the soul causes the body to live; indeed, it is the soul that animates the body. If the soul is the animator of the body, the body acts as the matter to the soul. Hence, Aristotle believes that the soul is the form to the body, while the body is the matter to the soul. For Aristotle, everything that exists is composed of matter and form, and matter and form are indeed inseparable. Hence, we cannot talk about any object if either of these entities is not present. In the context of the human person, Aristotle believes that body and soul are inseparable. Body and soul, therefore, constitute the human person as a whole.
Because for Aristotle anything that has life has a soul, then it follows that plants and animals (in addition to humans) have souls. Thus, Aristotle distinguishes three levels of soul, namely, that of plants, that of animals, and that of humans.
The kind of soul that is found in plants, according to Aristotle, is called vegetative, while those found in animals and humans are called sensitive and rational souls respectively.
According to Aristotle, plants have souls because they possess the three basic requirements for something to be called a “living being”, that is, the capacity to grow, reproduce, and feed itself. However, plants do not share the higher levels of soul; although they grow, reproduce, and feed themselves, plants are not capable of feeling and thinking.
Sensitive souls also grow, reproduce, and feed themselves; but unlike vegetative souls, sensitive souls are capable of sensation. As Aristotle writes:
Plants possess only the nutritive faculty, but other beings possess both it and the sensitive faculty; and if they possess the sensitive faculty, they must also possess the appetitive; for appetite consists of desire, anger, and will. All animals possess at least one sense, that of touch; anything that has a sense is acquainted with pleasure and pain, with what is pleasant and what is painful; and anything that is acquainted with these has desire, since desire is an appetite for pleasant.
Finally, rational souls grow, reproduce, feed themselves, and feel; but unlike the sensitive souls, rational souls are capable of thinking. According to Aristotle, this highest level of soul is present only in humans.
Now, since humans possess all the characteristics of animals, that is, the capacity to grow, reproduce, feed itself, and feel, in addition to being rational, Aristotle concludes that the human person is just an animal that thinks. As Aristotle’s famous dictum on the human person goes, “Man is a rational animal.”
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Phenomenology comes from the two Greek words phainomenon, which means “appearance,” and logos, which means “reason” or “study.” Hence, etymologically speaking, phenomenology means “study of phenomenon.” The term phenomenon means anything that exists of which the mind is conscious. A “book” is a concrete example of a phenomenon. A book is there existing materially, and the mind is conscious of it. However, phenomenology is formally defined as the investigation of the essence or the nature of material things or things that appear to us.
It is important to note that Husserl did not invent phenomenology out of a vacuum.
The context here is that realism and idealism had reached an impasse toward the end of the nineteenth century regarding that status of the knower and the thing known. As is well known, the realists argue for the independence of the “object” of knowledge, while the idealists argue for the primacy of the “subject,” that is, the knower. It is in view of this impasse that Husserl offered his phenomenology as a way out. But instead of making a philosophical speculation of the nature of reality, Husserl argued for the need for philosophy to turn to a pure description of the “what is,” of the thing as it appears to us. Thus, the famous Husserlian motto: “back to the things themselves.” In Irrational Man: A Study in Existential Philosophy, William Barrett writes: “For Husserl, phenomenology was a discipline that attempts to describe what is given to us in experience without obscuring preconceptions or hypothetical speculations.”
With this note, let me now briefly sketch Husserl’s notion of phenomenology as a method of philosophizing. Please note that I will not discuss in great detail Husserl’s model of phenomenology as our concern here is just to know the nature and dynamics of phenomenology as a method of philosophizing. For a detailed discussion on the nature and dynamics of Husserl’s model of phenomenology, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “The Phenomenological Reduction,” http://www.iep.utm.edu/phen-red/#SSH5a.i
Again, phenomenology for Husserl is a discipline that attempts to describe (or understand) what is given to us in experience. In other words, phenomenology for Husserl provides an account of how things (phenomena) appear to our awareness or, ultimately, how the world appears to us in terms of our subjective experience of it. That is why, according to Gerry and Rhiza, phenomenology deals primarily with the determination of the nature and structure of human conscious experience. Indeed, phenomenology is about reflecting upon our everyday immediate or lived experiences in order to gain some understanding of its underlying order, coherence, and structure.
To begin with, within Husserl’s model of phenomenology (which is called pure phenomenology, in contradistinction to the existential phenomenology of his followers, such as Martin Heidegger, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, and Jean-Paul Sartre) is the idea that we normally view reality from the vantage point of what Husserl calls “The Natural Attitude.” For Husserl, this natural attitude toward things suggests that people conduct their life with the common natural belief that the reality that they inhabit is fundamentally separable from their subjective experience of it. In other words, for those people with a natural attitude, the world is out there relative to their experience of it.
In contrast to this natural attitude, Husserl claims that it is possible for people to adopt a phenomenological attitude, wherein they suspend or “bracket” their belief and natural attitude, and eventually recognize that it is just a natural attitude―that the knowledge that they gained from this attitude is not real or true knowledge. This act of bracketing, which is also called epoche, allows people to turn their attention on the ongoing activity of their consciousness to which their experience of reality or things is ultimately constituted.
According to Husserl, the overall act of employing epoche, that is, suspending or bracketing all preconceived notions and prejudices about a particular phenomenon under study―and then record, identify, and then put to one side―in order for us to gain an understanding of the true nature of reality, is called phenomenological reduction. According to Richard Schmitt, it is called “phenomenological” because it transforms the world into a phenomenon, and it is called “reduction” because it leads us back to the source of the meaning and existence of the experienced world.
