Philosophy: Understanding Reality and Human Action

Philosophy

Philosophy is an activity that involves thinking and reasoning about concepts and ideas. Philosophical activity is initiated, therefore, by asking questions about concepts. To answer, the philosopher defends or criticizes a thesis using arguments or reasoning. The term "philosophy" means love of wisdom.

The issues raised by philosophy fall into two types: questions about how the world is and how we know it, and issues that address the question of living well in the world and about human behavior.

• Theoretical philosophy is based on reality and knowledge of the world.
• Practical philosophy focuses on human action and moral conduct.

Questions About Reality

Natural phenomena, such as lightning, eclipses, earthquakes, etc., have constantly been a source of questions for human beings. Over time, humans have invented their own answers and explanations, which are divided into three classes: the mythical story, scientific explanation, and philosophical reasoning.

• A myth is a narrative starring extraordinary creatures that explains the creation of some element of nature, or of all nature as a whole. Myths originated in the astonishment produced by natural phenomena whose causes were unknown. There are many kinds of myths, among which three stand out:
  • Theologies: Narrate the origin and lineage of different gods.
  • Cosmogonies: Describe the origin of the universe.
  • Etiological myths: Explain the appearance of a new being or a part of reality.
• Scientific explanations are answers to questions that arise from the contemplation of nature. But unlike myths, science seeks to describe the causes and the actual mechanisms that cause these phenomena.

  The progress of science is based on the application of the hypothetical-deductive method, which consists of the following steps:

  • Identifying the problem you want to solve.
  • Formulating a hypothesis to explain the causes of this phenomenon.
  • Designing experiments to compare this hypothesis with nature and determine if it is correct.

  A basic example is the case of Semmelweis...

• Philosophical reasoning is a reflection on some aspect of reality, the world, or human nature, which cannot be answered using observation and experiments because of its abstraction or complexity.