SHS LECTURES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title : Philosophy

At the end of this lecture , you are going to learn the following :

What philosophy is ?
What are the its main subfields?
Which topics or problems philosophers are working on or to solve?
What are the main aims of the philosophical studies?
Who are the famous names of this field?
What importance philosophy has in our lives?
What relation philosophy has to language studies?

The Definition of philosophy :

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The word "philosophy" comes from the Ancient Greek (philosophia), which literally
means "love of wisdom". The introduction of the terms "philosopher" and
"philosophy" has been ascribed to the Greek thinker Pythagoras.

Its sub fields :

Philosophy is divided into many sub-fields. These include epistemology, logic,

metaphysics, ethics, and aesthetics.

Its main Topics :

Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those

connected with reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language.
Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its
critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational argument. In more
casual speech, by extension, "philosophy" can refer to "the most basic beliefs, concepts,
and attitudes of an individual or group".

Philosophical problems:

These are the most common problems raised by philosophy

philosophers are concerned with:
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and most

logic: what are the foundations and principles of sound reasoning

science: what are the foundations of our scientific and technological knowledge
language: what does language have to do with human thought
meaning: what is meaning and how do we succeed in representing one thing
by another
ethics: what are the foundations of the judgments that acts or the men who
commit them are good or bad, and in what sense are such judgments true or
different from mere matters of taste
aesthetics: what makes beautiful things appear beautiful or ugly, and what is
the use of having an aesthetical capacity

SHS LECTURES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title : Philosophy

self: whether there is a self, and if so, what it is and what is its foundation, or, if
not, what is the reason for this popular delusion
free will: whether human beings are in any sense free to act as they please and
responsible for the consequences, or only determined to falsely believe they are
free to believe as they please
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death: whether death indeed is final, what is the point of fearing something one
will never experience, and whether there is anything else than selfcontradiction in the belief in a life or a judgment after death
happiness: what is happiness; how does one find it; and why should one look
for it, especially if everyone seems naturally to know what feels good and what
does not feel good
the good life: what a human individual should and should not do, believe and
desire to lead a good life
the good society: what relations between human individuals contribute to the
good life.

The main aims of the philosophical studies :

It is a study that seeks to understand the mysteries of existence and reality.

It tries to discover the nature of truth and knowledge and to find what is of
basic value and importance in life.
It also examines the relationships between humanity and nature and between
the individual and society.
Philosophy arises out of wonder, curiosity, and the desire to know and
understand.
Philosophy is thus a form of inquiry--a process of analysis, criticism,
interpretation, and speculation.

Greatest Philosophers in History:

John Locke : is referred to as the Father of Liberalism, because of his

development of the principles of humanism and individual freedom.
Epicurus : He has gotten a bit of an unfair reputation over the centuries as a
teacher of self-indulgence and excess delight.
Zeno of Citium : Zeno founded the school of Stoicism. Stoicism comes from the
Greek stoa, which is a roofed colonnade.

SHS LECTURES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title : Philosophy

Avicenna : His full name is Ab Al al-usayn ibn Abd Allh ibn Sn, the
last two words of which were Latinized into the more common form in Western
history. He lived in the Persian Empire from c. 980 AD to 1037.
Thomas Aquinas : He will forever be remembered as the man who supposedly
proved the existence of God by arguing that the Universe had to have been Page
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created by something, since everything in existence has a beginning and an
end.
Confucius : Master Kong Qiu, as his name translates from Chinese, lived from
551 to 479 BC, and remains the most important single philosopher in Eastern
history.
Rene Descartes : He lived from 1596 to 1650, and today he is referred to as
the Father of Modern Philosophy. He created analytical geometry, based on
his now immortal Cartesian coordinate system, immortal in the sense that we
are all taught it in school, and that it is still perfectly up-to-date in almost all
branches of mathematics.
Plato : He lived from c. 428 to c. 348 BC, and founded the Western worlds first
school of higher education, the Academy of Athens.
Aristotle : is the first to have written systems by which to understand and
criticize everything from pure logic to ethics, politics, literature, even science.

The Importance of Philosophy :

All human beings orient their lives around ideas about what reality is like, that
they believe explain their experiences and ideas about what reality and human
beings should be like, that they use to guide their behaviour..
Philosophic thought is an inescapable part of human existence. Almost
everyone has been puzzled from time to time by such essentially philosophic
questions as "What does life mean?" "Did I have any existence before I was
born?" and "Is there life after death?"
By studying philosophy, people can clarify what they believe, and they can be
stimulated to think about ultimate questions.
Philosophy has had enormous influence on our everyday lives. The very
language we speak uses classifications derived from philosophy.

Philosophy of language
1. Philosophical interest in language is maintained by foundational and
conceptual questions in linguistics, quintessentially philosophical problems
about the connections between mind, language and the world, and issues about
philosophical methodology.
2. IT is concerned with four central problems: the nature of meaning, language
use, language cognition, and the relationship between language and reality.

SHS LECTURES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------Title : Philosophy

Tip : First and foremost, philosophers of language prioritize their inquiry on the
nature of meaning. They seek to explain what it means to "mean" something.
3. Topics in that vein include the nature of synonymy, the origins of meaning
itself, and how any meaning can ever really be known.
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4. The investigation into the manner in which sentences are composed into a
meaningful whole out of their meaningful parts; and how or if the meanings of
such complexes are derived from the meanings of parts thereof.
5. Philosophers of language seek to better understand what speakers and listeners
do with language in communication, and how it is used socially.
6. Specific interests may include the topics of language learning, language creation,
and speech acts.
7. They would like to know how language relates to the minds of both the speaker
and the interpreter. Of specific interest is the grounds for successful translation of
words into other words.
8. They investigate also how language and meaning relate to truth and the world.

Studying Philosophy and English Language as a course at university:

Studying Philosophy , English Language and Linguistics enables you to engage with
the worlds major philosophies and thinkers alongside gaining an understanding of
how language itself works; What is philosophy? Why is it important? Is it relevant?
As a student of these courses; you do not so much learn about philosophy as learn to
do it yourself. This includes not only studying major philosophies and philosophers,
but also contributing your own ideas to an ongoing dialogue. You develop the ability
to connect the most abstract ideas to the most concrete things in our experience.
Within the English Language and Linguistics element, you explore the structure of
language and its relationship with culture, society, and the mind. A broad choice of
theoretical topics encompasses such areas as syntax, phonetics and phonology,
morphology, sociolinguistics, language acquisition, semantics, pragmatics, literary
stylistics and critical and cultural theory.
Ref :
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www.wikipedia.com

http://www.kent.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/353/philosophy-and-english-language-andlinguistics

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophy_of_language
http://www.rep.routledge.com/article/U017
http://www.unexplainable.net/infotheories/the_importance_of_philosophy_in_human_life_1182.php