According to Frogstuff, “The concept [of epoche or bracketing] can be better understood in terms of the phenomenological activity it is supposed to make possible: the ‘unpacking’ of phenomena, or, in other words, systematically peeling away their symbolic meanings like layers of an onion until only the thing itself as meant and experienced remains. Thus, one’s subjective perception of the bracketed phenomenon is examined and analyzed in its purity.”
It must be noted, however, that in phenomenological reduction, the mind does not make up features of reality that everything must conform to. On the contrary, objects in the world (phenomena) already have some kind of structure or unity, and these objective meaningful features of the things (phenomena) are disclosed to us in our experience by means of the interpretations we can give to them. In this way, our mind can be viewed as active because it can create interpretations of our experience in meaningful ways. However, it must be remembered that there is already something meaningful in the objects (phenomena) themselves which can provide confirmation of or contradiction to that interpretation.
Now, with phenomenological reduction, people are able to have a shift in perspective. And it is important to note that this basic shift in perspective as a result of the employment of phenomenological reduction enables us to assume a phenomenological attitude toward our experience. According to some scholars, this can produce some surprising insights into the fundamental nature of things. In other words, with phenomenological reduction, one is able to get at the pure phenomena from a user’s point of view. Put differently, through phenomenological reduction, we are able to know and understand the essence or meaning of things as they appear to us.
Let us take “man” as a phenomenon and apply a phenomenological reduction to it in order for us to know the essence of man.
The Natural Attitude may say: “Man is a rational animal.” Here, man is simply perceived as an animal that thinks.
But from the standpoint of a Phenomenological Attitude, the nature of man or the understanding of man depends on how one experiences man. Thus, with a phenomenological attitude, man can be viewed as a being that possesses freedom or a being that escapes definition. Here, man is more than a thinking animal. This means that the meaning of man can vary considerably depending on the way in which we view man, whether from the vantage point of a natural attitude or from a phenomenological attitude.
There are some techniques of doing phenomenology, of the way to go about exploring our consciousness of reality. One way of doing this is to undertake what Husserl calls Eidetic Reduction. By the way, for Husserl, eidetic reduction is a second reduction, which follows the moment we have turned our reflective awareness toward experience by employing the phenomenological reduction. In fact, eidetic reduction is a way of understanding the essence of some experience. This precisely what Husserl calls the movement from fact to essence.
In must be noted that for Husserl, epoche has two fundamental moments, namely: 1) the reduction to the sphere of immanence and 2) the movement from fact to essence. The first moment involves a suspension of the natural attitude and placing in abeyance all beliefs in the transcendental world. It is important to note that Husserl did not use the term “transcendental” in the mystical sense, for example, the way it is used in the phrase “transcendent God.” In order for us to understand Husserl’s use of the word ‘transcendent” or “transcendental,” let us posit this word vis-à-vis the term “materiality.” In Husserlian phenomenology, materiality could mean the physical existence of things, such as tables, chairs, books, trees, cars and the like. On the other hand, transcendental phenomena are those phenomena that have transcended their materiality, such as feelings, thoughts, experiences, memories, and the like. It is for this reason that Husserl’s philosophy is “transcendental” because it is concerned with the conditions of possibility that make an experience possible. Indeed, thoughts, memories, experiences and feelings serve as the conditions of possibility that make an experience possible. The second moment, sometimes called eidetic reduction, involves a shift to consider things not as realities but as instances of idealities, that is, as pure possibilities rather than actualities. In this way, objects are no longer conceived as material things, but as essences―that is, meanings, categories, ideal types, and laws.
Let me give an example in order to drive my point clearly.
We may ask the question: “What is a table?”
Here, it is important to remember, according to some scholars on Husserl, that what Husserl is after is a special moment in the inquirer’s reflective awareness, a special moment which Husserl calls intuition. Husserl distinguishes between perception and intuition. In perception, a person may perceive and be conscious of the fact that she perceives an object, but without understanding its meaning and essence. Intuition, on the other hand, is an insight into the nature and meaning of something through the experience of that something. Now, according to Husserl, eidetic reduction helps bring about an intuition into something as essence by employing a method knows as Imaginary Variation.
In imaginary variation, the inquirer varies all the possible attributes of an experience as a way of exploring what is truly necessary for it to be what it is. Thus, in the question “what is a table,” we may raise the following points:
1. A table has four legs;
2. A table is made up of wood;
3. A table has a flat surface;
4. A table is rectangular in shape;
5. A table is used primarily for dining or putting things on it.
Or we may ask the following, as a way of varying all possible attributes of an experience:
1. Would it still be a table if it has no legs?
2. Would it still be a table if it has no flat surface?
3. Would it still be a table if it is not made up of wood?
4. Would it still be a table if it is not rectangular in shape?
5. Would it still be a table if it is not used for dining or putting things on it?
Eventually, according to Husserl, this kind of explanation helps the inquirer reach or attain a special moment of intuition about her experience of the table. Thus, she may say: “A table is a four-legged furniture, made up of wood, has a flat surface, rectangular in shape, and is used primarily for dining or putting things on it.” This is what makes a table “a table.” Indeed, this is the nature of the phenomenon (table in this case) as it appears to us, that is, as we experienced it. According to some scholars, this is a kind of “Aha” moment in which the inquirer realizes the overall essential nature of the experience. This is exactly what is meant by the dictum: “back to the things themselves” as that which characterizes Husserl’s project. It must be noted, however, that Husserl’s famous dictum “back to the things themselves” meant “the things as we experienced them rather than take them for granted.”
