1. An Introduction to
Philosophy

2. What are your thoughts or ideas?
What is Philosophy ?
What are your thoughts or ideas?

3. What is Philosophy ? There are many, many definitions of “philosophy”
Philosophy concerns itself with the most fundamental human questions about reality, existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language

4. Basic Human Questions What is Is there a god? Is war good or evil?
How should we treat the environment?
Basic Human Questions
Is there
a god?
Is war good or evil?
Do humans have rights?
What is the purpose of life?
What is
happiness?
Is science more important than faith?
Is social harmony
better than freedom?
What is justice?
Can we communicate with spirits?

5. Early Global Philosophies
HCOM
301
Early Global Philosophies

6. The Axial Age BCE
“The spiritual foundations of humanity were laid simultaneously and independently and these are the foundations upon which humanity still subsists today.” Karl Jaspers, 1949

7. The Axial Age 900-200 BCE Parsva & Mahavira: Jainism
India
Parsva & Mahavira: Jainism
Siddhartha Gautama: Buddhism
Hinduism
China
Confucius: Confucianism
Laozi: Taoism
Greece
Socrates, Plato, & Aristotle: Western Philosophy
Middle East
Elijah, Isaiah, & Jeremiah: Judaism, Christianity, Islam
Zarathustra: Zoroastrianism
Mesoamerica / Africa
Oral Traditions & Folkways

8. Ancient Evidence of Ideas
Cave Drawings
Architecture
Pottery & Sculpture
Turtle Shell Writing

9. More Conventional Early Writing
Indus 2000 BCE
Phoenician Alphabet BCE
Tao te ching 300 BCE
Plato’s Writing 370 BCE

10. Closer to Home In Mesoamerica
Mixtec in Oaxaca
@ 1000 CE
Mayan Codex
@ 500 CE
Mexica Migration Story
@ 1400 CE

11. Mesoamerican Codex Early Writing

12. By the Middle Ages 500-1500 Philosophy
Human inquiry into higher learning had been divided into just four fields:
Theology
Medicine
Law
Philosophy

13. Doctor of Philosophy Degree
In fact,
For the past thousand years, people who study almost any field at the highest level are awarded a “Ph. D.”
Doctor of Philosophy Degree

14. Over the centuries…
Broad human inquiry into these basic questions has evolved into
some subsets or sub-disciplines within
the general field of Philosophy

15. Branches within Philosophy
Ontology
Epistemology
Aesthetics
Ethics
Logic
Applied

16. Branches within Philosophy
Ontology: what exists, and what is the nature of reality?
Epistemology: what is knowledge, and how do we know things?
Ethics: how should we live and behave? What are right and wrong, moral and immoral?
Logic: what is correct reasoning?
Aesthetics: how are standards for beauty, taste, humor, comfort arrived at?

17. Fields of Applied Philosophy
Philosophy of Education
Philosophy of Politics or Government
Philosophy of Art
Philosophy of Medicine or Health Care
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Business
Philosophy of History
Etc.

18. Focus of HCOM 301 Basic Philosophy Applied Philosophy Ontology ☚
Epistemology ☚
Ethics ☚
Logic
Aesthetics
Philosophy of Education
Philosophy of Politics or Government
Philosophy of Art
Philosophy of Medicine or Health Care
Philosophy of Science
Philosophy of Business
Philosophy of Life ☚
(Worldviews)

20. Assignment on 1-26