EDF211/3

LECTURER Three:March 12^TH, 2019

LECTURE PLAN

 

 Review of Lecture 1  (5 Minutes)

i.            Definition of Philosophy

ii.            General and Technical Philosophy

Review of Lecture 2 (10minutes)

i.            History of Western Philosophy

ii.            Methods of Philosophy, 

iii.            Epistemology and Axiology

Lecture Three

i.            Metaphysics- 10 minutes

ii.            Logic-  30minutes

iii.            The concept of Education 20 Minutes

iv.            The concept of Teaching 20 minutes

v.            African Philosophy 30 Minutes

Review and Summary of Lecture Three

i.            Metaphysics-  5minutes

ii.            Logic-  5minutes

iii.            The concept of Education 5Minutes

iv.            The concept of Teaching 5minutes

v.            African Philosophy 5 Minutes

Content of Philosophy Contn'd

    iii. Metaphysics

What is Metaphysics?

1.       This term refers to what goes beyond the physics/nature.. It deals with questions, things or concerns that lie after or beyond the physical world of sense experience.  

Subdivisions of Metaphysics

Metaphysics is traditionally divided into four areas:

1.       Cosmology: the study of the universe (cosmos). It has to do with the origin and nature meaning of the universe. This is done rationally.

2.       Theodicy: rational investigation of the supernatural. It belongs to the field of theology where religious concepts and beliefs are assessed.

3.       Rational or philosophical psychology: philosophy of the mind. It investigates into the intricate processes of perceiving, imagining, remembering, feeling, understanding, willing. It attempts to solve the mind/body problem; their composition, nature and relationship e.g. can mind survive destruction of the body?

4.       Ontology[1]: the philosophical study of ‘being’. What is the meaning of existence? What comprises matter? What is man/woman? What is the essence of being? The meaning of Being: Anything Whatsoever that is or exists. Modes of Being : Physical/Material being, Spiritual being

First Principles of Metaphysics

1.       Principle of Non Contradiction: A thing X cannot at the time be and not be

2.       Principle of Identity: Every being  is determined in itself, is one with itself, and is consistent in itself

3.       Principle of Intelligibility: Everything that is, inso far as it is , is intelligible

4.       Principle of Causality: Whatever comes to be has a cause

5.       Principle of Finality: Every agents acts //All beings when acting tend to some definite effect

6.       Principle of the Excluded middle: There cannot be an intermediate between contradictions

7.       Principle of Sufficient Reason: Everything that exists has sufficient reason for its existence

Principles of Being:  Causality and Participation: causality is that from which something else proceeds with dependency in being. participation; structural dependence of many beings on the one being. it means  to receive a part of what belongs to another fully and so merely sharing in it.

Types of causes

1.      Efficient cause: That by which any change is brought about in order of execution in order of execution.

2.      Material cause; That out which a new being arises-matter in regard to form

3.      Formal cause: The act by which a material substratum  is determined towards a new being

4.      Final cause: That because of which some is or becomes

Essence and Existence: Existence is the act whereby a thing is present in nature or in mind. Essence is mode or manner according to which really might be fashioned

Potency and Act: Potency is the aptitude in a being to receive some  or perform an act . Act  is the fully present realization of Potency.

    

Substance and Accident

   iv. Logic

It refers to the study of correct reasoning. It deals with the structure and principles of sound arguments. On our daily basis, individuals are engaged in various forms of arguments, where premises/statements are made and conclusions drawn. In most cases, wrong conclusions are arrived at involving wrong premises and undue generalizations. Logic is essential because it stipulates how arguments should be constructed and how fallacies (erroneous beliefs or myths) can be detected and avoided. Within logic, two forms of reasoning can be distinguished:  deductive and inductive.