Finally, some of the implications as a result of doing pure phenomenology is the realization that consciousness is intentional. For Husserl, consciousness is understood as fundamentally intentional. This means that consciousness as an act is always a consciousness “of” or “about” something. Thus, consciousness in Husserlian phenomenology is not directed toward itself, but toward phenomena in the world. It follows, therefore, that any form of thinking is based ultimately on “phenomena in the world.” For this reason, consciousness or thinking is just secondary to the lived experience of phenomena as they show themselves. This explains why for Husserl, the world of immediate or lived experience takes precedence over the objectified world of natural sciences.
In the phenomenological parlance, intentionality denotes two things. First, the intentionality of consciousness means that consciousness is always an act of doing something. Thus, consciousness is an activity. This is what is meant when Husserl said that to be conscious is to experience an act of knowing (noesis) in which the subject is aware of an object. And second, intentionality of consciousness means that consciousness is always referential, that is, consciousness is always pointing or referring to something. That is also what is meant when Husserl said that a conscious act is an act of awareness in which the subject is presented with an object (noema).
Let’s take, for example, the act of thinking about the definition of a table.
Thinking about the definition of a table involves actual thinking (noises). At the same time, it involves a referent, that is, a table (noema). At the end of it all, for Husserl, consciousness is not like a box that contains some perceptions. On the contrary, consciousness is an active ongoing referential process.
In these notes, I will briefly sketch the history of ancient Greek philosophy, which is divided into four parts, namely:
The Problem of the World (cosmology),
The Problem of Knowledge (epistemology),
The Problem of Freedom, and
The Problem of Religion
It must be noted, however, that I will only schematically trace the development of philosophy in these periods because the main concern here is just to know the origin of Western philosophy and its development. Thus, I will not discuss in great detail the specificity of each period of philosophy.
In the first part of these notes, I will focus on the problem of the world, which is the first problem that the ancient Greek philosophers attempted to address.
Part 1 The Problem of Cosmology: From Thales to Anaxagoras
The first problem of Greek philosophy was about cosmology, that is, the explanation of the nature of the world as it was experienced by the perceiving mind. Thus, the first question being posed was:
What is the basic material of which the world is formed?
This question was answered by the three most illustrious philosophers of Ionia, namely: Thales, Anaximander, and Anaximenes.
Thales (c. 620 BCE – c. 546 BCE), the acclaimed first philosopher of the Western world, claimed that the basic stuff or material of which the world is formed is water. Thus, for Thales, “all is water” and that everything comes from and arises out of water. Again, as I already mentioned, I will not present the details of Thales’s (and other philosophers discussed here) philosophy because my concern here is simply to trace the historical development of philosophy. For a detailed discussion on the life and works of Thales, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/thales/.
Anaximander (c. 610 BCE – 546 BCE), who was known to be one of Thales’s students, was not convinced that water is the basic stuff of the world. For this philosopher, thebasic material upon which the world is formed cannot be determined. Anaximander calls this Apeiron, the Greek word for that which is “unbounded” or “indefinite” or “infinite”. For more on Anaximander’s life and works, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/anaximan/.
Anaximenes (d. 528 BCE), also known to be another student of Thales, disagreed with Anaximander and argued that the basic stuff of the world can be determined; yet it is not water, as Thales would have us believe. For Anaximenes, “all is air”, and that everything comes from and arises out of air. Anaximenes argued that the life of the universe resembled that of man, that air, the breadth of life which the human soul is made, is its principle. For more on Anaximenes’s life and works, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/.
As we can notice, the first question of philosophy deals with matter only, that is, again, the basic stuff of the world. It did not address the question concerning substance, that is, the principle upon which order or creation is based. Thus, the second question was posed:
In what consists its fundamental form, its principle of order?
This is where Pythagoras (c. 570 BCE – c. 495 BCE) came in. To be specific, this was the question that Pythagoras attempted to address and not simply the basic material upon which the world is formed. Again, this is what I meant when I said above that we need to know the intellectual history that surrounds a particular scholarship, that is, we need to know the historical development of philosophy so that we will know where to situate a particular philosopher in a specific context and time. In this way, we do not just lump philosophers together in discussing their philosophies in a specific historical period. To reiterate, all philosophers are addressing a specific problem or problems in a specific time and context.
For Pythagoras (and, of course, the Pythagoreans), the essential reality of things can be completely expressed in numerical terms. Thus, the formal order of the universe can be conceived mathematically. For Pythagoras, therefore, “all is number.” In other words, numbers are the principle of order (of the universe). Thus, for Pythagoras, everything can be explained in numbers. It is also important to note that the Ancient Egyptians also conceived numbers as the underlying principle of all things. For a detailed discussion on the life and works of Pythagoras, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/pythagor/.
Now, the combination of the first two questions in philosophy necessarily led to the third one:
How do things arise?
This question relates to world-process, that is, the origin of the world. This is a necessary question for the ancient Greek philosophers because when the principle and the real ground of all things are determined, the next question would be “How do things result
from their real ground and principle?”
This is precisely where Heraclitus and Parmenides entered in the scene. Heraclitus attempted to address this problem of world-process, while Parmenides (and the Eleatics, such as Xenophanes and Zeno) denied the idea of the world-process.
Heraclitus of Ephesus (c. 500 BCE) argued that Logos-Fire, that is, fire or perpetual change, is the universal principle. Logos-Fire, therefore, is the cause of order, proportion, harmony, and rationality in the continual flow of things. As is well known, Heraclitus said that everything is change, that “we cannot step twice in the same river”. Thus, for Heraclitus, the world arises out of the Logos-Fire.
Some scholars would say that for Heraclitus, the basic stuff or material of which the world is formed is fire. I argue that this is a mistake because Heraclitus’s concern was not to determine the basic stuff of the world, but to determine the principle that could explain the arising of things, that is, world-process.
However, for Heraclitus, we cannot exactly know the specificity of the arising of things. He simply claimed that the world-process or the arising of things is governed by the principle of Logos-Fire. For more on Heraclitus’s life and works, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/heraclit/.
