THE PROBLEMS OF PHILOSOPHY
The problems of philosophy arise as result of difference in philosophical, cultural, socio-economical perspectives and interpretation of experiences or varying understanding of reality. Philosophical problems do not abound only in philosophy but also in other disciplines. Now, you must know the following:
· The problems of philosophy can be summarized under the following headings: (a) Metaphysical problems (b) Epistemological Problems (c) Axiological Problems (d) Problems of Logic (e) The Problem of Personal Identity.
· The following philosophical problems are considered METAPHYSICAL: (a) the problem of matter (b) the problem of God’s existence.
· It was Bishop Berkeley who stated that “matter is nothing more than our perception and does not exist outside of our perception because unless we perceive material things we cannot know if they exist or not”. TO BE IS TO BE PERCEIVED.
· For the problem of God’s existence, St. Thomas Aquinas claimed that God exists and has revealed himself to humans in revelation [the Bible] and in creation. On the other hand, Sigmund Freud believes that God is human intervention to replace the imperfect human father and do the things human fathers cannot do for themselves or their children.
· Under the Epistemological Problems we have: (a) the problem of SKEPTICISM: THIS INVOLVES THE EXTENT TO WHICH WE CAN BE CERTAIN THAT WE KNOW ANYTHING. (b) the problem of TRUTH.
· AXIOLOGY is the study of VALUES: the GOOD [ETHICS] and the BEAUTIFUL [AESTHETICS].
· In ETHICSwe have the following problems: (a) the problem of EVIL (b) the problem of freedom and determinism (c) the problem of the definition of ART (d) the problem of the definition of BEAUTY.
· The following are classified as LOGICAL PROBLEMS (a) the problem of induction and (b) the problem of deduction.
· It was IMMANUEL KANT who attempted to reconcile the rationalist and empiricists on the issue of the foundation of knowledge in his work titled: The Critique of Pure Reason. He claimed that knowledge begins from EXPERIENCE and ends with the ANALYSES OF REASON using its categories.
· Under the problem of personal identity, the following questions arose: how did we come to have an idea of the human person? What constitutes a human person? What are the necessary conditions for saying a human being is a person? And if a human being is a person today, can that same human being lose his or her being a person in the future? In an attempt to answer these questions, the concept of the human person arose.
· In order to answer the questions of personal identity, the human person is categorized into two: (a) the substance MONISTS and (b) the substance DUALISTS.
· The Substance Monists believe that the human person is purely a ‘material being’i.e. a being that is made up of only matter [and has no spirit or soul]. In this light, Elizabeth Burns and Stephen Law listed some common features associated with the human person to include: (a) a sophisticated mental intelligence with emotions and feelings to express sexuality (b) remembrance (c) ability to plan events (d) ability to make moral, aesthetic and religious decisions based on rational judgment (e) ability to make abstract thought and use of language (f) the ability to be subjective and self-conscious. You must know that these characteristics are not all present at birth, they develop in us through growth and maturity.
· The brain is regarded as the ‘vehicle of personal identity’.
· The Substance Dualists believe that the human person is made up of ‘body and soul/spirit’.
· John Locke is/was a Substance Dualist and he claimed that the ‘body of a human person is not sufficient to determine the identity of the person’. He concentrated on the ‘consciousness of the human person’ in his work titled ‘An Essay Concerning Human Understanding’. He also stated that consciousness is one of the qualities of the ‘human soul’.
Post a Comment