'

Preliminary

a. Definitions

i. Mental Operations

1.       Apprehension: Deals  with Conception (simple mental grasp of an  object-without further operation),

2.       Judgment : Mental sentence or proposition(Affirm or deny)

3.       Reasoning: Argument( Drawing Inferences, dealing with premises and conclusion)

ii. Reasoning : Mind's movement from one or more propositions which act as evidence for a final proposition which  calls for proof.

iii. Propositions: A proposition is any statement with truth value i.e. it can be proved to be true or false. e.g. Stones are cats. Propositions are never assessed in terms of validity. Its either True orFalse.

iv. Arguments: Is a set of Premises(evidential propositions)  and Conclusions(Claiming propositions).

v. Quarrelling: Not same as arguing- some of the statements in an quarrel are not propositions. Quarrelling is more of  a psychological activity than it is a Philosophical activity.

vi. Some symbols used in logic:

1.      >   If......then...(symbol for Biconditionality)

2.      v  Either.....or....(Symbol of disjunction)

3.      ^  Both.....and.....(Symbol of Conjunctionality)

4.      ≡ ....If and only if...(Symbol of Biconditionality)

5.       (   ){  }[  ] Brackets are used to separate collective Propositions

vi. Dimensions of Mordern logic

In modern philosophy, logic is expressed in two main dimensions:

Symbolic logic involving mathematical symbols – application of symbols to explain phenomena e. g a + b = 4: b= 4 – a

1.      Analytic logic – prevalently used by analytic philosophers who emphasize the logical analysis of language to arrive at clear  meanings of terms/concepts.

2.      Students studying science, arts or education should be familiar with the basic rules of logic so as to enable one reason correctly and use language meaningfully.

b.  Forms of Reasoning/ Types of arguments

i. Reductive Reasoning( Reductio ad absurdum)

     Reducing a statement to its opposite or absurdity

     P>-P  then -P

     If it is not raining then assume it's not raining

ii. Abductive Reasoning

Reasoning from the best possible explanation

ABD1

Given evidence E and candidate explanations H₁,…, H_n of E, infer the truth of that H_i which best explains E.

ABD2

Given evidence E and candidate explanations H₁,…, H_n of E, infer the truth of that H_i which explains E best, provided H_i is satisfactory/good enough qua explanation.

ABD3

Given evidence E and candidate explanations H₁,…, H_n of E, if H_i explains E better than any of the other hypotheses, infer that H_i is closer to the truth than any of the other hypotheses.

 iii. Dialectical Reasoning: Synthesis from a Thesis and Anti thesis. No contradictions

iv. Deductive Reasoning

This involves reasoning from general to particular instances. In this case, a conclusion is inferred or deduced from  general premises/statements/propositions.

 Properties of a  Deductive argument

1.       Validity-( A deductive argument is valid if the conclusion necessarily logically affirms the premises. It is invalid if and only if it has all true premises and a False conclusion)

2.       Soundness:(A sound Deductive argument is one  which has  all        actually/factually true premises and true conclusion)

      Examples

1.       All PGDE students are untrained teachers

John is a PGDE student

John is an untrained teacher

2.       All human beings are liable to make mistakes

Mike is a human being

Mike makes mistakes

3.       All human beings have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

Mary is a human being

Mary has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

       4. All numbers  ending with 5 and 0 are divisible by 5

            1,964.5 Ends with 5

            conclusion?...........

     Further examples

     Private schools perform well in national exams

                      All Kikuyus are thieves

           All Luos are proud

           All university students are immoral

           Teachers are hard working

           All Philosophers are idiots

           All cats are dogs

The above reasoning has been expressed in syllogism form: the  first two statements need to be stated before the third can follow logically. This type of reasoning is prevalent in philosophy, religion and mathematics.

 How to determine  validity of a deductive argument.....(To be continued)

v. Inductive reasoning(Continue Editing)

     It involves general laws/conclusions being inferred from particular instances. It is the reverse of deductive reasoning. In this type of reasoning, various instances of a given specimen are observed over a period of time. The observation leads to general conclusions/laws being established  with some level of probability. This type of reasoning is applicable with empirical sciences.

Example 1:  P1. Most Kenyans are corrupt

                    P2. Otieno is  a Kenyan

..............................................................................

Therefore probably Otieno is corrupt

Example 2: P1. There are 100 mangoes in the basket

                    P2. 70 of the mangoes picked are rotten

...............................................................................

Probably all the 100 mangoes are rotten

                   

   Properties of Inductive reasoning

1.      Strength: An inductive argument is said to be strong when it is  when it is such that  when the premises are assumed or granted to be true the its conclusion is most likely to be true.

2.      Cogency: An argument is Cogent when it is both strong and has actually true premises

c. Fallacies

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