Parmenides of Elea (Late 6th century – to Mid 5th century BCE), unlike Heraclitus who claimed that everything is change, that nothing is permanent, argued that change is impossible. For Parmenides, reality is one. He said that “what is, is and it is impossible for it not to be.” This is is existing fully and completely; and if it is full and complete, it is impossible for it to change. Thus, for Parmenides, this is is the real One, which remains forever and immovable. Finally, for Parmenides, therefore, the idea of world-process is an illusion for nothing can come out of that which is. For a detailed discussion on Parmenides’s life and works, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,http://www.iep.utm.edu/parmenid/.
Heraclitus and Parmenides’s thoughts on the issue of world-process did not satisfy the inquiring mind. Hence, Heraclitus’s answer to the problem of world-process and Parmenides’s reaction did not suffice. The problem of philosophy after them was still occupied with the world-process as nature. Thus, for the inquiring mind, this problem must be solved: the world-process and the origin and formation of all things must be explained once and for all.
This is the reason why Empedocles, the Atomists, and Anaxagoras came to the fore. They insisted that the problem of the world-process needed to be pushed further. The basic contention of Empedocles, the Atomists, and Anaxagoras is that there is something that lies at the foundation of world-process, which has not and cannot become; something, therefore, that is original and unchangeable.
Empedocles (c. 492 BCE – c. 432 BCE) attempted to explain the world-process and its derivation. For Empedocles, the world-process is derived from the combination of the four basic elements, namely: fire, water, earth, and air. Empedocles calls these four elements as the Fundamental Materials of the world. Thus, for Empedocles, the world- process and the formation of things resulted from the combination of these four
The Atomists, particularly Leucippus (5th century BCE) and Democritus (460-370 BCE), found that the four elements of Empedocles are changeable and divisible. Therefore, they cannot be the primary beings that lie at the foundation of world-process. Hence, Leucippus and Democritus argued that atoms, which are numberless, are the primary beings that lie at the foundation of the world-process. In fact, for these philosophers, mechanical motion in the world-process resulted from the weight of the combined atoms. For more on the life and works of Leucippus, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/leucippu/. For the life and works of Democritus, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/democrit/.
Finally, if mechanical motion results from the weight of the combined atoms, the question of Anaxagoras (c. 500 BCE – 428 BCE) was: what is the explanation of the form and order of things? Thus, Anaxagoras argued that there must be a primordial being that is responsible for the form and order of things. For Anaxagoras, this primordial being is Nous or Mind. According to Anaxagoras, this Nous is the law-giving motion, without which motion in the universe is impossible. This is likened to Hegel’s notion of “Reason” as the driving force of history.
Now, it is important to note that with Anaxagoras, the first period of Greek philosophy naturally closes. This period, which is usually called as the period of natural philosophy―because it addresses the problem of world-material, that of the world- order, and world-process―has so far thought of the problem of the world, and from its answers, Mind necessarily resulted.
Just a final note. As we can notice, the ancient Greek philosophers did not ask the question as to who created the world, as we normally do today. The notion of a Creator, at least in the history of philosophy, was picked up later by the Medieval thinkers, particularly St. Augustine, the acclaimed philosopher of the Medieval period. This is exactly what makes this intellectual endeavor truly philosophical: it used reason in explaining reality.
Part 2 The Problem of Knowledge: The Sophists, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle
In Part 1 of this series of discussions about the history of Greek philosophy, we learned that for Parmenides and the Eleatics, there is no world-process. Now, if there is no world-process, then this means that there is no “process” or any “change” that actually happens in reality. The implication of this argument in epistemology is that there is no mental process and, for this reason, knowledge is impossible to attain.
If there is nothing but process or change, and nothing whatsoever is permanent, as Heraclitus would have us believe, then neither subject nor object continues. Hence, there is neither a knowing subject nor a thing to be known. If this is the case, then the same conclusion can be arrived at, that knowledge is impossible to attain.
If there is nothing but mechanical process, nothing but the union and separation of the four basic elements, as Empedocles and the Atomists believed, then there is also no mental process, and so, knowledge is also impossible to attain.
And if a mental process depends upon a being (Nous or Mind) outside the world, as Anaxagoras maintains, then there is no natural process of knowledge. For this reason, human knowledge is impossible to attain.
The overall implication of Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, the Atomists, and Anaxagoras’s philosophy in epistemology is that knowledge cannot be attained. More importantly, if there is no knowledge, then this implies that there is no truth.
And if there is no truth, then nothing whatsoever is “in itself”, that is, there is nothing that exists as universally valid being or truth, neither in science nor in philosophy. At the end of it all, nothing remains but subjective opinion; nothing but the individual as the measure of all things. This is precisely the theme of the Sophists, particularly Gorgias and Protagoras.
As is well known, the Sophists in general were convinced that knowledge is impossible to attain. As Protagoras claims: “Man is the measure of all things, of the reality of those which are, and the unreality of those which are not.” Another famous line of Protagoras reads: “As to the gods, I cannot know whether they exist or not; too many obstacles are in the way, the obscurity of the subject and the shortness of life.” For more on the life and works of Protagoras, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/protagor/.
It is important to note that Sophism as a philosophical movement (philosophical movement because it’s not a branch nor a sub-branch of philosophy) is partly an expansion of the philosophies of Heraclitus, Parmenides, Empedocles, the Atomists, and Anaxagoras, but in the realm of knowledge.
Now, with the contention of the Sophists that knowledge is impossible to attain, Socrates came into the fore, which gave way to Plato and, later, Aristotle. Needless to say, this is where Socrates, Plato and Aristotle entered the scene.
