Foundations of Philosophy: Myth, Logos, Knowledge, Epistemology

Philosophy

Philosophy is the pursuit of knowledge to understand reality as a whole. Philosophy is necessary, historical, critical, rational, and seeks universal knowledge.

Types of Knowledge

• Mythological: imagination, fantasy ...
• Vulgar: custom, tradition ...
• Emotional: empathy.
• Religious: faith, personal beliefs ...
• Scientific: By the 17th century, philosophy and science developed together. The difference involved methods and scope when studying natural phenomena.

Western Philosophy

Born in the 6th century BC in Greece, notably in Athens, then part of the Greek world. Western philosophy appears for three main reasons:

1. Business: Trade, marketing and contact with other cultures required understanding different ways of thinking based on myths. The Greeks realized there could be a single truth founded on reason and the search for universal principles, and philosophers arose.
2. Democracy: Previously, governance was often theocratic, with rulers chosen by divine right. In Greece, rational dialogue and public debate emerged as political practices.
3. Religion: In Athens, emphasis on individual thought allowed people to seek explanations beyond strictly religious accounts.

Myth

Myth: A set of narratives about the origin of the world, humans and gods created by imagination and fantasy.

Humans came to earth and observed a number of natural phenomena that were associated with supernatural forces personified as gods. These natural phenomena appeared arbitrary and could not be predicted. For humans, the gods seemed to limit freedom and determine destiny.

The Logos

The Logos is based on reason and on the whole; its purpose was to understand reality in order to survive. Mythic explanations are transcendent and rely on imagination; the Logos is immanent and relies on reason.

• Myth: arbitrary.
• Logos: seeks the immanent causes of phenomena.

Faculty of Knowledge

Sensitive: knowledge of individual objects and their characteristics.

• Animals: concrete intelligence. The senses have limitations: they tend to make us think reality is exactly as we perceive it. Our senses provide knowledge that can be subjective.
• Human: abstract thinking.

Noetic (intellect): abstract and intangible; it performs abstract operations. Essence is that which makes a thing what it is and not another. Essence is abstract, universal, necessary and immutable; it is not accessed through the senses.

• Idea: the essence thought.
• Word: expression of the idea.

Philosophical Terms

Philosophy: Philo = love; Sophia = wisdom.

Metaphysics: the part of philosophy that studies what is beyond the physical.

Gnoseology (Epistemology): the part of philosophy that examines the scope and validity of human knowledge.