Socrates (469 BCE – 399 BCE), indeed, was the first to see the problem with Sophism. In fact, the primary question that preoccupied Socrates was nothing else than the genesis of knowledge, the passage of the mind from the stage of “not-knowing” into that of “knowing”, and the seeking of truth, with a factual refutation of the Sophists who declared that knowledge is impossible to attain.
One of the proofs why the Sophists believed that knowledge is impossible to attain is the continual contradiction of human opinions about anything. Thus, the Sophists believed that knowledge and truth are impossible to attain because people disagree on almost everything.
However, Socrates was convinced that “harmony” or “agreement” is inherent in any disagreement. Thus, Socrates believes that “harmony” or “agreement” can be produced out of the contradiction. This made Socrates conclude that truth and knowledge are possible, and that they can be found in intercourse with men, that is, in a dialogue with men. Thus, for Socrates, with dialogue, universal concepts―those in which all men agree―are made possible. For more on the life and works of Socrates, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/socrates/.
Plato (427 BCE – 347 BCE), as we know, was Socrates’s most brilliant student. Plato was a philosopher in his own right. However, Plato’s philosophy began with his attempt to write or record Socrates’s philosophy. As we know, Socrates never wrote his philosophy. Later, however, as he expands Socrates’s philosophy, Plato developed his own way of philosophizing and, eventually, his own philosophy.
Plato agreed with Socrates’s claim that universal concepts―those in which all men agree―are true concepts, which are the objects of knowledge. The strong proviso that Plato added is that everything that exists is just a copy of the real. Thus, the world of ideas (in contradistinction to the world of matter or the material world) is the only real world and, consequently, the only real knowledge. For sure, this is the step from Socrates to Plato.
Plato’s notion of the world of ideas and the world of matter laid down the notion of the dualism of matter and form. And this dualism implies the opposition of ideas and matter, that is, of the intelligible world and the material world. For more on Plato’s life and works, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/plato/.
But the question of the inquiring mind was: how does matter acquire form? In other words, how is the union of matter and form possible? This question gave way to the philosophy of Aristotle.
Aristotle (382 BCE – 322 BCE) got rid of Plato’s dualism. For Aristotle, form and matter are inseparable. This is because, according to Aristotle, we cannot think of anything without matter and form. Indeed, for Aristotle, something cannot exist if it does not have both matter and form, that is, if it is not complete. This is the reason why Aristotle argues that anything that exists is perfect, is complete, because it has matter and form. For example, a table cannot exist as a table in reality if it does not have a form of a table and matter of which it is made.
However, Aristotle argues that it is form that actualizes the potentialities of matter. This explains exactly Aristotle’s principle of act and potency. Furthermore, Aristotle introduces the idea of a Prime Matter. According to Aristotle, Prime Matter is the source of everything, and this Prime Matter has the possibility of becoming something. For more on Aristotle’s life and works, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/aristotl/.
Lastly, but most importantly, it must be noted that with Aristotle, the classic period of Greek philosophy ends.
Part 3 The Problem of Freedom: Stoicism, Epicureanism, Skepticism
In Part 2 of this series of discussions about the history of the development of Greek philosophy, I have traced the development of Greek philosophy from the Sophists to Aristotle, with emphasis on the problem of knowledge. In this post, I will present the development of Greek philosophy, particularly ancient Greek philosophy, from the Stoics to the Skeptics, with emphasis on the problem of freedom.
To reiterate, the classic period of ancient Greek philosophy ends with Aristotle. Now, after Aristotle, philosophy took a different direction. Here, the problem of philosophy was no longer on cosmology, that is, the problem of the world-stuff, world-order, and world-process, but on the person’s freedom from the world. This desire for freedom from the world, which came after Aristotle, was viewed as the restoration of the divine perfection of the human person―an inner perfection which approximate divinity. It is important to note that the human person was conceived in antiquity as an entity that can approximate divinity. It is also important to note that the background here is that the world is full of evil, of debaucheries, of wickedness, which had corrupted the human soul―thus, the need to free oneself from the world.
Those who attempted to free the human person from the world, at least in the context of ancient Greek philosophy, were represented by the Stoics, Epicureans, and the Skeptics. Let me briefly sketch the key concepts in Stoicism, Epicureanism, and Skepticism.
According to The Basics of Philosophy, “Stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy (developed by Zeno of Citium around 300 B.C. as a refinement of Cynicism) which teaches the development of self-control and fortitude as a means of overcoming destructive emotions. It does not seek to extinguish emotions completely, but rather seeks to transform them by a resolute Asceticism (a voluntary abstinence from worldly pleasures), which enables a person to develop clear judgment, inner calm and freedom from suffering (which it considers the ultimate goal).” See The Basics of Philosophy, http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_stoicism.html.
Thus, according to the virtue of the Stoics, to free oneself from the world, one must cease to desire, to suffer, to struggle, i.e., to strive for the solution of the problems of the world. In a sense, one must put herself in a condition in which there is nothing worthy of desire, in which the will is affected and influenced by nothing. For more on nature, meaning and dynamics of Stoicism, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/stoicism/#H1.
On the other hand, Epicurus (341 BCE – 271 BCE) suggests that in order for one to protect herself against the world, one must lead a life that is free from suffering. One way of doing this is not to ask too much from nature. In this way, one suffers a little and enjoy as much as possible.
However, it is a mistake to equate Epicureanism with hedonism. As we know, hedonism is the pursuit of pleasure, sensual pleasure so to speak. Thus, the famous hedonist motto: eat now, drink now, be merry for tomorrow you will die. On the contrary, Epicureanism urges one to seek modest pleasure in order to attain the greatest good, which is the attainment of tranquility and freedom from fear (ataraxia), as well as the absence of bodily pain (aponia). For more on Epicurus and Epicureanism, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/epicur/.
Lastly, we have the doubt of the ancient Greek Skeptics. Ancient Greek Skepticism “is generally applied either to a member of Plato’s Academy during its skeptical period (c. 273 B.C.E to 1st century B.C.E.) or to a follower of Pyrrho (c. 365 to 270 B.C.E.).
Pyrrhonian skepticism flourished from Aenesidemus’ revival (1st century B.C.E.) to Sextus Empiricus, who lived sometime in the 2nd or 3rd centuries C.E. Thus the two main varieties of ancient skepticism: Academic and Pyrrhonian.” See Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/skepanci/.
It is known that almost every form of ancient Greek skepticism has something to do with the claim that humans have the inability to gain knowledge of the world, and so the need to suspend judgment. In the case of Pyrrho, who was overwhelmed by his inability to determine rationally which competing schools of thoughts during his time was correct, doubt then is the key to attaining peace of mind (ataraxia). In fact, after admitting to himself that indeed he could not attain absolute truth, Pyrrho gained peace of mind. For more on the life and works of the Skeptic Pyrrho, see Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy, http://www.iep.utm.edu/pyrrho/.
Thus, doubt for the Skeptics is the key to freeing oneself from the wicked world. In fact, the Skeptics claim that in order for one to get rid of the “unrest of mind”, one must cease to strive, and must give up the solution of the problems of the world, being convinced that these problems cannot be solved.
To reiterate, the Stoics, Epicureans, and Skeptics have one common goal: freedom from the world. The Stoics seek to become free from the world through “virtue”, the Epicureans through “happiness”, and the Skeptics through “doubt”.
Part 4 The Problem of Religion: Plotinus to Jesus Christ
In Part 3 of this series of discussions about the history of ancient Greek philosophy, I have presented the development of Greek philosophy from the Stoics to the Skeptics, with emphasis on the problem of freedom. In this concluding part, I will discuss briefly the last problem of ancient Greek philosophy, namely: the problem of religion.
As we have seen, the means of the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the Skeptics in attaining freedom from the world seemed to have failed. It is for this reason that the problem of the world, that is, the evil it contains, requires a deeper solution: religion.
It is important to note, therefore, that after the Stoics, the Epicureans, and the Skeptics, the desire for freedom from the world took another direction, and this is now religious in nature. It is now viewed as the desire for salvation. Grecian philosophy soon met with Christianity, which broke through the limits of Judaism. For this reason, the desire for freedom now seeks union with God. Here, God must be conceived in such a way that the human person can say that if she were with Him, she would be happy―that in God’s presence, there is nothing that disturbs and oppresses. For this reason, it is only through God that salvation is possible.
The idea of salvation in late ancient Greek philosophy was introduced by the Ascetics, the Neo-Platonists, and Jewish Philosophy.
The Ascetics, such as the monks, want to attain divine illumination through a continued renunciation of the world and control of their natural desires, even to the extremist abstinence. Thus, the Ascetics normally withdraw from the world and voluntarily renounced worldly pleasures in the pursuit of spiritual goals. According to The Basics on Philosophy, http://www.philosophybasics.com/branch_asceticism.html, “The justification behind Asceticism is usually that spiritual and religious goals are impeded by indulgence in pleasures of the flesh, although it does not necessarily hold that the enjoyment of life is bad in itself. Thus, ascetic practices are not usually regarded as virtuous as such, but merely a means towards a mind-body transformation, or a purification of the body which enables connection with the Divine and the cultivation of inner peace. It aims to achieve freedom from compulsions and temptations, bringing about peacefulness of mind and an increase in clarity and power of thought.”
The Neo-Platonists, such as Ammonius Saccas (175 CE – 242 CE) and Plotinus (204 CE – 270 CE) believed that the doctrine of the order of the world can be conceived as thoughts of God. For one, Plotinus believes that the rational soul participates in the divine eternal world; thus, the rational soul directly originates from the divine essence. Plotinus believes that the rational soul is in constant communion with the One, and for this reason, the rational soul continually receives from the One. Thus, for Plotinus, salvation is possible only if the rational soul is connected to the One (or God). For more on the life and works of Plotinus, see “Plotinus,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plotinus/.
Jewish philosophy
Jewish philosophy has a spiritual kinship with Neo-Platonism. This is because its chief problem was the salvation of the world. The fundamental thought in which its solution is sought is that of a world-saving principle, that is, the Logos. The Logos, which was regarded by the ancient Greek philosophers as the principle of world-order, is now viewed as the Mediator between God and the human person. Indeed, the Logos was viewed by the Jewish thinkers as the creative word of God.
Indeed, when Jewish philosophy met Grecian philosophy, the idea of the Logos of the latter, which was understood as the principle of world-order, was now understood by the Jews as Messiah. Thus, the Logos-Messiah becomes the Mediator and Savior of the world.
Now, the problem of salvation demands a personal solution. This solution is possible only if a man appears who can actually overcome the world in himself, and who is truly free from the world. This man should then be the Savior of the world. Thus, the Logos has to become a flesh, that is, God the Savior has to become a man. And only though faith in this man can the person’s desire for salvation be satisfied. Thus, Jesus Christ has come into the fore. Indeed, it is precisely in this late period of Greek philosophy that Jesus Christ emerged.
What comes after this late stage of Greek philosophy was the development of philosophy in the Medieval period. But I will not discuss this part because this is no longer our main concern here. It is enough that we now know the origin and development of Western philosophy, particularly Greek philosophy.
According to Socrates, as Plato reports, “Wonder is the only beginning of philosophy.” Later, Aristotle, in response to his predecessors, especially the Ionian philosophers, said that “It is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize.” (See John Llewelyn, “On the saying that philosophy begins in thaumazein,” Afterall: A Journal of Art, Context and Enquiry, Issu3 4 (2001), pp. 48-57. https://www.jstor.org/stable/20711438?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents.
This is precisely the context and basis of the now famous claim that philosophy begins in wonder.
But what kind of wonder is this? For sure, wonder includes the feeling of surprise coupled with admiration, that is, when one is being curious or being in awe. But this is not enough. Wonder as the beginning of philosophy is precisely “philosophic wonder,” that is, the feeling of being perplexed. For example, the ancient Greek philosophers were perplexed about the origin and nature of the world. As Aristotle writes:
“For men were first led to study philosophy, as indeed they are today, by wonder. Now, he who is perplexed and wonders believes himself to be ignorant…they took to philosophy to escape ignorance…(Aristotle, Metaphysics 982b, tr. A.E. Taylor).”
In this sense, philosophic wonder seeks clarity by trying to understand the perplexities or vagueness or confusion that shrouded the inquiring mind. In other words, philosophic wonder seeks answers to or at least make sense of the mysterious world. Thus, when one begins to make sense of the questions regarding, for example, the origin of the world, or the meaning and purpose of life, one begins to philosophize. Thus, in philosophic wonder, one is not merely amazed by the mysteriousness of the world or of life, but seeks to understand this mystery. In a word: one thinks!
Given the above brief discussion on the origin of philosophy on the conceptual level, it is therefore reasonable to suppose that Western philosophy originated in Miletus, because Thales, the acclaimed first philosopher in the Western world, was from Miletus. Miletus during the time of Thales was the richest and the most powerful of all the Ionian cities, and was the first center of scholarship in ancient Greece. Ionia was a Greek city- state on the coast of Asia Minor, now Turkey.
It is worth noting that with the decline of Ionia, which began with its conquest by the Persians in 546 BCE, the intellectual life of Greece moved to Croton in southern Italy in 530 BCE. Croton was a splendid and powerful city-state of Greece to where Pythagoras emigrated from Samos and founded the Pythagorean Brotherhood [See Arthur Hilang Armstrong, An Introduction to Ancient Philosophy (London: Little Adams Quality Paperbacks, 1989), p. 5].
However, if philosophy begins in wonder, how do we exactly know that Thales was the first philosopher, that he was the first one to wonder, that is, the first one to attempt to make sense of the mysteriousness of the world? In fact, we cannot deny the occurrence of other pre-philosophical rumblings in Egyptian and Babylonian cultures, as well as in India and China. For sure, there were great thinkers that existed in each of these cultures, and there are evidence that some of the earliest Greek philosophers had come in contact with at least some of the products of Egyptian and Babylonia thought. And, of course, we cannot absolutely determine the first person who wondered or philosophized. But it is commonly believed that Thales was the first philosopher because he was the first, at least in recorded history, to put his philosophy into writing. In fact, we find in Thales, and many philosophers after him, some reasoned arguments for the origin and development of the world. Indeed, this is a unique feature of ancient Greek philosophy that distinguishes it from the pre-philosophical rumblings of other cultures.
To reiterate, Western philosophy begins in wonder, and that the origin of philosophy in terms of place is said to be in Miletus, Ionia.
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In these notes, I will briefly sketch the definition of philosophy, its origin, and its major branches. Specifically, it will address the question: What is Philosophy?
Meaning of Philosophy
Philosophy, particularly Western philosophy, comes from the two Greek words philia, which means “love” and sophia, “wisdom”. Thus, etymologically speaking, philosophy means the love of wisdom.
As is well known, love in this context is understood as a strong desire for a particular object; while wisdom is understood as a correct application of knowledge. Thus, philosophy as the love of wisdom, at least in this context, could refer to the strong desire of the human person to possess knowledge and apply it correctly. It’s not a coincidence, therefore, that most philosophers in the Ancient World, particularly in Greece, India, and China were sages or wise men. Think for example of Socrates, Gautama Buddha, Confucius, and Lao Tzu.
Traditionally, however, philosophy is defined as a science that studies beings in their ultimate causes, reasons, and principles through the aid of human reason alone. And when we speak of “being” or “beings” in philosophy in this context, we mean all things that exist, material or immaterial. An example of beings are “stones”, “trees”,
“persons”, “cars”, air, water; and the notions of “God”, “soul”, “spirit”. All of these are beings, and philosophy studies their ultimate causes, reason, and principles through the aid of reason alone.
In other words, philosophy is concerned with the reason and principles that account for everything that exists. Thus, some of the basic questions in philosophy are:
What is the origin of the world, of everything that exists?
Why do these things exist, rather than not exist at all?
Is there God? If so, how can we justify the goodness of God in the face of evil?
What is the meaning and purpose of life? Why do we have to suffer?
If one is suffering from an unbearable pain, such as cancer, is it morally right to resort to euthanasia or assisted suicide?
These are just some of the questions that philosophy attempted to address. And in doing so, philosophy uses reason as a tool, which can be expressed in many forms, such as the ability to reflect, question, articulate one’s thought, and analyze certain phenomenon or event. In short, philosophy attempts to understand things in a critical and logical manner.
It is important to note, however, that philosophers do not agree on a single definition of philosophy. In fact, philosophers differ in their basic understanding of philosophy. For example, Karl Jaspers, a famous German existential philosopher, understands philosophy as a discipline in which questions are more important than answers because answers themselves will, in turn, become questions.
Major Branches of Philosophy
After addressing the question “what is philosophy?”, let us now discuss the major branches of philosophy. Philosophy is normally divided into four major branches, namely: Metaphysics, Epistemology, Logic, and Ethics.
Metaphysics comes from the two Greek words meta, which means “beyond” or “after” and physika, “physical” or “nature”. Hence, etymologically speaking, metaphysics means the study of things beyond the physical, that is, concepts or things that cannot be experienced, such as the concepts of God, freedom, and soul.
Metaphysics is commonly understood as the foundation of philosophy. In fact, Aristotle calls it the “first philosophy”. Originally, the Greek word metaphysika, which literally means “after physics”, actually designated that part of Aristotle’s works, which came after those chapters that dealt with physics. However, it was misappropriated later by the Medieval commentators on classical texts as that which is beyond the physical. Thus, over time, metaphysics has been understood as the study of that which exists beyond the physical.
Metaphysics is subdivided into two, namely, General Metaphysics and Special Metaphysics. General Metaphysics is also referred to as Ontology. Under Special Metaphysics, we have Cosmology, Psychology or Anthropology, and Natural Theology or Theodicy.
Ontology is derived from the two Greek words onto, which means “being” or “that which is”, that is, everything that exists; and logos, which means “knowledge” or
“study”. (Note, however, that the term logos in ancient Greek scholarship have different connotations. For example, Heraclitus, a Greek philosopher of the late 6th century BCE, understands Logos as reason or the underlying principle of all that is.) Ontology, therefore, is the specific branch of philosophy that studies beings in their ultimate causes, reasons, and principles through the aid of reason alone. In other words, Ontology studies the first principles or the essence of all things.
Some of the basic questions in ontology are:
What is being?
Why do things exist, rather than not exist at all?
What is the meaning and nature of reality?
What is the underlying principle of all that exist?
Is there nothing?
Please note that my concern here is just to describe very schematically the four major branches of philosophy. If you want to know more about the nature and dynamics of Ontology per se, see John Rickaby, S.J. General Metaphysics. https://www3.nd.edu/~maritain/jmc/etext/gm.htm.
Cosmology, from the Ancient Greek words kosmos, which means the “world” and logos, meaning “study”, is the specific sub-branch of philosophy that studies the world (or universe), including its origin, dynamics, and characteristics, as well as the laws that govern its order.
Some of the basic questions in cosmology are:
What is the origin of the world?
What is the basic material of which the world is formed?
How do things arise?
In what consists its (the world) fundamental form or principle of order?
Is the world or universe infinite?
Psychology comes from the two Greek words psyche, which means “soul” (but loosely understood as mind) and logos, study. Thus, psychology is the specific sub-branch of philosophy that studies the soul or mind. Broadly construed, though, psychology is the study of the nature and dynamics of the human person as a whole, with emphasis on the way the person’s mind functions and the way she behaves.
Some of the questions in psychology are:
What is the nature of the human person?
Is there such thing as human nature?
What is the meaning and purpose, if any, of life?
Is there life after death?
How do we account for the existence of sufferings in the world?
Theodicy (Natural theology) is derived from the Greek word theos, which means God. The word theodicy was coined by the famous 18th century German philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz in his 1710 work titled Théodicée. Broadly construed, theodicy is the study of God. But specifically, theodicy is concerned with the justification of the goodness of God in the face of the existence of evil in the world.
Some of the questions in theodicy are:
Is there God?
What and who is God, if He exists at all?
How do we prove the existence of God?
If God exists, how do we justify the existence of evil and suffering in the world?
Does a belief in God really necessary?
For a detailed discussion on special metaphysics, see Louis de Poissy, Special Metaphysics. https://maritain.nd.edu/jmc/etext/cp27.htm.
The second major branch of philosophy is Epistemology.
Epistemology comes from the two Greek words episteme, which means knowledge, and logos which means study. It is formally defined as the study of the nature and scope of knowledge and justified belief. Specifically, it analyzes the nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions, such as truth, belief, and justification.
The third major branch of philosophy is Logic. Logic comes from the Greek word logos, which, as I already mentioned, has different meanings. It is defined as the science of correct thinking or the study of the principles and criteria of a valid argument. More specifically, logic attempts to distinguish sound or good reasoning from unsound or bad reasoning.
Some of the basic questions in logic are:
What is correct reasoning?
What distinguishes a good argument from a bad one?
How can we detect a fallacy in an argument?
What are the criteria for determining the validity of an argument?
What are the types of logic?
Ethics is derived from the Greek word ethos, which originally means custom or habit. Broadly construed, ethics is the morality of human actions. Ethics, therefore, is concerned with questions of how human persons ought to act, and the search for a definition of a right conduct and the good life.
It is important to note that ethics is not the same with morality. This is because ethics denotes the theory of right action and the greater good, while morality indicates practice, that is, the rightness or wrongness of a human action.
Some of the questions in ethics are:
What is a right conduct as that which causes the realization of the greatest good?
How do we determine a right conduct? In other words, what makes a right conduct right?
What is a good life and can we attain it?
What is the difference between human act and actions that are based on instinct?
What do people think is right?
It is important to note that some scholars argue that there are five major branches of philosophy, namely, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, logic, and aesthetics. While there is nothing wrong with this contention, in these notes, I adhered to the classical understanding of the major branches of philosophy, namely, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and logic. The argument is that “aesthetics”, which is the study of beauty, is under metaphysics.
It is also important to note that some scholars put ethics and aesthetics under axiology, the philosophical study of value. There is also nothing wrong with it. It’s just that, as intimated above, I adhered to the classical understanding of the major branches of philosophy, namely, metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, and logic.
As we can see, there is no absolute, one-size-fits-all understanding of the major branches of philosophy. Hence, our understanding of the major branches of philosophy depends entirely on a specific tradition one is coming from.
